First start after rebuild

Try Stan in my good guys thread. I've had nothing but good luck with his gaskets.
Steve

I've ordered many valve cover gaskets from Jaquish Motorsports on Ebay (I believe he is also the Stan you're referring to?). I can't find any Kz550 gaskets on his ebay account for a 1981. My last gasket kit for the bike was the Vesrah set from Z1 enterprises. The base gasket held up well but the head gasket blew after 500 miles. Have you had any luck with any other companies?

nickleo373 wrote: I've ordered many valve cover gaskets from Jaquish Motorsports on Ebay (I believe he is also the Stan you're referring to?). I can't find any Kz550 gaskets on his ebay account for a 1981. My last gasket kit for the bike was the Vesrah set from Z1 enterprises. The base gasket held up well but the head gasket blew after 500 miles. Have you had any luck with any other companies?

OEM gaskets or bust.

Try Cometic.
Steve

nickleo373 wrote: Bountyhunter was right. I went to give it another try today and it started up immediately. I took it for a ride to seat the rings and everything was seemingly going well. I rode it back into my driveway and noticed the base gasket dripped a puddle of oil on my stator cover. I suppose the engine will have to come back apart to get this done. I can only find NOS, which the seller always believes to be in better condition than they are, or those cheap green gaskets (what's in the bike now). Does anyone have a seller of good quality base gaskets that aren't cheaply made or 35 years old?

The green gaskets in my new Athena set ALL FAILED within a few hundred miles of rebuild including the base gasket. I bought good quality gasket material from Auto Zone and made my own. Never had a problem with that stuff.

Nessism wrote:

nickleo373 wrote: I've ordered many valve cover gaskets from Jaquish Motorsports on Ebay (I believe he is also the Stan you're referring to?). I can't find any Kz550 gaskets on his ebay account for a 1981. My last gasket kit for the bike was the Vesrah set from Z1 enterprises. The base gasket held up well but the head gasket blew after 500 miles. Have you had any luck with any other companies?

OEM gaskets or bust.

Not always available and some are 30+ years old...... :ohmy:

bountyhunter wrote:

Nessism wrote:
OEM gaskets or bust.

Not always available and some are 30+ years old...... :ohmy:

Ebay is a good source of OEM Kawasaki gaskets. Just make sure the plastic bag doesn't look all tattered and dirty, which is a sign of age.

Athena gaskets are the WORST in my experience. The only gasket kit I've seen that was worse is an aftermarket kit sourced by Kawasaki USA back 30 years ago. Those gasket kits came in a green cardboard package and show up every so often on ebay these days. I bought one and found the material was as fragile as glass after all these years. Stay clear of those.

Alright I ended up finding a complete gasket set through a company called niche cycle supply. I took the engine back apart today and found the base gasket was in multiple pieces. Everything else appeared to be good with the rings installation last week. The cylinders still have their crosshatch. Do I need to rehone before installing the cylinders back on the bike with the same rings?

nickleo373 wrote: Alright I ended up finding a complete gasket set through a company called niche cycle supply. I took the engine back apart today and found the base gasket was in multiple pieces. Everything else appeared to be good with the rings installation last week. The cylinders still have their crosshatch. Do I need to rehone before installing the cylinders back on the bike with the same rings?

No need to rehone.

OEM gaskets for the win! Any and all aftermarket gasket kits are a downgrade.

nickleo373 wrote: Alright I ended up finding a complete gasket set through a company called niche cycle supply. I took the engine back apart today and found the base gasket was in multiple pieces. Everything else appeared to be good with the rings installation last week. The cylinders still have their crosshatch. Do I need to rehone before installing the cylinders back on the bike with the same rings?

If you trust the base gasket, use it. If not, use it as a pattern and cut one out of the best gasket material Auto Zone sells. That's what I did and it has been perfect. The base gasket has the full force of the head torque on it and it will fail if it's flaky. It will also require multiple head retorques if the material is too thick or too compressible. IMHO, get the best material available and make sure it hasn't been sitting for years.

BTW: when I tore mine down, I saw the factory had used some kind of sealer on the base gasket during assembly. I did too and used the black ultra high temp stuff.

Agree no need to rehone cylinder.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

bountyhunter wrote:

nickleo373 wrote: Alright I ended up finding a complete gasket set through a company called niche cycle supply. I took the engine back apart today and found the base gasket was in multiple pieces. Everything else appeared to be good with the rings installation last week. The cylinders still have their crosshatch. Do I need to rehone before installing the cylinders back on the bike with the same rings?

If you trust the base gasket, use it. If not, use it as a pattern and cut one out of the best gasket material Auto Zone sells. That's what I did and it has been perfect. The base gasket has the full force of the head torque on it and it will fail if it's flaky. It will also require multiple head retorques if the material is too thick or too compressible. IMHO, get the best material available and make sure it hasn't been sitting for years.

BTW: when I tore mine down, I saw the factory had used some kind of sealer on the base gasket during assembly. I did too and used the black ultra high temp stuff.

Agree no need to rehone cylinder.

No disrespect to Mr. bountyhunter...but cut a base gasket? Are you crazy? :S

I'm a complete maniac and have cut tons of floatbowl gaskets, and engine cover gaskets, but the base gasket is a critical gasket to avoid leaks and you can get a brand new OEM base gasket for only $15 so it's not worth messing with.

The most important bit is for the rings to seal, this happens fast within the first few minutes of running (I think). As above, loading up the motor helps rings seal: when the throttles are shut and on the over-run it gives the rings a work out in the opposite direction.

Avoid oiling the bores, a light smear on the piston skirts is enough - and really important is use a mineral non synthetic oil.

You'll feel the motor loosening up over the next 1000 miles.