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Clarification On A Couple Of Issues
- Rick H.
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Wiseco supplied an MLS head gasket in the piston kit I bought from them. I was initially going to use a one piece fiber gasket and had no intention of using an MLS gasket. Would you recommend using the Wiseco supplied MLS gasket or stay the course with the one piece gasket I bought. If I use the Wiseco MLS head gasket does it require using the large O-ring around the cam chain tunnel and if so does it go under the MLS gasket? It would be nice if they put some instructions in the kit with reference to the using the gaskets, but there was nothing.
Thanks for any help on this....
Rick H.
Rick H.
1977 Kawasaki KZ-1000A1
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- SWest
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Steve
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- DFIGPZ
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do not get it on base gasket surface.
use MLS head Gasket.
DO NOT USE oring in center I use a bead of sealer in place of oring.
1984 750 Turbo
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- Rick H.
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Rick H.
1977 Kawasaki KZ-1000A1
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- zed1015
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This is on both road and race engines.
All I recommend is to coat both sides of the base gasket with grease to aid settlement and ease of removal and this also resists wicking of the oil through the gasket material.
Also as already mentioned , do not use the cam tunnel 'O' ring with any one piece head gasket.
Fill the groove with RTV ( I use VTECH ) leave overnight to cure and then slice flush with the barrel top with a new box cutter blade.
AIR CORRECTOR JETS FOR VM CARBS AND ETHANOL RESISTANT VITON CHOKE PLUNGER SEAL REPLACMENT FOR ALL CLASSIC AND MODERN MOTORCYCLE CARBURETTORS
kzrider.com/forum/23-for-sale/611992-air-corrector-jets-
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- Rick H.
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Then to confuse things even more is the advice to follow what the service manual says and related to the base gasket, other than the four cylinder studs, the book says nothing about coating, or greasing the base gasket, yet you suggest to put a coat of grease on it to assist in sealing. Have you ever heard of anyone using Gasgacinch on the base gasket? By the way, your advise makes perfect sense, but it throws out the advise to follow what the book says. Speaking of the "book", it only states use a little liquid gasket around the four cylinder studs, but it doesn't say what liquid gasket to use. If you look at what Kawasaki supplies some of their liquid gasket substances can cost as much as $70.00 (92104-0004) or as little as $9.00 for Kawabond 5. So which to use if one were to do so? The so-called "book" certainly doesn't help answer this, so one is left trying to decide which way to go. From my experience I can only assume if I were to put a liquid gasket substance around those four bolts junctions it would have to be resistant to heat, vibration and oil of course and keep it away from the gasket sealing surface.
So thanks again for the information and helping me trying to clear my confusion up. Experience is a great teacher and I have that on automotive matters, but not air cooled motorcycles so much. I will do as you suggest with the MLS head gasket and place sealer in the o-ring grove and slice flush with the top of the block. I will use no other sealer on the MLS gasket.
Rick H.
Rick H.
1977 Kawasaki KZ-1000A1
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- daveo
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1982 KZ1100-A2
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- zed1015
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Everyone one has their own way of doing things, rightly or wrongly and they will use whatever they feel is needed even if it isn't.Rick H. wrote: Have you ever heard of anyone using Gasgacinch on the base gasket?
Some people swear by Gasgacinch and others by Blue Hylomar , Red/Green Hermetite or whatever else their dad or uncle used back in the day .
I have experience with all those and more and rarely use any sealants on gaskets except in specific areas that are known to be problematic on any particular machine.
Yamabond and Kawabond etc are specifically for the bare mating surfaces of crankcase halves and not gaskets and are pretty much the same stuff in a different tube.
In reality a new gasket on a correctly prepared and clean undamaged surface should need no sealer.
The use of grease enables the even settlement of the gasket when being torque down, it helps seal the pores in the gasket material to resist oil wicking and seepage and also aids in gasket removal at a later date and even allows re-use of most paper gaskets.
It's an old school trick you won't see mentioned in any "book"..
AIR CORRECTOR JETS FOR VM CARBS AND ETHANOL RESISTANT VITON CHOKE PLUNGER SEAL REPLACMENT FOR ALL CLASSIC AND MODERN MOTORCYCLE CARBURETTORS
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- 650ed
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zed1015 wrote: .........................In reality a new gasket on a correctly prepared and clean undamaged surface should need no sealer.......
Exactly. The Kawasaki Service Manual shows areas that need sealer - and there are not very many. Other than those specific areas, Kawasaki did not use sealer when they built the bikes and the bikes did not leak (at least mine didn't) so it would seem that unless the mating surface has been damaged there would be no reason to use sealer except where the manual specifies it. Ed
1977 KZ650-C1 Original Owner - Stock (with additional invisible FIAMM horn)
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- Nessism
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Regarding sealing around the studs, I think this is important if you remove the studs during the build because the threads penetrate all the way into the sump (on at least some of the models anyway.) Smear sealant around the studs before they are reinstalled.
I don't use anything on the base gasket. If you use aftermarket gaskets putting something like grease on them may encourage the gasket pinching out of place. That WILL happen if you use Athena gaskets regardless of grease usage so consider this a warning to anyone reading (don't ask how I know.)
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- SWest
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Steve
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- daveo
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SWest wrote: I will never use a two piece gasket again.
Steve
Besides copper, what one-piece head gaskets are made specifically for an 1000 and 1100 J-cylinder block that uses o-rings at the corner oil passage cyl studs?
:whistle:
1982 KZ1100-A2
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