Gaskets

Hey Guys,
A problem I've had during my rebuild is gaskets. Many of the gaskets, for these old bikes, are unavailable. Both online and at the Kaw dealer. When you can get them they are rather expensive and take forever(or what seems to be forever)to arrive. I've had to make a couple of simple ones out of gasket material, but some I don't trust my gasket making abilities. Recently I've had the bike all together, new engine cover gaskets, filled w/oil and ready to start on making it go, when I discover that I've got another oil leak, a burned out armature, streatched starter chain and possibly a frozen clutch. I drain the oil and take off the covers and the new gaskets, I just put on, are torn. What do you experts do? Bite the bullet and buy new gaskets (and wait), use gasket material, use form-a-gasket? What's the secret of keeping these things in repair w/o going broke on gaskets? Other than new pipes, gaskets have been my major expense on this rebuild.
Ron
Sorry for the length

Ok I've been meaning to post this little tidbit for a while it should save all of you some bucks when doing an engine change or exhaust system change.

If you carefully pry the old exhaust gaskets out of the cylinder heads it is possible to reuse them. The trick is to heat them up with a torch untill they glow cherry red and then quickly quench them in cold water. This will pop them back out so they will seal back up when you re-install the exhaust. I've been doing this for years and it will save you about $4 per cylinder.

Now Ron as to your other gaskets I would suggest possibly picking up a complete aftermarket set of gaskets. There is a company named Vesrah that makes complete kits. I bought one for my 550's off flea-bay for like $20.00 I figured it would be a good thing to keep around sooner or later I'll need something out of the kit since these bikes are 25 yrs. old.

Post edited by: The Gringo, at: 2006/07/27 01:27

Sounds like a neat trick w/the exhaust gaskets. As far as buying a complete kit, that only works if you are smart and think ahead but I'm a little slow sometime and don't know that I'll need something until I need it .thanks for the tip...I'll do a search for that company.

a lot of the gaskets can be made with silicone, its a bit of a debatable topic, but wireman for one can tell you how to do it correctly. also check out Z1Enterprises for gasket kits if you have to have gaskets