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About a thousand miles after replacing cam chain and followers and all gaskets (Vesrah) it just started leaking at the front corners badly. Any shortcuts or am I up that well known Kawasaki creek.

Who forgot to re-torque the head after 3 or 400 miles then?
Retorque them now and you may be OK. 

Once a fresh motor starts leaking. No matter how many times you retorque the head, it will never stop leaking...........

 

I did not use any sealant on the gaskets. Never had to in the past. This is not my first top end but it is my first kaw. Maybe use OEM gaskets. One is $82 and this one is $31 ! I used Vesrah. Never had any problem with them in the past.

But I agree,,, have to do it all again!

I don't know what year and model motor you have, but I just looked up a base gasket, center o-ring, and a valve cover gasket for what my Kz1000 motor uses. CAN'T BELIEVE O.E.M. KAWASAKI RETAIL PRICES!!!!!!!!!! 49 bucks for a base gasket!!!!!! 105 bucks for either the center o-ring or the valve cover gasket!!!!!! If I needed those gaskets I could not even afford to buy them at today's prices!!!! Glad I got a $hitload of all these gaskets on hand from like 35 years ago!!!!! I see why most folks are buying aftermarket gaskets like Vesrah now instead of O.E.M. Kawasaki!!! 
 

wrote:

I don't know what year and model motor you have, but I just looked up a base gasket, center o-ring, and a valve cover gasket for what my Kz1000 motor uses. CAN'T BELIEVE O.E.M. KAWASAKI RETAIL PRICES!!!!!!!!!! 49 bucks for a base gasket!!!!!! 105 bucks for either the center o-ring or the valve cover gasket!!!!!! If I needed those gaskets I could not even afford to buy them at today's prices!!!! Glad I got a $hitload of all these gaskets on hand from like 35 years ago!!!!! I see why most folks are buying aftermarket gaskets like Vesrah now instead of OE

Shocking isn't it given that the production tooling probably paid for itself over 30 years ago 

I just did KZ1000 build for customer  and prices for OEM through the roof , but I try to use OEM on all my builds
Barry

You can check eBay for gaskets.  There are typically a lot of them available for a fraction of OEM prices.  Problem is, sometimes they are very old, and old gaskets get brittle.  It's a crap shoot.

I use Vesrah.  They are OK but I'll use OEM for a head job.

For Head Gaskets I use Cometic.
For all others I cut my own using the tracing method from two OEM master sets I have (650/1000)
I use FEL-PRO Karropak paper you can buy in bulk rolls from NAPA or UAP.
I have these gaskets on several engines, no prep and no leaks.
For rubber seals I use OEM or NOS if cheaper.

I bought a small desk top CNC with a lazer to cut gasket paper from DXF files but I have not had time to scan the masters I own.
I don't build engines that much that I would need to do that. Taking out the master and cutting tracing may be just as fast.
I would have to set up the CNC in the garage as you need smoke extraction when profiling.
The CNC cuts 12" x 18" so just big enough to do a base gasket or oil pan gasket. Cam cover maybe a stretch.

Hey, I'm all for DYI, but I wouldn't make a base gasket.  The material used needs to be dense and not very compressible.  Most gasket sheet material sold at auto parts stores is much softer than the OEM material.

Maybe I am super lucky because I have 3 engines with my DIY base gasket... All OK.