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Evening all.  Quick question as I am having zero luck searching forum or the old Google.  Putting cylinders and head back on engine and my Kawi Service manual (aka the bible) says to put a "little liquid gasket around the studs (4) indicated in the figure.".  Problem is there is no figure showing which 4.  Bending my brain to find which four they mean lol.  I mean there are 8 studs in middle and 4 on the ends. Eany meany miney moe?  Always something to throw a wrench in things when I finally find time to get something accomplished, never fails. Apologies if this has been asked and answered, no luck finding that thread, found a pile of other hits related to studs, torque, gasket type, etc etc but nothing on which 4 to put sealer on. Maybe i am the only one that doesn't know this?  Cheers, Steve

As you have the studs out it's easy to tell which need the thread lock.
Some of the female case thread are open and go right through to the crank chamber the others are blind. The open ones are the ones that need the thread lock to stop any oil seeping up past the threads. 

Hey! Sorry I must not ha e explained correctly.  I don't have any studs out, I just have the cylinders and head off.  Pistons back on and just at stage of putting base gasket on and cylinder. The Kawi Service manual says to put gasket sealer around 4 of the studs when I put base gasket on but doesn't specify WHICH 4 studs.   So aborting the process until I can figure out which 4 they mean. Cuz the last thing I want to do is put sealant in engine where it doesn't belong or could cause issues later.  

It'll be the 4 center studs around the cam chain opening. Earlier models had an o ring doing the job but thread lock works better. 

Thanks!.

Pretty much any type of heat/oil/petrol resistant sealer/lock will do the job. 

Hey. Thanks man.  That was going to be my logical guess if which 4 studs if I couldn't find out but appreciate you verifying it.  You say thread lock, but manual says gasket sealant. Only thread lock I have or use is Loctite Blue or Red and it is a bit thin/runny to seal much.  Would gasket sealant not work?  I must have like 8 diff kinds and just plan to use the minimum as I don't want any going Into crankcase.etc.

Gasket sealer goes around the 4 outer studs.  These are the ones oil passes up to the head for the valvetrain to be lubricated.
Common practice is sealer around  base gasket ( Top and Bottom surface to help seal oil from weeping out )
Making sure not to use to much  as this could plug the oil passages.when torqed down
  Gasket sealer is also used for same purpose at head gasket.
Next is depending on which head gasket is used  ( 2 piece  vs 1 piece ) gasket sealer can be called for to fill the o ring gasket groove at cam chain tunnel , to help seal
shut this area from leaking from cam chain oil being slung off the chain.   This is done for sure on one piece gaskets as they dont use the cam chain area oring 
Hope this helps
Dave

Interesting. So two of the 4 outside studs have the knockpins. But put sealer around them too eh? I have the metal double layer type Wiseco one piece gasket, and yup I put gasket seal in the groove and not using the rubber ring, which I learned is just for the two piece head gasket. The Kawi service manual has been excellent for all the work I have done on bike over the years but been vague on a few details like this issue of where exactly to seal around the studs.  And hate guessing and getting something wrong, too much time and $$ to do things twice.

Look at the oil flow diagram in the manual 
Or just look at the oil galleries in the head.
Oil passages run to the front from the outside rear studs thru a passage which has been factory plugged  and then is taken to each cam  bearing 
Also if the studs had been removed they can be loctited back in  as discribed 
Hope this helps
Dave

If you haven't had the studs out you don't need any sealer on any of them or the barrels location dowels.
Just grease both sides of the base gasket to aid settlement and use nothing on the MLS head gasket.
Also with the MLS gaskets you can get away without filling the camchain O' ring groove if you wish.
They are capable of withstanding turbo cylinder pressures and don't require a re-torque.



 

Yeah the studs are in rock solid and didn't see any reason to remove them when i pulled it apart. Some say replace with heavy duty ones but already blew my budget on parts redoing it and 5 dirtbikes so maybe next time I do rings or have engine apart.  I am going to go with your advice of greasing the base gasket and good to hear I say to heck with the extra sealant around studs. I don't like using gasket sealant for anywhere I don't absolutely have to for the added risk of it getting into the case or passages, as many have mentioned. Makes sense to me and I truly appreciate all the advice and tips from everyone.  With any luck I will finally have this thing back up and running by end of weekend and be seating the rings and getting the carbs synced and set . Can't wait to see how she runs with the new air correctors and refurbished choke plungers zed1015 sent me. Cheers! Steve