Complete Gasket Kit for '81 GS450L

[gjohnson]

Does anybody on here know where to buy a complete engine gasket kit for the '81 GS 450 L?

[cowboyup3371]

Have you looked at the welcome packet Basscliff sent you? It includes a whole bunch of vendors out there that will have it. Also, you talk to your local shop yet? They will still carry/get the OEM gasket sets.

[gjohnson]

Have not looked at Basscliff's packet since day one, Will totally check it out right now.

[mike_of_bbg]

If you go to some place like alpha-sports.com, which uses real suzuki part #'s, you'll find that the part # was 11400-44841 (it's on the "optional" fiche) - though it shows as no longer available. Google that part # and you'll find some vendors with superseding part #'s, as well as -33,441

[Nessism]

ebay is a good place to look for gaskets. The OE gaskets are far superior to aftermarket so please be careful of what you buy.

[pete]

I tried and couldn't find an OEM kit anywhere, seems us 450 guys luck out with complete OEM kits.

I ended up going Athena from a local distributor, but I got OEM stuff for the bottom end as there have been some issues with Athena base gaskets.

I figured as long as the bottom end is OEM, everything from the head upwards is relatively easy to replace if a gasket fails (as are the case cover gaskets), and no way could I justify doing all the OEM gaskets individually, it would've been about four times the cost of the Athena kit...

[gjohnson]

I was able to find this: http://www.speedmotoco.com/ProductDe...ctCode=608-441

Complete gasket kit... for under $60 shipped, not too bad... now to see if it shows up. Their area code is 541 so they are in oregon (local) to me.

[rlong74]

Hopefully that's not a picture of the actual kit as there a two too many holes in the head gasket.

[mike_of_bbg]

Hopefully that's not a picture of the actual kit as there a two too many holes in the head gasket.

"We do not have a picture of this kit ."

[Nessism]

Big risk with cheap aftermarket gaskets.

[rlong74]

Ahh, guess I needed to keep reading. However, I thought it was a little strange that they used that picture for all the kits I looked at on the site.

[pete]

Big risk with cheap aftermarket gaskets.

Yes, while I went with Athena, I did so on the premise that the distributor here is an ex-racer who swears by them, and even then I still went with an OEM base gasket.

Do yourself a favour and make sure your bottom end stuff at least is OEM.

If I had've known Boulevard Suzuki were so cheap when I got my gaskets, I would've gotten more OEM gaskets than I did locally due to the cost.

Base gasket is $6.74 from Boulevard and the O rings are $2.83ea, and a head gasket is $63.89. Cheap insurance... use the aftermarket gaskets for the easy to replace stuff... and yes I wish I had an OEM head gasket, but they ain't that cheap here and I had it on before I learnt about Boulevard...

One thing I should've mentioned earlier is that the valve cover changed during the 81/82 model year also, went from a 12 bolt pattern to a 15 bolt pattern.

Even though mine was manufactured 10/81, it's actually an 82 model and has the 15 bolt pattern valve cover.

[gjohnson]

Hmm worth the risk, if they turn out to be okay you can thank me. If they are crap feel free to point and laugh. lol

[pete]

Fair enough... you have been warned

But yeah, I guess as long as you're prepared for the worst and am happy to pull it down again if it goes pear shaped, then all good...

[gjohnson]

Fair enough... you have been warned

But yeah, I guess as long as you're prepared for the worst and am happy to pull it down again if it goes pear shaped, then all good...

Warning accepted, taking the leap for the great good of the community