Valve cover gasket

[Suzukian]

Depends on the bike. My Suzuki has a very thick grove for the gasket to sit in. You could never seal that with paper.

[93Bandit]

Oem with using your finger to <<paint>> it with grease or get yourself some 1mm thick gasket paper cut the gasket yourself (time consuming) and apply again grease. Dont use torque wrences up there go by feel and with criss cross pattern and patience. Opened up my rebuilt engine to adjust valves after 200kms and gasket came off super easy and resealed perfectly. Used in the past some aftermarket ones like versah they started leeking in no time. Also make sure both surfaces are smooth and clean as possible. Over the years and by completely tearing an engine apart and resealing it i came to the conclusion that the most critical part of sealing 2 surfaces is their condition and cleanliness. If everything is butchered up no OEM gasket will save the day no matter how expensive they are

What kind of grease do you use? Wheel bearings grease? I've heard of some using WD40. I used WD40 on my clutch cover gasket and it seemed to work well, gasket came off in 1 piece.

[bwringer]

Depends on the bike. My Suzuki has a very thick grove for the gasket to sit in. You could never seal that with paper.

And your Suzuki is...? Most GS models have flat paper-ish/cardboard-like gaskets. The rubber gaskets with the groove were a later invention.


The OP is also being unnecessarily coy regarding their motorcycle.



The best advice varies, but OEM is always best, and you can find NOS on eBay pretty often. Cometic is hot garbage, but Vesrah can be made usable. Sometimes. Overall, OEM is worth it and it's not worth monkeying with imitations unless you have no other options.

For the flat gaskets, a thin coat of grease goes on both sides, and you can indeed re-use the gasket several times. Pay careful attention to CORRECT torque and torqueing order as laid out in the manual.

It's almost never worth replacing the half-moon seals; new ones stick up and have trouble squashing enough to be flat with the head and seal correctly without squirting out. If you do need to replace these, use a teensy schmear of case sealer, not RTV. I often install them backwards so that the lip is on the inside; that way they can't escape outwards.

[rphillips]

For me, a thin coat of sealer on the cover side and grease on the head side, next time it comes off the sealed gasket will come off with the cover and head surface should be clean... all good for reusing. Recommend a good in. lb. torque wrench, those little bolt holes will be stripped before "I" can feel it. My opinion, probably 50% or more of GS's have repaired cover holes.

[Kara25]

93Bandit i used both wd40 to <<wet>> the gasket and a thin coat of plain grease applied by finger.both worked wonders. pick what you have at hand and use

[Cipher]

Petroleum on a gasket sealing petroleum. Madness they seep.
your all cheap and cheap.
reusing a torqued gasket is w g at tears out cam cap threads.

[rphillips]

Now that's interesting, I'd have thought 6 lb. torque would be 6 lb, torque whether if new, used, or no gasket. Hard to imagine the threads, down in that hole would know the difference... I presume you meant the cover bolts, not the cam cap blots.

[Cipher]

Now that's interesting, I'd have thought 6 lb. torque would be 6 lb, torque whether if new, used, or no gasket. Hard to imagine the threads, down in that hole would know the difference... I presume you meant the cover bolts, not the cam cap blots.

compressed paper has one cycle especially paper thin stuff.

[rphillips]

Compressed paper cycle and threads in a aluminum motorcycle eng.... Sorry, I'm just not getting it

[Cipher]

Compressed paper cycle and threads in a aluminum motorcycle eng.... Sorry, I'm just not getting it

The gasket has a degree of compressibility once torqued down they down bounce back like rubber will. But rubber ages and hardens too. Intake o rings being a profound example of this.

[Suzukian]

And your Suzuki is...? Most GS models have flat paper-ish/cardboard-like gaskets. The rubber gaskets with the groove were a later invention.


The OP is also being unnecessarily coy regarding their motorcycle.



The best advice varies, but OEM is always best, and you can find NOS on eBay pretty often. Cometic is hot garbage, but Vesrah can be made usable. Sometimes. Overall, OEM is worth it and it's not worth monkeying with imitations unless you have no other options.

For the flat gaskets, a thin coat of grease goes on both sides, and you can indeed re-use the gasket several times. Pay careful attention to CORRECT torque and torqueing order as laid out in the manual.

It's almost never worth replacing the half-moon seals; new ones stick up and have trouble squashing enough to be flat with the head and seal correctly without squirting out. If you do need to replace these, use a teensy schmear of case sealer, not RTV. I often install them backwards so that the lip is on the inside; that way they can't escape outwards.

I stated that in post # 5. It's a 1983 GS750ES, I've owned since new. I built it out of the crate. I've missed stuff in threads too, no biggie. Nothing but the stock gasket will seal that top cover gasket. I have three new ones in my Barn, in case they get discontinued.


GS750ES top cover gasket.jpg

[1978GS750E]

The original poster, aka OP, has not responded to anything in this thread??? Maybe he is not interested,I know I'm not!

The search feature is a wonderful thing!

[Nessism]

The original poster, aka OP, has not responded to anything in this thread??? Maybe he is not interested,I know I'm not!

The search feature is a wonderful thing!

He posted the thread, signed out one minute later, and hasn't been back.

[rphillips]

Yes, orig question has been answered, OEM is best... But I've got off on trying to figure how re-using an already compressed, gasket could effect striping the threads, as was indicted in post # 21... I'm always wanting to learn things that I've missed over the yrs..

[93Bandit]

Yes, orig question has been answered, OEM is best... But I've got off on trying to figure how re-using an already compressed, gasket could effect striping the threads, as was indicted in post # 21... I'm always wanting to learn things that I've missed over the yrs..

I could be wrong but I think the point is once the gasket is permanently deformed (flattened) it may not seal with the factory spec torque applied to the fasteners. This may cause some to over tighten the fasteners with hopes it will stop the leak, but instead strip the threads.