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Recent top set gasket experience anyone - 850

Brendan W

Brendan W

Forum Sage
Past Site Supporter
I have noted bad experiences of Vesrah, Athena and Suzuki head and base gaskets and the associated tunnel seal and gallery rings. Much of it dates back a bit and was at variance with the usual expectations of Vesrah in particular. You get the feeling that maybe some have been unlucky pulling some very old stock and or that there was a bad patch going for cheap materials.
Does anyone have recent experience of what the state of play is at the moment ?
 
Vesrah are widely used on the Kawasaki KZRider site with decent reviews. Athena, you couldn't pay me to use. The green gasket material is inferior. OEM is tried and true so that's what I would target.
 
All OEM gaskets, o-rings and rings on my last top end rebuild and zero issues after about 4,000 miles. Only aftermarket were the valve seals.
 
I have recently done a full top end rebuild with second hand cylinders and a second hand head. I have taken a risk to once and for all find out if you prepare the surfaces perfectly can you get away with the low end priced gaskets. I used Athena as it was cheap but had all the right bits - some didn't ! I prepared the surfaces perfectly ! Remember this - it is time consuming until you get the hang of it. Anyway 200 miles in the bike is running the best it ever has and for the first time ever not a single leak. Also with this perfect surface preparation I reused the old cam cover gasket. I think preparation is the most important thing if on a budget. I'll keep posted on how the gaskets go but the bike is simply perfect now. Hope this helps ! P.s gaskets went on dry, and head etc was flat ! No bad digs in the aluminium.
 
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You can get away with aftermarket gaskets in many places. But unless you have experience building motorcycle engines, these are the three you should always go OEM with:

1. The base gasket
2. The head gasket
3. The valve cover gasket, if your tach drive is in the cover

The rest are cheap and easy to replace if they leak.

I used Athena as it was cheap but had all the right bits - some didn't ! I prepared the surfaces perfectly ! Remember this - it is time consuming until you get the hang of it. Anyway 200 miles in the bike is running the best it ever has and for the first time ever not a single leak
Click to expand...

If the base gasket you used was green, that won't be true for much longer.

IMG_1928.jpg
 
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ukjules said:
I have recently done a full top end rebuild with second hand cylinders and a second hand head. I have taken a risk to once and for all find out if you prepare the surfaces perfectly can you get away with the low end priced gaskets. I used Athena as it was cheap but had all the right bits - some didn't ! I prepared the surfaces perfectly ! Remember this - it is time consuming until you get the hang of it. Anyway 200 miles in the bike is running the best it ever has and for the first time ever not a single leak. Also with this perfect surface preparation I reused the old cam cover gasket. I think preparation is the most important thing if on a budget. I'll keep posted on how the gaskets go but the bike is simply perfect now. Hope this helps ! P.s gaskets went on dry, and head etc was flat ! No bad digs in the aluminium.
Click to expand...

Let's find out 100,000 miles from now, or maybe 10,000, or even 1,000 miles.

I'm guessing between 1,000 and 10,000 for a few leaks, but that means nothing, I don't have a dog in this donkey show.
 
I let you know but this is why I did it. I am prepared to test this theory on my own bike. We are talking perfection on the surface preparation so I can ignore mistakes regarding that. The issue will come from whether they can stand the heat , pressure etc. So I am gunning that Athena at least used materials that can do the job. I am ?80 up on the deal so far but will let you know if issues occur.
 
I attach the gasket set I bought off ebay. Athena - ?40 quid ' ish (62 dollars)
It is identical to the one i got but mine had slightly different oil way o rings. (on the threaded rod things that hold cylinder in place and head on.) cant think of word
 

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Looking at that mess on the base of the cylinder in the picture - I honestly dont think what i put on was like that ! It was in good order and so like every other base gasket i have used.
I will keep this posted mind - as i too dont know - it might be a awful but at the moment it is ok.
It has run on very hot days too so it passed its first high temp run.
 
ukjules said:
Looking at that mess on the base of the cylinder in the picture - I honestly dont think what i put on was like that ! It was in good order and so like every other base gasket i have used.
I will keep this posted mind - as i too dont know - it might be a awful but at the moment it is ok.
It has run on very hot days too so it passed its first high temp run.
Click to expand...

Have you retorqued the head yet? Run it a couple heat cycles and see if the torque falls off. That photo of the green base gasket failure was from my bike. First retorque showed drastic looseness in the nuts so I tightened them down. A few more heat cycles later I checked them again and same thing. Tightened the nuts. After the third retorque I could see the gasket extruding out of place so I had to tear the top and down again. The green gasket material can't take the pressure.

The Athena gaskets in the photo look slightly different. Less green. Maybe Athena changed their gasket material to something harder? Hope so for your sake.
 
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I did check the torque this weekend , first time. almost spot on still. So the smallest of small adjustments. I didn't really need to make any change. This looks hopeful from what you say. I did actually email Athena on an iissue and they got directly back to me. So service was good and quick. I can only say the gaskets looked fine. Way way better than I expected to get. Way better quality than iI had put on before. The difference for me was surface prep and not using any extra sealant ( if I was concerned about damaged surfaces I might have used a spray gasket on both sides but I didn't as head was skimmed ) perhaps they have caught up with using qual paper / materials now ?
 
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ukjules said:
. I did actually email Athena on an iissue and they got directly back to me. So service was good and quick. I can only say the gaskets looked fine. Way way better than I expected to get. Way better quality than iI had put on before.
Click to expand...

That particular picture has made it's way to the biker.ie board here as recently as January this year. Did Athena make any direct comment on the green jello ?
 
Just wondered if anyone knows what are the circumstances before the barrels were removed to reveal that destroyed gasket ?

Was bike in good tune ? historic issues ? Iv never seen anything like it in my limited area.
Was the gasket the reason to remove the barrels ?
I have never seen a gasket so thin ?
 
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Fairly sure that torque was being checked and repeatedly found loose and after a number of retorques it started squeezing out.
 
Brendan W said:
Fairly sure that torque was being checked and repeatedly found loose and after a number of retorques it started squeezing out.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are correct. Thank you for reading what I wrote. Sometimes I think I'm just writing to myself and nobody pays attention.

The gasket in question was part of a kit purchased from Parts n More a few years ago. The engine was completely rebuilt and all gasket surfaces were clean and dry, and all gaskets were applied dry as well. After the torque kept falling off despite my best efforts, the top end was removed to replace the base gasket. No actual leak occurred because I didn't allow the problem to get to that point. In total the engine covered no more than a couple tanks of fuel before the gaskets were replaced with OEM.
 
I use OEM most of the time, but have had good results with Cometic gaskets.
 
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I am so glad i never have to and never will buy OEM gaskets again.
Athena for me always now.
I am happy to recommend them.
 
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