How to part the cylinder head from the cylinders - stuck gasket - 1980 gs550e

[ukjules]

I have ordered a new kit to sort the petcock. Will advise on here if it works.
how can it not as my one is falling to bits ....
It is not the normal thing to consider mind when you think the tapping noise is identical to
engine noise. I could barely belive it when i put my ear to the tank a meter away from the bike
and the tapping was still coming from the tank.

This thread started with a sledgehammer attack on my bike (yes madness - i have paid for that) and has finished with the bike as per picture
in a wonderful cruise in the UK, somerset countryside. It took me about 2 weeks, 2 second hand heads and
a second hand barrel. Countless fixes only made possible with your help.
My bike is back.
It goes like a new bike now (bar the ticking in the tank).

I have other questions to ask related to this top end rebuild but as they are of interest
I will put them in a new thread so easily searched for.

My bike is eternally grateful to you guys - and this site.

P.S the cheap gasket set test:

As you remeber i bought the cheapest gasket set (athena) i could find. ?40 for a full top end set.
I cleaned the surfaces to perfection (the single most important thing) and not a single leak.
My old engine leaked like a seive.
SO dont knock cheap gasket sets (athena are good) --- if you prepare the surfaces perfectly.
I wont need to spend triple on a oem set again for sure.

Method: paint thinner to soften and clean, razor blade at 80degs - very carefully, a ?2 dremel brass brush but
put in a normal battery elec drill - clans the surfaces in a tenth of the time and no damage at all.

 

[Fjbj40]

You have to wait to comment on the Athena quality, they will probably let you down!

 

[tkent02]

SO dont knock cheap gasket sets (athena are good) --- if you prepare the surfaces perfectly.
I wont need to spend triple on a oem set again for sure.

Some leak in a week. Some leak in a month. Never heard of an Athena base gasket lasting a year, but there's a first time for everything, I suppose.

 

[ukjules]

Ill be honest i was surprised with the quality but of course that is only superficial
I have never seen my bike without a leak so im stunned at the look of my bike and overcome
that it is going again.

Ill re torque my head in a hundred miles or so so it will have the best possible chance.

So over the years if i don't mention gaskets assume it is ok - youll know when its gone as
the sledge hammer will come out again to part the cylinder head as I have forgotten there are 13 bolts to remove - i think.

p.s compression test stats:
please let this be ok .....

Dry 108 108 108 132
Cy1 Cy2 Cy3 Cy4
Wet 117 120 120 142

the bottom line is that will last the summer !!!
No smoking, power all the way up the revs, wonderful sounding, perfect idle, i can now acually overtake cars
easily due to the power.

 

[gs11ezrydr]

I have found that the gaskets seem to be stuck, not saying they were not, when it is really the dowel pins rusted and seized, Spray PB blaster or something similar in those pin areas, Just a thought, I use green 3M rollocks for gasket removal. If you have not see them most auto body places carry them in different colors green seems to work the best on aluminum and does not remove much material (I'm sure if you ask the right place they will know of the product) they are made of a kind of hard plastic yet flexible with a lot of bristles coming off the end of them. Shame you destroyed a head though. I have heard a ticking noise from fuel injected models when the fuel got low and the return line shot fuel up against the top of the tank, But you got a strange situation here it seems.

 

[ukjules]

Bike still going fine - 400 miles down the line.
The power difference is staggering - Never thought by doing a full upper engine overhaul
could make such a massive difference. - I had played around with carb sync, timing ...... and previously had
never got it to tickover correctly. It is now sweet.

Now need another project bike to sort out.
I want a 1980's ish GS750 or a 1980's ish GSX 250 (my second ever bike) needing attention.

 

[ukjules]

Just an update on this one since top end rebuild. 1500 miles and all ok. Just in case people wondered
if my bike was now on the side of a ditch.

- re athena gaskets and shim ground down to 1.9mm from stock shim.

Bike still running the best I have known since top end rebuild. Superb performance still.

- No oil leaks from gaskets
- New (cut in half) exhaust circular clamp things) work perfectly (thanks for that one !)

Issues:
Have not been able to turn my wrist round past 7000 revs.
Thats good enough for a cruise along the A39 to Lynmouth ! (uk)
any other bike I can but not on this one that is worth too much !

 

[ukjules]

Just an update - on this.

Athena gaskets (base and head) still fine and no issues with my ground down shim (yes i know i should not have done it)
(remember however that i prepared the surfaces very very well)
That valve lapping and valve seals transformed the bike.

Anyway when i get another bike reliable (within a month) i will start a project on this 550 to
tear down and powder coat frame etc.

Still need a standard seat for it ?

 

[fastbysuzuki]

Question:
Thinking ahead - where can I get pistons and rings ? cheaply in the uk ?
I am thinking only if I have got a cylinder that has been rebored ! I have standard pistons in.
I am enquiring - but it might be oversize 0.5 or 1.0 ? (I think the pistons are coming with it so ill know anyway)
Just want to be ready for the worst case scenario, I am sure it has not been rebored.[/QUOTE]

IMD pistons have been selling rings complete set (four Pistons) ?99-99 on eBay (standard fit only) they have been in business 25 years
i have just got a set they seem good quality Suzuki Oem here in uk ?52 per piston and Suzuki uk say there is only two sets in uk one in Europe and the fourth would have to be ordered fom Japan.

 

[ukjules]

Goodness this thread has opened again -- reminds me of me sledgehammering ....... I must not go there.

anyway ill let another answer on the pistons and rings as i dont know where to get them cheaply but
seriously would like to know myself.

 

[tkent02]

I have a lot of 550 heads, pistons and cylinders.