Valve cover gasket advice

[bwringer]

My formula:

OEM gaskets only. I hve no ide how or why, but if you punch in the part number on fleaBay there are a couple of sellers who consistently offer genuine OEM Suzuki gaskets at much better prices than you can usually get by ordering through Suzuki.

Grease on both sides of the gasket, re-use... I dunno. I'd say I usually get at least three or four cycles out of them.

I spend a LOT of time at high RPM. I've always changed oil every 2,000 miles and checked valve clearances every 4,000 (see how those line up every other time?). Mine are pretty stable and generally I end up changing one or two shims every other valve check.

YMMV. I think everyone has their own GS maintenance formula they're comfortable with. Whatever you decide, the most important thing is not to ignore valve clearances, despite what any ill-informed idiots at the dealers might tell you.

 

[LAB3]

I think everyone has their own GS maintenance formula they're comfortable with. Whatever you decide, the most important thing is not to ignore valve clearances, despite what any ill-informed idiots at the dealers might tell you.

One of the things I try to keep in mind is that as GS enthusiasts we're specialists, your ordinary mechanic at a dealership is a generalist. We know the finer points of every aspect of our bikes, a mechanic at a dealership needs to know ENOUGH aspects of every bike they work on.

 

[salty_monk]

When I did mine last I put them all on top tolerance taking advantage of the GS Shim club to get ones that Suzuki don't actually produce... I am happy that top to bottom tolerance will not happen before 12,000 miles, I'd be surprised if any of them get to bottom tolerance in that amount of time actually.

 

[bwringer]

One of the things I try to keep in mind is that as GS enthusiasts we're specialists, your ordinary mechanic at a dealership is a generalist. We know the finer points of every aspect of our bikes, a mechanic at a dealership needs to know ENOUGH aspects of every bike they work on.

Good point. And there's nothing particularly unusual about old Suzukis vs. other vintage machines, other than perhaps the sheer monumental crapness of the electrical connectors and design, the root causes of much GS woe.

However, it's very common with every make and model of motorcycle new and old to find that dealership idiots neglect or skip valve clearance checks. Sometimes they just listen to the bike and declare confidently that it "sounds OK", which is false and horrible advice (since valve clearances almost always decrease, you can't listen to a bike and determine whether or not it needs a valve check), but not quite fraud. Poke around on any moto forum and there are many, many instances of outright fraud where riders have paid for a valve check only to find that the valve cover bolts haven't been touched.

Mostly I think it's caring about your work. The good pro mechanics are over at the Chevy or Mack Truck dealerships where they can make steady money year-round. Powersports mechanicking is only seasonal employment in much of the world. An owner who has to trust his or her life to their machine is far more motivated, and with information and support from the forum can easily outperform many "perfeshunals" in the quality and reliability of their work.

Of course, amateurs get it wrong a lot too, especially that "PO" guy, even if they are supposed to know what they're doing. My bike's PO was supposedly an aircraft mechanic, but judging by the many brainless pecker tracks I spent years undoing I'm glad I was never in the Air Force and didn't have to ride in any of the airplanes he had touched.

 

[LAB3]

Good point. And there's nothing particularly unusual about old Suzukis vs. other vintage machines, other than perhaps the sheer monumental crapness of the electrical connectors and design, the root causes of much GS woe.

However, it's very common with every make and model of motorcycle new and old to find that dealership idiots neglect or skip valve clearance checks. Sometimes they just listen to the bike and declare confidently that it "sounds OK", which is false and horrible advice (since valve clearances almost always decrease, you can't listen to a bike and determine whether or not it needs a valve check), but not quite fraud. Poke around on any moto forum and there are many, many instances of outright fraud where riders have paid for a valve check only to find that the valve cover bolts haven't been touched.

Mostly I think it's caring about your work. The good pro mechanics are over at the Chevy or Mack Truck dealerships where they can make steady money year-round. Powersports mechanicking is only seasonal employment in much of the world. An owner who has to trust his or her life to their machine is far more motivated, and with information and support from the forum can easily outperform many "perfeshunals" in the quality and reliability of their work.

Of course, amateurs get it wrong a lot too, especially that "PO" guy, even if they are supposed to know what they're doing. My bike's PO was supposedly an aircraft mechanic, but judging by the many brainless pecker tracks I spent years undoing I'm glad I was never in the Air Force and didn't have to ride in any of the airplanes he had touched.

Yeah I found a fun little PO goof just yesterday. My bike had 7500 miles when I bought it and I assumed no one had ever worked on it. When doing the rehab winter before last one carb float was off by 3mm, no biggie could have happened at the factory. Yesterday I put a new chain and sprockets on, they've taken a beating the last three weeks running the twisties in the Ozarks. Get this: The drive sprocket had the keeper fastened and appeared to have been off before, the nut was only FINGER TIGHT! One of those things you never bother to check on a bike with so few miles, I about pooped my pants over that one.

 

[Burque73]

That's funny, Brian. I bought an 850 from an aircraft mechanic too. He had destroyed the head drilling and tapping a stripped spark plug and used a wad of cardboard under the chrome cap to hold a half moon plug in while his glob of sealant dried.. I've noticed an interesting trend with highly qualified folks that totally jerry rig their own stuff, like a housing inspector with electric outlets run off of an extension cord. Mechanics, from what I've seen, are notorious for running vehicles in dire need of good repairs.


Speaking of halfmoon plugs, in post #11, EDGECRUISER mentioned these. I hardly ever change them out. They leaked when I got the bike so new ones were in order, but that was four or five valve checks ago and still no leaks. How often do you change those?

 

[cowboyup3371]

Speaking of halfmoon plugs, in post #11, EDGECRUISER mentioned these. I hardly ever change them out. They leaked when I got the bike so new ones were in order, but that was four or five valve checks ago and still no leaks. How often do you change those?

It really depends; I usually replace mine every time or two

 

[Guest]

Just to chime in on the gasket crafting... there was a bike i had in the past that I always seemed to need to get into a side cover for something. I hated forking money over for something i could make so i found some assortments of paper at napa and figured it out on my own. The way i found that worked best to make the first template that I’d save to make future gaskets with was to clean the cover well then use a paint pen to wet the gasket surface on it and then place it on the paper like a stamp. It worked better than trying to cut it on the cover blind. Once i got a perfect template I would put it in a baggie and store it between the pages of an old phonebook.
making my own gaskets wasn’t so much about saving money as it was crafting my own bike parts. Any idiot can walk into a dealership and fork over cash for anything. That’s no fun. Lol. For example, I just rescued a 98 SRAD 600 that needed just about everything replaced. The difference this time was i decided to buy all suzuki parts to fix it. I needed some gaskets that go between the intake tubes on the airbox and the tubes through the frame for the ram-air system. From the diagrams it appeared to be a special cut oval of foam. Paid $5 each side. What i ended up getting is two eight inch long straight strips of 1/2” foam. I felt so ‘had’. For 10$ I could have bought enough foam weatherstripping at lowes to do a couple dozen bikes. Ugh.
I was more curious about the head gasket because I remembered it being recessed into the cover but i think I’m picturing a different bike. Flat surfaces face to face are easy to make gaskets for.

 

[fasteddie313]

I amke tons of gaskets because I work on a lot of weird stuff and don't like waiting for parts, or spending money..
The glue way is good for very complex gaskets that are thin in areas, therefore little margin of error..
My favorite way is using a hammer but shouldn't be done on aluminum parts.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lsn6B6RsNQ But I find it better to use the ball side of the hammer to get into bolt holes and such.
Sometimes you can also put the gasket on wood and then the part on the gasket, and whack it good with a hammer and then cut out the trace you made..

I also reuse gaskets very often. Just try to save them when taking things apart and most can be saved if I take the time to get them off nicely..

I need to find this shims club and do my shims..