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VESRAH head gasket

fastbysuzuki

fastbysuzuki

Forum Mentor
Past Site Supporter
Hi I have the cylinders off to replace a leaking base gasket, I have all Suzuki parts apart from the head gasket would love a Suzuki one but the price here ?90uk 129$us it's an awful lot for one gasket
are the vesrah ones that bad?
What about Athena head gasket?
 
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This issue polarises opinion like no other.
Many experienced guys here draw a line and use Suzuki only based on years of personal experience.
A local shop rebuilds a lot of 70s and 80s bikes including their own machines and swear by Athena. Some of this is down to availability.
Others take the view that this is more about poor workmanship than poor gaskets although there has been reliable documented evidence of Athena base gaskets failing spectacularly turning to jelly.
On my recent rebuild I went for a full set of NE gaskets and am happy with the results so far although the stem seals were a bit fragile ( or I was too rough ) and I replaced them with a set from Athena which went on much better.
As a hobby builder I'm not too worried about learning my NE mistake in a year or two. Who knows it could well last for ten years. Worst case I earn stripes and join more experienced heads using oem only.
If I was trying to earn a living from it I might go another way.
 
With a choice of Vesrah (made in Japan) or Athena (made in Italy I think) I would go with Vesrah. I got mine (as a spare if I ever tear down the head) for ?25 off ebay.
 
It was the green Athena base gaskets that were so evil. The head gasket didn't seem too bad. Understand though, if you go with a MLS style gasket, regardless of brand, you need a nice smooth and flat surface. MLS gaskets don't play happily with wavy or rough gasket surfaces.
 
I have used Vesrah gaskets in the past with no problems. Just do it by the numbers.

V
 
eddie21 said:
What about a Cometic gasket? http://www.sportbiketrackgear.com/cometic-suzuki-gs850-79-83-043-cfm-20-head-gasket-with-69mm-bore/
Click to expand...

The worst of all. I bought a Cometic GS850 head gasket a few years back, and it was a wavy, fuzzy, nasty POS that didn't fit. Lay it down on a flat surface, and it stuck up over an inch. The bores were visibly out of round, the oil passage holes were misaligned, and all the edges were fuzzy and crumbling.

Maybe my Cometic was made on a Friday afternoon or a Monday morning, but I've since seen some others and never seen a Cometic gasket I would bother installing.

The last Vesrah head gasket I saw was... not too bad, actually. And as far as I know, it's still out there working fine. Vesrah's base gaskets, o-rings, etc. have definitely slipped badly in quality, last I saw. Maybe they've fixed this, maybe they haven't. Who knows?


Honestly, it's simply not worth futzing around with cheap imitation crap. Skip a few beers, lattes, smokes, or whatever and pony up for the OEM gasket.
 
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