Difference in Gasket Kits

[Guest]

I have been looking at gasket sets for my 1981 gs450l. The engine has a few leaks and its time tom start fixing them. So far I have the seals to rebuild my timing chain tensioner and the seal for my clutch rod. I have been looking at engine gasket sets. Which way is better to use, NOS Suzuki kits or and after market gasket kit? Is there a big difference between them

[cowboyup3371]

You'll want to go with OEM (can still get them new) as they'll seal better. Many folks have issues with the aftermarkets (Vesrah, Cometic, etc) as they tend to leak more. Do a titles only search on gaskets and you'll get a lot of information about them.

[Nessism]

Yes search. You will get lots of responses by ME in the various threads you find on the subject. Bottom line: OEM is best, and some aftermarket gaskets are almost criminal in their poor quality.

[rapidray]

The ONLY exception I will say is that Cometic gaskets are good. I use them & STOCK Suzuki only. Vesrahs are like throwing your money in the toilet! Ray.

[pete]

Same with Athena... crap!

I bought an Athena kit for my rebuild and have regretted it ever since... at least I got a genuine Suzuki base gasket!

I have had to swap out the valve cover gasket, breather cover gasket, and cam chain tensioner gasket so far as they never stopped weeping. The replacement Suzuki genuine gaskets are weep/leak free.

The only thing to be careful of with the 450 is that they changed the valve cover bolt pattern somewhere between 81/82 from a 12 bolt to 15 bolt configuration and they are not interchangeable.

[Mekanix]

OEM, There are many kits, they will work for a while...

But its 2 x the $ for a second kit when it fails VS 1 x $ for OEM and forget about it leaking after that. Simple math Eh!

GS 500 gaskets can be used as well. Almost all except head and cylinder gaskets are the same part numbers or superseded.

So the oil seal will not be obsolete for a long time and same for the case gaskets.

+1 on cometic too.