Cruzinimage GS1000 gasket set

[kochic]

Hi,
My blue "79 GS1000 is in need of a rebuilt, it's burning oil almost like a stove.
I had good success before with Cruzinimage pistons but I never used their gasket.
No New gaskets are available from Suzuki and the old OEM I found are really dry and brittle.
I'm looking for a full set, ordering separate gasket on ebay is not really worth it with the shipping and custom fee.

Anybody used their gasket set?

Thanks
Marc

[Syd]

Hi Kochic - I've recently rebuilt my GS1000G engine with a Cruzin' Image gasket kit. I too found OEM gaskets virtually impossible to find and the cost for individual gaskets, plus shipping and the Australian Governments Goods and Services Tax (GST) made it financially unviable.

All of the gaskets appeared to be of reasonably good quality including the O Rings that came with the kit. Of course, like anything, time will tell.

I had 1 issue though with the cylinder head gasket. When I placed it on the top of the barrels, it would bow upward as if the very outer punched punched holes were not lined up with the outside head/barrel studs. All of the other holes lined up perfectly.

I spent a long time deliberating if I should use that head gasket and in the end, after a bit of persuasion, managed to get things in order. Again, time will tell.

[kochic]

thanks for the reply, I have 2 new head gasket, the last 1000 I build I used a MLS head gasket.
Marc

[Brendan W]

As time goes on more of us will have no option but to go aftermarket for gaskets.
There was at time the name Athena was a go to. Something happened and we see horror stories. I cannot unsee that melting green base gasket.
The last set I got was NE Don't know if they even exist anymore.
The headgasket corner holes did not line up and needed work to drop on cleanly and the fire rings were not centered on the bores.
The stem seals were pure junk. You could feel it fitting them. I went and got better elsewhere.
Factory advice is factory gasket dry. Nothing else should be needed.
My base gasket deck was badly scored from some gouger removing a previous gasket.
I ended up, on advice from way back, spraying the base gasket with two coats of VHT aluminium paint.
Everything worked out fine but I had to mix and match and use common sense.

[Grimly]

I used OEM base gasket, NE gasket set for the head and a set of Viton valve seals.
No problems so far.

[kochic]

last GS engine I done was with a mix of Vesrah and OEM gasket, I had to do this because I used a GS1100 GK complete top end on a gs1000 ccrankcase.
Not long ago you can have everything from Suzuki, they discontinued lots of service parts in the last 3 years
Marc

[GregT]

For a number of European bikes Athena has been the only option for some years. They've upped their game and it's now rare to hear any negative comments

Specifically with GS1000's one problem they had was the base gasket oval O rings which were not thick enough to give the correct crush.
There was at least one batch of OE gasket sets which had the same problem.
Haven't had a problem in that area for some years now - but they're always worth checking before assembly.

[kochic]

I found an Athena gasket set in my spares, I will try to determine the age of it tomorrow.
Marc

[Nessism]

I found an Athena gasket set in my spares, I will try to determine the age of it tomorrow.
Marc

Never use GREEN Athena base gaskets. You have been warned. And their other gaskets, like valve cover gaskets, are marginal at best.

[kochic]

I remember reading about the infamous green base gasket, I looked and I have 2 athena base gasket, one OEM and another from unknown maker.
Marc