OEM base & C.head gasket-vesrah the rest

[kng254]

My base gasket and cylinder head gasket are weeping oil.
So what I've learned from searchs here is Vesrahs base and head gasket are basically junk and to go with OEM.
So I'm going use an OEM base and head gasket and the rest of the gaskets ill use from the vesrah kit.
How does that sound any suggestions will be much appreciated.
Thanks Chris.

[BlackStar]

Use OEM O-rings and seals too. Other than that you should be OK since the head and base gaskets are the biggest PITA to change. Anything else would be easy to change out if they would happen to leak.
I used a Vesrah gasket set in mine with OEM O-rings and seals. Had to change out the base gasket in about a year. Everything else is OK so far. I only use OEM now.

[Suzuki_Don]

+1 with BLACKSTAR. I only use OEM except for the valve cover gasket. A MUST is OEM for the valve guide seals, don't be tempted to use Vesrah, because to replace them when they fail the head has to come off again.

[Do Little]

Anybody ever tried the Athena kits?

[salty_monk]

Nessism has some Recent experience on this mate...
Still managing to ride or is your season finished now?
Dan

[kng254]

Still riding I just got a good price on progressive suspension front and back so I installed the 12 series shocks and sold the fork springs to a gsr member.
It's supposed to be really cold the and possible snow so I think that's my excuse to pull the head and do the gaskets.

[Nessism]

Anybody ever tried the Athena kits?

The Athena base gaskets suck - mine extruded out because the material couldn't take the clamping force. The other gaskets seem serviceable to me but aren't of the same quality as the OE stuff. Athena gaskets seem more papery, while OE gaskets are more solid, and almost feel rubbery due to the material they use. Many of the Athena kits use a MLS head gasket, which seems okay to me, but after the negative experience with the base gasket you are on your own with Athena.

[DimitriT]

I've done two topends on my bike in the last couple of years to repair a holed piston and stripped plug threads.

The first time I used only OEM stuff but I was careless with torque and surface prep.

The result was that after one season the base gasket started leaking badly.

The second time (about 3k miles ago) was done with a cheap kit off ebay. This was a Vesrah-style kit but sold direct from the manufacturer. Cost me less than $40 shipped.

But this time I was careful to clean the surfaces, apply sealer where it was needed and use the correct torque.

I rode the whole season (in both hot and cold conditions) and so far it is sparkling clean.

The only issue I had was a couple of the valve seals felt too loose after I pushed then on so I tossed them and used a couple of OEM seals I had left over.

[DimitriT]

The Athena base gaskets suck - mine extruded out because the material couldn't take the clamping force. The other gaskets seem serviceable to me but aren't of the same quality as the OE stuff. Athena gaskets seem more papery, while OE gaskets are more solid, and almost feel rubbery due to the material they use. Many of the Athena kits use a MLS head gasket, which seems okay to me, but after the negative experience with the base gasket you are on your own with Athena.

The extruding you describe here happened to me with an OEM base gasket. I attributed
it to over torquing the head but it sounds like it might not be the cause.

The last time I replaced the base gasket I used sealer around the oil carrying areas.
I got the idea because the original gasket on the bike had sealer on it so if its good enough
for the factory its good enough for me to use. So far so good.

[pete]

I couldn't find a OEM gasket kit for 450, seems they no longer exist, and buying all the individual gaskets OEM would've killed my budget.

I had a long read of lots of scary posts about Athena and Vesrah, so I've gone the path of a OEM base gasket and Athena for the rest.

Everything in the crank cases (oil seals and O rings) is OEM also.

I can't give a status report yet as my motor's still going together, but if you can afford to use OEM, do it.

I'm not sure on the valve seals yet, they come with the Athena kit but I'll see how I go, might be better to OEM those too.

[Agemax]

complete full suzuki gasket set for me, on my gs1k except for the cometic head gasket to match the 1085 big bore. never leaked anywhere.
maybe a bit more expensive but like they say.....you pay for what you get