gaskets

[wolfie]

I would like to replace my cylinder, head gaskets, and associated o rings on my 81 gs850gl this winter. Can anyone recomend a good place to get gasket sets for said bike? I've read up on the Real Gaskets, and will probably get one for my valve/cam cover.
Thanks,
Wolfie

[bwringer]

I've always had excellent results with the Vesrah kits, and they have always seemed to be very high quality and a perfect fit. The head gasket is a much improved design over the OEM head gasket, with a much better system of oil passage seals. Others swear by OEM Suzuki gaskets.

There are less expensive sets made by "Athena" on eBay, but these are not as nice as the Vesrah sets. However, I have used them before in a pinch and I didn't have any gasket-related problems. I did have to pull out the dremel tool and fix a defect (misplaced dowel pin hole) in an Athena head gasket, but it worked OK.

Be aware that the sets leave out some crucial seals and gaskets you might need to order from BikeBandit or Ron Ayers. For example, the seals in the tach drive, the intake boot o-rings, the seals and o-rings in the cam chain tensioner, and all bottom end oil seals are not included. The case cover and oil pan gaskets are the only lower engine gaskets included. I think they also leave out the oil pressure switch o-ring.

CRC2 is one good source for Vesrah kits:

http://crc2onlinecatalog.com/

Rebuilding the cam chain tensioner and tach drive (with part numbers):

http://bwringer.com/gs/camchaintens.html

http://bwringer.com/gs/tachcableseals.html

[bwringer]

Oh, and definitely get the RealGaskets for your valve cover and breather! Highly recommended.

[Chris Daniel]

I just got done doing a topend rebuild on my '83 650. I used a Vesrah set I got from Dennis Kirk, I would definatly recommend these gaskets to anyone. Nice quality and so far no leaks.

The ONLY thing I didnt like was the head gasket did not have TOP stamped anywhere on the gasket.....so I had to compare it to the old gasket to figure out which way it went on. Other than that little hangup no problems.

[wolfie]

thanks