gasket material

[catbed]

i have some gasket material that says "rubberized fiber" and on the website of the company it says it withstands up to 350 degrees. is this ok to make a valve cover gasket or should i get a different kind. it 1/32 inch thick.

[Nessism]

Sounds about right. Measure the thickness and compare to the stock gasket to be sure. A piece of sharpened tubing works well to cut out the bolt holes; punch them through with a hammer.

Good luck and share a photo or two of your process.

I made a float bowl gasket once...works fine but took a ton of time.

[Ironriot]

A another good tip for punching those holes EASILY is to just use a hole puncher. Don't know if you have one or not but I used one we had laying around and it worked beautifully. I just made my own valve cover gasket and it looks pretty good

[BassCliff]

Mr. catbed,

From what I've read in this forum, the oil temperature should stay below 300 degrees (normal is about 200-250 degrees). I don't have an oil temperature gauge on my bike. If you'd care to look, there is a valve cover gasket fabrication guide on my little website. Just click the link in my sig.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[hampshirehog]

Nessism - you've still got one more hole to make in your gasket!

Wally

[Nessism]

Nessism - you've still got one more hole to make in your gasket!

Wally

That last hole was there for some other carb model, my bike did not need it cut out so I stopped.

[bwringer]

That material will work fine, but crikey, that sounds like it'll take ages.

Might I suggest....?

http://realgaskets.com/files/motorcycle.htm

Is there some good reason that hours of pecking away for possibly dubious results is better than spending a few bucks? Or is that a personal question?

[Joe Nardy]

i have some gasket material that says "rubberized fiber" and on the website of the company it says it withstands up to 350 degrees. is this ok to make a valve cover gasket or should i get a different kind. it 1/32 inch thick.

That material will work fine, but crikey, that sounds like it'll take ages.

Might I suggest....?

http://realgaskets.com/files/motorcycle.htm

Is there some good reason that hours of pecking away for possibly dubious results is better than spending a few bucks? Or is that a personal question?

Catbed,

What bike is the gasket for? It seems the RealGaskets work better on the 8 valve motors because they have more surface area. I had a RealGasket on my '83 1100E (16 valve). It squirted out twice and started leaking. I was very careful to have perfectly dry surfaces when I installed the RealGasket and used an inch-pound torque wrench to get the proper torque. I replaced it with a stock gasket and haven't had any problems since. One trick with the stock gasket is to put a thin layer of grease on both sides of the gasket before installing it. This will save you a lot of time and trouble scraping the surfaces next time you remove the valve cover. I have an old valve cover gasket in my garage that was on the bike for years. I had applied grease to it when I installed it and it came off with no residue whatsoever. I could probably use it again if necessary. The OEM gaskets or aftermarket replacements are readily available and aren't very expensive.

Thanks,
Joe

[bwringer]

Oh yeah -- forgot to mention that the Realgaskets are sometimes a problem on the 16V engines.

The sealing surfaces are wider and less intricate on the 8V engines, so the RealGaskets work beautifully. And truth be told, sometimes I've reinstalled a RealGasket on a GS850 when the surfaces aren't surgically clean :shock: , and never had a problem.

One interesting tidbit is that I installed a new RealGasket last week on a GS850 engine I was rebuilding, and they seem to be made of a much stiffer silicone material nowadays. Don't know what this means, exactly.

[bwringer]

Judging from some other posts, "catbed" is working on a GS850G, year unknown.

So a RealGasket would be The Right Stuff.