Where To Get Top End Gaskets From

[Guest]

Hi Guys. I have had to remove the cylinders and head from my GS550B and need a full top end gasket set. Where is the best place to get them from. I don't mind ordering from the US. Has anyone heard of PartsNMore, they have a full gasket kit (top and bottom) fo $49. I have read somewhere about some kits not including "O" rings that are required. Any info gratefully received.

Cheers
Don

[trippivot]

parts unlimited Vesrah gaskets are good quality. reusable if you don't glue them too much I like them.

[psyguy]

gidday mate
i bought a complete vesrah set from the ebay (for 850). happy with the quality but still not all gaskets included. from reading posts here, i don't think there's a true "complete" set out there
people (incl myself) have good experiences ordering from "z1enterprises"

[Suzuki_Don]

OK thanks guys. I will look up both these suppliers and compare prices and freight.

[waterman]

I don't know what the shipping would be but you can out bid me for these if you want. I am not going over 30 on these since I have a set already. Thought I might need another set down the road.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-VESRAH-TOP-END-GASKET-SET-FOR-GS550-SUZUKI_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35601QQihZ008QQitemZ180211352163QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Should fit your 550 fine. One glaring omission in vesrah is the cam tensioner gaskets is missing. Easily made from gasket material, but the principle of a complete kit... Also, some of the small orings for bottom end and oil pump seals are not included. Would like to see kit with seals for gear shift lever, clutch lever, and so on.

If you get a vesrah kit, note that there are 4 washers that go on the corner studs of the head gasket that are usually built into OEM suzuki head gasket. Please don't ask me how I know, could very well be reason why I wanted two kits for a bike.

[Suzuki_Don]

I don't know what the shipping would be but you can out bid me for these if you want. I am not going over 30 on these since I have a set already. Thought I might need another set down the road.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-VESRAH-TOP-END-GASKET-SET-FOR-GS550-SUZUKI_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35601QQihZ008QQitemZ180211352163QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Should fit your 550 fine. One glaring omission in vesrah is the cam tensioner gaskets is missing. Easily made from gasket material, but the principle of a complete kit... Also, some of the small orings for bottom end and oil pump seals are not included. Would like to see kit with seals for gear shift lever, clutch lever, and so on.

If you get a vesrah kit, note that there are 4 washers that go on the corner studs of the head gasket that are usually built into OEM suzuki head gasket. Please don't ask me how I know, could very well be reason why I wanted two kits for a bike.

Thanks Waterman I will take you up on that. Hope no one else bids. I messaged the seller and he can do the freight for $18. So that's still quite cheap compared to buying from a shop.
Maybe you can answer a few questions for me. Does the Vesrah kit include the large "O" rings that go on the cylinder spigots between the cylinders and the crankcase. Is the cylinder base gasket included, what about the elongated hole in the base gasket - is there an "O" ring that goes in there. Do they include gudgeon circlips and the four copper washers that go on the top of the cylinder head on the four corner studs. If the "O" rings that go with the cylinder head are not included I assume you cannot buy them from Suzuki as a separate part. So where do I get them from and are they made of special material to handle the heat generated in there.

Also do you know how the cam chain guides fit in and are attached at the bottom end. How can I be sure they are attached properly. Very hard to look down inside cam chain tunnel as the frame rails are directly above it, and I cannot see the attachment points. If I knew how it worked I might have some chance on making sure they attached properly before buttoning everything back together again.

Thanks again for all the help.
Cheers Don

[bwringer]

Does the Vesrah kit include the large "O" rings that go on the cylinder spigots between the cylinders and the crankcase.
YES


Is the cylinder base gasket included, what about the elongated hole in the base gasket - is there an "O" ring that goes in there.
YES, YES!


Do they include gudgeon circlips
NO

and the four copper washers that go on the top of the cylinder head on the four corner studs.
YES!

[waterman]

Thanks Waterman I will take you up on that. Hope no one else bids. I messaged the seller and he can do the freight for $18. So that's still quite cheap compared to buying from a shop.
Maybe you can answer a few questions for me. Does the Vesrah kit include the large "O" rings that go on the cylinder spigots between the cylinders and the crankcase. Is the cylinder base gasket included, what about the elongated hole in the base gasket - is there an "O" ring that goes in there. Do they include gudgeon circlips and the four copper washers that go on the top of the cylinder head on the four corner studs. If the "O" rings that go with the cylinder head are not included I assume you cannot buy them from Suzuki as a separate part. So where do I get them from and are they made of special material to handle the heat generated in there.

Also do you know how the cam chain guides fit in and are attached at the bottom end. How can I be sure they are attached properly. Very hard to look down inside cam chain tunnel as the frame rails are directly above it, and I cannot see the attachment points. If I knew how it worked I might have some chance on making sure they attached properly before buttoning everything back together again.

Thanks again for all the help.
Cheers Don

I will confess that I haven't torn my 550 apart yet, nor do I have a vesrah 550 kit at my disposal to confirm every part that comes in the kit. I have gone through a 650 twice, and will be doing a different 650 very soon. I hope that this doesn't dissuade you since the 550 and 650 are very similar. So with that disclaimer, I will digress.

My 650 vesrah kits had the large cylinder orings, base, head, valve cover gaskets, generator, clutch, points (signal generator) cover gaskets. Intake orings, valve shaft seals, exhaust gaskets. I am probably missing a few, but I know specifically these were included.

So on to your questions, yes kit contains large orings for under cylinders and I think the small, elongated pear shaped orings that go around base gasket oil jets (not sure since 650g didn't have these, my athena gasket kit for 550 does have these). It did have four "washers" that go on four corner studs at head gasket, did not have the copper washers used under the head nuts to clamp head down. I forgot the head gasket washers the first time I did it and had to do again. I reused the copper washers under the nuts to hold head down, could replace if wanted, didn't see any need.

My english to australian converter isn't working well, but I believe gudgeon circlips would be wrist pin circlips to hold piston to connecting rod by piston wrist pin; not included in kit but very cheap from suzuki dealership. Btw, just opened a 650 oil pan and dug one out of oil sump:shock:, looked in good shape. Lesson here is when removing pistons, stuff plenty of rags in large holes around connecting rods so no little part goes missing...

If the 550 is like 650, the front cam chain guide is removable when valve cover and camshafts have been removed. Rear guide can only be removed when cases are split. The front guide fits down into grooves and is pretty easy to make sure it is installed correctly, just remember to replace before you install exhaust camshaft. That should about do it, if not please repost new thread. I am not a 550 expert but there are plenty on the board whom are. A new post will draw more to the discussion and be better able to help. Good luck.

[waterman]

Obviously, Bwringer is much more succinct and a quicker typer to boot\\/, thanks for backing me up. He is an (the) expert on all things Gs.

[Suzuki_Don]

Thanks WATERMAN. You are a CHAMP. You have answered all my questions and put my mind at ease on the cam chain guide. You are correct the front one did come out OK. The rear guide I was not able to remove which tallies with your comment about splitting the cases.

I have just checked the pistons and they are 1/2 mm oversize. Alpha Sports shows the rings for these piston as unavailable. May have to use old ones.

Thanks again heaps.

BTW Gudgeon pins and wrist pins are the same thing, you mentioned finding the circlip in the sump -- when I lifted the cylinders off my crankcase the dirt and grime off the wasted cylinder studs fell into the crankcase cavity. I will have to remove sump and try and wash any debri through with kerosene or similar.

Cheers Don

[Suzuki_Don]

Thanks Waterman I Won The Gaskets On Ebay $41

Thanks Waterman for helping me out. I won the top end gasket set on EBAY for $41 and picked up a full set of .5mm O/S rings for all four pistons from MRSSUPERDEALS (Rusty Riders LLC) for $33. They have heaps of full sets of piston rings for all types of bikes for anyone interested.

Cheers Don

[waterman]

No problem, now get the bike fixed:-D. Thanks for the tip on the rings, could use a set for my 550. Good luck and take some pics.

[Suzuki_Don]

No problem, now get the bike fixed:-D. Thanks for the tip on the rings, could use a set for my 550. Good luck and take some pics.

OK. Catch ya lata

[stroka]

Hi Waterman and everyone else!
I'm just about to order a Vesrah Gasket kit for my "new" and first ever '82 GS650G.
I was wondering what you would recommend to get along with the kit?
Any extra gaskets or tools?
The bike has an oil leak through the head gasket and I was also planning to tune up the carbs (I've got the o'rings and the boot gaskets already).
Is there something else I should do or should pay attention to?
Thanks!

[waterman]

Stroka, you sound like you have about all you need. One critical piece is a good repair manual. Take care removing exhaust bolts, they tend to snap easily. Likewise, use a torque wrench when reassembling motor so that you don't strip out bolt holes. Check and change valve shims when reassembling. Sure I am forgetting something. Post back as you progress.