some general questions on gaskets

[spawningvat]

Hello Everyone:

I just thought up some more questions on gaskets. What is the difference between the ebay headgaskets for a 79 gs550e and oem besides price? The ebay ones are about $25 while the oem is about $85.

Has anyone had any bad experiences with either?

Where did you buy yours and what brand is it?

Did you replace the rectangular o-ring around the cam chain?

Which is preferred for the valve cover gasket: a rubber/reuseable one from realgasket or oem fiber?

Please tell me anything else I might need to know about gaskets.

Thanks again.

/s/ Sean

[Johnny K]

Vesrah gaskets is all I have to say. I purchased one about a month ago and it has everything to do your top end. The other guys will tell you specifics, but vesrah is the way to go.

[psyguy]

i used vesrah "complete" set, happy with quality, but it did miss a gasket or o-ring (or two)

so make sure that the set does have what you need (and order anything missing separately)

i reused cam cover gasket a few times with no prob (grease it lightly)

[psyguy]

oh yes, everyone praises "z1enterprises.com" as THE place to get stuff

[chef1366]

Cometic or Suzuki gaskets for head gasket and base gasket. Ebay cheapo for the rest.

I hear Real gasket for the valve cover gasket but never used myself.

I buy most of my gaskets from Georgefix off of Ebay.

[Nessism]

Another vote for Vesrah gaskets. Suzuki gaskets are great as well but crazy expensive for the head gasket.

Real Gaskets are great for the bigger GS engines but the 550 has the tach drive in the valve cover and one member had problems because the gasket is too thick - caused the tach gear to chew up the teeth.

[themess]

Lots of companies make knock-off parts. Some also make OEM parts. The two might be the same, or the difference might be big. Working for Federal Mogul in the '90s, and for Firestone for 13 years before that, I dealt with OEM specs. A part that looks simple can easily have a dozen pages of specs. The non-OEM company that makes the knock-off can't get the specs: they buy a part and try to copy it. The dimensions are likely to be correct, but things like chemical composition and heat treating are probably wrong. So something assembles well, but it can't stand the heat or the oil. Or some angle looks OK by eye, but it's a fraction of a degree off when tolerances must be very tight in that area. Or maybe it works fine.

Unless a part is inexpensive, and very easy to change, and does't affect safety, my advice is to use OEM or better.

[paintmann111]

Vesrah uses the OEM specs right? I heard they are the best aftermarket gaskets as far as quality is concerned.

Oh, and Athena is the other type right?

[psyguy]

Vesrah uses the OEM specs right?

head gasket from vesrah was somewhat different from the oem, a lot more fiddly to position and tighten down in the correct position, so next time i'm going with the oem for that one.
also, one of the side covers' gaskets was a little different too (but it didnt matter)