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First time GS1100 head gasket

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    #1

    First time GS1100 head gasket

    My friend Curtis rode down from Philly to meet me in Asheville, NC on my recent ride back to NY from GA. All went well until his bike started leaking like a sieve somewhere in WV and he finally left the bike and took the bus home from Ithaca, NY. This was after me pressure washing HIM in Scranton around 3am and then him continuing to oil his tire all the way to Ithaca. Yikes.... he shoulda said it was that bad on the road....


    Anyway He's going to haul his GS1100 and the '82 750 I just bought down there up to my place in a week or two and we're going to replace his VC gasket with one of the RealGasket ones and the headgasket with OEM (Or copper?), what else should he order up? The engine is supposed to have a fresh build <5,000 miles ago so I'm thinking we just need exhaust gaskets, head and base gaskets. Am I missing anything else? This will be my first time working on a non GS750ES engine and my first bike head gasket. Any links to (the many, many) good threads would be appreciated.

    /\/\ac
    Tags: None
    #2
    If you're doing the base gasket, you will need new o-rings for the bottom of the sleeves, there are also 4 oil seals for the corner bolts on the head. They say you should remove the breather from the valve cover for clearance but I've never had to.

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      #3
      Is the cam chain tensioner leaking at all? I'd rebuild that too if it wasn't already done...
      '85 GS550L - SOLD
      '85 GS550E - SOLD
      '82 GS650GL - SOLD
      '81 GS750L - SOLD
      '82 GS850GL - trusty steed
      '80 GS1100L - son's project bike
      '82 GS1100G - SOLD
      '81 GS1100E - Big Red (daily rider)

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        #4
        Thanks for the input guys, I'll make sure he gets those o-rings. I'm not 100% sure we're going to pull the cylinders but I want to have the base gasket and o-rings on hand. I'm think the tensioner is fine but if not it should be easy enough to do later on. Engine was rebuilt not too long ago and until it turn into a superfund site on wheels I didn't see any oil on the cases or under the pan.

        /\/\ac

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          #5
          Can you see the leak, or are you guessing it's the head gasket? I was just wondering.
          1983 GS1100E, 1983 CB1100F, 1991 GSX1100G, 1996 Kaw. ZL600 Eliminator, 1999 Bandit 1200S, 2005 Bandit 1200S, 2000 Kaw. ZRX 1100

          Comment

            #6
            Originally posted by Macmatic View Post
            Anyway He's going to haul his GS1100 and the '82 750 I just bought down there up to my place in a week or two and we're going to replace his VC gasket with one of the RealGasket ones and the headgasket with OEM /\/\ac

            Don't use Realgaskets on 16V motors they are not designed propoerly and you will ruin your tach gear on the cam.

            Comment

              #7
              Originally posted by rphillips View Post
              Can you see the leak, or are you guessing it's the head gasket? I was just wondering.
              It has significant leaks from both the head gasket area and the valve cover. When the engine is freshly cleaned its easy to see them starting so I'm sure the head gasket area is leaking. I haven't paid too much attention up to now but I'm pretty sure I've read about issues with MLS gaskets leaking on the GS1100?


              Originally posted by posplayr View Post
              Don't use Realgaskets on 16V motors they are not designed propoerly and you will ruin your tach gear on the cam.
              Does this also apply to the 8v with cable driven tach? Same friend also has a GS750 that I'm going to fix up for him later this year which has a real gasket installed.

              /\/\ac

              Comment

                #8
                Originally posted by Macmatic View Post

                Does this also apply to the 8v with cable driven tach?
                /\/\ac
                No 8V expert, but I think it does not as the 8V guys seem to like real gaskets.

                This issue is that the tach drive gear which meshes with the camshaft gear relies on specific spacing of the cam cover. To much space and the mesh is loose and the teeth skip ruining the exhaust cam.

                I think 8V motors the spacing is set in the head and not the cover so no problemo with stack height of the cover.
                ,

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