RealGasket Problem - Heads Up

[AOD]

thanks to Joe Nardy and the other guys from Illinois that came out this weekend to work on...well my bike. After we checked the valve clearances and re-shimmed them, we cleaned the gasket surfaces, and went to install the new silicone RealGasket until...



see the problem?



how bout now?

Heads up to all 550 owners, 77-82, if you're ordering one of these. According to the real gasket page, http://www.realgaskets.com/files/motorcycle.htm , this is what my gasket should look like:



obviously there is an error in the gasket...so i'm gonna try getting a hold of Harold there at RG, and seeing what is up. I'll send him my pictures and i know he'll correct the problem. I have the valve cover off and cleaned up, so if his 'mold' for the gasket is wrong, i'll offer to send him my cover. I know 2 other guys in Chicago are planning on using this gasket...and i'm sure others of you will switch to it too.

~Adam

[jknappsax]

That's not good!

Did anyone notice if the gasket for the late-70's GS 750 was correct? I'm definitely planning on getting one; no scraping, not worrying about the chance of a piece of the old gasket falling into the crank-case no matter how careful you are, etc. This seems like a great product from a really good company/ guy. I wait to hear more developments.

[AOD]

i called Harold's number at RG on my girlfriends phone, and he just gave me a call back right now...sunday morning at 10am. this guy is really good.

i'm gonna email him the pictures, and he's gonna take a look at it this afternoon and get back to me.

~Adam

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Even the picture of what is supposed to be the correct gasket is not right.
Their gasket has an extra hole on the front left side that's not needed.
I can see the "correct" gasket has been turned over, compared to how you installed it in your first photo. If you flip the gasket over, how does it look? Maybe you can just snip off the extra gasket "hole"? Is the gasket still wide enough to seal if you snip off that piece?
By the way, those little half-moon rubber gaskets are notorious for leaking, even new ones. Put a little sealer on the curved part. JUST enough to spread good but not let any squirt into the inside of engine.

[Mastiff]

Keith Krause wrote:

Even the picture of what is supposed to be the correct gasket is not right.
Their gasket has an extra hole on the front left side that's not needed. ]

The gasket was supposed to be a universal gasket for 1977-1982 GS550's. We knew that the front section of the early ones were notoious for leaking. We figured that later versions eliminated the leak with that extra bolt in front where the gasket has a hole and the valve cover doesn't. The RG gasket probably fits them, but not the earlier GS550's. When Suzuki put the extra bolt in they must have moved the existing bolt on that side futher to the outside of the engine. This would even out the clamping pressure. We figured we could still use the new gasket by trimming off the excess where the new hole is if the other holes had lined up. However, with the existing bolt on the right side of the cover(the one just to the right of the the excess hole in the gasket) not having a correspond hole on the gasket, we figured we wouldn't get a good seal. Joe was kind enough to let Adam keep the bike in his garage until he does get the proper gasket.
I think Real Gasket wasn't aware of the extra bolt not being present on the earlier bikes, with the corresponding change in the closest bolt. What they show on their site is the same gasket Adam recieved, but turned left to right.

[Planecrazy]

Adam,

If the exact gasket isn't available, you could easily make this one work by cutting off the half moons that don't line up, and using one of them (with a touch of high temp rtv (to hold it in place) to surround the non-matching bolt hole. This will take care of the concern you have regarding even pressure on all mating surfaces. Personally, I doubt it would be a problem even if you left that area untouched, but better safe than sorry.

Enjoy!

Steve 8)

[AOD]

Put a little sealer on the curved part. JUST enough to spread good but not let any squirt into the inside of engine.

Keith, what kind of sealer? something like a glue type, like Silicone sealer? we used RTV originally...but when we pulled the cams out yesterday we pulled the moons out again...

~Adam

[Anonymous]

I know there are 16 bolt and 20 bolt gaskets for 750's. Watch for these on e-bay, vendors who know what they are doing will alert buyers to this.

83 GS750ED

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Yeah, a silicone sealer is fine. Just use a very small amount.
And remember, that new Real gasket takes very little torque to make it seal.

[Anonymous]

Do I see a problem with your top cam chain guide?

[saaz]

The cam guide looks very second hand!

[AOD]

so last night Ryan helped me figure out what the deal was with the gasket. Using bikebandit we found the 82 GS550 MZ - Katana had a goofy front bolt design. Harold at RealGaskets must have used that valve cover for his design.

i already sent him out my cover, so i'm gonna call him today and let him know whats up. he'll use my cover to make a 77-81 gasket, the 82 Katana gasket he has already, and if someone wants an 83-85 gasket, they have to send him their cover.

~Adam

[Don Lobacz]

This change in pattern also exists in the GS650 series. An 81 motor has the early 550 pattern, 82 and after have the 'improved' version.