Oversize Piston Kits...

hmmm maybe motogp will start running 1260 kits...or heck even some turbo 1500...

oh thats right they run for 30 minutes flat out...

those big motors might get 30 passes......

what a good joke indeed

how about the same type of material out of my 35 yr old engine that still does not leak a drop....would that be any good

trianglelaguna wrote:

how about the same type of material out of my 35 yr old engine that still does not leak a drop....would that be any good

I would guess it has the stock fiber gasket? I've had pretty good luck with fiber but I'm not sure why copper is offered and seems to be pretty commonly used? Is one better than the other for specific applications?

i think they re-use em with a temper trick and they can do tear downs and run again ...tear down...run again...is one reason i remember.....also you run less area around the jugs right...i wonder if fiber start not having the width to stop seepage...

just thoughts..

you of do know course, with all the ribbing i dish out ,i still learn a lot of kz stuff from Jay and Larry and co...
i just always am amazed when i put the heels to a tired old 60 hp (they tell me) kz for an hour and park it with no drips...that it has been in service and romped on for so long ,trouble free..........

even the 35 yr old cam caps are as good as new for my needs....


your are running a trick motor and i can learn from what you have been through and what you settle on for my engine one day....

BTW...

is 45 to my door a good deal on a japan kz1000MKII side cover...another one and the sets are complete....

uh...yea...that's a great deal....but you already know that. Now when are you going to give up your source and share the wealth?!

The strange thing with my base gasket is that I have the same cylinders and sleeves that I've always had (same sleeve OD, although they have been bored larger now) and it never leaked a single drop of oil...probably around 10k miles on it. Now on my last rebuild it just barely looks a little wet...not even enough to form a drop after a couple hundred miles...but it's shiny. I probably wouldn't worry about it but I have to replace a valve seal anyway so it's coming apart. I have a copper head gasket that came with my piston kit but I never used it...I understand those are for blocks that have been o-ringed, right? Anyway, the old base gasket was fiber and held up really well, so I'll probably go that route this time too.

79MKII wrote:

APE Jay wrote:

That's why most pro stocker are less than 1100cc.

There's no replacement for displacement

How about base gasket material recommendations? Anyone?

I will bill you, for my opinion, it's worth about 2 cents. I prefer cash!

All materials work well, if done right. I would worry more about thickness, then material. Gasket thickness can make or break a project. What compression ratio, do you plan on ending up with? What kind of deck height do you want? The base gasket thickness is a major key, to a build. You might buy 10:1 pistons, but what is the finished compression ratio? It always boils down to CCing it, and doing the math. Anything less is just guessing. You might be taking 10:1 pistons and turning them into (9:1 or 8:1 or 11:1 or 12:1)Compression might be a key peice of information, when using pump gas.

These cases, blocks and heads have been through the wringer over the years.....Who knows what the guy before you, has done. You never know, did they mill the cases, mill the block or mill the head? It only takes a couple of dollars and your time, to figure out the compression ratio.

The replacement for displacement, is a combo that works well. The motor with the highest horsepower, doesn't always win races or championships.

One thing about oem gaskets, Kawasaki does not use the suppliers that made the original stuff. Gaskets, clutch plates, etc are now provided by cheaper aftermarket companies. I know the gaskets were made by Best Gasket for a while, now probably all Chinese.

We did a lot of work with CHP on their bikes ( before Calif. stopped paying their bills.) Even did some 1076 setups :ohmy:

They werte having a problem with the stock base gaskets pounding out on stock bikes, and starting to leak, which ment tearing the whole top end off just to replace the gasket with the same junk.

We took the problem to Cometic, and they made us some fiber base gaskets that stopped the problem. I do not know if todays fiber base Cometics are this same stuff.

APE Jay wrote:

One thing about oem gaskets, Kawasaki does not use the suppliers that made the original stuff. Gaskets, clutch plates, etc are now provided by cheaper aftermarket companies. I know the gaskets were made by Best Gasket for a while, now probably all Chinese.

We did a lot of work with CHP on their bikes ( before Calif. stopped paying their bills.) Even did some 1076 setups :ohmy:

They werte having a problem with the stock base gaskets pounding out on stock bikes, and starting to leak, which ment tearing the whole top end off just to replace the gasket with the same junk.

We took the problem to Cometic, and they made us some fiber base gaskets that stopped the problem. I do not know if todays fiber base Cometics are this same stuff.

Thanks Jay, that was damn good! Thank you for taking the time to share that with us. The "Made in China?"....We understand.

As far as my build goes, everything is set up to run at the stock base gasket thickness of .020", available in both fiber and copper. I'm only concerned with leaking right now, but you have some very good points there. I am the second owner and the original owner is a friend, so I know the history pretty well. Even have the original bill of sale from the dealer. I've owned it myself since 1988...will be 23 years this spring.

Cometic makes their own gaskets (about 5 miles from me) but I sure hope they don't buy their material from China.