covers leaking

[Robert Luland]

Gary, my name is Bob. For starter if you don't follow this to the T, it won't work. So sit back and let me bore you. If your tins gasket surface looks more like a moon scape. Chuck them in the trash as nobody smokes anymore. Let's start with the myths. I was polishing my pans until 3:00am because some jack ass on the forum told me to. You could polish that bucket till the cows come home and it won't do a damm thing for sealing it to a head but some dizzy ding dong told another dizzy ding dong. You get the point. Let's move onto the gasket stuff. Screw thick gaskets and cork. Why would you use something that only allows more area for oil to crawl though? You want to use the thinnest gasket you can find. If I remember right. We carry a James gasket on our website that is .031 or about. Let's move on to the number one reason for failure. Filth! Modern gasket sealers do not like filth and more importantly they do not like petroleum. I mean they hate the shit and absolutely will not work if it's present. This includes even oil off your skin (Don't touch clean surfaces with you bare hands). The next move is Clean, Clean, and clean some more. Take a clean new WHITE rag and soak it with lacquer thinner and wipe the pan and the heads gasket surface. Keep wiping the head until the rag stays white. Make sure the rag remains wet so it's getting into all the knocks and cranny's and keeps getting the oil out. I can begin to tell you how important this step is. Just because it looks clean? It's not. You can glass bead a panhead to the point that it looks spotless but throw it in a pot of boiling water for 30 minutes and you will have an oil slick on top of the water. It was never clean. Now the sealant. I have probably used ever goop in a tube out there over the years and nothing works better than Threebond brand XXXX (I will but the number in the morning). It is also marketed by Yamaha as Yamabond 5 but the Threebond stuff is a third of the price. This stuff is incredible but only if ya follow all the steps. Let's move on to application. I can't begin to tell you the amount of motors I've opened up to find goop in oil journals and just about every hole it could find its way into. Gas and oil will not break down modern goop. So let's move onto gasket prep 101. I collect those cardboard backing from clipboard pads (Try to find smooth cardboard for this step, not lumpy corrugated). Lay your gasket on top. Smear a light coating of sealant. Pick it up and turn it over and repeat smear any excess sealant off the gasket. Do this a couple of times. Keep in mind here that the gasket only has to be impregnated with sealant and no more. Now install it on your nice clean surfaces. Pop on your d ring and lightly snug down your pan screws. There is no reason to go hog wild here. Slightly torque them down evenly. It's dumb shit like crank the screw down that made Helicoil rich. Good luck mates, Bob Luland

[panhead]

respect_others.jpg

I had to remove 2 posts due to their content. Please respect each other.

[Robert Luland]

The name of that Goop is ThreeBond 1194. The site won't let me edit the post. Bob Luland

[panhead]

The site won't let me edit the post

Posts can be edited until 90 minutes after posting.

[Lowbikemike]

I had a problem with my pans leaking and was dreading the repair, and potential redo. It a simple job to get the heads off, but its still a pain.

I used Bob's method and it worked great. I used the thicker James gaskets though, the thin ones were a bit too thin. I had also sanded my pans to try to attain a perfect sealing surface but never really got them flat. I think the key is good gasket materials, a reasonably flat surface, and good surface prep.

I do have a version of the teflon (or whatever they are) gaskets I purchased if someone wants to try them. I think they are similair to the Accurate Engineering gaskets you could get once upon a time.

[6hds]

Sorry my thread got 2 posts deleted. Also sorry I missed their content. Going on 200 miles and the cork gaskets are dry. Also enjoy the new bikers asking what kind of gasket material is that? Gary

[nmaineron]

I have good luck coating my gaskets with hi temp grease,it won't melt and the gaskets don't tear or rip or leak..

[panhead]

Also sorry I missed their content

They were not related to the subject.