i received my exhaust gaskets from "tims". installed them this morning and am a little confused. placed the gaskets in the recess in the head. already had the collars and split rings on the headers (mac i believe). when i tighten down the collars on the exhaust studs the collars bottom out against the head surface BEFORE any contact is made with the header flange SO the header is not being pressed tight against the gaskets??? the only thing i can think of is when i assembled the collars and split rings i tapped the split rings into the collars so they were flush with the "head" side of the collars. the tims gaskets are not very thick and am not sure if that may be the issue? bob mentioned the kawi gaskets fit our bikes, are they thicker? it almost looks as though i need to stack 2 or 3 gaskets on top of each other to fill this header to exhaust port gap. anybody have any suggestions. below are a couple pics from today. looking a little more like a bike again. may be into paint soon, i am waiting to see the outcome of the "travesty's" paint job before i look into sending mine out to the same painter.
well. just after sending this question i was snooping around the site and answered my own question. i had the split rings in backwards from what i read. i just turned them all around and i appear to have a good header to gasket to head seat. one thing i am a little concerned about is it appears that the split rings could "spread apart" at the header flange and possibly miss the flange? is this a valid concern? is there a way to hold them tight against the header pipe so they contact the flange better?
Your split collars may be quite distorted, They seat in a recess in the flanges and cannot come out unless very out of shape. They can be hammered back to the correct shape.
kbart1 wrote:well. just after sending this question i was snooping around the site and answered my own question. i had the split rings in backwards from what i read. i just turned them all around and i appear to have a good header to gasket to head seat. one thing i am a little concerned about is it appears that the split rings could "spread apart" at the header flange and possibly miss the flange? is this a valid concern? is there a way to hold them tight against the header pipe so they contact the flange better?
thanks!
kent
That's a common mistake for someone who does this for the first time or has not done it in a while. The split collars sit inside the hole of the outer exhaust port and can't really come apart enough to miss the flange lip of the header. You should be fine.
do you see any issue idling and blipping the throttle to 2500rpm with these flanges backwards and having that 1/4" gap at most between the headers and gasket surface? my local shop said it wouldn't hurt to do that but i am just wondering your opinions. i have been running the engine periodically checking for oil leaks and tweaking things. i am worried about damaged exhaust valves due to this.
as of right now everything is together and all sealed up. sounds much better.
do you see any issue idling and blipping the throttle to 2500rpm with these flanges backwards and having that 1/4" gap at most between the headers and gasket surface? my local shop said it wouldn't hurt to do that but i am just wondering your opinions. i have been running the engine periodically checking for oil leaks and tweaking things. i am worried about damaged exhaust valves due to this.
as of right now everything is together and all sealed up. sounds much better.
thanks a lot!
kent
All I would do right now is hoping for the best and assume everything is O.K. ----except...looking at the last picture, it seems that one of the studs on cylinder No 4 is pulling out of the head. You may want to check this.
I have two questions for the posters:
For 'zxbob': Do you have the P/Ns for the Kawi 900/1000 exhaust gaskets handy? Would be appreciated for future reference.
For 'don': About the chrome-looking ring w/green backing - Where did you get them and do they have a Brand and P/N? Do they give a good seal after multiple uses?
Thanks
You see the gaskets Don refers to all the time on eBay. Don't know the seller off-hand, but I've used them and they can be re-used many times more than the copper ones (either Honda or Kawasaki). Just search CBX Parts for 'exhaust'.
daves79x wrote:You see the gaskets Don refers to all the time on eBay. Don't know the seller off-hand, but I've used them and they can be re-used many times more than the copper ones (either Honda or Kawasaki). Just search CBX Parts for 'exhaust'.
Dave
One guy sells them with a complete gasket kit, don't buy them in the kit form, the rest of the gaskets are not very good quality.
Jim-Jim wrote:I have two questions for the posters:
For 'zxbob': Do you have the P/Ns for the Kawi 900/1000 exhaust gaskets handy? Would be appreciated for future reference.
Thanks
I believe the Kawasaki part number is 18067-018
Bob
Good parts aint cheap ~ and cheap parts aint good !
Just got a set of 6 from 'Tasclassicmotorsports.com'. They look like the ones Don described; shiny (chrome) rings in the center and a green ring outside, top and bottom (peel off?). Only thing different is that I can't see anything in the exact center between the shiny rings; nothing that looks like foam. The rings look like they are slightly crushable. Are these the ones Don is talking about?
Yep, those are the ones. They crush a bit, but not much. They'll hold your collars out on the studs , but you'll be able to get the nuts fully threaded.