kdx 220 head gasket

[Gone crazy]

Does anyone know where to get a factory or cometic head gasket only cheap? I need the sandwich type because my head has been milled and i need the clearance of the squish, My head was cut to use race gas so i cant use the shim gasket. Kawasaki wants 30.00 And i found one on ebay for 18.00 but they wanted 10.00 shipping???? If any one wants to buy a 10 thousnths shim gasket ill take 10.00 dollars for it plus postage its new not used. :bang:

 

[sr5bidder]

when your head was cut did you not consider having it cut for the cheaper gasket?

my head gasket is copper and I reused it using some permitex copper spray a gasket

try service honda/\ /\ /\ up there they are nice enough to sponsor the site

 

[Gone crazy]

Well never mind i found the answer to my problem my self, I have had several Wr.s and i have a great yamaha dealer to work with and i give all my after market bussiness to them for other brands.
they will sell me a whole top end kit for 22.00 Kawasaki wanted 30.00 just for the head gasket.

 

[Joburble]

my head gasket is copper and I reused it using some permitex copper spray a gasket

What kind of copper head gasket, do you mean just straight copper, as in, flat copper sheet?

 

[Dirtdame]

If you have or get a copper head gasket, you can make it completely reusable by taking it into the kitchen and heating it up on a stove burner (on the highest setting). Heat it until it smokes and starts to change color or even starts to turn a little red from the heat. Then throw it directly into a pan of cold water. This process is called annealing and then quenching. The copper has been squished while it is installed on the engine and it is somewhat compressed and stiff. When it is heated, all the molecules get to expand again. Quenching will cause a lot of the carbon and dirt to come right off the gasket and it will contract evenly and be clean, soft and ready to reuse. :cool:

 

[sr5bidder]

If you have or get a copper head gasket, you can make it completely reusable by taking it into the kitchen and heating it up on a stove burner (on the highest setting). Heat it until it smokes and starts to change color or even starts to turn a little red from the heat. Then throw it directly into a pan of cold water. This process is called annealing and then quenching. The copper has been squished while it is installed on the engine and it is somewhat compressed and stiff. When it is heated, all the molecules get to expand again. Quenching will cause a lot of the carbon and dirt to come right off the gasket and it will contract evenly and be clean, soft and ready to reuse. :cool:

I did not know that, thanks dirtdame...I believe I have got over a year on my reused head gasket without issue, next time I will try your method :cool:

 

[Joburble]

If you have or get a copper head gasket, you can make it completely reusable by taking it into the kitchen and heating it up on a stove burner (on the highest setting). Heat it until it smokes and starts to change color or even starts to turn a little red from the heat. Then throw it directly into a pan of cold water. This process is called annealing and then quenching. The copper has been squished while it is installed on the engine and it is somewhat compressed and stiff. When it is heated, all the molecules get to expand again. Quenching will cause a lot of the carbon and dirt to come right off the gasket and it will contract evenly and be clean, soft and ready to reuse. :cool:

I used to do this when I was a teenager on my old air cooled YZ125's, works real well, never had any probs. And that's why I was wondering if sr5bidder was just using a flat sheet of copper for a gasket. Does anyone know, is a straight copper gasket (no ridges , paperish bits and parts to be especially squished) suitable for a water cooled bike?

 

[pesky nz]

most watercooled bikes need O rings to seal the coolant and seal the head to the cylinder with no gasket (just an accurate fit)

 

[julien_d]

most watercooled bikes need O rings to seal the coolant and seal the head to the cylinder with no gasket (just an accurate fit)

we're not talking about "most bikes". This is in regards to a KDX. No o-rings between the head and the jug. Sorry.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KAWA...5439801QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

This has always looked like a good buy to me. I dunno who the guy is, but that gasket looks good. It should last you as long as you own the bike. I have a 73 kawi with a thick copper head gasket that's 38 years old and still works every time.

 

[Dirtdame]

is a straight copper gasket (no ridges , paperish bits and parts to be especially squished) suitable for a water cooled bike?

I wonder if it has something to do with a chemical reaction between the coolant, the aluminum and the copper. Maybe it creates extra corrosion. Or maybe because a water jacket doesn't get as hot, a solid copper gasket isn't required. :think:

 

[julien_d]

valid point. The solid copper gaskets seem to go away at around the advent of water cooling. Same goes for automotive water cooling. PC water cooling too. You don't mix copper and aluminum in a single system.

Guess I never thought about it from that angle before......

 

[pesky nz]

perplexed

we're not talking about "most bikes". This is in regards to a KDX. No o-rings between the head and the jug. Sorry.

I looked on kawasakipartshouse.com which shows a composit type gasket (probably steel layers) on 200 and 220 then to a bike in my workshop 2005 kdx 200 and my one has no visible gasket between head and cylinder. Your copper gasket advert says 0.032 thickness (too much to not see or perhaps a mod intended to lower compression for poor fuel quality) so perhaps we get a different spec motor in New Zealand. Both gaskets were priced under $21 OEM on partshouse. Personaly I would prefer the spring effect of a composit gasket on any motor used as a stressed frame member as I remember breaking cylinders on IT200 yams if you left the head stay on. I don't work at kawasaki shop anymore so can't look up New Zealand part system. If it helps I can enquire tomorrow at my local Kawasaki dealership. Copper, ally and coolant must mix OK as horrible old CX500 honda road bike has a copper radiator std ( I think coolant has anti electrolisis properties)

 

[Joburble]

Copper, ally and coolant must mix OK as horrible old CX500 honda road bike has a copper radiator std ( I think coolant has anti electrolisis properties)

I wonder if it's an issue when the copper is touching the ally and the coolant?

Oh, and those CX500's sounded lovely ;)

 

[julien_d]

we're not talking about "most bikes". This is in regards to a KDX. No o-rings between the head and the jug. Sorry.

I looked on kawasakipartshouse.com which shows a composit type gasket (probably steel layers) on 200 and 220 then to a bike in my workshop 2005 kdx 200 and my one has no visible gasket between head and cylinder. Your copper gasket advert says 0.032 thickness (too much to not see or perhaps a mod intended to lower compression for poor fuel quality) so perhaps we get a different spec motor in New Zealand. Both gaskets were priced under $21 OEM on partshouse. Personaly I would prefer the spring effect of a composit gasket on any motor used as a stressed frame member as I remember breaking cylinders on IT200 yams if you left the head stay on. I don't work at kawasaki shop anymore so can't look up New Zealand part system. If it helps I can enquire tomorrow at my local Kawasaki dealership. Copper, ally and coolant must mix OK as horrible old CX500 honda road bike has a copper radiator std ( I think coolant has anti electrolisis properties)

None of the KDX 200/220's use a composit type gasket. It's a crush type gasket. Thin metal, sometimes coated in copper. The bike in your workshop is missing it's gasket.

 

[adam728]

My thoughts on the o-ring vs head gasket thing.

O-rings are nice in that for manufacturers as they take some tolerance stack up out of the system. You are always seating the head directly to the cylinder, and you don't have to worry about a gasket being 0.032 +/- 0.004 inches (so one lot of parts might be 0.028" thick, the next could be 0.036" thick).

The second advantage to o-rings for the manufacturer is cost, they are dirt cheap, stamped gaskets are not. On modern bikes I bet a pair of o-rings costs the manufacturers something like 15-50 cents per bike, where a stamped gasket might be $2-$7. Everything is engineered based on cost now days. If you can take $5 out of a product that you build 5,000 a year of, well, that's an easy $25K extra for the company.

I've watched engineering changes that cost less than a penny get shot down based on cost (adds approx 0.25% cost to the part). Of course, when you are building millions of them a year, it adds up!

Just my opinion on why bikes now typically use o-rings.

 

[Dirtdame]

None of my old Bultacos even had head gaskets. That seemed to be a good design. :yeehaw: