Topic: The "not so complete" gasket kit

[Red750K1]

FYI, the Vesrah complete gasket kit for the CB750 does not contain everything for an overhaul. I had to grab a few misc. o-rings from the auto parts store and also the rubber plugs under the cam towers are not included so DON'T throw the old ones away. I re-used the old plugs with some three-bond and so far so good.  The kit was nice however, so far not a single leak and I rebuilt from the base gasket up, the price was right also at 50 bucks.

[edbikerii]

I used the 550 Vesrah top end set a few years ago, and sure enough the rubber plugs were missing from that one too.  I found also that the cam cover seal didn't seal properly.  It has leaked since day 1.  I just lived with it unhappily.  I finally ordered an OEM set last week to dry up the engine for real riding this summer.  The vendor says that the OEM Honda gasket set comes with the plugs, but I haven't received it yet.  The head gasket and o-rings from the Vesrah set seem to have worked mostly OK, though, so I won't pull the head, I'll just retorque.

FYI, the Vesrah complete gasket kit for the CB750 does not contain everything for an overhaul. I had to grab a few misc. o-rings from the auto parts store and also the rubber plugs under the cam towers are not included so DON'T throw the old ones away. I re-used the old plugs with some three-bond and so far so good.  The kit was nice however, so far not a single leak and I rebuilt from the base gasket up, the price was right also at 50 bucks.

[tmht]

FYI, the Vesrah complete gasket kit for the CB750 does not contain everything for an overhaul. I had to grab a few misc. o-rings from the auto parts store and also the rubber plugs under the cam towers are not included so DON'T throw the old ones away. I re-used the old plugs with some three-bond and so far so good.  The kit was nice however, so far not a single leak and I rebuilt from the base gasket up, the price was right also at 50 bucks.

Parts n More sells the plugs, for future reference...

[clarkjh]

You can still get the pucks from Honda.

James

[Tim.]

Yeah, even the OEM Honda kits don't include those little rubber frisbees anymore.  I bought a bunch extra when I did mine and no longer have a Honda SOHC4.  I paid $3 each at least I think.  If anyone wants them for 1/2 price let me know

[Mossy21]

The Vesrah Kit is by far the best I've ever used.  Great fit and no leaks. 

[Red750K1]

It's been almost a month now on the re-build . . . only one leak from the output shaft seal (must have used too much brake cleaner cleaning up the engine) but the engine is nice and tight!!!  so much for the leaky 750 myth.  I'm a happy rider!   Oh, bought some of those Bridgestone AC "vintage" bike tires; not bad at all and they look very stock. Only $51 front, $61 rear from americanmototire.com.  The paint should be done this week too, paint kit from vintagehondapaint.com is great! Cheers everyone

[tbone]

Just received an Athena brand gasket set for a CB750 1970-1975 from Rusty Riders LLC (ebay i.d. MrsSuperDeals)
$69.95 + S&H. Frisbees included. Gaskets appear to be of good quality. I'll elaborate more after the bike's been
on the road for a few miles.

[Mossy21]

I installed an Athena gasket kit in my 750 and every one leaked.    I was rotted.  I bought a Vesrah Kit and never leaked a drop.
If I were you, I wouldn't install the Athena.

[Red750K1]

Ahhh . . . . *sigh*   paint job is done!   Not perfect, I forgot to shut the air compressor off while shooting one time and the automatic start kicked in,  blew a little dust over my freshly painted candy coat, DOH! I was able to tack cloth just about all of it off though. Other than that the painting went flawless. No runs, not one! And I put on some heavy clear coats. The first couple coats of clear look like junk but after getting some thick wet ones on it got nice and shiny. The paint (mine is candy ruby red, original) looks just as deep and awsome as the original paint that wasen't sun faded.  I'll try to get some pictures up soon once she's all back together this weekend.   I highly reccomend the kit from vintagehondapaint.com (no don didn't pay me to say that!) Just be sure to sand down everything nice w/ 600 grit before even thinking about shooting the base/candy/clear, then plan on atleast 2-3 hours of shooting to get all the 3 coats on at once. Cheers!

[GNXFan]

Please do post some pics of your paint job. I have a red K1 that I'm wanting to repaint also. Did you use decals for the stripes?

[Red750K1]

yeah, I used vinyl decals from Z1enterprises.com.  They took a while to ship from their supplier in canada but they look great and went on nice, just follow the directions.  I'll get some pictures of the paint job up soon. 

[Krtismo]

I just got an Athena Gasket kit from Partsnmore.com for my '82 CB650SC, should I send this back? Should I try and find a Vesrah kit? Where can I find a Vesrah kit?

I have a leaky head gasket (I think those rubber "pucks" need to be replaced) and I dont want to have to fix this more than once.


Also, this is my first time doing a fix like this, feel free to send me some tips or advice. It would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

-Kurt

[tbone]

With all the "bad press" the Athena gaskets are getting I'm going to try the gasket set from Cycle X

It's complete with cam tower plugs and o-rings for the tappet covers.
They also boast that there head gasket has the bigger fire rings  than the others. (this is truly a place where bigger is better)
And, only $59.00!

I bought new fork tubes from them and the quality was first rate!

They build hypo SOHC 750 motors so there gaskets should be high quality.

www.cyclexchange.net

[Krtismo]

Unfortunately, I doesn't look like its available for the CB650SC.

[edbikerii]

I know it has been a while, but I should update this, as it reflects on the Vesrah gasket sets.

It turns out that the cam cover leak I had was NOT related to the Vesrah gasket set that I had installed.  Rather, the cam cover had cracked, probably due to the use of an impact wrench to get the philips-head screws out.  Replacing it with another cam cover solved the problem, even when using the old Vesrah seal.

So, the Vesrah gaskets worked pretty well, even though the kit did not come with the "hockey pucks".

[HondaMan]

Yeah, even the OEM Honda kits don't include those little rubber frisbees anymore.  I bought a bunch extra when I did mine and no longer have a Honda SOHC4.  I paid $3 each at least I think.  If anyone wants them for 1/2 price let me know

Did anyone ever take you up on this, Tintin? I need an extra set for a friend's leaking CB750F1.

[kayjohn]

I know this thread is an old one but I just finished assembly on a 78 using Cycle-x kit. There is a few O-rings missing that wouldn't be hard for Ken to add to the kit. All in all everything fit nice accept the starter cover seal (too small)