Gasket Fitting

M

MonkeyTS

New member
Location
Cheshire United Kingdom
Hi, firstly my apologies if I've already posted this, but I couldn't find it? 🤷 So I'll post my question again. When fitting new gaskets, is it advisable to soak them in oil beforehand? If so for how long? Also do you use silicon gasket sealant as well? or not? Thanks.

Richard
 

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So, Grease seems the recommended advice so far. The loctite silicon sealant can go back to Halfords. What about soaking in oil before hand ? Or not necessary if using grease?
Thanks for your help & support 👍🏻
 
The short answer is no. Don't bother soaking it in oil.

The longer answer is that oil shouldn't soak into the gasket material. If it does, then it'll soak through while it's in service and the joint will leak.

Where did the soaking in oil idea come from? I've not heard of anyone doing that with a gasket before, and I'm an old bugger that's been around motorcycles for 50+ years. It seems a rather pointless exercise. The only kind of sealing device I've ever used that had to be soaked in oil before installation was the timing shaft seal on a 1948 Vauxhall car that I had when I was a teenager. But that seal was made of felt, and it needed to be impregnated with oil for lubrication. Hmm, come to think of it, it must have been a crankshaft seal (not timing shaft) because it was the crankshaft end that poked out through the timing cover. It had a fan belt pulley on it.
 
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drag them through your fingers with grease to coat both sides, then fit them, but (from the pictures) you are working on the gearbox sprocket side, so be carefull with alignement of the shafts and the up/down eccentric screw adjustment for the gear change mechanism, and be sure you have the rear chain on the sprocket before refitting the inner cover.

why have you had these covers off?

green gaskets generally dont fit very well at all, (and the appearace is absolutely vile (sorry about that) often there is gasket "hanging out" of the flanges once fitted, but you can get proper grey/black ones that fit exactly from Phil Todd, or me for the same price.

CLEM
 
Soaking the gasket in oil is from the days of regular paper gaskets which if old could shrink and become very brittle causing the gasket to crack. I have a box of BSA and Triumph gaskets from the 1950's and they will break if you even try to bend them. If your using gaskets made in the 1970's and earlier you can see this problem. Modern gaskets, this problem does not exist.

As for grease on the gasket, the best choice in synthetic grease if you have some as petroleum oils won't dissolve it and it makes a little bit better seal. Although any grease will work.
 
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CLEMTOG said:
drag them through your fingers with grease to coat both sides, then fit them, but (from the pictures) you are working on the gearbox sprocket side, so be carefull with alignement of the shafts and the up/down eccentric screw adjustment for the gear change mechanism, and be sure you have the rear chain on the sprocket before refitting the inner cover.

why have you had these covers off?

green gaskets generally dont fit very well at all, (and the appearace is absolutely vile (sorry about that) often there is gasket "hanging out" of the flanges once fitted, but you can get proper grey/black ones that fit exactly from Phil Todd, or me for the same price.

CLEM
Click to expand...
The covers are off, due to the long drawn out process, which started in the summer, or was It spring 🤔, anyway all started with the sticking clutch plates, which was eventually sorted, plates out, separated, cleaned etc. Then the mother of all bollocks happened when I tried to bleed the, clutch fluid, to my dismay, the bleed nipple setup on the case, came adrift!😳 a small hairline crack, became not so small. Result was fluid leaking, down the case, & behind. Next chapter was eventually getting Keith at Laverdascotia to repair/ modify, with the removal of the Slave cylinder bleed assembly. So now it's just the normal fitting into the slave cylinder, with a new bleed nipple adapter, which, I now understand, after much head scratching, then on the blower to Keith, needs to be fitted up by the master cylinder. The next chapter is, my clutch master cylinder, needs a different attachment for the bleed nipple. So a new hydraulic cable is required, with a Banjo joint to accept the bleed nipple insert. Hopefully to clear the clocks, with the Jota bars. I'll loose the original Rubber shroud which currently covers the master cylinder cable fitting. Not sure if anything can cover the new banjo, with a bleed nipple insert sticking out, at a right angle? The cable itself may need re routing a bit, to take into account, it will come out of the master cylinder, into the Banjo joint, then right angled down, as opposed to straight out, then under the Mirage clock housing.
To think this all started with the bike being stood for about 4 -5 years without use! A hard lesson learned. When the clutch is all fixed, I'm crapping myself to even attempt to tackle the front & rear brake fluid, after this debacle.

Regarding the green gaskets, I purchased from Giovannimoto, who advertises " THEY ARE NOT THE BADLY CUT WAVERING SECTION TYPE THAT LEAD TO OIL LEAKS - THERE ARE SOME AWFULLY BAD COPYS " so I assumed would be perfectly fine 🤷 So it looks like another potato skin heading my way & £30 down the pan. 😭. I'm assuming any gasket hanging out, can be carefully trimmed with a fresh razor blade?

For perfect Black ones, you mentioned which you supply, do you have the details, cost etc. Thanks.

Richard
 
1200ts said:
Soaking the gasket in oil is from the days of regular paper gaskets which if old could shrink and and become very brittle causing the gasket to crack. I have a box of BSA and Triumph gaskets from the 1950's and they will break if you even try to bend them. If your using gaskets made in the 1970's and earlier you can see this problem. Modern gaskets, this problem does not exist.

As for grease on the gasket, the best choice in synthetic grease if you have some as petroleum oils won't dissolve it and it makes a little bit better seal. Although any grease will work.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Perfect. Off to Halfords at the weekend to swap the black Loctite silicon stuff for some synthetic grease. 👍🏻
 
MonkeyTS said:
The covers are off, due to the long drawn out process, which started in the summer, or was It spring 🤔, anyway all started with the sticking clutch plates, which was eventually sorted, plates out, separated, cleaned etc. Then the mother of all bollocks happened when I tried to bleed the, clutch fluid, to my dismay, the bleed nipple setup on the case, came adrift!😳 a small hairline crack, became not so small. Result was fluid leaking, down the case, & behind. Next chapter was eventually getting Keith at Laverdascotia to repair/ modify, with the removal of the Slave cylinder bleed assembly. So now it's just the normal fitting into the slave cylinder, with a new bleed nipple adapter, which, I now understand, after much head scratching, then on the blower to Keith, needs to be fitted up by the master cylinder. The next chapter is, my clutch master cylinder, needs a different attachment for the bleed nipple. So a new hydraulic cable is required, with a Banjo joint to accept the bleed nipple insert. Hopefully to clear the clocks, with the Jota bars. I'll loose the original Rubber shroud which currently covers the master cylinder cable fitting. Not sure if anything can cover the new banjo, with a bleed nipple insert sticking out, at a right angle? The cable itself may need re routing a bit, to take into account, it will come out of the master cylinder, into the Banjo joint, then right angled down, as opposed to straight out, then under the Mirage clock housing.
To think this all started with the bike being stood for about 4 -5 years without use! A hard lesson learned. When the clutch is all fixed, I'm crapping myself to even attempt to tackle the front & rear brake fluid, after this debacle.

Regarding the green gaskets, I purchased from Giovannimoto, who advertises " THEY ARE NOT THE BADLY CUT WAVERING SECTION TYPE THAT LEAD TO OIL LEAKS - THERE ARE SOME AWFULLY BAD COPYS " so I assumed would be perfectly fine 🤷 So it looks like another potato skin heading my way & £30 down the pan. 😭. I'm assuming any gasket hanging out, can be carefully trimmed with a fresh razor blade?

For perfect Black ones, you mentioned which you supply, do you have the details, cost etc. Thanks.

Richard
Click to expand...
The green gaskets work fine. Many pros use them. They are simply ugly.
Trimming with a scalpel might be difficult, it's a tough material.

Paul
 
1200ts said:
Soaking the gasket in oil is from the days of regular paper gaskets which if old could shrink and become very brittle causing the gasket to crack. I have a box of BSA and Triumph gaskets from the 1950's and they will break if you even try to bend them. If your using gaskets made in the 1970's and earlier you can see this problem. Modern gaskets, this problem does not exist.

As for grease on the gasket, the best choice in synthetic grease if you have some as petroleum oils won't dissolve it and it makes a little bit better seal. Although any grease will work.
Click to expand...
Any idea of a suitable brand of Synthetic Grease? Hopefully Halfords has some of this stuff? Ta.
 
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