best place to get a thicker head gasket 82 katana uk ?

[tony17]

 head skimmed on kats head, finding it difficult to get a thicker gasket. anyone?

 

[coombehouse]

How much has been skimmed off?

[Gixer1460]

Why not do the easy way and use thicker or multiple base gaskets?

[tony17]

i have no idea. wasn't done by me. its with a garage at the moment,they say they're struggling to get a gasket ,don't know if thats true or not? just trying to find info on how easy or hard it is to get one.

 

[Duckndive]

On 5/1/2025 at 5:55 AM, tony17 said:

i have no idea. wasn't done by me. its with a garage at the moment,they say they're struggling to get a gasket ,don't know if thats true or not? just trying to find info on how easy or hard it is to get one.

 

Have they said why they need a thicker gasket 

Valve / piston clearance maybe ? 

[coombehouse]

If they've only skimmed the head a small amount, maybe 0.5mm or less, it's unlikely to need a thicker gasket unless you are running lumpy cams.

[Duckndive]

5 hours ago, coombehouse said:

If they've only skimmed the head a small amount, maybe 0.5mm or less, it's unlikely to need a thicker gasket unless you are running lumpy cams.

Yes that was my thought 

[tony17]

On 5/2/2025 at 10:15 AM, coombehouse said:

If they've only skimmed the head a small amount, maybe 0.5mm or less, it's unlikely to need a thicker gasket unless you are running lumpy cams.

i don't know how much was skimmed,  can they  measure somehow to find out ? garage will know i'm sure . he been working on jap bikes 50 years so i would hope so. he did show me the old gasket and to be honest it only looked less than a mil thick a flimsy paper looking thing not like the base gasket ( not that i would know how thick it should be )

but thanks for that info ,thats lifted my spirit abit

 

[tony17]

On 5/2/2025 at 9:45 AM, Duckndive said:

Have they said why they need a thicker gasket 

Valve / piston clearance maybe ? 

head skimmed ,oil leaking all over, this will be the third time its been replaced,i'm told head has no cracks either

[Gixer1460]

If someone has a standard head in the shed, they could (if they were nice!) and they had a set of digital calipers, measure the depth of the whole head from cylinder face to rocker cover gasket face. Do the same on the 'suspect' head and you've got the amount skimmed off so far! Simples! 

[Reinhoud]

On 5/2/2025 at 7:15 PM, coombehouse said:

If they've only skimmed the head a small amount, maybe 0.5mm or less, it's unlikely to need a thicker gasket unless you are running lumpy cams.

With lumpy cams you want a higher CR, with very lumpy cams you get actually less power on a stock CR

[Reinhoud]

16 hours ago, tony17 said:

head skimmed ,oil leaking all over, this will be the third time its been replaced,i'm told head has no cracks either

That has nothing to do with the thickness of the gasket.

What kind of gasket was used previously?

[tony17]

i don't know, when garage shown it me, it looked a cheap really thin cardboard cut out that didn't fit right,it seemed to fold up (CREASED) against the stud bolts ,its still sitting on ramp in garage,been there 11 months stripped down.i pop in from time to time and told 'give me two weeks and i'll get back to it'.

[Duckndive]

2 hours ago, tony17 said:

i don't know, when garage shown it me, it looked a cheap really thin cardboard cut out that didn't fit right,it seemed to fold up (CREASED) against the stud bolts ,its still sitting on ramp in garage,been there 11 months stripped down.i pop in from time to time and told 'give me two weeks and i'll get back to it'.

Pictures save a thousand words and are more helpful 

[Dezza]

It sounds to me that it needs a new stock high-quality OEM head gasket, which will likely be thicker than the thin (probably aftermarket cheapo) cardboard item that was in there and leaking. Even I could do this quicker than 11 months (just) .

[tony17]

no pictures needed .the question is does anyone know where i can get a thicker gasket? not to analyse why

[coombehouse]

19 minutes ago, tony17 said:

no pictures needed .the question is does anyone know where i can get a thicker gasket? not to analyse why

Thicker than what? 

[Gixer1460]

2 hours ago, tony17 said:

no pictures needed .the question is does anyone know where i can get a thicker gasket? not to analyse why

And less of the attitude! You are asking for our help, our questions are trying to establish what you have got and what will suit. I can easily tell you to get a copper gasket as they are available from 0.5mm through 5+mm but really doesn't help, does it! A) I'm not telling you the 'where' part, B) Is your set-up configured for a copper gasket and C) No one can tell what a 'thicker' gasket is, or what thickness you require! These things are not one size fits all.

And, as you've given this task to someone who doesn't seem particularly 'pro-active' (if its taken 11 months to go nowhere), and you yourself don't appear to be 'on the spanners' - just provide some info and pictures as requested and I guarantee you'll have your answer, if not, best get to the shops and ask for a 'long weight'! 

[bitzz]

Cometic has GS gaskets and will make one any thickness you think you want

[julesboag]

standard gasket 1mm thick on mine

 

[johnr]

If it's been leaking oil, not cracked and 3 head gaskets haven't cured it, has anybody mentioned the o rings on the centre head nuts yet?

[Suzukian]

Go through the whole assembly and use all the parts, just in case the previous owner left out some O-rings.  Measure the remnants of the old gasket.  I have made copper gaskets from scratch for aircraft, and when heated with a propane torch, they come back to their original size., making them reusable.

 

If you have no measurements, it will take you much longer to find a starting point, which IMHO, would be the stock gasket.