SOHC.co.uk Forums > Project Board

Source of quality gasket kits

<< < (2/2)

AndyD:
Dave,
I had a similar experience buying NE brand gaskets a while ago from Brooks Barn.
Picture showed NE branded packaging but when the gaskets arrived they were in Hi Level packaging.
The gaskets themselves were marked NE brand however and BB assured me that they were the original NE items, just in outer packaging in Hi Level branding.
They seemed to all fit OK so I'm hoping they are OK and also feel it's misleading to show a totally different image to the supplied parts.
Hope you find the ones you need OK - never worked on a Kwak so can't suggest any sources.
Cheers,
Andy

Laverda Dave:
Hi Andy. Funnily enough every ebay supplier I spoke to and who had the MP gasket image told me the gaskets are High Level. After being told these are made in the original factory as OEM parts I called High Level directly to find out. They told me the gaskets are made in China, maybe OEM for Chinese made bikes (and future Norton desgined Atlas engines to be built in China following Mr Garner's sell off of Norton engine rights just as the company sank ;)) but not for the likes of Honda, Kawasaki etc.
Normally the paper type case gaskets from pattern suppliers are ok if a bit big sometimes but its the head gaskets where I've had problems. They look alright but they don't seem to last. I had one where the metal ring around the cylinder bore came adrift of the surrounding gasket when in use! I only found this out when I took the head off after it had become almost impossible to start. Luckily this was on a push rod engine and it was easy to get the head off (still a pia though). The gasket to be fair was not from High Level. I don't want to go through the same again with a SOHC or DOHC because that really will be painful (and annoying!).
I've used Athena kits in my last three builds and never had a problem hence why I wanted a kit of known quality.
If the High Level kits perform OK maybe worth a report back and we can add it to the list of decent brands to use especially as it appears High Level are the kits most of the supplies sell these days.
Lucky for me I have found an Athena kit following Skoti's tip-off earlier and I have now collected a lot of the spares I need to get the rebuild of the Z400J back on the go :).

Laverda Dave:

--- Quote from: AndyD on February 17, 2021, 04:19:13 PM ---Dave,
I had a similar experience buying NE brand gaskets a while ago from Brooks Barn.
Picture showed NE branded packaging but when the gaskets arrived they were in Hi Level packaging.
The gaskets themselves were marked NE brand however and BB assured me that they were the original NE items, just in outer packaging in Hi Level branding.
They seemed to all fit OK so I'm hoping they are OK and also feel it's misleading to show a totally different image to the supplied parts.
Hope you find the ones you need OK - never worked on a Kwak so can't suggest any sources.
Cheers,
Andy

--- End quote ---
Andy, I've just checked the High Level gasket kit I have and the branding on the paper gaskets is D&K & NE. I cant see any branding on the head gasket though.

AndyD:
Dave,
I think it was the same in the set I received - paper gaskets marked NE but head gasket plain.
When I googled at the time that seemed to be the same on the NE branded sets I could find pictures of.
I have to admit for the CJ I wasn't too concerned - probably hasn't got the power to scare even a cheap Chinese gasket!
On the CB1100F and GS1000S I remember it was very strongly recommended to only us the OEM gaskets as nobody seemed to have found a good aftermarket alternative.
Glad you've found the right gaskets for the Z and hopefully assembly will go smoothly.

Cheers,
Andy

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page