Alternative exhaust headpipe gaskets

[Royboy]

A while back I bought a couple ten packs of aftermarket exhaust gaskets. These are the ones that appear to be a coil of thin green foam wrapped in metal foil. They are not working well and easily crush down until the pipe collar flange is touching the head. My local Yamaha dealer does not have the OEM gasket in stock and I need to put the SE back together today.

It seems to me that someone here had discovered that there is a Harley header gasket that fits the XS. Tried searching here to no avail. Does anyone here happen to know what Harley gasket that might be?

Thanks, roy

 

[fredintoon]

Hi Roy,
if it has to back together right effin' now, shove in two of those gaskets and fix it right later.

 

[Royboy]

Thanks Fred, That's probably what I'll end up doing but you know how it goes, muffs off, center stand stop off, head pipes off, etc. Like to do it just once if possible. Can't believe the Yamaha shop doesn't have the item in stock, it fits many Yamaha models.

Maybe I'll just take one of the after market gaskets to the Harley shop and look for a good size match in their bins. If I find a match I'll post it here. I wonder if anyone has tried using a couple copper crush washers on each side?

roy

 

[fredintoon]

Thanks Fred, That's probably what I'll end up doing but you know how it goes, muffs off, center stand stop off, head pipes off, etc. Like to do it just once if possible. Can't believe the Yamaha shop doesn't have the item in stock, it fits many Yamaha models. - - -

Hi Roy,
if the double gasket fix works, leave it. Who's gonna know?
And yeah, Saskatoon's main dealers don't stock nothin' no more, they bring it in after you've paid for it.
OK, they got good turn around, if you hit the Tuesday order the part will be there by Friday.
Guess it saves them on shelf space and inventory cost.

 

[Royboy]

OK, Went to town and went through the exhaust gasket bins at Harley shop. No joy, similar but not the same. Ordered 5 new ones from Boats.net (The SR only gets one). Going with Fred's thought and putting two crappy gaskets on each side of the SE. I'll let you know if doesn't work.

roy

 

[5twins]

I guess I'm different than most folks. I keep perishable parts like this "in stock" on my own shelf, lol. Also sitting on the shelf there are points, condensers, spark plugs, drain plug washers, oil pan gaskets, and side filter cover gaskets.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Trying to be helpful, I thought about Honda's large doughnut crushable copper gaskets.
So I tried a search of "Honda muffler bearings" (per the official nomenclature).

And this pops up:


gggGary, if you're there, you might want to add this to your shelf.
Alongside your jar of "Elbow Grease".


So, did a search of "Honda XL-350 exhaust gasket" (it's pretty close in size), just to give you an idea of what they look like. Always had good results with this style, but you'd have to go to the shop to confirm the size. Just another option...

 

[Royboy]

5Twins, Your system is much the same as mine. Oil, filters, gaskets, plugs, etc. are all in stock here. Just happened to get a "deal" on 10 packs of this particular gasket so stocked up. Not short of gaskets, just short of good ones!

roy

 

[Royboy]

Tried two gaskets stacked. No good. The hold off from the head is just enough that the lower attachment point for the head pipe won't quite reach. Gonna try crushing the one gasket less than torque spec and see how it goes. New pieces will be here in a few days.

roy

 

[5twins]

Usually with exhaust systems, you make all the other bolt connections first with the collar at the head loose or just snug. Snug up all connections and mounting points, then final tighten them all.

 

[fredintoon]

Tried two gaskets stacked. No good. The hold off from the head is just enough that the lower attachment point for the head pipe won't quite reach. - - -

Hi Roy,
put one in and reef it up hard. Take it out, put in another one, reef it up hard too.
Put in the other one atop it now that they're both squashed flat and see if that works.
Or buggrit, smash them both flat with a hammer on the back of your vise.