Post by Jess on Jan 29, 2011 12:36:01 GMT -5
I recently purchased a set of the Ebay gaskets for the Re5. I was curious as to they quality, fit and finish of the units and how they compared to the gaskets I have had made.
I was also curious due to the fact that my material costs alone, are more than the other fellow charges. Another way to say it, even without the cost of the dies to cut them ( I have spent 7000.00 on dies), My material costs are close to what this person charges for a complete set.
When I received them, I sent them to my gasket guy for analysis and his opinion. By the way, my guy has been in the business of making gaskets for 30 years and most of his business comes from US government contracts as well as NASA, so I trust and respect his opinion.
Here were his observations...
#1 The material is much thinner, less than half of the thickness of the gaskets he has produced for me.
#2 The material has very good oil resistance and is a much better material, comparatively, than the old asbestos material that Suzuki used.
#3 The material is very rigid. It distorts very easily. He had difficulty getting them out of the packaging without damaging the gasket as once it gets bent/ stretched... it does not bend back.
#4 The material has NO compressability whatsoever.
#5 The material is significantly cheaper than the material I was using.
His opinion was that while the gasket may very well work, it was not a material that he would recommend for our machines.
Thickness and compressability were the biggest issues. He felt that if this were a late model motorcycle with much closer machining tolerances this material would be a much better choice. He also stated that his belief was if the mating surfaces were even slightly warped from time and repeated torquing, that these gaskets would not perform well at all.
While I understand that there are some folks that are motivated solely by price, it has been my experience that you get what you pay for.
Just my 2 cents...
Best,
Jess
I was also curious due to the fact that my material costs alone, are more than the other fellow charges. Another way to say it, even without the cost of the dies to cut them ( I have spent 7000.00 on dies), My material costs are close to what this person charges for a complete set.
When I received them, I sent them to my gasket guy for analysis and his opinion. By the way, my guy has been in the business of making gaskets for 30 years and most of his business comes from US government contracts as well as NASA, so I trust and respect his opinion.
Here were his observations...
#1 The material is much thinner, less than half of the thickness of the gaskets he has produced for me.
#2 The material has very good oil resistance and is a much better material, comparatively, than the old asbestos material that Suzuki used.
#3 The material is very rigid. It distorts very easily. He had difficulty getting them out of the packaging without damaging the gasket as once it gets bent/ stretched... it does not bend back.
#4 The material has NO compressability whatsoever.
#5 The material is significantly cheaper than the material I was using.
His opinion was that while the gasket may very well work, it was not a material that he would recommend for our machines.
Thickness and compressability were the biggest issues. He felt that if this were a late model motorcycle with much closer machining tolerances this material would be a much better choice. He also stated that his belief was if the mating surfaces were even slightly warped from time and repeated torquing, that these gaskets would not perform well at all.
While I understand that there are some folks that are motivated solely by price, it has been my experience that you get what you pay for.
Just my 2 cents...
Best,
Jess
