TX750 Copper Head Gaskets

[bigskyforever]

I am in contact with a Copper Gasket manufacturer. I will be reviewing the quality to the gaskets in the next few weeks.

Should any of you be interested in purchasing some gaskets, you can contact me through the forum.

Bigskyforever.

[scrambler]

Hi Bigsky, what`s the advantage of the copper gaskets? I`ll have to pull the head off of my TX because of an oil leak. My understanding is that usually people use a bit of RTV or similar on the gasket to prevent these oil leaks, but I didn`t add anything and now it leaks.

[bigskyforever]

Scrambler;

RVT is good for the valve cover gasket.

Head gasket in copper has a few advantages: It dissipates the heat across the cylinder head and and assists in moving the heat away from the centre of the gasket.
The copper head gasket will take more punishment in a hot climate and should have a longer engine life.
The copper gasket can be annealed and reused.

The only slight disadvantage is that you should do a number of heat cycles. Operating temperature to cool down, and re-torque the cylinder head. Which means either removing the engine for re-torque or building an engine stand to support the engine while doing the heat cycles.

I hope that helps.

bigskyforever.

[scrambler]

Thanks.

Yeah, I agree, sounds like a bad idea to add RTV on a head gasket, but as I recall even one of the service bulletins recommends doing so, to prevent oil leak. The factory gaskets were not too good back then... This heating cycle procedure sounds like a nightmare, considering how easy is to pull the engine from the frame... 

[scrambler]

Ohh, sent you a PM btw, just in case you missed.

[retromech]

Appears to mine this engine has some unusual traits, being a mechanic and have built countless engines the TX is the only engine I have built that leaked oil and combustion gases within 200 miles of being assembled, being aware of potential leakage the head was re-torqued 3 times before installation, a later genuine gasket was used, planning to do 500 miles before re-torqueing, at around 200 miles oil and combustion leakage was noticed, upon checking the head nuts they where almost finger tight, I re-torqued the head, about 300 miles later, the same leakage issues started to appear, this time the nuts were not as loose as the first time, all was o.k. for 1,000 miles when a very slight oil leak from the head appeared, it has got no better or worse so I am ignoring it for the time being.

[scrambler]

I`ll tear mine apart probably soon and see if the bolts loosened up. The Allens on the side are still tight. Otherwise the bike runs well, it`s just very annoying that it leaks oil on both sides like crazy. First started leaking at around 1000 miles. I think I`m just gonna add some RTV on the gasket next time as the bulletin suggested, then run the engine on the table for about 20 mins and then retighten. For sure I won`t pull it out from the frame more than once.. Also I have to pull the deep sump and disconnect all the oil lines, ehhh... what a PITA..