Stealth KLR Update - Silicone Gasket

The KLR is still a work in progress. I'm waiting on the swingarm and fork-sliders and a few other bits and pieces to come back from powder coating. And I'm also waiting on a few ebay parts to arrive, so there's not much to be done.

I was in two minds about taking down the engine. I discovered some blue silicon gasket seal oozing out at the back of the head gasket. Personally, I often use blue gasket seal, or more often I use plain, cheap black silicon that you get in a hardware store. A lot of people freak out about this. Fuck 'em, I've been using it successfully for years. However, I don't use it everywhere, and I only use a very thin film. If you use loads of the stuff, you get visible blobs oozing out on the outside of the seal. 

So What? Well, the visible stuff isn't really a problem and if you don't like the look of it, you can just pull it off when it hardens. But for all the stuff you can see on the outside, there's an equal and opposite amount oozing out on the inside - and that's problematic. Some of that goo will break off over time and end up circulating in the oil. And that's bad because it could end up blocking the oil strainer or the filter, which can lead to oil starvation and all the bad stuff that goes along with that.

Anyway, the KLR shows sign of blue goo at the head gasket. That's suspicious because the head gasket is supposed to be installed clean and dry...

So I thought about it for a while. Parts for the KLR are relatively cheap and easy to find, even if they have to be shipped from the 'States. And the thing only has one piston and four valves so the machine work shouldn't be too expensive. I guess a top-end rebuild would run to about €300 for parts and machining. 

In the end, I chose not to rebuild it. The engine is oil-tight and compression is good, so I'm going to take a chance and just reinstall the motor. Maybe just this one time I'll get away with it... And if I don't, a top end rebuild can be done with the motor in the frame.

So today I put the motor back in the cradle and the KLR began the process of reassembly.

No silicone here so I think I'm the first person to remove this cover. The other cover was siliconed. The clutch looks to be in good shape and suggests relatively low mileage, so why all the bodging? Dunno...

Stealthy satin-black powdercoat, new stainless fasteners and lashings of copper anti-seize paste.

Three different colours of silicone goo and some PTFE plumbers tape suggest that there's been bodging... But hopefully not enough to cause oil starvation.

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