Greg3c: So When I took the cylinder head off, there was a very thin metal gasket (assumed to be the head gasket) but there was no sealant whatsoever to keep it in place. I found this stuff at autozone called "Liquid gasket" for about $15 for a cheese wiz type tube. I'm wondering if I can use that to seal the head gasket better? If so, do I squeeze out a line of it on both sides of the gasket and then put the head cover back in place to torque down? Damn this stuff is interesting for some reason??? ha!

The easy answer is YES.

You HAVE to buy a new head gasket first. The metal gasket is called a compression gasket and it squeezes down as you tighten it. I put the new head gasket on and used the blue liquid gasket. It does 2 things the first is it holds it in place as you put everything back together then once together it forms a great seal. Don’t put too much on. There is water that circulates and cools the engine so the holes must remain open. You can put gasket maker on both sides it will help.

The bottom gasket is soft and the gasket maker will hold this one in place when you put it back together.

You have to buy new gaskets.

 

Sorry to butt in, but: NOOOOOOO!!!! DONT DO IT BRO!

lol, the head gasket must have a proper seal, and it gets the seal through pressure from the cylinder head bolts, which is why proper torque is important. The gasket is metal to provide heat tolerance and withstand the pressure inside the cylinder, and it should have an alignment pin to hold it in place until you get the head on and torqued down.

Liquid gasket is just a silicone based sealer, which if anything will weaken the seal on the head gasket. Its great for low pressure non critical seals and will save you alot of time and money, but if there is a specific gasket for a part, always use the gasket by itself unless the sealant is sugested in the manual. Also if there are any moving parts or fluids around the seal, use as little sealant as possible because any excess can break loose and go through the engine (usually not good)

As far as boring the cylinders and replacing pistons, I wouldnt want to have to go back in later, so I would do all the cylinders to match. Bore them all so you have a nice fresh engine all around and dont have to worry about balancing issues or power surges from the different sized pistons.

Not sure on the 2 stroke stuff but with a good rebuild kit and a manual you should have no problems with it. Good to see someone has the guts to do a first rebuild. The three rules to any heavy maintenance are: Keep it organized, keep the manual handy, and keep cold beer in the fridge for any helpers you have to call in (burgers on the grill doesnt hurt either)

How about some pics?

 

Ha, guess I got overruled, too slow to post it seems.

No problem using a little bit to hold the new gasket in place, guess the 2 stroke doesnt have a pin to hold it. but like Greg said, dont use alot, its the pressure that makes the seal, not the sealant so be careful with it. Good luck!

 

Personally I would not use the liquid gasket, get a proper gasket from an OEM dealer thats how they are put together originally.

Also although it may cost you a bit more money (which you say the ski does not owe you) dont be tight and do 1 cylinder do them all for the reason stated in the post above.

Would not like you doing all this work only to have to take it back out again, especially now that summer may be here.

 

Why are we all forced to read about silicone gasket maker? It is clearly written in my 1st post to BUY NEW GASKETS. The silicone is used just to help hold the gasket in place. How about talking about, RobWarren wanting to bore out the number 2 cylinder and putting in an oversized piston. I have never done this so I am not one to use for reference however simple thought would lead to the conclusion that an oversized piston would weigh more than the others thus throwing off the balance of all the cylinders. This would most likely end up vibrating entire engine apart. If there are no major gouges then just hone the cylinders. Get new rings and pistons like mentioned early and put it back together. It would be nice for someone to throw in some experience on this topic.

 

Hmmmm, thought I covered that, maybe I was too nice about it.

Of course if you can get by with just honing out the cylinders, that would be the cheapest and possibly the best route. I dont know if you could even find a machine shop that would bore just once cylinder, and I cannot imagine the stresses and possible issues that would come from it. Whatever you decide to do, do it to all the cylinders so they match up and you wont have any problems.

 

I hope I inserted these correctly (pictures)

Thanks to all of you for your insight. Unreal how much help you can get these days. Shoots...poor guy/gal who owned these things back in 2002 when they were new and breaking down was probably forced to just send it to the local shop and get whacked. Now forums like these and youtube gittin' er dun!

Here are a couple photos of the lil' bastard as she sits in the garage weeping for mercy.

In case any other rookies read this thread here are a couple links to some websites that show how to take an engine apart and put it back together as well as the links, torque specs and other help that is already given on the thread.
http://216.37.204.206/wps/Kawasaki_OEM/KawasakiPWC.asp (nice exploded views for all years and models)

http://www.shopsbt.com/guides.htm (install and removal guides)

Here are the pics. I still have to watch more videos and read more on removal of the cam-shaft or whatever it is called in a 2 stroke but the rest is starting to move out of the dark. Thanks folks.

 

Gee, looking at that picture...now I see how it was locking up on me and dying for a few seconds (heating up and locking up) and then when it finally destroyed enough of the piston it just lost all possibility of compression so it allowed the ski to run again but to top out at 31mph (became a 2 cylinder in effect).

 

Holy hell, well there's your problem. Pop a new one in and get back on the lake bruddah!

 

HA! If you knew how much of a cheap *** Finlander I was you wouldn't even put a comment like that because you would know I might just do it!

Something had to cause it to break apart so I guess I go to suspecting:

1. The middle carb taking in junk gas (the gas tank was friggin filthy. I mean disgusting! Brown chunks, black chunks, milky watery floaty globules etc.
2. The middle carb not getting oil flow from the tube due to some blockage?

So in theory...if I was to get the carb/s rebuilt and put a new piston into the cylinder it is possible that I could get away with this on the cheap?

The cylinder wall has vertical scrapes in it (gee, go figure). Again, I do not care one bit about how much power this thing gets. As a 2 cylinder it went 31mph. I would guess that if the cylinder walls leak a bit that I would lose a bunch of compression in that cylinder...thus loss of overall power only? Or is it that when these cylinder walls get scratched up that they are also barbed from the scratches so that they rip the new piston apart as soon as I put it in?

Signed,

El cheapo Finlandia