sealant for clutch cover gasket?

[jabcb]

The clutch cover gasket on the T500 cafe build is weeping a smidgen. When rebuilding the motor, I was wondering why somebody had used sealant on that gasket. Now I know.

What sealant is recommended for that gasket?

Also, do modern copper crush washers seal better than the old-school stock drain plug washers? On one of my other bikes, the crank drain weeps when the drain plug is torqued to spec.

[dollydog]

hi jab, all i put on clutch gaskets is a smear of normal grease either side. if you take the clutch cover off, lay it on a sheet/pane of glass and make sure the mating surface is dead flat. if it isn't then you need to address that. failing that, then three bond should seal it. drain plug washers? do you anneal them before fitting and torquing? i always anneal them and always use new ones, every time
cheers, dd.

[jabcb]

Which Three Bond?

I use a new stock Suzuki drain plug gasket, which is some soft rolled metal. Definitely not copper.
A PO hard tightened the plug way past the torque specs & it didn’t leak.

[dollydog]

hi jab, i used to use three bond 1184, which is pretty much the same as yamabond etc. due to the fact that i ran out of it i've been using 1215, which is much thicker, so i use it sparingly. i'd definitely fit an annealed copper washer to your drain plug. i never use anything else and i REALLY tighten them. so far no leaks
cheers, dd.

[gammakeith]

I'm a big fan of Dowty washers for drain plugs (and other oil sealing applications) as they seal well with a gentle tighten. I had a car with a persistent sump plug leak that was due to a sloppy helicoil repair that had gone in at an angle. Two stacked Dowtys worked to seal despite the bolt being at a visible angle to the sump.

The oil lines on my T20 are sealed with Dowty washers as I though it was a better solution that those plastic washers.

Keith