Oil pump gasket question

[Eddie]

Well I'm waiting for the new gasket that fits between the oil pump housing and the top cover, I was thinking about what I need to do to replace it. The question is , can I leave the pump on the octopus and just take the cover off? Or will I have to take the whole pump off to replace the gasket? I have had a lot of experience with the oil pumps but only when I have removed them, I have not really worked on them while they are on the bike, I just don't want to do a lot of extra work that I don't have to, I thought I could just take the cover off and replace it but then I thought it will leak oil everywhere? And the plungers may come out of their places, how do you guys replace the gasket? Just take everything apart I assume? Crap.......

[oldjapanesebikes]

I suppose it can be done in situ, but as I always drop something whenever I most don't want to I personally would remove it to a bench. But that's just me.

[Eddie]

well thats what I thought, crap! I didnt want to take it all apart but I guess i am!, ohh well I pretty much knew that I would have to I just wanted to see if anybody knew a easier way or something but ohh well....

[tz375]

Eddie, you can do it in situ but you still need to pinch off the oil feed pipe and the top of the pump is full of oil which will go everywhere. It's only an extra 3 screws and a pipe to come off.

[Eddie]

ya I know , I guess the best thing is to just take the oil pump off, make sure its clean before putting the gasket on, also I think the arm on the oil pump is leaking, (the seal) im not sure I cant tell if its the gasket or the seal on the arm? I started another thread about the seal on the oil pump arm..

[pearljam724]

It's easy to make a new gasket. Just need to buy a gasket sheet from an automotive store, an exacto knife and mark out a template. It takes a lot of cutting patience as there is no room for error in cutting out the new gasket. Only a few millimeters of spacing in several areas. It may take a few trials to get it right. But, it's easy to do. Remove the pump.

[Eddie]

I tried getting the thinest gasket material i could, but all the automotive stores here have material that is way to thick, they said they could order some but it would be a whole sheet, so i just ordered the one from gtreiner, it actually came in today but i was not here so I have to go get it from the post office tomarrow, I have made alot of gaskets in the past but this gasket is super thin, i have nothing that is that thin....

[pearljam724]

I bought my sheet from a shop that does high performance car engine builds. It's a half to 3/4 of a millimeter thicker. No big deal. It seals. The whole sheet cost me 7 dollars. Worked great, I used the large amount remaining for coolant hose neck gaskets too. Plus, there is a lot remaining for future replacements. Saves a lot of money compared to buying oem or aftermarket gaskets.

[Eddie]

I agree, making your own does save money, I just couldnt find the right thickness, and like you said the gasket material that the strore could get was still thicker than the original, I think i might be over thinking this but on my pump ( I used the later style) the pump rides directly against the cover, so i thought if I used a thicker gasket the cover would be higher up from the pump which would make a bigger space between the pump body and the cover which might affect the amount of oil pumped? not sure though and again this is just me being way to anal about it... I have O.C.D. and it would drive me crazy thinking about the whole thing, which I allready over thought it as you can tell,,,,I have problems..

[tz375]

Correct. The thicker the gasket, the longer the stroke and the more oil is pumped.

Is it enough of a difference to worry about? Not really.