James Gaskets Product Review

Hi, I'm Bob LaRosa. Welcome to "Fix My Hog." When it comes to an industry leader in gaskets, from the humble beginnings in the late '70s in California, James Clark has taken James Gaskets, very familiar black and orange logo, into the 46,000 square foot Nevada-based facility that they're in today. The gasket industry as a whole has evolved, from the days when a true paper gasket was considered cheap and inferior, to what's known as paper today, consists of adhesives, bonding agents, Kevlar fibers, all type of fiber materials are used. There is a handful of acronyms thrown about in the gasket industry, MLS for multi-layered steel, RCM for rubber-coated metal. There's a handful of acronyms for rubber, NBR, FKM. All of that really needs to be left on the engineering table. Leave it up to the people who do the design of the gasket, trust their recommendation. James Gaskets offers a multitude of gasket configurations that range from the bone stock unit to the highest of high performance application. When it comes to gaskets, the rubber-coated metals that are used, they're meant to be used in a certain application. If it's a rocker box gasket, it's meant to conform to the surface of the cylinder head and the base of the rocker box. Again, when it comes to replacing gaskets, you pay a little more for a premium gasket, but the quality that you get, it far outweighs having a drip or a weep or a seep because you used an inferior or an incorrect gasket for a particular application. When you're replacing gaskets, always make sure you don't disturb any of the factory machine finishes. A lot of components, they do leave heavy tooling marks in certain areas. These tooling marks are meant to expand and contract with the gasket to add to the sealing properties. Don't just take a piece of sandpaper and remove 'em. If you create a deviation in a sealing surface, you really need to get that component to a professional machine shop and have that factory finish put back on the component. When it comes to the most misunderstood gasket on the motorcycle, that is the head gasket. Head gaskets, depending on the application, can range anything from a fiber-covered solid metal core to a metal core that's perforated and then compressed with a fiber material to a high-performance laminated head gasket. This gasket may use two or three different types of metal, stainless steel, ultra high-strength steel, aluminum, tin. Rubber coatings range pretty much across the board. You can spot a bunch of brand names, from Viton to nitrile, it depends on the application. You need to do your homework, you need to review the information that's available at denniskirk.com that pertains to proper James Gaskets application not only for your model and your specific, but for your use. You know, when it comes to sealing derby covers, years ago, all was available was an O-ring seal. Nowadays, you've got a metal core, you've got a fiber outer, and then you've got a rubber bead. It's like having triple the protection of just the standard O-ring. And these are designed for a particular application. The day and age of cork, true paper, we think of newspaper shredded up and pressed into a gasket, those days are gone. When you talk about a paper gasket, it's no longer just paper, it's a high-tech, high-quality component. It's as important a component as the two mechanical pieces that sandwich the gasket. Not only does it keep engine oil in or transmission fluid in or primary fluid in the component, it also keeps environmental contamination out. James Gasket offers a broad line of gaskets. Everything from knuckleheads right through to the most recent Twin Cam configuration. Everything is high quality. Again, the specifics of the application may change, but the basics always remain the same.