Changing the oil cover gasket

[deadman13]

OK, so since I stripped the screw on the oil filter case I decided to just replace the whole damn side cover. Now, this isnt a hard task at all, but apparently getting the correct gasket from suzuki is, over 2 months and 3 different gaskets later I get the right one.

Anyway, this really isnt hard to do at all, and i recomend doing this to high mileage bikes just to clean out oil gunk and any debris, also to just give everything a good looking at. I didnt take too detailed of pics because I didnt plan on this being in the how-to's but why not? I replaced the whole thing, so it was a little different but shouldnt make to big of a deal.

1. Drain the oil as well as you can. Now is a great time to do an oil change (considering there will be no oil left when youre done). With the case you can use some engine cleaner and compressed air to get everything blown out.

2. Remove the right foot peg assembly. I didnt at first thinking that I could get by, but ended up having to anyway. Also, I had an extra challenge since the lowest bolt is half gone from leaning so far. 2 bolts and its off.

3. Brake all bolts loose carefully. No biggie here.

4. IMPORTANT! As you take the bolts out of the case, have some way to remember where they go. Some are short, others long. Since I had a new case, I just set them into the holes as I took them out and once the old cover came off, transfered them over to put the new cover on. Also, there is one pain in the ass bolt near the bottom rear of the engine case where it sits behind a bracket for your brake cables. Youll need an 8mm wrench for this one (and some extra patience).

5. I found it easiest to remove the oil filler cap and put a finger in there, you have to pull straight out because of 2 posts.

6. Remove the old gasket. I had to use a razor scraper to get it off because one side has this ungodly epoxy from what I can see on the new one. Once I had it off I used some fine (400 grit) sandpaper to smooth everything out.

7. I put the gasket onto the engine using the 2 posts to hold it in place, then set the case back onto those post. I put a bolt into each "corner" of the engine to hold it, hand tight then put the rest in the same way. I tightened them all down by hand then used an up/down pattern to tighten them, finishing by going around the case skipping every other one till I got them all

8. Change filter, add oil and enjoy!

Tools: 8mm (I think) socket and wrench, razor scraper, 17mm socket for oil plug, 10mm socket for oil filter (again, cant be 100% sure), sandpaper, oil catch and rags.
Scraping the case took the longest, and im sure there are better ways to do it.

In the pics you can see on the lower left and right of the case the large O, those are the posts.