Base gasket

[chairmaster]

Hey, long time lurker here. Rear cylinder base gaskets been leaking since I bought my '93 FXR 2 yrs ago. Started leaking bad last week. I am riding to Sturgis in a little less than 3 wks. Decided to fix the leak before Sturgis. I tore down the rear cylinder today. Left the piston in the cylinder. Don't want to do anything buy fix the leak. Bike runs strong and doesn't use much oil. Stock bore with a EV-27.

I plan on buying James gaskets cause of what I've read about them.
Question: Is it a bad idea to use the James metal base gasket on the rear cylinder when the front cylinder has the stock HD paper gasket? I don't want to tear into the front cylinder at this time.

Thx, Mike

[road-dawgs1]

Won't hurt it, but most people that fix one just replace all at once because it will start leaking soon.  I just put James' base gaskets in a buddy's 89 FXRS and used the HD kit for the rest.  I'm wondering now if I should have tried "the oil fix" by Hayden

[JohnS_Rosamond]

I like the James gasket or the Cometic.  I usually use the James metal gasket with a think layer of Hylomar and have never had one have to be re-done (even on a bike that would go through gaskets regularly due to a slipped cylinder liner).  It's really crap trying to get some of the HD paper base gaskets off the case.  Be careful, take your time, and don't gouge the case.  I would suggest that you do both.  If the rear is leaking now, it may not be that long before the front goes and you have like 2/3 of the work done already.

[shoveldog81]

My 92 FXSTS wept for years from the rear jug, until it finally pushed the actual gasket out of the joint.  Shortly after that, I blew the rear head gasket.  My bet is enough of that gasket was destroyed to cause the head bolts to loosen up enough to blow it out.  I've heard of a lot of fixes, but I'm convinced that the culprit is both the stock paper gasket, and the steel liner protruding slightly at the base.  I had a machinist machine back the liner where it protruded and never had another problem (tho the Cometic gasket may have also fixed it).
Dog

[prodrag1320]

whenever we do a case split on a evo,we machine the cases to accept o-rings,like a TC motor.never had a leak on any motor we`ve done(no more scraping gaskets either!!)

[Buddy WMC]

Won't hurt it, but most people that fix one just replace all at once because it will start leaking soon.  I just put James' base gaskets in a buddy's 89 FXRS and used the HD kit for the rest.  I'm wondering now if I should have tried "the oil fix" by Hayden

James Base with the oil fix jets in my high compression 1993 85" engine, Cometic head gaskets. Never a problem since specially with the rocker boxes as I have the two piece S&S.. DO NOT use the base gaskets that come with the Hayden kit. This engine is not babied either and I have NO oil leaks.