I need some new head and base gaskets. I see these Athena gasket sets that are priced about half of the same set OEM. What are they like. The head gasket is obviously the one I'm concerned about. Are there any other good alternatives to OEM? At £97 each they are taking the p.....udding..
From experience of using them on a Yamaha, they can be a bit sketchy, particularly the head gasket material. As you are working on a Ducati I would go with OEM.
I've had a couple of issues with the Athena over the years. Daft as it sounds, if you're doing both cylinders, it works out cheaper to buy the OEM gasket set rather than individual head gaskets. You get both head gaskets, both base gaskets and all the seals and o-rings to. Even stem seals if you're giving the heads a good service.. Bear in mind that depending upon the year, the head gaskets changed in thickness. The early ones were thicker and used a thin base gasket. Later ones ran a thinner head and thicker base gasket. You can only get the later type now so you must use the correct base gasket if yours is an early type.
Mine are definitely the early type. OEM gasket set it is as im doing the whole engine. Had a bearing race failure on the input shaft so its all been apart. Where's the bear place to get the top end set or are all the dealers aligned?
All the dealers have the same price lists. I can get you one if you want and mail it out, or nip to your nearest
