TOPIC:

+1, there's only two shafts, three shift forks and the shift drum, nothing really.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the encouragement. I wI'll feel better about going through. Would really like to take a look at the crank and rod bearings.

The only check for the crank and rod bearings are a simple wiggle test for the rods (not 100% sure on this next one) and a side clearance check for the crank bearings.

You may also want to check the small shift fork rod, theyre supposedly easy to bend and the later 77 and early 78 I had someone did a poor job cutting the circlip groove at the end of the shaft. Which made it so the shaft could slip and trash 2nd gear on me.

It would also be a good time to back cut or have your tranny back cut. 2nd. gear is the most used power gear. It is the first to go. Two years ago I did mine but it had high miles on it. It had been popping out of gear and back cutting it solved that problem, not for long. Knowing of a up coming problem I bought a low mileage tranny. After about a year my old one started to act up and I had my new one back cut and ready.Took one day to yank out the motor, the next to put in back in, grumbling the whole time. The main shift fork is the biggest issue on the Z1's. A KZ 1000 is beefier so I changed the forks and drum. I got them from The Old Kaw Man. I suggest changing the shift return spring also to a 4 wind. The older models had 2. Best to do it now than later.
Steve

feeler gauges to check the rod side clearance.no up and down play of the rod on the crank.
a 17mm rod through the lil ends to make sure it is still in phase.
these lower ends are pretty straight forward,you'll dig it once you get in there .

leon

CRISIS AVERTED! Man, sometimes I wonder how I have even got this far in the build. It is pretty embarrassing to even admit this. I started tearing the engine back down to find the problem, once I pulled the cylinders off it was pretty obvious. originally I was using just hose clamps to compress the piston rings. Apparently, at one point in time one of them had fallen in the #2 cylinder and I did not see it. No damage done, other than to my pride. Was a wake up call for me that I need to slow down and triple check everything. Ordered a new gasket, will get everything cleaned back up and put back together without the "extra parts" this time.

Been there, done that . How many miles on that lower end?
Steve

less than 20K on the whole bike.

It should be fine then.
Steve

glad it wasn't fatal ,

leon

I can hear the noise now. All hell breaking loose. The prifanity. The diiapointment. The embarracement. The damage. The money wasted.
"Looks like dog SHT, smells like dog SHT, tastes like dog SHT, Good thing we didn't step in it."
Good catch.
Steve

The way I look at it is it could have been something smaller that didn't get it the way right away but did on start up. I was lucky. So from now on its triple checks and more patience.