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Break in after new rings and hone 18 Mar 2015 09:51 #664828

  • chconger
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Hi All

I am well on the way to starting up the old girl after a complete teardown initiated by valve seal replacement.

The Head is on & cams are in. (I dodged a bullet having the exhaust cam lined up with the wrong marks initially, found it before bending a valve stem)

I lapped the valves, honed the cylinders, and replaced the rings to freshen things up.

Can I ask opinions on best break in procedure after such work?

Thanks
Chris
1977 KZ 1000-A

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Break in after new rings and hone 18 Mar 2015 11:05 #664836

  • missionkz
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OH boy.... that's opening a big ass can of worms..... LOL
Bruce
1977 KZ1000A1
2016 Triumph T120 Bonneville
Far North East Metro Denver Colorado

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Break in after new rings and hone 18 Mar 2015 11:16 #664837

  • Tyrell Corp
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Yes, an apparently simple question with a lot of differing opinions.

Racers have their own way of doing it, but then they aren't expecting 20k plus plus miles from their motors.

Remember engine braking is as important as open throttle: the rings get a good workout when the throttle is shut.

IIRC Kawasai recomend no more than 4k rpm for the first 500, then 8k for the next 500 miles. This is on a new motor, just replacing rings in used barrels probably needs less.
1980 Gpz550 D1, 1981 GPz550 D1. 1982 GPz750R1. 1983 z1000R R2. all four aces

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Break in after new rings and hone 18 Mar 2015 12:29 #664844

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Most important thing is to re torque the head bolts after the first full heat up and cool down. I would replace the oil after the same, but some don't. As for ring seating: ride it. As long as you are going up and down through the gears and varying RPMs ( like typical city riding), the rings will seat. I remember always being advised to do some "up downs" where you take it up to maybe half redline RPM in second gear and then let the throttle off and let the RPMs drop back down then repeat. That forces pressure onto the rings and sets them into the cylinder walls. For the first 500 miles, I would use 1/2 redline as the maximum RPM limit.
1979 KZ-750 Twin

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Break in after new rings and hone 18 Mar 2015 13:00 #664849

  • SWest
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couldn't have said it better.
Steve

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Break in after new rings and hone 19 Mar 2015 09:04 #664928

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bountyhunter wrote: Most important thing is to re torque the head bolts after the first full heat up and cool down. I would replace the oil after the same, but some don't. As for ring seating: ride it. As long as you are going up and down through the gears and varying RPMs ( like typical city riding), the rings will seat. I remember always being advised to do some "up downs" where you take it up to maybe half redline RPM in second gear and then let the throttle off and let the RPMs drop back down then repeat. That forces pressure onto the rings and sets them into the cylinder walls. For the first 500 miles, I would use 1/2 redline as the maximum RPM limit.


Sounds good to me! Thanks!


Chris
1977 KZ 1000-A

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Break in after new rings and hone 19 Mar 2015 12:51 #664942

  • 650ed
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You will get many opinions, and they may vary greatly. However, take it from me, here's how NOT to break in rings....

1977 KZ650-C1 Original Owner - Stock (with additional invisible FIAMM horn)

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Break in after new rings and hone 19 Mar 2015 14:19 #664948

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I've seen that one. There's one in every bunch.
Steve

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Break in after new rings and hone 20 Mar 2015 07:14 #665019

  • Tyler
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The standard break in for any combustion engine is to use a tall gear, like 4th gear on a kz, and run up to 60 mph with lots of throttle and then let off and coast down to 20mph and just keep running up and coasting down for a while. Normal riding is ok as long as you try to vary your engine rpm all the time. The risk of not doing so is glazing the rings or cylinders, in that case they would never quite seal up and you would have to deal with on going oil consumption. There is a difference between how cast iron rings and chrome moly rings seat. If the ring's manufacturer has a procedure follow that.

There are a million very passionate opinions on what honing surface is best and how to break in rings, but the load-coast-load method is the most basic.
If I knew what I was doing all the time life wouldn't be any fun.

'80 KZ650 E 700cc, dyna ignition and coils, frame up restoration, daily driver
'81 KZ1300 A3 full restoration, custom big bore pistons, 1400cc 6 cylinder super bike
"77 KZ650 B1 - Barn Find, work in progeress
"74 Yamaha DT 400 Enduro

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Last edit: by Tyler.
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