TOPIC:

The machine work looks good. Seats good, have you assembled it to check the valve height? Did they check. Did they "tip" the valves? Still they should have done the whole head.
Steve

zukdave wrote: Look close at that last pic. the cutter marks don't go past the valve
Are the cutter marks on the other end of the head ?

If you mean are there cut marks from one end to the other, yes.
They called me a few days before this and said the head had a little warp in it and they would "mill" it a few thou to flatten it out.
I mentioned to them that I didn't want the head milled for any compression boost but it was OK to take it flatter if it's really warped.
.009"?
My FSM makes mention of .05mm is max!! That is only about .002".
So, I don't know how far warped it actually was but . 009" seem like a lot.... maybe bogus?

swest wrote: The machine work looks good. Seats good, have you assembled it to check the valve height? Did they check. Did they "tip" the valves? Still they should have done the whole head.
Steve

I agree 100%.
I think they are sick of me and think they are doing me a big favor by "allowing" me to return the unused head from the "crap job" they did a few years ago.
Yes, the tips of the valves are now all tipped off.
Three are new.
I have not installed a cam to check clearances yet with any shims but they already told me they would touch up a stem here and there if I make up a chart with clearances, or lack of, and bring the valves over.
Ugh.. I just want this one to be over so I can tear the motor down and get with it.

HD guys working on a rice burner? At the shop I was asked to work on some Harley's. I said NO. I feel the same way about them. They started it.

Uh yeah,thats what happens when you hot tank aluminum parts,comes out that nasty black looking color.It looks like the exhaust ports were piston coated from the pics.
strip it back apart and have it glass beaded,just say no to nasty aluminum colored spray paint.

By the swirl marks it looks like it was milled the swirl marks are from the end
mill. the center looks like it was ground ..Set up on a surface grinder to remove the high spots.
What ever they removed be it .009 or 005 who knows? The only way to check it is
with a indicator gauge.If you say the fsm says .005 max difference from one end of the
head to the other. if its few thou off.don't worry.What matters is your valve clearance
when you assemble the head. use the valve shims to spec the correct clearance.
Just my opinion I'm no expert I've worked as a machinist a few yrs,To bad the did'nt
clean up the rest of the head.

Dry fitted the cams one at a time.... meaning with only one cam in the head at a time.
With my limited 48-50 piece (LOL) shim collection of many multiples of the same damn shim thickness....and extensive in and outs, and switching around shims in different buckets....using my four 215s as a start, I can get most of the gaps at .0025" to .007".
Now I need two or three 225s and maybe a skinny 230... or take the valves out and have the tips ground between ..001" and .004" using different combs of shim thickness to make it all up.
The measured lash gaps at .006" and .007" is with the hand full of #215 shims, so I'm thinking two 225s to close them up.
But .002" feels a little tight to me. I'd rather they were all .003" but maybe that's too anal...
I have two others at .004" with 235s ... not sure if I should take a chance on these with 240s and or grind the tips a .0015".
Been very careful over the many years of valve lash adjustments, with my shim gaps under .002" and some as much as .003"-.004".
I'd prefer a tad loose then tight. But, .004" to .007" seems too loose
The only way to get in between the .00197" (.002") shift in shim thickness, is to remove all the valves and have the stem tips ground a thousands of an inch....???
What is the general consensus?

I'm not sure what year your kz is
73- 78 calls for 0.002-0.004
79 -later calls for 0.002-0.006

I would say a little on the loose side would be better than to tight
as long as your within specs you should be ok.

Go for .003-4. The valves will seat and you should check them at 500 miles anyway.
Steve

missionkz wrote: OK what can I do to clean this up after having it redone...
They claim they boiled it and blasted the ports et al.... to me it looks like they only blasted off the areas around the ports and nothing else.
I have a small soda blaster but my 3HP compressor can't really deliver a large enough CFM at any real high pressure.
Maybe no more then then 50-60psi at 6-7 cfm, which just doesn't really cut it. OK for carb and small parts but not this.
I'm tempted to paint the cylinder and head a satin black and move on.
I hesitate a bit on painting because the cases are not painted and don't want it to look like a half ass'd Z1 since it isn't a Z1 but a KZ1000.
Opinions

Attachment head1.jpg not found

So I have taken the head to three different shops for a quote on blasting this crap off the head.
One guy said it would take his laborer about 2 hours and $50.00 to $75.00, if I gut the head and seal up all the ports (etc.). Another one said it would be a 3 hour job at $60.00/hr and the third guy said "soda blasting will never cut the crud" and I need to have it vapor blasted with his equipment and said it would be at least $300.00 F'n dollars!!!

Look, put the valve cover on with the gasket, plug all the holes, I'd saturate the rags with oil and do it yourself. Flush it well in solvent or whatever, put it together and RIDE THE PISS OUT OF IT.
Steve

Yeah man! But I'm still riding the bike now with the old head with 38,000 miles on it... LOL. I just hate the idea of putting this fresh head back on...looking so gronky... can't ride with out it looking sweet.
I actually have been poking at it over the last couple weeks... a little at time.
I found painting the whole thing with cheap water soluble paint stripper, took some of the black off but it still isn't very nice.
Rather then dump $300 into a bead, soda or vapor blasting... I'd feel better about selling off my Craftsman compressor, buying a big ass compressor with a 100g tank and enjoying it's use for years to come.