Oh NO! What have I done! My new KZ1300

A key part showed up today, a custom head gasket from Cometic. The new bore size will be larger than the fire rings in a stock head gasket. I had Cometic cut a gasket and use 66mm fire rings. This will still need some sealant around the water jacket ports. I had no idea how easy this was to do, took less than a week and cost me $80.

Tyler.....Look up Kelly Roberts from McAllen Texas. He use to be the only Cosworth distributor in the US. He use to built race engines.

sweet. watching this one. don't see too many kz1300s on this site.

More progress, I pulled out the inner fender well and removed the tail light and rear fender so I could clean up the frame and hit it with some fresh paint. I got some PJ1 Fast Black and that is great paint for a spray can. I tool a while to mask and cover everything but it look much better now.

I final got my covers all polished up and back on the bike. I took them to a "factory" finish. These had some damage and the work to get them to a mirror shine would have been extensive. I got a nice stainless bolt kit off e-bay too. Looks better than before at least.





This is what they looked like after I got them back from the chrome shop. No more nasty chrome but they needed some serious cleaning and polishing.






pulled apart all of the wiring connectors and sprayed them with contact cleaner. I will have to replace the connector for the stator, but that's it, everything else is good to go. This bike has a one-of-a-kind ignition system only used for 1981. These Hall effect sensors are behind the left engine cover. I got lucky this system works, parts for this bike are nearly impossible to find. I picked up a spare ignition module but am still looking for and extra set of these pick-ups.

Great job....Im on the same boat as well......painting parts.
Little at a time

Made a block off plates for the air valves in the valve cover. These are not available like the 4 cylinder ones are.

Total newby here - it's been a long time since i had my 79 1300. Very interesting reading this thread. In any case, for what it's worth, the Canadian model 1300's at least my 79, did not have the reed valves. The covers were there on top of the cam cover, but nothing was connected to them and there was nothing underneath. Can't remember at this point if there was any difference with the head or not (I had the head off but can't remember)

Also wondering why you think the head gasket was aftermarket? I distinctly remember that same cross hatch pattern (from the head gasket sealant) around the water jacket holes the first time I pulled my head off. I had to tear down my 1300 to re-ring it because it was burning a lot of oil. that was at about a 120K kilometers and at that point, the honing hash marks looked like they were done the day before. Eventually I blew a main bearing destroying the crank shaft (which I think was quite common with these motors ??). It was significantly cheaper to replace the entire engine with a good low mileage used one than to buy a new crank from Kawasaki (not to mention the cost of a new main bearing set - ugh).

Wish I still had that bike Anyway, good luck with the build.

Hi CB, interesting about the Canadian bikes, I think they just put a blank where the reed valves go. Not sure if the valve cover or head was any different. There is enough crap between the gas tank and valve cover as it is, I wanted to get rid of as much of that crap as possible.

The early 13's had issues with the cylinders being out of round, they burned oil from the day they were new and some still do to this day, Did your always use oil or only after a lot of miles?

The issues with bottom end lubrication was quite serious as I am finding out. The 79's held 4.5 liters of oil and had problems maintaining oil pressure during acceleration, breaking, hard turning etc. Not an immediate problem, but over time it took its toll on the lower end. Your story is not uncommon for the early bikes eventually they lost a main or rod bearing at one end of the crankshaft. Many of the early bike died this way... once the bottom end goes its pretty much game over. Seems like from what I have read between 30-50,000 miles before they let go. Kawasaki increased the oil capacity in 1980, and then again 1981 to 6.5 liters and put a noticeably larger oil sight glass in the clutch cover. Must have solved the problem because you don't see the later 13's and voyagers with bad cranks...

Many owners of the '79's install the larger oil pan from the later engine, the "deep sump" oil pan can command pretty high price for that reason.

Hi Tyler:

Yes, mine was a burner! I never noticed it until I swapped bikes with a buddy and was riding behind my 13 where I could see the smoke when accelerating. I tore it down that winter and put new rings in it (at the time it seemed to be conventional wisdom that the first year 1300's had bad rings in them ??). The following summer, while on a cross country trip with some of my pals, we got separated and I, thinking they were in front of me, tried playing catch up. I drove for about 24 hours straight, from Denver to Detroit, only stopping for fuel and quick bites to eat. I had just got to the crest of the Ambassador bridge going into Windsor Ontario when the oil light came on. I shut down and coasted down the bridge into Canada Customs. Once clearing customs, I pushed my bike (fully loaded - if I had to do that now I'd just leave it and walk away ) to the nearest gas station where it took almost 5 litres of oil to get back to the right level. The following summer, I blew a main bearing/thrashed the crank (wonder if there was any connection to running it dry and blowing a crank ). I put a replacement engine in it. I was going to Uni at the time and needed some cash. I had two bikes and put them both up for sale, thinking that I'd keep the one that didn't sell first. I though the 900f would sell first but the 1300 sold the first day (I still have the 900f) and I've been wanting another 1300 ever since. I've looked at a lot of 1300's for sale over the years, most curiously enough were 79's, and although I have a bit of a sentimental attachment to that model year, I'd prefer an 81 or later to avoid the crank and oil burning problems.

Got some paint on the head and valve cover.... playing the waiting game on pistons for now. I'm not entirely sure why I got it stuck in my head I was going to do the engine in black, but I'm liking how its turning out.

The project this weekend was to remove the water pump and drive parts. This is a really tedious job. The impeller is thin aluminum and there is almost no room inside the housing.



I made a puller that was just strong enough to get the impeller off.








Finally got the whole mess apart, lots of penetrating oil and long sessions with the screw impact driver to get the seal holder out. Nothing is broken and I can replace the water pump seal after the block comes back from the machine shop. I may look for a replacement drive gear 30 year old plastic isn't the strongest stuff in the world.

I had a box at the door waiting for me after work today











64mm diameter with an offset dome, matched the OEM weight exactly, skirt is thicker, and clearly shorter. The new pistons came with a chrome top ring, cast second ring and an oil ring about twice the size of the OEM piston. The factory dome was copied, should be close to the original CR of 9.9 to 1. So cool!

Factory piston on the left...