KZ 1500 rebuild project

This is my dragbike built to look like my fav KZ,the 1979 MKll. Probably the world's only 18" MKll front fender, custom made from the sides of a MKll fender and the centre of an S3 fender. Beasley MKll bodywork, oem headlight and ears,emblems,tailight and reflectors. 1500cc. motor- MKll cases, '84 GPZ crank, trans and cylinder head, it runs 8:60-70 @ 150 or so with me on it (fat)and much quicker,8:34@ 156 with a smaller pilot.

After putting all new Ti valves in the head & freshening it up we were at Grand Bend Motorplex making a pass when the cam chain broke just as the shift light came on at the top of first gear. The pics below are the "before" and I'll add the carnage shots later...

[IMGhttp://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg309/JackMark2/JL7.jpg[/IMG]



This is the bike painted. Looks better than the primer but a lot of folks liked the flat black.

Beautiful bike! I hate to ask but you know we need to see the carnage :S

nice bike Jack! but you should just build either a 800 something out of a 650 that spins 14000 rpms or a cbr900rr because that would never of happened on a new bike with improved technology,so the expert tells me! :laugh:

what make of cam chain was it, jack i've had some problems with did myself no breakage just some major tight spots i try to use tusbaki when i can myself.

Any more pics

yeah, more pics! I love that front fender btw

Tim,Tsubaki camchain in same green box as the last 10 or so.The one that failed was a replacement for one that kinked so bad it was junk. Hhhmmm...

So far just have the head off and had a look . Not pretty,and took some pics but can't find the usb cable for the camera so no pics til I find it or replace it. This will be a very slow moving thread - instant gratification junkies need to find something else...

take your time,it cant possibly take any longer than my projects! :laugh:

Wow! this brings tears to my eyes. tears of joy for seeing your beautiful handy work. :woohoo:
Also tears of sorrow for what is to come. i can just see it now. everything pummeled by the valves. i think I'm going to be sick now.

Mark, get a barf bag ready...



If you can identify this I've got $50 with your name on it.Not aluminum...


Most cams are only 2 pieces. I can save the APE sprockets though...


I think the cam caps should only total 4 pieces...


Used to be shims...


I don't think any parts are supposed to contact the underside of a shim bucket...


Brand new CDN. rocker cover, just back from being machined for the .507 cams lasted almost to 2nd. gear...


That one valve doesn't want to close anymore...


Didn't do the top conversion roller body any good either...


There's 8 valves right? Can only get 6 buckets out of the head so far...


The offending camchain and if you look really close you can see the pin that broke.

WOW!! That's godda hurt!
Man i would be so depressed.
Sorry to SEE the bad news.
Well , it's only money right.LOL
if we only had enough.
I cant make out the mystery part pic # 1.
cam chain tensioner ?

Hi Jack, sorry for the engine nukes. I would hazard a guess that the misc. part is the top of a valve that separated from the stem. Your bike looked great but toys always seem to cost. BTW, are you from the London area? David