KZ 1500 rebuild project

Good stuff Jack.
is there any down side to decking the block that much for a street runner? i supose u would have to dry block would u? not much left around the oil gally?
what did u build up the exhaust floors with?
Do u do most of your own work?

I would roll the new chain around the centerpin before assembling the motor. Verify every tooth on the sprocket fits the chain correctly and every link of the chain rolls smoothly.....Call me paranoid but 1 kinked chain and one broken chain total up to WTF and I hate WTF's... :laugh:

They were not press up cranks but over the years I had 2 cranks come back from Florida that were NFG.....they covered them for me but.....well...you know what I'm saying...

Larry C

wow

Larry, good point-starting off with new cases,crank & camchain but you can bet it'll be triple checked. Almost never hear of problems with Tsubaki camchains but I hate WTF's just as much as you.Especially the $$$$$$ kind...

Mark, the head was originally ported at FBG and updated just a little at C&W. C&W told me to leave it alone, more volume would slow down velocity. No epoxy on floors.The block was decked to accomodate the GPZ rods and the pistons, nothing else changed. As far as working on the bike,I do what I can and pay others to do what I can't.

It just looks like the exht floors are raised to kill the dead spot.
That beast must just fly.
I did my first track day on tue (not drags, but a circuit.)
What a hoot!:woohoo:
Good luck with the build Jack. i hope it goes better for u this time around.

Wow, it's only been 9 weeks since the last post. Been spending most of my time riding my streeter...dropped off the race motor yesterday to check all clearances and then final assembly. Maybe have some pics in a week or 2. Also have to have the front forks rebuilt, they're getting a little tired and the suspension man returned my call this morning. Later...

Jack wrote:

Wow, it's only been 9 weeks since the last post. Been spending most of my time riding my streeter...dropped off the race motor yesterday to check all clearances and then final assembly. Maybe have some pics in a week or 2. Also have to have the front forks rebuilt, they're getting a little tired and the suspension man returned my call this morning. Later...

Jack,

Recently got involved with a big block motor that someone else assembled. Short story...it was f'ked up.

Cam chain was new when motor was first assembled. Half a dozen passes later, at tear down, it was kinked badly over most of the chain.

During assembly, among the numerous problems found, the cam chain kinking was traced to the big block not being machined properly for the front chain guide shoe.

Guide sat up too far and was causing the front idler to bind. That in turn eventualy bent the pins in the chain.

When I say kinked, I'm talking 4 or 5 links that would stand straight out :ohmy:

Jack, why did you switch the GPz crank and head over to the old style chain? Is the hyvo chain not as strong?

Larry, thanks for the heads up on the big block/ chain guide shoe-we'll be sure to check that out. I've still got a chain kinked like you describe that didn't break and obviously the one that did.Possible mystery solved? We did discover that the threaded holes for the adjuster were not centred and required a drill/tap to fix.The camchain was riding off centre and put a slice in the rubber roller in front of the adjuster.

Adam,the conversion to the peanut style camchain was to use a Falicon centrepin and cam gears with the better '84 GPZ crank in '80 MKll crankcases. Never have used a hyvo chain setup in my dragbikes, don't know anyone who does around here.

Well, this is not the post I was hoping to put up...


There she sits, empty engine bay waiting...ran into some serious snags with the crank and it's off for rework. Had planned to get it running in late August ,run it a few times at the local track and take it to Valdosta for the last big event of the year.



This change of plans will allow for some more mods though.Going to go back to button start and there's the starter gear with the rotor magnet removed and big grade 8 bolts holding the unit together.Sending an oem Mitsuba 226 starter motor off to be rewound for easy starting. Going with a very small litium ion battery that will save almost 10 pounds and a very smart guy has offered to help out with a plan to modify the slider so I can ride the bike back from the top end. Will be able to go to the track without crew if necessary.



Brand new dyno cover, never been on a bike with fresh chrome from Platingmaster, Canada's finest chrome shop imho.The pic below is the slider cover, the chrome on it is 10+ years old.



The other reason I'm not going balls out to get it finished is I wouldn't have time to run it at Valdosta cuz we are going to run Greg & Geoff Pollard's TF at the Manufacturer's Cup race in November at SGMP . The team has set some ambitious goals for ourselves and it should be big with 4 TF bikes already booked in. Maybe more to come too.

Pretty cool , there Jack.
How much would it cost to get a cover chromed like that?

Ok, it looks like you can count on a post from me about every two months... This is my bike's new home for the winter. You'd like my wife, as long as the floor in that spare bedroom is protected it's cool...



Took a starter with me to Valdosta to be sent to Paul Cashio Eng. in Louisiana who specializes in rewinding stock starters to run on 24 v. and turnover big inch / big compression motors. Schnitz Racing is bringing out a 12/24v. Full Spectrum lithium ion battery pack for just this kind of application - the entire battery pack is 4.75" X 4.75 X 2.75" and weighs about 2 lbs.

Finally got my crankshaft issues straightened out and all my motor pieces are now in one place. Should have the motor back early in the new year and then begin to reassemble and add the necessary wiring mods etc.