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Hello everyone! Long time listener first time caller, here to lay my project open to the very discerning KZ public. I will warn you from the beginning that funding will keep this project moving a little slower than I would like, but with all of your motivation and encouragement, move foreward it will! So, we begin.........

I must apologize that I did not take pics of the machine before or during engine removal, as I know that these forums thrive on pictures. I will strive to be more dilligent from now on It would appear that these pics require some downsizing to attach, so bear with me while I figure it out.

Welcome, We will follow your project. Roy

History- I aquired this machine for the hefty sum of $400 last May. It appeared to have been stored outside for a good part of its life, the side covers were held on with bungees, the battery was dead and it had a nasty little headshake if you didn't hold on to the bars tight above 50 mph. But it was registered, started up with one kick and the price was right! The bike ran, and the weather was getting awfully nice for riding, so I was reluctant to tear into it until I absolutely HAD too. After riding it all summer, the worst problem I had was the bike crapping out due to worn out points. A Dyna S, Dyna green coils and some home fabbed spark plug wires left over from scraps of MSD wire and plugs ends fixed that. The current state of disassembly came about because I wanted to check the valve clearance, and it went down hill from there.....

Well, that's a good start with the ignition upgrade... and the starting price was right - you even got to ride the first summer with very little invested.

We all know how funding projects can be an issue, and it looks as though you have a few... is that a small block Porche 914 w/ box flares in the garage?

My 77 kz1000 LTD started out as a 200 dollar basket case. I have saved all of the reciepts but will never add them up. Way too much! I am at the point where if the old girl needs something then i just buy it. Good luck on your project and remember dont get cheap on upgrades to lower end. Do it right while you have it torn down

I thought I had a loose valve, since I had heard a ticking noise from the right side of the valve cover since I purchased the bike. After getting a valve cover gasket, I pulled the valve cover and started checking. Far from loose, I found 4 valves that were much too tight - I couldn't even get my smallest feeler guage in there so (here is where my laziness and murphys law conspired against me)I decided to use the Motion Pro valve tool to pull and check the shims to order the right ones. I DID NOT stuff a rag into the cam chain tunnel. I knew I should, but I thought "hey, whats gonna happen?" -you know where this is going.....Checking the #3 intake, I was putting the shim back in, hit the "batwing" which wasn't seated well and the valve spring popped up, shot the batwing up, ricocheted of the frame back bone and straight down the cam chain tunnel! I couldn't believe it.....If I TRIED to do that 10,000 times I doubt I could repeat it again. Now, I had checked the engine compression after purchasing the bike, and the readings were LOW. 75-130 psi. I knew that I'd have to take care of that eventualy, and here I was, starring eventuality in the face.

Bad Dad - YES, that is a '74 porsche 914 with a 350ci small block chevy and an old Beach Boys Racing (body shop in Venice beach) fiberglass body kit. That car is SCARY if you're not familiar with that kind of power to weight ratio.

Very nice... I know your new to this site, but you have expieriance modding stuff,(noticed a lifted 4X4,a 914, and who knows what else you got hidden in there) I'm sure you'll do fine with the bike project!

Tony

I pulled the exhaust and peered into the head and saw a couple leaking valve stem seals, and probably worn valve guides (the engine has some 75k + miles). I don't believe this engine has ever been apart, and the cylinder was glued to the crankcase. Once I finally got the jugs seperated (dead blow and brass drift), I discovered the inner cylinder studs are exposed to the enviroment. At this point, I had reserved myself to rebuilding the top end, but did not plan to split the cases. The accumulated course sand, dirt and small pebbles built up around the studs then sloughed down and into the crankcase. Great, now I have rocks inside my engine! Murphy strikes again.... Here is a pic of the dirty, disassembled lower crankcase before cleaning.

I dropped the cylinder off at Ape to have them bore and hone for a 1075 kit. APE was kind enough to bead blast my cylinder, as it was in bad cosmetic shape like th rest of the engine: oxidation, 32 years of grime and oil leaks make for ugly aluminum. I began trying to clean the cases with brushes and solvents, but I was not getting too far, and I wanted the engine to look new again. I began searching for alternative cleaning methods, and had settled on soda blasting when an alternative popped up. Here is my oil pan after 2 hours of scrubbing

Here comes Murphy again! While I was splitting the cases, and removing the outer crank main bearing bolts, 2 of them sheared off. Great. I tried welding nuts onto the exposed bolt ends (they were flush with the upper case) but I would just shear those off again. I tried penetrating oil with the case heated up, and I tried left hand drill bits and GENTLY tried an easy out (like THATS gonna work after shearing off 10 welded nuts). I reserved myself to the fact that I did not have the tools to remove these bolts, and I either had to find someone who did or find new cases. A friend and a local bike shop owner referred me to J&P Deburring in Chatsworth California. With an EDM machine and my wallet $40 lighter, the bolts were gone. They also told me they could make my cases look new again, and I said "ok, show me what you can do". And the following was the result for the case and oil pan.

I don't know what these engines looked like new, but I was VERY pleased with the finished product. The cost? $40 for the cases and oil pan!

They could have my 40 bucks. Roy

What did they do to them????

roy-b-boy-b wrote:

They could have my 40 bucks. Roy

no shit!!!! and what is their method?

I do not know the exact method, but I will find out. I want them to do my cylinder and head also. What I do know is it was a three step process with 3 different blast media. Two of the steps were glass bead and plastic media, I THINK. I'll find out next week and let you guys know.

KensKz - exactly which bottom end upgrades are you refering to? I asked APE to lighten and weld my crank, but they don't lighten KZ cranks and their welding guy dropped off the face of the earth. The told me to contact Gardner Racing Cranks, as he is one of the few that still work on these press fit roller bearing cranks. I am still contemplating having the tranny back cut, but you can get into some serious money when you start upgrading gears, shafts, shifts forks and the like Where does a guy put his foot down on a 1075 street build? As BadDad has noticed, I'm not new to modding, but I am not familiar with all the idiosyncrasies of the KZ...yet. Larry Cavanaugh was kind enough to talk to me about what I wanted out of my engine and gave me an engine combo he felt would make me happy. A street port job, the Wiesco 10.25:1 1075cc kit and Cam Motion Z1 grind cams fed by a quartet of Kiehin 31MM CR Specials. Larry also told me that I did not need to weld my crank with this engine combo. At the same time, the last thing I want is to have a problem with a fresh engine and split the cases again.

i have heard people say that they have seen stock motors slightly twist a crank out of place. I contacted ape about my crank quite a while ago and got the same story. I called up Gardner racing, and he was VERY good to work with. Great guy that did a damn great job. I am very satisfied, and i think it was right around $200 total including mailing that heavy bastard from SD all the way to maine and back