taking shims out

im rebuilding my top end and was taking out cams, i got them out.
now heres my question, once the cams are out, the shims should also come right off the top right?
or are they held from bottom?
they turn, but wont come out
i think it just suction from oil and its holding them in, does that sound right?

I think that those are the buckets, and yes, sometimes are pretty hard to remove.

I´ve devised myself a makeshift tool that is basically a vaccum rubber cup (sorry, I don´t know the word in english, but I guess you know those toy plastic arrows that have a rubber cup instead of the arrowhead, that "suck" to a flat surface when you fire them) to extract the buckets.

An easier way is to heat the whole head in the oven (I recommend doing this when the missus is at the mall... ), that´ll make things much easier, but first you have to remove the head, of course.

Most likely you will find the shims "glued" with oil to the buckets bottoms. Be sure to put buckets and shims in a properly marked egg carton just to not mix things up.

Anyway, wait till someone with more experience than me chimes in.

Cheers.

Post edited by: kawadruida, at: 2006/12/22 20:41

Edited to show this response would refer only to shim over bucket style. This would not apply to shim under bucket style, and I am uncertain which style you have. My experience is with KZ900.

Presume dealing with shim over bucket style, so the shim should come right out although there is some "oil suction" -- service manual for shim over bucket style shows using the factory special tool holding valve open and tweezers to grasp and remove the shim. The pic kit with magnet from Z1E works for me, but suppose any pencil type magnet would suffice.

Here's the pic kit with magnet

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1469

Here is the factory special tool

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1557

and an aftermarket tool

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=152


BTW, there are some very good previous threads showing how to best avoid stripping threads when re-installing the cams.

Good luck with your top end rebuild.

Post edited by: Patton, at: 2006/12/22 21:42

Post edited by: Patton, at: 2006/12/22 21:44

Post edited by: Patton, at: 2006/12/22 21:47

550, 650, 750 four, are shim under bucket.
900, 1000, and 1100 are shim on top of bucket (except the 83-85 GPz1100 is shim under bucket I think).

So if you are talking about the 650 listed in your sig, you have to pull the buckets out and then you will find the shims stuck to the underside of the buckets.

Magnet usually works.

i got them out! it was pretty easy, and yes this is the 77 650 b-1 in sig!
now on to finding a good set of cams!

Here's the earlier advise on how best to re-install the cams without stripping the threads in the head and possible fixes when stripped.

kzrider.com/component/option,com_joomlab...ew/catid,2/id,88359/

Not certain this applies to engines smaller than KZ900, but worth considering if applicable and perhaps avoid some reassembly headaches.

Hope you are using a service manual for guidance during the top-end overhaul.

Post edited by: Patton, at: 2006/12/23 10:50

Steveo - I know you figured it out, but here is another solution that you or others might find handy:

I bought a little vacume bleeder rig for working on bikes. It came with a whole host of little attachments for the end of the hose (Different sized nipple caps and what not). One of the attachments was a suctoin cup that was almost the perfect size to fit on top of the sim bucket on my 550. Just a little suction and they pulled right off. Perfect.

Hope this helps... someone..

-Bob

I just use a suction cup from a calendar or something. Works everytime, then toss it. Doesn't even have to be the same size as the bucket, just squish it on there and it works.