Putting a 79 head on a 83 engine...

Yep, I agree, it ought to work fine as long as there is enough room for the cam chain.

And it looks like there is, but sometimes it's hard to tell from pics.

Hey Bud1 - This should head swap be interesting to hear how it turns out. I don't believe we have seen this combo tried here that I can recall seeing.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

Most definitely will keep you all posted. I have this bad habit of trying to do things after I've been told it can't be done! Sometimes it works :woohoo: Sometimes it doesn't :blink: At any rate I have fun!

YOUR HEAD SWAP SHOULD WORK! AS STATED THE 79 USES A IDLER GEAR BETWEEN THE CAM GEARS. ON THE UNDER SIDE OF THE 83 VALVE COVER THER IS ANOTHER CHAIN SLIDE REMOVE IT AND INSTALL IT IN THE 79 VALVE COVER. YOU SHOULD BE GOOD TO GO!

what part of omaha are you in ?im just on other side of 30th and harrison if you want some help;)

Been busy the last couple days, teenage daughter problems :huh: Wireman I live on 37th Street just south of L Street. If mapquest is right we are just a few blocks apart!

Bud1 I was looking at another thread here and thought this would be of interest to you. It looks like you will have no problem with your head swap as long as you use the bits off the 83 for the cam chain set up. Apparently Kawasaki used the same type head with a hyvo type camchain on some of the bikes it sold in Europe. Check out the pics in this link.
kzrider.com/component/option,com_joomlab...11/id,135971/#142956

Well, once again I've proven that when things are going to well something is about to hit the fan!

I got the 79 head all prepped, all the 83 stuff swapped over that needed to be, got the head all installed and everything, and then started to install the cams, etc.

I discovered that there is not enough room for the 83 cam chain in the 79 head. The 83 valve cover bolts to the head perfectly EXCEPT for the two bolts that are next to the timing chain. The 79 bolt holes are about 1/8 of an inch closer together than the 83. Even if I had a 79 valve cover I'd still have to grind away some of the head to get the cam and chain to seat properly.

So I've removed the 79 head and am proceeding to swap the valves from it into the 83 head.

I'll keep everybody posted on how it goes.

Gringo thanks for the link I appreciate it!

Wireman if I get stuck I just might be giving you a call!

Well I got the valves from the 79 head installed in the 83 head without any problems. Then I started to play with valve clearances. Even with the smallest shims available there is zero clearance on all the valves. So back to the drawing board.:sick: