Motor help needed

Long story short, I bought a '82 GPz750R from a forum member. "Rebuilt motor" needs "carb work." I spent way too much puting the bike back together, powdercoating, painting, new parts, gaskets, etc. I did not touch the motor internals. I had Wireddog rebuild the carbs...

After reassembling the rest of the bike I try to start it and the starter seems to slip. I tear into the bottom end only to discover that the needle roller bearing inside the roller clutch on the secondary shaft is MISSING. Another trip to Kawasaki and a new needle bearing...

The choke knob on the carbs will not pull out all the way and stick, so I do the best I can with it. I turn the engine over but it won't start... Sounds like it is too lean... I spray starting fluid into the pod filters on #s 1 and 4 and it fires up. Still sounds lean to me but it runs good and pulls good. So far, so good.

After running for 10-15 minutes, smoke starts to come out of the crankcase breather (small filter on hose). Then a lot of smoke comes out of the breather... I shut it down. I tried calling WG about the lean carbs and the choke, but no help there. Every time the same, starting fluid to start, runs good (but lean) and then smoke after 10 minutes or so of running. I kicked the thing to a corner of the garage and left it sitting.

I am ready to start tearing back into this thing, but where to start? The missing needle bearing tells me someone had the engine apart, however, he must have been a complete idiot. The valve timing was right on, but I have not checked valve clearance. It sounds OK when running. The smoke from the crankcase breather has me stumped. It is clearly oil smoke. What is the likely suspect, non-seated (or just plain old)rings? Could the head be to blame. Someone offer some suggestions on where to start before I part this thing out. I have already spent way too much on this thing:(

Post edited by: maj75, at: 2007/07/02 15:26

if the motor was just rebuilt then it needs some time for the rings to seat in, but I would run a compression check to start with, check the valves, check the timing,
you have to start with the basic things first to see where you are.

I messed with it last night and discovered the source of the oil. So much is leaking out of the valve cover, it is butning off the motor causing the smoke. So much smoke comes out it originally seemed to be coming out of the breather.

Half of the threads in the head needed to tighten down the valve cover are stripped. Oil also seems to leak out around the end plugs too. The bolts on the ends of the valve cover that go through the plugs will not tighten. Valve cover gasket was new, but obviously need to be tight to work.

I will pop off the valve cover, get a new gasket. Any tricks/suggestions for addressing the stripped threads and sealing the end plugs?

You'll have to helicoil or timesert the stripped threads. On the end ones (the ones that go through the rubber plug) you can as a temporary measure use a longer bolt and put a nut on the end - they go all the way through. The rubber plugs should have a coating of Threebond when installed.

While the cam cover is off you might want to check the cam cap bolts too, they are favourites for stripping.