cam chain guide

Hi All, could someone pls explain how to get the front cam chain guide out of the head of a Z500. the Clymer manual says "pull the front cam chain guide up out of the block". I've known for a long time that I'm retarded but I've tried this and I'd rather not bugger it up. Thanks in advance. See piccy....

Post edited by: tellietubbie, at: 2006/01/08 14:54

On a 903cc block, the cam chain bit is retained with a 6mm phillips head screw. Turn the thing over and look for a screw. To remove it, you need a hand impact driver and #3 bit I think (I AM NOT POSITIVE BUT I THINK IT IS A #3 bit). The bit needs to be extra long and the hand impact driver is needed as this screw is also held by some loctite and you CAN NOT turn it by hand. Jeff at www.z1enteprises.com can sell you the impact driver and longer impact bits. I break them all the time (bits) and buy all my new ones from him. The 903 cam chain bit is a little different than yours and you can see the top of the screw looking down from the top but yours must be secured from below or in a different way. There are few 500s so I am not sure what family they belong to but buykawaski.com should have an exploded drawing (parts diagram) that would let you see where the screw is in a similar bike (like a KZ550???).

Thanks for your reply George. I don't see any screw heads anywhere However the thing will rattle and lift up about 8mm, then toward the rear of the block about 6mm.Then it feels decidedly unwilling to go any further.There are no pivot points, the only possible way I can see for it to come out is to twist it in the partially extracted position, but that feels wrong 'cos I'd have to force it.I havn't had this bike long and I'm well into stripping it for a complete restoration but the bloody things are rare as rocking horse shit, even here in Europe. The Clymer manual includes the Z550 A1 [1980] and the ZX550,did you have these in the States? From what I've learned so far this is the smaller version of the Z900[England].Pete.

The picture I added is from www.buykawasaki.com parts diagrams for the KZ550A from 1980. It shows a bracket that must be unbolted to remove the tensioning bit from the bottom side of the cylinder block.

You're correct, thanks a lot George.