so i guess im going to buy another head

because i have 0 compression across all 4 cylinders (i dont have a compression gauge but i can put my finger over the spark plug hole and turn it over and i can keep my finger there no problem) and part of the head cracked whenever i was putting it back on, all 8 of the holes for the cam caps on the exhaust cam stripped out. so i want a head from a running bike to put on it and also how hard is it to pull the jugs and swap pistons because i would like to put a new set along with new rings in it. and can i 1 cam that is bigger than the other? i was looking at my andrews 2x cams and one of the lobes is wore extremely bad (it is even smaller then a stock cam lobe)

Sounds like you do need a new head. You can find them on ebay pretty cheap or maybe someone has one they will sell you. Any head you get will probably need some work but it's better than a cracked one. I have one that needs a spark plug hole fixed and could use a valve job. It's yours if you pay the shipping. As for the jugs they just slide off when you get the head off. You might have to pry on them to get them off. There is a little slot on the bottom of the jugs that you can stick a screwdriver in to help pry them loose. Sounds like the cam is shot. You should be able to buy just one or maybe go with a stock set for a while.

thanks for the offer but i would like to find a head that i can just bolt right on...yeah i figured the cam was shot but do you think i could still use the other cam along with a stock cam?

Make sure that the taller cam is on the intake side, but yes the cams do not have to be the same. You can even put an ehost cam on the intake side and an intake cam on the exhost side. You will loose yor tach drive in the process but that is all. Stock Kawasaki cams are ussualy identical with the exwption of the tach drive gear. You can buy a rebuilt head no problem but I would not put a unreferbished head on yor bike you have no idea what the valve seats look like or the valve stems. You can do a lot of work for nothing and it will most likely cost you a LOT more money in the long run. For $300-$400 you can buy a completly referbished head that will be perfect.

Otto

Sounds to me like you have bent valves.
You also can tap the cam caps to 1/4X20 if the holes arrant to bad.

XENU

What motor do you need a head for? Maybe I missed it but I dont see it listed

thats around what i was planning on spending for one
so i guess im going to sell the system in my car

it is a 1974 z1 900 engine and the head has been completely ported but its junk

cutmesomeslackjk wrote:

so i want a head from a running bike to put on it

You can buy a used one from the junkers and get it rebuilt or just buy one already rebuilt. You REALLY don't want to risk dropping one on as is because it will likely give you grief too soon. The valve seals on these KZs don't live real long from my experience, especially if they have been sitting a while.

cutmesomeslackjk wrote:

how hard is it to pull the jugs and swap pistons because i would like to put a new set along with new rings in it.

It's harder than just doing the head. How many miles on the engine? If ot's under maybe 25 - 30k, it probably doesn't need new pots. You can get a micrometer and measure the bore wear when the head is off. The cost for boring alone is probably about $200 and the new set of pots is probably going to be a few hundred unless you luck out on ebay.

Ive got a spare 76 KZ900 motor that the head would look original if you cant find one. Its in running condition, couldnt get a title so I parted it out

I dont know how many miles the motor has on it because it is a 1974 z1 engine on a 1980 kz frame. but if the gauges were switched out too and i think they might have been the engine has about 20,000 miles on it.....it does not matter to me if the head looks original

i did a leak test on the valves and the #1 cylinder exhaust valve dumped water out just as fast as i could put it in but all the other valves held water and when the head was on the bike it felt like i had no compression across all cylinders

Solvent would be better to use. Did you check to see if you had any valve clearance on the bad cylinder or all of them? Its an expensive job so most people just keep running them until they quit