KZ1000 oil pump drive gear

Has anyone thought of having a machine shop make a lower tooth count gear for the oil pumps on these old KZ's,same size,just fewer teeth so it would spin the pump a little faster,increasing flow and pressure,not a whole lot just a little.Instead of a 49 tooth gear,maybe something like a 42 tooth gear??...increasing flow about 20 % or so.Since after they get to operating temps,the pressure really drops to very little...2.8 lbs @3000 rpm.And yeah, i know it has roller bearings on the crank and all that, but its a plain ol' insert bearing in the top ends,the furthest point from the oil pump,cam insert bearings getting the least amount of lubrication.I know they typically hold up and last a long time, but if top end lubrication were improved,heck they might last a whole lot longer.Eveyone talks about "flow" instead of pressure being essential to these motors,well ok how can the "flow" be improved upon?...more output from the oil pump. Has anyone found a lower tooth oil pump drive gear that would interchange? or does someone make a gear like that for sale somewhere?

I havent looked at a break down, but the oil pump is going to have a pressure by pass someplace in the system, that is what you would need to modify the pressure, just spinning it faster is not going to do it alone.
and remember when you increase the pressure you are going to increase the heat in the oil, not such a good idea

steve3408 wrote:

Has anyone thought of having a machine shop make a lower tooth count gear for the oil pumps on these old KZ's,same size,just fewer teeth so it would spin the pump a little faster,increasing flow and pressure,not a whole lot just a little.Instead of a 49 tooth gear,maybe something like a 42 tooth gear??

If the diameter uis the same and there are fewer teeth, the pitch of the gears will not match the drive gear on the crankshaft.

BTW: higher performance oil pumps are not higher pressure, they are increased volume.

I am not sure it is a great idea to muck with the oil pump gear either. I would add some external oil lines to slosh the cam bearing area if I were concerned. The boy-racers do this and use braided steel lines to make it look hi-tech.

bountyhunter wrote:

steve3408 wrote:

Has anyone thought of having a machine shop make a lower tooth count gear for the oil pumps on these old KZ's,same size,just fewer teeth so it would spin the pump a little faster,increasing flow and pressure,not a whole lot just a little.Instead of a 49 tooth gear,maybe something like a 42 tooth gear??

If the diameter uis the same and there are fewer teeth, the pitch of the gears will not match the drive gear on the crankshaft.

BTW: higher performance oil pumps are not higher pressure, they are increased volume.

Increased volume would be okay too,dont see how that would be a negative.
The oil pump drive gears made for Suzuki's are made the same diameter as originals,and the teeth are matched to the right pitch,just fewer teeth on the gear.If it can be made for Suzuki's and work a little better,surely it would work ok on the KZ's too.They wouldnt sell them as an upgrade for the Suzuki racers if it didnt improve engine lubrication and function ok with it.

BSKZ650 wrote:

I havent looked at a break down, but the oil pump is going to have a pressure by pass someplace in the system, that is what you would need to modify the pressure, just spinning it faster is not going to do it alone.
and remember when you increase the pressure you are going to increase the heat in the oil, not such a good idea

They might have an oil pressure by pass on the smaller bikes, but the 73-80 KZ1000's i dont think, have an oil pressure relief valve because they only operate in the 0 - 8 lbs range to begin with.A slight increase in oil pressure is not going to cause an increase in oil heat,Most KZ 1000's run in the 150-170 degree range when hottest,so how could oil presure (2.8 lbs. @ 3000 rpm)make any noticeable difference in the oil heat/temp.? If you think its running hot ,there are oil coolers available that would help that,and these are air cooled engines,remember,so there are a lot more factors that would manipulate the engine oil heat besides a very small increase in oil volume/pressure,such as outside temperature,how hard its being rode,the ambient wind temp around the engine while moving,proper tuning and maintenance,internal combustion efficiency,fuel octane rating,etc.....

wiredgeorge wrote:

I am not sure it is a great idea to muck with the oil pump gear either. I would add some external oil lines to slosh the cam bearing area if I were concerned. The boy-racers do this and use braided steel lines to make it look hi-tech.

Now thats a pretty good idea,couldnt hurt having a little extra oil to the top end for the cam bearings.What it wouldnt use would just drain back down to the pan anyway.
The most critical time would probably be on start up,when its running for a little while before oil is getting pumped up to that area.I dont know how long that is, but probably what?...15-25 seconds maybe that its running with whatever oil was left behind on the bearings from the last run time.
So i guess spinning it over first, helps, before you "actually" try starting it,to get oil there maybe a little sooner.

steve3408 wrote:

bountyhunter wrote:

steve3408 wrote:

Has anyone thought of having a machine shop make a lower tooth count gear for the oil pumps on these old KZ's,same size,just fewer teeth so it would spin the pump a little faster,increasing flow and pressure,not a whole lot just a little.Instead of a 49 tooth gear,maybe something like a 42 tooth gear??

If the diameter uis the same and there are fewer teeth, the pitch of the gears will not match the drive gear on the crankshaft.

BTW: higher performance oil pumps are not higher pressure, they are increased volume.

Increased volume would be okay too,dont see how that would be a negative.
The oil pump drive gears made for Suzuki's are made the same diameter as originals,and the teeth are matched to the right pitch,just fewer teeth on the gear.

Hmmm... well it's been a while since I did any mechanical design, but I am not sure I understand how that can be possible. The teeth on the pump gear have to match the teeth on the drive gear (which stay constant). If you have fewer teeth on the same diameter wheel, it necessarily follows that the teeth must move farther apart from each other..... hence me not understanding how it would match the drive gear. If you change both gears, maybe that would work.

bountyhunter wrote:

steve3408 wrote:

bountyhunter wrote:

steve3408 wrote:

Has anyone thought of having a machine shop make a lower tooth count gear for the oil pumps on these old KZ's,same size,just fewer teeth so it would spin the pump a little faster,increasing flow and pressure,not a whole lot just a little.Instead of a 49 tooth gear,maybe something like a 42 tooth gear??

If the diameter uis the same and there are fewer teeth, the pitch of the gears will not match the drive gear on the crankshaft.

BTW: higher performance oil pumps are not higher pressure, they are increased volume.

Increased volume would be okay too,dont see how that would be a negative.
The oil pump drive gears made for Suzuki's are made the same diameter as originals,and the teeth are matched to the right pitch,just fewer teeth on the gear.

Hmmm... well it's been a while since I did any mechanical design, but I am not sure I understand how that can be possible. The teeth on the pump gear have to match the teeth on the drive gear (which stay constant). If you have fewer teeth on the same diameter wheel, it necessarily follows that the teeth must move farther apart from each other..... hence me not understanding how it would match the drive gear. If you change both gears, maybe that would work.

An aftermarket oil pump gear with less teeth for spinning the pump a little faster is available for the Suzuki engine, i'm sure one could be made for the KZ as well,someone has figured out how to reduce tooth number,while keeping the diameter the same.I'm sure its just a matter of spacing,possibly taller teeth ?? maybe??

Someone with access to a computer assisted drafting program could probably design one pretty easily.

Sorry but it just doesn't work that way. If you investigate I bet you'd find the Zuk mod requires 2 gears! What you are saying is physically impossibel. Sorry

Sorry but i guess it does for the suzuki gear,Maybe you should investigate it,The "Suzuki mod" is a replacement gear (1)for the oil pump drive gear,
not two.I dont know how they did it,but it must be a different spacing,angles or tooth height.They obviously work since they are being sold to improve the oil pump output.If it can be done for the Suzuki, it couldnt be that much of a stretch to fabricate one for a Kawasaki.
And maybe its only a matter of one or two teeth on a gear to do that,although like you said a two gear mod would be more practical,something like maybe the gear drive instead of timing chains on cars.But no ones gonna make one for these old KZ's, they're dinosaurs now, so the new,cool ,hot products arent being designed for them anymore , but surely the technology is out there to make some improvements on the old ones too.We just have to be open minded test the limits.
I'm sure 20 something years ago, if you had said adding relays and mission specific wiring for the headlights and coils on the KZ would make it better,there would have been people saying it doesnt work that way,cant improve it,impossible,blah,blah,blah....

modprod wrote:

Sorry but it just doesn't work that way. If you investigate I bet you'd find the Zuk mod requires 2 gears! What you are saying is physically impossible. Sorry

Yep.

BTW, just spinning a pump faster doesn't NECESSARILY buy you a whole lot as to improved performance in the pump. Pumps are a mechanical assembly designed to have certain flow characteristics. 30% more shaft RPM does not correspond to 30% more pressure or volume. It might do something better, but it's preferable to get an actual high performance/high volume pump if available. They used to make them for many car engines back in my hot rod days..... when dinosaurs roamed the earth.:laugh: