oil in exhaust pipes-rings

13008-059 Standard Piston Ring Set for a 1977-1983 Kawasaki 650SR. Kawasaki lists your piston rings as "Active" which means they are still available from any Kawasaki Dealership. Currently in stock in all 3 Kawasaki US Warehouses even with an order of 9.

Hand hone the cylinders, send the head out for rebuilding, and install a fresh set of piston rings, after cleaning up the pistons, and you'll be set.

CoreyClough wrote:

13008-059 Standard Piston Ring Set for a 1977-1983 Kawasaki 650SR. Kawasaki lists your piston rings as "Active" which means they are still available from any Kawasaki Dealership. Currently in stock in all 3 Kawasaki US Warehouses even with an order of 9.

Hand hone the cylinders, send the head out for rebuilding, and install a fresh set of piston rings, after cleaning up the pistons, and you'll be set.

I would check cylinder wall wear and see: if more than a couple of thou, you may want to put in the next size larger rings (and shave the ends to get proper gap). If you are only honing the walls, the larger rings will cut into them and seal over time. Anyway, we used to do that to get another 40k miles out of a car engine. They won't be sealing real well at start up, you will have to break them in. It's a lot cheaper than a bore job with new pistons and rings. Not as good, but will give you some good service.

CoreyClough wrote:

13008-059 Standard Piston Ring Set for a 1977-1983 Kawasaki 650SR. Kawasaki lists your piston rings as "Active" which means they are still available from any Kawasaki Dealership. Currently in stock in all 3 Kawasaki US Warehouses even with an order of 9.

I wouldn't be surprised if the dealer price was in the $50/set ballpark or higher. You can save money on OEM parts ordering them from Babbittsonline.com. They usually give about a 20 - 30% discount off the dealer list price for parts.



13008-059
KZ650-E1 LTD (1980)
Assembly: CYLINDER/PISTONS
RING SET,PISTON,STD (SKU: 13008-059) $47.94


www.babbittsonline.com/pages/parts/viewbybrand/default.aspx

How do ya do a leak down test? Trip pivot,can I improvise that special tool?(rubber hose,clamps,gauges):dry: Remove exhaust & locate wet cylinder-great idea. I'll do an oil change & keep on riding til weather says differently, maybe til 1st,2nd wk in dec. here in nw Pa.

How do ya hand hone the cylinders? Is that fancy talk for finely polished-taking out the wall scratches in the cylinders?

Good idear on next size rings if cylinder wall size will allow me to do that. I'd like to stay as close to stock if I can. My baby will be more of a classic if I can do that. Thinking about classic plates on my 78 650 sr.:lol:

Good price on the ring sets at babbits bounty hunter. I'll definatly(spelling) check it out.

Well I'm going to change the oil & filter & run her til the weather keeps me out of the saddle & makes me take her to the shed for a make-over, along with some choice words, bruised knuckles,& thoughs of spring time rides.:woohoo: Thanks for the pointers & sage advice. Later....krazy kawi dudes!!:silly: Honorable mention to Corey Clough & Bounty Hunter;)

TODDSTER wrote:

How do ya hand hone the cylinders? Is that fancy talk for finely polished-taking out the wall scratches in the cylinders?

It's a tool attached to a hand drill like this:

www.mytoolstore.com/kd/kdengi10.html

I take it thats a no to jerry rigging one. Whats it cost to have cylinders honed? And the reason to hone is to use up sized rings? Is that correct? Thanks-TODDster

The reason to hone is to cut the glaze off the cylinder walls so the new rings can seat. Any machine shop can do it, but they will probably charge more than the $30 price range you can buy a hone set for.

Bounty hunter-How do you know when you have honed the cyl enough to have cut through the glaze & still keep it to within tolerence to use upsized (next size)rings.Did i state this question right? Do you get what I mean? How do you go about honing ,deglazing to clean up cyl for rings etc.? And is it something some one can do if they've never done this sort of thing before?

TODDSTER wrote:

Bounty hunter-How do you know when you have honed the cyl enough to have cut through the glaze & still keep it to within tolerence to use upsized (next size)rings.Did i state this question right? Do you get what I mean? How do you go about honing ,deglazing to clean up cyl for rings etc.? And is it something some one can do if they've never done this sort of thing before?

You will know when the cylinder walls have been honed enough because the shiny smooth face will be gone and you will have the cross hatched surface with fine lines. You want to cut the absolute minimum material away while doing this to keep the piston fit as tight as possible.

It's been a while since I did it, but the goal is to get angle cross hatching by moving the drill up and down to make diagonal lines on the walls. Anyplace you see a shiny glazed surface means it is not honed yet.

After you are happy with th cylinders, you set the rings in and measure the end gap with a feeler gauge. Cheack against manual spec, typically you want to have about .003" PER INCH OF PISTON DIAMETER. If needed, you can carefully file the ends of the rings (don't chip them).

Before choosing between stock rings and the .010" over ring size, hone the cylinder and measure the diameter afterwards. If the diameter is closer to stock, the stock rings would work better. If the wear is .004 - .005" or more, probably best to go to the .010" over rings and shave the ends.

you are better off using a ball hone you can get the one that fits your bore size 5-10 strokes are usally enough to do the job a ball hone on a cordless drill is almost idiot proof. you will want to get a finer grit set so it will help seat the rings faster any good automotive parts store should be able to get them for you or take it in to a decent bike shop and they will do it cheap.by the way the crosshatch should be any from a 45-60 degree angle when done the most important thing is to use some sort of lube[wd-40] and don't let it sit in one spot to long nice smooth strokes and when your are done use hot soap and water [dish soap works well and have the water as hot as you can stand] i like to use a large round brush like a toilet brush to clean all the honing residue out and then dry it out as fast as you can and spray wd- 40 into the cylinders to prevent rust then wipe the excess out until the lint free cloth you are using comes clean no more black stuff on the rag.

timebomb33 wrote:

you are better off using a ball hone

Good point. If the cylinder walls have some wear, flat rectangular hones won't be able to get the whole cylinder wall surface and may leave the low areas untouched.

B.H. & T.B. Thanks for the info on the honing procedure. I think the ball hone will work best for me. If its idiot proof thats good enough for me.:blush: