1075 Kit Questions

Look at those super clean engines! Reall nice work guys! Clean is where it's at!

Read your manual over thoroughly! Then read it some more!

Seriously, these are not difficult engines to work on. They're as basic as they come. Common sense and some general good mechanical skills will get you to home plate without issues...

Have the head surfaced, just enought to make it straight.

Assemble your gaskets DRY.

Ask whoever is boring your block to put a generous chamfer on the base of the sleeves. It will make installing the block over the pistons easier.

Clean your bores with HOT, Soapy water and a big round brush. Rinse thoroughly, blow dry and then begin wiping them down with the same oil you're running for break in. Rub them with clean white clothes until the cloth stops discoloring. If you use paper towels, get Bounty. A strong dose of Dawn Dish Detergent will do the trick.

When you assemble your block onto the pistons, just a little oil on the base of the sleeve will do the trick. Don't over do it. A little on the piston skirts and rings as well [if your piston manufacturer says otherwise, follow their instructions]

After the block is on, turn the crank over to bring each pair of cylinders, to TDC and wipe out any excess oil in the cylinders with a paper towel.

Clean the cases, block and head deck surface thoroughly to remove any oil traces before you assemble with gaskets.

Use a Kawasaki OEM Base Gasket.

Apply a little engine assembly grease to the head washers and also some to the threads inside the nuts. Apply it also to the cam cap bolts. You can get it at NAPA in a tube. It's the white grease. I use it all the time...good stuff for fastener lubrication.

After you fire up the engine for the first time and run it a while, let it cool completely, then go over your cylinderhead torque sequence again. No need to loosen the nuts again, just set the wrench and check them. Tighten to factory specs if you're using stock studs or to APE's specs if you go with HD studs.

IF you lube the threads when you assemble, there's no need to loosen each nut to retorque the head.

larrycavan wrote:

Look at those super clean engines! Reall nice work guys! Clean is where it's at!

Read your manual over thoroughly! Then read it some more!

Seriously, these are not difficult engines to work on. They're as basic as they come. Common sense and some general good mechanical skills will get you to home plate without issues...

Have the head surfaced, just enought to make it straight.

Assemble your gaskets DRY.

Ask whoever is boring your block to put a generous chamfer on the base of the sleeves. It will make installing the block over the pistons easier.

Clean your bores with HOT, Soapy water and a big round brush. Rinse thoroughly, blow dry and then begin wiping them down with the same oil you're running for break in. Rub them with clean white clothes until the cloth stops discoloring. If you use paper towels, get Bounty. A strong dose of Dawn Dish Detergent will do the trick.

When you assemble your block onto the pistons, just a little oil on the base of the sleeve will do the trick. Don't over do it. A little on the piston skirts and rings as well [if your piston manufacturer says otherwise, follow their instructions]

After the block is on, turn the crank over to bring each pair of cylinders, to TDC and wipe out any excess oil in the cylinders with a paper towel.

Clean the cases, block and head deck surface thoroughly to remove any oil traces before you assemble with gaskets.

Use a Kawasaki OEM Base Gasket.

Apply a little engine assembly grease to the head washers and also some to the threads inside the nuts. Apply it also to the cam cap bolts. You can get it at NAPA in a tube. It's the white grease. I use it all the time...good stuff for fastener lubrication.

After you fire up the engine for the first time and run it a while, let it cool completely, then go over your cylinderhead torque sequence again. No need to loosen the nuts again, just set the wrench and check them. Tighten to factory specs if you're using stock studs or to APE's specs if you go with HD studs.

IF you lube the threads when you assemble, there's no need to loosen each nut to retorque the head.

GREAT advice....thanks......thats what makes this site great......

Exitpupil wrote:

I had good service from Joe Hooper at this place. He has replacement cylinders reasonable. His baked on finish looks great too.
stores.ebay.com/Pit-Stop-Performance-Store

he s doing my stuff..bought the mtc pistons with the jugs with the finish....i concur the finish is easy on the eyes...i sent my head to him and said make sure they get the same finish so at least the top end is uniform!! we will see what happens.....his prices seem good and so far i m happy with what i purchased...trust me, when i m laying out good money ,i can be quite anal and quite verbal if i m not happy!!!!:laugh:

freebyrd24 wrote:

Thank you both a ton! Is there anything I should be wary of and inspect in the bottom end before re-assembling? Should I check the bottom end? What should I look for, what are some typical things I should do/check for? The bike ran when it was assembled, but the piston rings were in rough shape.

these bottom ends are EXTREMELY tough..if you had a good running bike that had decent oil change intervals and it shifted good, i wouldnt mess with the tranny and bottom end....but thats just my opinion and many will differ....keith

good advice larry couldn't have said it better my self and some of those deals are awesome also i just ended up with some new sources because of you guy's there is no way i could bore cylinders for a hundred bucks if they are selling complete kits go for them . it is good deal.

Looks like some excellent deals! I'm very excited! The bike was veeeeery tought to start. It had bad air filters and I haven't even tried digging into the carbs yet. But once it started, it ran very smooth and had good power! The compression test revealed low numbers in the 30's and 50's, which does not seem like it would run at all.

What I'm getting at, is I don't think there are any bottom end problems, and the bike shifted well without any problems, at least to my knowledge. I drove it just a few short times, but made sure it ran and shifted fine. There is nothing sticking out to me as far as issues with the bottom end, so should I attack the bottom end to visually inspect? What would I look for in there? Actually, I should put a new timing chain in anyway..... hmm......

Thanks for the comments and ideas everyone! keep em coming! haha

You should check the springs in the back of the clutch basket while u have it apart too.if they are loose in the holes they are warn out.Gast and falcon, or APE can change them for you for about $200 i think.
You need to split the cases to get the basket out, so this is the time for this ,if u are splitting.

freebyrd24 wrote:

Looks like some excellent deals! I'm very excited! The bike was veeeeery tought to start. It had bad air filters and I haven't even tried digging into the carbs yet. But once it started, it ran very smooth and had good power! The compression test revealed low numbers in the 30's and 50's, which does not seem like it would run at all.

What I'm getting at, is I don't think there are any bottom end problems, and the bike shifted well without any problems, at least to my knowledge. I drove it just a few short times, but made sure it ran and shifted fine. There is nothing sticking out to me as far as issues with the bottom end, so should I attack the bottom end to visually inspect? What would I look for in there? Actually, I should put a new timing chain in anyway..... hmm......

Thanks for the comments and ideas everyone! keep em coming! haha

i cheated and bought a cam chain from z-1 enterprises that they had a master link for and split the chain and rejoined it with the master link..i peened over the pins on the master link..
i got the idea from wired george...i will say as he did, that many will say it isnt the proper way to go, but his reasoning made sense..all the load on the chain is fore and aft and there aint a buttload on the side plates...it would have been great if the hd chain came with a master link kit , but it didnt...so i went with the standard chain.......i found a great tool for cam chain work....p m me if interested.....keith

When you buy the kit from us, it comes with pistons, pins, rings, clips, and head gasket.

Cylinder boring in our shop is $125.00 with the kit purchase.

Best place to get pistons

mark1122 wrote:

You should check the springs in the back of the clutch basket while u have it apart too.if they are loose in the holes they are warn out.Gast and falcon, or APE can change them for you for about $200 i think.
You need to split the cases to get the basket out, so this is the time for this ,if u are splitting.

If it's an 82 [J motor] the basket will come out without splitting the cases. There's a big center bushing/collar that you remove, then the basket has enough room to slip right out.

On a pre 1981 [KZ] you must split the cases.



HEY!.... I heard through the grapevine that JE is phazing out KZ pistons and is offering up some really good deals on everything KZ related. Could be worth a phone call.

If it were me, I'd see about sending them my block directly too..

Thanks Larry.

www.jepistons.com/pdf/2006-moto2.pdf You are correct sir.I picked up a 1200cc piston kit from them at a very good price.All there remaining KZ piston kits will be closed out at discount prices.If you my need any pistons in the future ,they can make some up, minumum of two at a time.I you are looking for a KZ piston kit I would give them a call .At these prices they will not last long.I think the J-E pistons are one of the best on the market for the KZ's.