Reinstalling Cams

don't ever put one side on then the other sure as shit you will break a cam or worse yet the cam caps, put both caps on and gradually in steps go back and forth between them i havo .520 lift springs in mine and have never had to do anything as radical as what you have planned remember go back and forth evenly. please take your time and don't get rammy or will all end in tears.

You may want to get a low range torque wrench, as the cam bolts shouldn't be pulled more than maybe 75-80 inch pounds and some say a little less than that. Harbor Freight sells a decent 20 - 200 inch-pound wrench that is pretty accurate for this use.

APE Jay wrote:

Never put the cam cap bolts in dry.

Jay

Will use some permatex anti-sieze out of my tub for the final install. The bolts were not dry, actually oily with engine oil when it began to head south.

Thanks Jay

timebomb33 wrote:

don't ever put one side on then the other sure as shit you will break a cam or worse yet the cam caps

this is what my Clymers manual said to do, cap the end that is sitting down in the best, then start the other end. i could tell it wasn't going to work and stopped to think and look.

put both caps on and gradually in steps go back and forth between them i havo .520 lift springs in mine and have never had to do anything as radical as what you have planned remember go back and forth evenly.

this is what i tried next exactly, and I guarantee i was going over 12ft-lbs just pulling the cams down with my little 1/4" drive ratchet which i was using for feel. i stopped here as it felt like too much stress and as i took the bolts back out found the 1.5 turns of thread and stopped dead.[/quote]

please take your time

will do, i think setting 16 time serts will fix the problem, make any future work easier - i consider this a definate upgrade to my freshly machined cylinder head.

and don't get rammy or will all end in tears.

mate, those are words to live by when wrenching on aluminum! : )

cheers

bountyhunter wrote:

You may want to get a low range torque wrench, as the cam bolts shouldn't be pulled more than maybe 75-80 inch pounds and some say a little less than that. Harbor Freight sells a decent 20 - 200 inch-pound wrench that is pretty accurate for this use.

before i had started i knew these blind holes were suspect from doing reasearch here. i had already read that 5.5-8 ft/lbs was what the braintrust here at KZR thought was best, and that 12 was pushing it big time!

i was using a tiny little 4" long 1/4" drive ratchet for feel, honestly i was just going to sung them rather than use my 5-105ft/lb clicker, knowing with the upforce of the cams acting as the worlds best split washer, i knew they'd never move.

I suspect with steel timesert threads i will just use the 12ft/lb factory number and have no worries there either.

sheik*yerbouti wrote: "this is what i tried next exactly, and I guarantee i was going over 12ft-lbs just pulling the cams down with my little 1/4" drive ratchet which i was using for feel. " "I suspect with steel timesert threads i will just use the 12ft/lb factory number and have no worries there either."

What "factory" says 12 foot pounds (that's 144 INCH pounds)? That sounds like a ton to me compared the the 113 INCH pound max on the KZ650s. I would definitely double check the factory specs with folks on this site.

Also, you really shouldn't use a 5-105 FOOT pound torque wrench for delicate work as there is no way that it will accurately measure the for the first 20% or so of it's rating. Ed

something is not right if you are having this kind of problem i have never stripped a cam bolt on a kz in all my years of being a motorcycle mechanic if you do strip one that is no reason to put inserts in the rest of them just because it might happen again if you have shim over there is no reason to pull the cams on a semi regular like you would have to with shim under. i'm running heavier springs then 99% of the people on here and like i said i have no troubles getting them to pull into place.just double check your spacing and try again once you get that one insert fixed it has to go. there are no special tools needed or every used in the real world. like my carpenter pappy used to say measure twice and cut it once not the other way around.these motors are very basic to deal with so it must have a small problem that you are missing.

check cam chain on crank sprocket to make its not balling up causing your chain to be tight also

sheik*yerbouti wrote:

APE Jay wrote:

Never put the cam cap bolts in dry.

Jay

Will use some permatex anti-sieze out of my tub for the final install. The bolts were not dry, actually oily with engine oil when it began to head south.

Thanks Jay

if it were me, and i am not a pro, i would fix the one hole and install the bolts with some engine oil on them.....i just snugged mine down...there
is enough pressure in there to keep them from turning out....

as my lovely associte mr plummen dood has stated it might be something as simple as your cam chain not being on the crank gear properly.pull the cam chain tight and rotate the motor around to tdc on number one again and see if the cam chain is moving with the crank rotation properly. it has happened to me before that is why there is plastic shoe sold that mounts to the center main cap on race bikes to keep the camchain from falling off the crank sprocket.

i made this little gem from the tool box"junk drawer"....3" closet rod holders super glued together with a coat hanger and i could spin motor around and cam chain spun with it....worked for me....yankee ingenuity or
hacker special...your choice...:laugh:

Someone will aruge this on this site....no doubt about that...

The factory Service Manual is a great thing to have and follow. Except when it comes to tightening down the cam caps.

If you are careful to watch the cam journal bosses on the left side of the cams lign up correctly, you'll put less stess on the bolts & threads if you tighten the right side cap [#4] first, at least half way down, then start the bolts on #3 cap.

On the exhaust, go the opposite way. Left to right.

When you're trying to pull cams with any real lift in place, against heavier springs, the two inside bolts on #3 cap just plain get stressed too much.

Also, like Jay said...lube the bolts.

Works for me....every single time...

JMO

Larry C