TOPIC:

well, my experience with forums is sticking to topic. topic should be changed to something better than replacing valve stem seals without pulling head.
thats all...

Its your thread and your bike. Do a fresh thread if you feel like it, and even though you asked a specific question in this thread it was answered. Then since the oil consumption is so high, people try to help with a suggestion from their experience. That's what this forum is for, and it is great, it brings people together with varied experience to bring to sorting out issues like yours. Sometimes you get an answer you don't want/ like, but that's expected when there are so many different people that can easily type.

i really appreciate yalls help. just confused on what to do next. i understand how to tear down. i now understand the oil ring cant be upside down, so if i have oil consumption through my rings, i cant afford new oversized pistons. which i dont grasp that. if my old pistons and rings didnt leak oil, how come in would need oversized now? i have to figure this out as cheaply as possible. i keep getting confused. damn depression i am struggling with isnt helping me none.
i am literally under a shade tree, on red texas dirt, working on her. what should my next steps be? pull jugs and measure pistons, sleaves, and gaps?

I've only just seen this topic so I thought I'd join in;

You can do the valve seals with the head on but to be honest it's a right pain, I made a valve out of an old spark plug so I could attach an air line to it, each cylinder, both valves closed, attach the air line and it holds the valves up. Stripping it is easy but putting the collets back in to secure the valve springs is a bastard of a job and I'd just take the head off.

Tell tale signs of valve seals having gone hard is when the bike has been left for a period of time it produces clouds of blue smoke on starting, that's due to the oil that has collected around the camshaft running past the valve seal while the engine is at rest and into the cylinder.

Blue smoke at 75 mph etc is pistons, I've relaced hundreds over the years (as a job, not a fetish) and the problem is that piston rings are harder than the pistons and so the grooves / lands in the piston wear and the rings move about, replacing rings is essentially a temporary measure and can be fine but if the piston is worn it's just false economy. I see you've already done the rings so something can't have beeen right before, make sure that when re-ringing all the carbon is removed from the piston where the ring sits or it'll never seat properly. It looks like it's back to the drawing board and take the top end off again.

Well if it was mine I would pull the cylinders and inspect, looking real close at all of the rings. If the expander for your oil ring does not have the ends "Butted" the oil ring cannot scrape the cylinder walls excess oil back to the crankcase and it will burn it till the plug fouls. Get it somewhere where you feel comfortable taking it apart, as it may be apart for several days waiting on parts, etc. If you must do it outside, get some plastic bags to cover the open engine, rags to stuff in the crankcase, maybe some coffee cans and empty egg containers to help keep things organized. You do have the proper Kawasaki Manual for your bike and some basic tools, correct?

pctech101 wrote: ...83 kz1100-L1...new rings...200+ miles since reassembled...Compression is 150 on all 4....

Imo, that's acceptable compression, indicating compression rings, pistons, and bore condition to be okay as is. Existing valve seals and guides may also be okay.

An issue with the oil rings is suspected as resulting in excessive oil consumption, even where everything else is hunky-dory.

Good Fortune!

Just a thought, did you make sure the gaps in each ring are spaced apart from each other and not in line, they need to be 120 degrees apart.

ive got my clymer, and the tools needed to take her apart (except valve stuff) all shoved in my saddlebags. dads a horder so there are plenty of cans i can use for keeping things organized. got tarp, trash bags, lots of shop rags.

cylinder 1 is worst, followed by 3rd, then 2nd. 4 is fine

my personal opinion is there isnt/wasnt any extra up down movement on rings. they fit snuggly in its groove. i spent 2 days removing carbon out of the grooves; i think i did a good job there. i had no binding on rings rotating them around piston in grooves.

i didnt verify that ring gaps are staggered 120 degrees.

i will go outside in a few minutes and get stuff organized and take some pics of rings when i get that far.

That's the way, take some photos how it goes all back together. Since you don't have any valve tools, you might be able to go back to the shop that did the head. Maybe they would check/ replace the stem seals for you. Or you could rent a decent spring compressor, also Harbor Freight/ China Tools would have a C-Clamp Style cheap. Or you can make something work, like Patton posted.

i borrowed my fathers feeler gauges, i can barely read them.
the thinnest feeler has 3 rows with the following:
.006
.152
mm

what am i looking at?
i need to measure between .05-.15mm
i am wanting to measure valve clearance so if i need shims i can order with gaskets.
also z1 is out of o-rings for 4 oil gallies for cylinder to jug gaskets. anyone recommend good replacement supplier? cant use paypal for payments(no ebay).

For shims, you need the right kit. Measure all the gaps and note each one down, if they're in tolerence thats fine, if not you need to remove the shim and measure that with a micrometer and note that down against the gap.

Current gap + Shim size - standard gap = new shim size

If you have a credit card try Z Power at Leigh in the UK. They are without doubt Kawasaki gods, even Kawasaki UK sent me to them for Z750B parts even the factory didn't have. Their reply to me was "how many you want, we've got hundreds".

Good luck.

im still confused on feeler gauge.
isnt .152mm more than .15mm doesnt that make the feelers i have not thin enough?