Sprocket-cover cracked! Wy?

I wonder why they went from 4 retaining bolts on the cover to only 3 bolts? The lower front bolt was later replaced by a dowel pin. One would think that should weaken the cover.

Faffi: I believe it depends on where the bolts are placed, but you're right, 4 should make it stronger than 3.

I've found the pieces I need on Z1 Enterprises, atm I'm trying to find it in Europe, to cut down delivery costs - I'll definately go with the roller bearing type. Now I'm just searching for a new pushrod, am I totally lost or why can't I find it anywhere?

AFAIK, the 3 remaining bolts are in the same spot, just that one is blanked off and replace with a locating pin.

A breaker in Germany or England, if nothing else, should be able to provide the bits you need.

I agree, that's a bit weird!

Thanks, that'll be what I'll try if nothing else works. The guy I bought the bike from, is searching for a sprocketcover and pushrod in his storagebuildings and shop right now - I'm pretty confident that he has it, just started planning where to go if it fails.

All KZ650 sprocket covers started life using 4 bolts. If yours has only 3 someone has fiddled with it. Take a look at the diagram below. It is from Kawasaki.com and shows the clutch cover for the 1983 KZ650-H3 using 4 bolts. Diagrams for earlier models also show 4 bolts. Ed

Thank you, Ed.

I'll have another look, but if it's not original, somebody have taken the effort to weld shut the hole in the cover and grind it down to a perfect shape that looks stock. There are no long tunnel to support the bolt, either. If there is a threaded hole in engine, I'll swap to my spare cover.

So today I picked up another cover and pushrod from the guy I bought the bike from - around $30, wasn't too bad - waiting for stuff Z1 Enterprises, takes a bit of time to get across the pond - should worth the wait though. Ordered the roller bearing push rod kit, a set of new allenhead bolts for the engine and a new gascap (the one on the bike is badly pitted, and I can live with using a different key for that), ordered it on wednesday, should take one to two weeks before it arrives, so I'll have the time to get the new cover painted, get my 4-into-1 of the bike and wrapped in black wrap, and get a few other bits and pieces done - it's always good for something right..

Swap the Lock cylinder from the old cap to the new one.

If your bike is a KZ650-B or C model I believe you will find that your current key will unlock your new gas cap. These caps had no tumblers; just a straight cut slot. I don't know if the caps on other models were the same. Ed

Thanks Motor Head, I wasn't sure that was possible, great!

Oh yeah, I forgot, I could spend some time trying to figure out how to connect my brand new Acewell multi-gauge-thing - should be exiting!

Thank you Ed, that would be even easier! My bike is a bit of a Frankenbike, it's a '79 B frame, but wheels and engine would be early 80's F-model (enkei-mags an no kickstarter)

Fixes the problem today, changing the original "mushroom" for the APE roller bearing type from Z1enterprises (great service from those guys!)

As well as the ball at the end of the pushrod being welded stuck, it was easy to see that the rod on the "mushroom" was pretty hot at some point, I don't know if you Can tell from the picture (look for blue )
The other picture just illustrates the difference between the two.

Easy job to do, hope it ads to reliability on the bike.

Thanks alot for the help everyone!