1983 KZ750K1 Smoking exhaust at the flange/head

Okay, so I posted in the electrical forum the past few days regarding a no spark issue. Today, after lots of hard work, it started, and sounded fantastic.

BUT

it is smoking at the flange where the exhaust is fastened onto the head with the studs/acorn nuts/etc...

There is however, a large amount of general GUNK around the motor. THe last owner rode it on gravel roads which covered it in filth. I've cleaned it up the best I can, so tomorrow when I get off work, I will buy some more degreaser and continue to clean. then try again.

Other than that, I mean, it could be burning fat? or would this be lean? I mean, it heats up pretty quick, the from the exhaust started not a minute after I let it run...

My best guess, is there may also be a lot of crud in the motor itself as when I got it, it had tons of rust in the gas tank and the carb bowls were loaded with that shit too.

I have two filters on the gas line, not including the filters on the petcock assembly.

other than that, I just want to make sure this isn't a sign of some soon-to-be critical failure.

as always, any input appreciated.

Thanks


Mark


PS here are pics (i haven't updated with what it looks like without the goofy fairing)
imgur.com/a/2KyJL

If the smoke is on the right side (as you sit on the bike) it may just be oil leaking from the tach drive connection (easy fix - new seal) so clean that area well to see if that's it. If not, the previous owner may not have replaced the exhaust flange gaskets when he fiddled with the exhaust. It would not have originally had acorn nuts on the studs, so he did something there. Ed

650ed wrote: If the smoke is on the right side (as you sit on the bike) it may just be oil leaking from the tach drive connection (easy fix - new seal) so clean that area well to see if that's it. If not, the previous owner may not have replaced the exhaust flange gaskets when he fiddled with the exhaust. It would not have originally had acorn nuts on the studs, so he did something there. Ed

That was actually one of the first things I checked. There was all sorts of gunk in there so it seems as if the seal for the tach cable from the head is busted.

I'll make sure I clean all the gunk from it again and give it a go tomorrow morning. (I work overnight)

other than that it sounded surprisingly good when I started it. I mean, I had to adjust the idle speed a few times as I'm sure I moved it when cleaning the carbs, but other than that, it sounded so much better than I expected.

The tach cable was the only cable that was there...the spedo cable was missing and, though somewhat unrelated, the cables for the clutch lever and brake will ultimately need to be replaced as the mounts on them are broken (they both work fine for now though)

The spedo has 18k on it, but I would estimate the bike has around 50-60k Miles as it was ridden regularly, which is good.

Other than that I think I misspoke (or typed) about the acorn nuts, but I'll have to double check.

well, I got it started, which means the real work has only just begun

thanks for the support

Since your tach drive area is gunked up I would replace the seals to stop the leak. You should replace 3 the pieces circled in the diagram below. All 3 are still available from Kawasaki, so any dealer can get them for you. Ed