kz1000J3 broken camchaft cap

I went through that years ago. I had two extra heads. One for the KZ 900 and another for the Z2 750. The 750 head had broken fins. When I went to use the 900 head, all the caps were mixed up. I had to keep switching them (mot many because they're numbered) and found the right ones. The Z1/KZ heads have shell bearings unlike other ones that don't.
One cap can be broken if put in the wrong place or the cam isn't in the right position. The guides are in one cap for each cam.
Steve

Larry C had mentioned in another thread he can walk you through fitting non-original cam caps. I think you have to call him up.

Hi

I took the head with cam cap to machinery yesterday , will be done this week. Sadly I don't have pictures , but it was broken half at the bridge part of the cap , so it might be welded together... Will see.

If it's just the bridge that is broken you can still use it even with the broken bridge.

I don't have too much faith in jb weld, it claims to do great things on the packet and tried it before to 'glue' a crankcase breather in, which worked initially but didn't last. Cast ally is very difficult to clean up enough plus the oil, heat and vibration issues.

Oskari72 wrote: Hi

I hate to admit that I really broke one of the camchaft caps when putting it on. I quess those are machined with the cylinder head and now I need the whole thing. Please tell me what year models have the same cylinder head.!!

HELP...

Oskari

Out of curiosity, can you explain what you did that resulted in the cap breaking?

Ok, camchaft was 2mm offset and I tightened the bolts a little too much before realicing it... My mistake, I just wanted to cry .....

Oskari72 wrote: Ok, camchaft was 2mm offset and I tightened the bolts a little too much before realicing it... My mistake, I just wanted to cry .....

I think I understand. Yeah, I hate dealing with them. I've never had much luck with any shim changing tools, so I always end up having to take the caps off--which makes me cringe every time.

When I tighten them I start with both caps loose and finger (no wrench) tighten all the bolts, jiggling things as I go and pressing down on the cam itself to depress the valve springs and keep finger tightening. Only then do I get the wrench out (by then the caps are only a few mm at most off of the head) and cross-tighten 1/4 turn or so at a time careful to keep everything even.

I keep seeing posts about people breaking them and wondered how it was happening. If the ring on the cam is not seated under the bridge of the cap, I can see how tightening it down could cause a break.