Can't get cylinders off...

I have a 1976 900, and I've removed the head, but the cylinders WILL NOT come up. I'm pretty sure I'm not forgetting to remove anything. I've tried tapping the corners "lightly" with a rubber hammer, and even prying up on the half round tabs on the bottom of the cylinders--no luck. Are there any tricks that may help?

There should be two pry points on each side of the block at the base gasket. Take a screw driver that fits snug and tap on it with a hammer. Don't go in too deep. Pics?
Steve

Look for the pry points.

On mine, I destroyed several screwdrivers. I ended up having to machine down the tip of a small tire iron so it fit the gap exactly to get enough leverage to split mine loose.

BTW, my factory manual warns against using a hammer on a screwdriver..... :laugh:

I was trying the pry points, but it wasn't budging. I'll use my tire irons and see if that helps. Thanks for the tip.

Double check to see that you got ALL the bolts out.........Just sayin'.

Make SURE there are no bolts still fastened down inside the cam chain tunnel. Ed

God knows what the OP used on the base gasket. Permatex? I've had to rip gaskets in half because of that SHT. The only thing holding the barrels down on a Z1/KZ 900 are the 12 head bolts. May be able to heat around the base and use a small tight fitting cold chisel Being careful not to go in too far. :dry:
Steve

Well, the tire iron trick worked. I didn't use any adhesives on the base gasket. Half of it stayed on the cases and the other half stayed on the cylinders. I have no idea why it is so damn stuck to the engine, but it's going to be a bear to get the mating surfaces clean again.

Damn good gasket. I get my gaskets from a vendor in my good guys thread. I just ordered another valve cover gasket from him. I broke the old one and now I have a leak. You can try to reuse them but for $12 and 5000 miles, I'm not THAT cheap. :blink:
Steve

Brady 154 wrote: Well, the tire iron trick worked. I didn't use any adhesives on the base gasket. Half of it stayed on the cases and the other half stayed on the cylinders. I have no idea why it is so damn stuck to the engine, but it's going to be a bear to get the mating surfaces clean again.

You just described EXACTLY what happened when I pulled the cylinder off my 750 twin, and it was factory. Either the factory is using some kind of sealer or else the gasket itself has some kind of adhesive face but mine also tore right in half with the top half stuck to the cylinder and the bottom half stuck to the crankcase flange. Took me about 3 hours to do the bottom half with a razor blade and a vacuum. I stuffed a bunch of rags in so the debris couldn't fall down into the engine.

I tried every gasket remover I could think of and nothing worked. I tried acetone, brake fluid, oil, ATF, and spray on removers but nothing worked. Razor blade..... and a lot of work.

bountyhunter wrote:

Brady 154 wrote: Well, the tire iron trick worked. I didn't use any adhesives on the base gasket. Half of it stayed on the cases and the other half stayed on the cylinders. I have no idea why it is so damn stuck to the engine, but it's going to be a bear to get the mating surfaces clean again.

You just described EXACTLY what happened when I pulled the cylinder off my 750 twin, and it was factory. Either the factory is using some kind of sealer or else the gasket itself has some kind of adhesive face but mine also tore right in half with the top half stuck to the cylinder and the bottom half stuck to the crankcase flange. Took me about 3 hours to do the bottom half with a razor blade and a vacuum. I stuffed a bunch of rags in so the debris couldn't fall down into the engine.

I tried every gasket remover I could think of and nothing worked. I tried acetone, brake fluid, oil, ATF, and spray on removers but nothing worked. Razor blade..... and a lot of work.

Yep, I'm sure that's what's in store for me too. I'm going to try Permatex gasket remover though. It actually works quite well on built up carbon too.

Permatex is some miserable SHT. If anything can get it off that can. Let us know how it works.
Steve