Crankshaft Bolt Recommendations

I am getting ready to assemble my lower end on my kz750e, but first i need some advice.

First of all, I have all the original 8mm lower- half crank case bolts that are for the crankshaft journals. Some of the zinc on the heads has come off which has led to some light corrosion but other than that they look "ok" and no signs of stretching.

I also have a complete set of bolts from a zr-7. These are a brownish color (I'm color blind, so they may be grayish?) like many of the Kawasaki OEM bolts. Little to no corrosion on the heads and no obvious signs they are stretched. I just don't like that they won't match any other bolt on the whole bike, but they are in great shape.

I also have a set from a company called Alloyboltz and they are stainless steel Hex heads. They came in the set of dress-up engine bolts that I got to replace all the old nasty phillips screws and fasteners.
I would like to know if these are safe to use. Has anybody used these before?? The instructions seem to tell me that since the case is aluminum then I have to use anti-seize. And because of that I can't torque the bolts down to 18ft-lbs like the factory manual instructs, but to only 10.7ft-lbs. They look really nice, but they make me nervous. Like will they stretch and loose torque???
If no one has any first hand knowledge, then I am going to reuse the original 750e bolts and no longer worry about it. I just thought it would be nice to have non-corroding bolts on the bottom to match the new bolts on the rest of the engine.
I appreciate any information or insight on this issue.

I'm not a big fan of stainless in that application because (typically) the metal isn't as strong as that used in the stock bolts, and you have to use a secondary washer, whereas the stock bolt has a large head with a flange so to speak.

Regarding anti seize, I use the stuff on all bolts, but don't I don't typically reduce the torque. I believe when these engines were assembled the fasteners were new and had at least some oil on them. My only caution is on small screws such as those for the oil pan and such. You should exercise some caution as you sneak up on the torque spec and stop short if your spidey sense tells you impending doom is coming.

I love stainless and use it nearly everywhere, but for engine crankcase half bolts I would stick with original high tensile steel.

Getting the original bolt tops plated, or better still getting a DIY Nickel plating kit would work nicely.

Tyrell Corp wrote: I love stainless and use it nearly everywhere, but for engine crankcase half bolts I would stick with original high tensile steel.

Getting the original bolt tops plated, or better still getting a DIY Nickel plating kit would work nicely.

Make that zinc, not nickel.

I did all the hardware on my bike using a kit from Caswell's.

Thanks for the feedback!

I will reuse the OEM bolts and be done with it.

Nessism- I chickened out trying to plate my nuts and bolts at home. I only envisioned me explaining to a emergency room doctor how I melted all my fingers off or blew up the garage. But you did an amazing job and your parts looked so good that it made me decide to have all my hardware plated as well.
I collected every nut, bolt and fastner I could think of (and I missed a handful of course) and separated them into what I needed to be silver and which need to be yellow zinc. I called 6+ plating shops and only found one in the area that was willing to do work for a private party. They asked me if I had any springs or hardened bolts as those would need to be baked after plating to counteract the hydrogen embrittlement, and that if I didn't bake them then I could run the risk of bolts or springs suddenly snapping.
Hydrogen embrittlement...whats that????
www.mechanicalplating.com/hydrogen.htm
I told them I had springs and probably some hardened bolts but I was unsure which bolts might be, so they just baked all of them. But....I decided NOT to plate the crankcase 8mm bolts because those I couldn't risk snapping or stretching if they weren't plated/tempered properly.
Those 10 bolts are some of the most delicate bolts that need to do precision work in the whole engine. (that need to be re-plated that is)
All the hardware turned out better than I hoped, but only time will tell if they hold up to wear and tear.

I also always make sure I never paint the area where the crankcase main bolts seat or any of the cylinder head nut seat, as I am afraid that the paint will deform under the nuts or bolt heads and screw with the torque settings after numerous heat cycles.

Again...thanks for the input.

I've heard of hydrogen embrittlement due to plating but don't think it's an issue on parts such as those on our bikes. Most of the fasteners are very under stressed, and those that aren't are located inside the engine and are not plated (such as the rod bolts/nuts and camshaft bearing cap bolts.) I did replate the cylinder studs so with hindsite maybe those should have been baked. No issues though (so far).

I planned on zinc coating my rusted cylinder studs as well. But I had one stud that refused to come out with heat or force and I ended up smearing the threads on the top. After I learned about the hydrogen embrittlement issue, I gave up searching for a usable replacement stud and just bought HD studs from z1.

Daftrusty wrote: I planned on zinc coating my rusted cylinder studs as well. But I had one stud that refused to come out with heat or force and I ended up smearing the threads on the top. After I learned about the hydrogen embrittlement issue, I gave up searching for a usable replacement stud and just bought HD studs from z1.

I tried removing the studs on my 750 using the double nut method but was not comfortable with how much stress I had to apply to the threads. Wound up buying a Harbor Freight stud removal tool which worked, but it also dug serration grooves into the studs at the base. At the end of the day I did reuse them and had no issue bringing the head nuts up to torque. I was seriously contemplating HD studs, but cheaped out in the end.

Oh, and I've done some follow up head torque checks and everything is holding tight. That's the beauty of OEM gaskets. I've not had such good results using aftermarket gaskets, in particular Athena brand.