WTF happened to this 750 twin ?

Hi,
I just bought a KZ750B from '76 kind of cheap.
Took it apart because of a horrible idle and I was unable to keep the cam chain in the right tension.
I found that the cam chain installed has 132 links and the new chain I bought is 130 links. Can anybody tell me what the correct number of links is for this model ?
And what happened here ?

I believe that it should be a 130 link cam chain. The excessive wear may be due to the too long 132 cam chain.

A idjit happened. Be prepared for more creative repairs and maintenance. :pinch:

TexasKZ wrote: A idjit happened. Be prepared for more creative repairs and maintenance. :pinch:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
But it's a hobby, for like, fun... :laugh:

For sure. Sometimes we just have to laugh at what previous owners and pseudo-mechanics will do to avoid doing something the right way.

Thank you for replying!

It's not the cam chain guide, it's the guide for one of the balancer axles ... Do any of you guys have experience with these chains wearing and getting longer ?

Oh man you have no idea what I am fixing on this bike so far, wrong clutch cable, wrong throttle cables, there mounted 2 relays for hi and low beam inside the headlight, both ends of the wiring harness is put together with those home electricity collector things, the amount of liquid gasket used with the head gasket, wrong camshaft timing and wrong cam chain... But! The bottom of the engine has never been apart, only drove 30000 kilometers but still the head has a recent rebuild !
It will be a good daily driver when I get it sorted.

I had one in my bay back in the 80's. The balancer skipped and that thing shook like hell. Even then parts took FOREVER to get from Kawasaki. Being the cam chain was way too long I'd pull the head and check the valves. You can get a peen over master link. Z!E has links with clips but I don't trust them. Pics will help too.
Steve

I was wondering if i could run the engine without the balancer axles, i guess thats out of the question! Unless, when you say shook like hell, is that more or less than a Yamaha SR 500 ? Because i got used to that!

I already have the head off, i didn't remove the cam chain tensioner assembly completely when i was changing the cam chain, so i dropped the inder part with the springs and it got stock under the crank. That's how i found the worn out parts, i was really hoping i would not have to take the bottom off it before winter. But that thing was stock and i had to. So... I have to assembly it with the worn balancer chain guide, i can only find it the US, it will cost way more with import taxes than i am prepared to spend on this bike right now, this was supposed to be a temporary bike until i get my KZ1000J together.
If anybody out there have parts for this here in Europe, please let me know!

You need the counterbalance equipment. As for parts, can someone buy it here then mail it to you?
Steve

I've sent stuff to some buddies in the UK using the US Postal System's, international Priority Mail and although not cheap, you can tag it as a gift and set the value very low .... so, when doing that, they and I have have lost nothing in transit, nothing was ever damaged and everything always showed up OK ..... and I've been told there is very little to "no" VAT or import fees that way.
Comments?

Sending parts as gifts or person to person instead of a company name is a good idea. Is anybody up for sending me some parts if I buy them of eBay and ship them too you?

I got the balancer chain timed correctly. Found the 4 links that used be brighter than the rest of the chain, marked them with a marker and used a cable tie to fixate the chain to the guide so the timing would not change when putting the lower case on the upper case. Easy enough when you know how!
BUT ! The balancer chain is pushed so far down by the tensioner it is touching the inside of the casing.
Can anybody tell me if this is because of chain wear or tensioner wear? Can't find anything in the manual. Can't font parts. I'm lost!
The engine only has 18000 miles on it, how could that big of a chain wear that much so fast? Or am I missing something about the tensioner ... Any experience with this ? Anybody ?