Cylinder head identification - Help needed

Hello, I was hoping someone out there may be able to help me identify this cylinder head I bought off of eBay. This is my second post but this one has better pictures. The seller listed it as a 1980(ish) KZ750, it's similar but doesn't seem to match up to my 1980 KZ750 LTD H1.

The most distinguishing features are the 13mm under bucket shims and the flanged edges of the camshaft. This flanged edge sits in a groove on the one side of the cylinder head and the keeper is very unique with a raised oval covering to accommodate the flanged edge.

any help is really appreciated.

thanks
Brad

I have only seen one ZR750 Zephyr cylinder head in my life, but I would bet you that is what it is!!!! The flanged end of the cam is what caught my eye. I know the ZR750 Zephyr head uses that kind of cam.

Anyone with a lot more experience with newer Kawasaki's should be able to confirm what my hunch is on what this cylinder really belongs to!!! Don't think Kawasaki made the ZR750 until like in the 90's I think.

Dr. Gamma seems to be correct. It looks like a ZR750 valve cover.
ZR750-F & -H. aka ZR7 & ZR7S. around 1999 to 2005 in the USA & Canada.
A link to the listing might help.

The ZR-7 is a different bike than the Zephyr. Engine is very similar though.

You might want to search through one of the various part fishe systems and study some of the images and such to narrow down the search. The real question though is whether or not the head will work on your 750H, and to that question I don't know the answer. As I mentioned in your other thread, that head doesn't have a tachometer drive. The pistons that went with that head are a little different too, but I don't know if that will cause a problem or not.

...that was in fact gonna be my next question, my first problem is the cam chain tensioner, different configuration on this new head, there is no groove for the cam chain guide to sit in, The ZR7 uses a top mounted wheel type tensioner that make use of the 4 central bolts on the cylinder head. I'm some what tempted to buy the matching cylinder jug and then try to match the new top end to the original crank case. Anyone ever try this?

thanks for the responses, greatly appreciated.
Brad

braddlesnake wrote: ...that was in fact gonna be my next question, my first problem is the cam chain tensioner, different configuration on this new head, there is no groove for the cam chain guide to sit in, The ZR7 uses a top mounted wheel type tensioner that make use of the 4 central bolts on the cylinder head. I'm some what tempted to buy the matching cylinder jug and then try to match the new top end to the original crank case. Anyone ever try this?

thanks for the responses, greatly appreciated.
Brad

Humm, after looking at the fishe I do believe your head is from the ZR7.

I think you should be okay using your existing cylinder and cam chain guides and tensioner, other than that bridge piece that bolts to the head, which you will need. I don't think that bridge piece is a wheel, it's a skid, and replaces the skid that is attached to the cover on the other bikes. That cover skid has been a source of problems because it depresses on the cam chain and most guys didn't know that, because your cam chain gets tighter when the cover is installed if the tensioner is set active at that point.

yep your right, after posting i looked it up and it is a skid. Thanks for the info. much appreciated.

cheers

This is neither here nor there but.....
I just realized looking at the zr-7 camshafts and head, that if someone wanted to, you couldn't put in stock kz750 cams or more importantly zx750 cams. The zr-7 uses the that "disk" on the end of the cam and #1 and #5 camshaft cap as the thrust surface for the camshaft to keep it from walking side-to-side. The kz/gpz/zx and Zephyr all used two raised lips on the cams that worked in conjunction with the #2,3,6 and 7 camshaft caps to keep the cams from wandering. And its not like you can just use the camshaft caps from the older heads as they are line bored at the factory as a matched set. So the kz caps will never work on a zr-7 head (or another kz head for that matter).
So older cams in a zr-7 head would have way to much end play and wander from side to side which is not good.

I know the zr-7 cams have the exact same timing and duration as the kz750, 82 gpz750 and the Zephyr 750's but I don't know what the lift numbers are. It may be the zr-7 has a higher lift cams, hence the reason the zr-7 also used different pistons and valves than all the rest. The zr-7 piston may have slightly deeper valve pockets??
You should verify the lift numbers before assembling the engine as to avoid any valves touching a piston.

Also just a FYI, the zr-7 has angular cut fins that won't be a cosmetic match with the rounded fins on the kz750h.
The cylinder blocks from the gpz's, and I think 83 and later 750's all have the angular cut fins. Avoid using a zr-7 cylinder block as they have a very different cam chain tensioner than the kz750, so you would need to buy the matching zr-7 auto tensioner and matching rear cam chain guide if you did go that route. ( I looked into using the newer design zr-7 cam guides in my kz750, but I would have had to have a custom manual tensioner made, so I decided that the juice was simply not worth the squeezing.)

Just food for thought.

Chalk this one up in the "for what it's worth" category...

Since you obviously removed the head on your bike also be sure to remove the cylinder. A lot of guys like to replace the rings after going to this point but I'll leave that up to you. Reason for removing the cylinder is to renew the gasket and seals on the base. Failing to do this is almost a gurantee for leakage at this point.

OEM Kawasaki gaskets are the best. Kawasaki doesn't sell gasket kits so you have to piece the parts you need by ordering separate. I always check ebay and try to find what I can that way, particularly the expensive gaskets like the head gasket. If you chose to roll the dice on aftermarket gaskets be sure to stay away from Athena (the green gaskets are evil).

That ZR7 head has had some water entry as referenced by the rust in that one hole. Again, you should remove all the valves and inspect everything carefully. Use new valve stem seals and lap the valves at minimum, and consider having someone dressing the seats and valves to renew them properly. It's nice assurance after you have gone this far already.