Needed: Engine rebuild warning, tips, and tricks

Pistons rings, head gasket and bore job alone ran around 625 or just over ...... 8 guides put in and sized, new springs set up, seals, new ex valves, perf valve job, head skim cut .004 .....around 550 w/ the valves ...... base gasket, valve cover, end plugs, clutch, pan, chain adjuster spring and gasket etc maybe a hundred ..... a used set of 750 cams off Ebay 40 bucks or so...... Ape assembled the head with there parts and bored the cyl...... I put it all together...... Liska, couple rollers, rubber pads and blocks, orings at least 120 (yours is probably more like 200) without a cam chain...... clutch disks and springs 70.... few shims, loctite, sealer, couple cans spray cleaner, assembly lube oil, filter 60-70,.... put in heli coils in all cam holder holes maybe 35 for the kit..... carb holders 45 or 50 ...... x ring chain and sprokets...... rear tire...... battery......Dyna coils, ignition and wires......few jets and o rings for the carbs.....didn't split the bottom end or that would a been more. Crap adds up and I know I'm for getting some Had most of the basic tools but needed a Clutch hub holder, elect impact, inch lb torgue wrench, few large sockets, ring grinder, cheap auto engine holder, etc... should a replaced the starter clutch when I was in there could a saved me tearing into it again a couple years later.

Operating a real business with a shop and even one employee gets expensive fast…..so saying something is too expensive is relative to who is available and who you know and how they run there business. Written warranty good idea… asking lots of questions may or may not piss off the mechanic, but if he is any good he will take the opportunity to show you what he knows and answer all your questions. And I suggest (if it hasn't been suggested already ) to make sure you get back all the broken bits and pieces as piece of mind that they were in need of replacement and they were replaced .Hopefully he will let you be part of the process and invite you to see what he is doing once and a while.

I myself have had enough bad experiences that I now try assemble why I can myself…..now if I could only do machine work!

As Bozo says, with only 27k on the engine the bores and valve guides should be fine unless something got botched up when the guide broke. Use a bottle brush hone in the cylinders to break the glaze and install new OEM rings. Lap the valves after a good cleaning and install new valve stem seals. Use OEM Kawasaki gaskets during the rebuild. The wild card is damage from the broken guide. As for labor, I'm not sure. I don't trust shops to work on my bike. In my way of thinking old bikes are best owned by guys that do their own wrenching. If doing your own work doesn't interest you then I'd just get a newer bike and be done with 35 year old rides that need constant attention.

Hopefully this shop owner is a benevolent sort of fellow. Throwing yourself at his mercy is risky so good luck with that.

Get another bike, $2600 is a not worth it. You could find a complete unbroken 1100 motor or bike for half that and have the remaining parts from your motor. My advice - don't do it. R

That ain't a lot of money to work with if you are paying a shop for labor think about it a big bore piston kit is what $600.00
and a mild Larry C. head is an easy $1200.00 and you still have to bore the block ($200.00) buy all the paper and rubber
stuff to assemble it, do the carbs and all the little shit you never think about when planning a "simple" refresh.

What these other guys said...
I am in the middle of rebuilding my KZ1000P. The head was done for $195 but it didn't need guides or new valves. The jugs were bored for $153 and the then the head and block were lightly skimmed for $108. I paid $332 for new IMD pistons.
Leaving the bottom end alone...

Well I had a decision to make.

1. Sell the broken bike for $500 to (if I'm lucky) $1,000....good luck selling it with winter here too. Then I have to spend several weeks if not months finding another bike, spend another >$3k that EVERYBODY around here wants for their bike regardless of age, make, or mileage,

2. Have the only competent shop in town willing to work on my bike for the same losses as I'd have buying a new untested bike. Seriously my choice around here is either a real hack shop that, from what I hear, can't do spark plug changes (heard this three times), Or this new company that has a good reputation with HIGH charging rates. I haven't heard one complaint about them other than their rates.

I get it...I'm getting robbed. But this job is more than I can handle, and I'm not comfortable having a shop an hour away do the job. The guy has worked on KZs before, and he's either familiar with them or he's a very good liar. Right now I'm stuck with my decision regardless, as I have no way of transporting the bike.

Nessism wrote: As Bozo says, with only 27k on the engine the bores and valve guides should be fine unless something got botched up when the guide broke. Use a bottle brush hone in the cylinders to break the glaze and install new OEM rings. Lap the valves after a good cleaning and install new valve stem seals. Use OEM Kawasaki gaskets during the rebuild. The wild card is damage from the broken guide. As for labor, I'm not sure. I don't trust shops to work on my bike. In my way of thinking old bikes are best owned by guys that do their own wrenching. If doing your own work doesn't interest you then I'd just get a newer bike and be done with 35 year old rides that need constant attention.

Hopefully this shop owner is a benevolent sort of fellow. Throwing yourself at his mercy is risky so good luck with that.

I know EXACTLY what you mean with shops doing the work. I hate it too, I've been burned bad recently and I am very nervous about a shop doing this job. My car's valve broke, and was fixed under warranty....new block, head, and turbo...awesome. But then they left air in the clutch and broke the radiator causing it to leak....and they refuse to fix it (after 1 attempt) saying the radiator was like that before, and the clutch is aftermarket and that's the way it is. Now guess who has two thumbs and gets to fix it?

Opening up the head and dealing with camshaft and timing issues is where I draw the line with my mechanical aptitude. Especially in winter...working on anything outside in winter just sucks. Really wish I had a heated garage. If the job takes more than an hour in witner....I usually have a shop do it if I can afford it.

Yeah the shop owner was adamant about using Kawasaki oem seals and gaskets. I'll tell him your recommendations, thanks.

Well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. One thing I would make sure of is if the valves are bent, busted pistons, or completely trashed the head. If it is that guy's price is gonna go up and you will end up with 500lb paper weight. Have you looked for a nearby member here to perhaps help you fix it? If ya want to trailer it them and pay for all parts and very modest labor, I'd bet someone would consider doing it. R