GPz750 cam installation query

Hi folks,

I wonder if you could answer a couple of what seem like stupid questions for me please?

I picked up a GPz750 recently that had been off the road for 15 years due to bereavement. The intention was to flush the tank and fluids and do a service while I waited for Kawasaki to cut me a replacement key. Unfortunately, I went to remove the spark plugs when one snapped off clean with the head (grrr!!) and I had to remove the head and get it helicoiled (the engineering company said they'd never seen a plug seized so tight....).

Roll forward a short while and I've got the head back, decarbed the pistons, head and valves and it's fitted back on. My question is: could someone advise me of the correct orientation of the cams please?

I owned Zeds and GPzs for years and must have taken dozens of 750 and Thou engines apart but I've had a 15 year break from Kawasakis and when I went to put the cams back in my confidence was shot and I struggled to remember the correct orientation.

As far as I can remember you set TDC for #1 and #4, drop the outlet cam into the Z7EX holes with the horizontal mark level with the head, count 45 pins and fit the sprocket so the horizontal mark is between 45 and 46 (all right so far?). My questions is, which way should the lobes be facing? My brain is too addled to think straight.

I seem to remember that from the right end of the engine the lobes should be both pointing inwards at TDC (I think there was a notch in the end of the cams on my 750E), but I've got no useful manual and the scans I've seen online are blurry and unhelpful. Could someone confirm this for me please?

If you plan to do this work yourself you really need to use the Kawasaki Service Manual, otherwise you may cause harm to the bike. If you do not have the manual simply use the online version provided by KZRider, it can be found at www.kzrider.com/modules/ServiceManuals/GPz750.pdf . Pay particular attention to Page 304; I believe it answers your cam question. Ed

Hi again,

Thanks for the speedy reply. Thanks especially for the scan of the service manual - I've got a scan and print of the same one but it's a) far worse quality and b) not to hand.

I had a quick peek at the page you quoted which redirected to pages 53-56. The installation process is what I thought it was, but it still doesn't answer the question. The manual says fit the cams but, of course, they could be fitted 180^o out (lobes facing inboard or out), which would be a disaster.

I'm being pretty dumb I know but it's been a dozen years since I stripped and rebuilt an engine and I just want to make sure that I'm not making a fundamentally stupid mistake about the orientation of the cams when fitting.

In my head when I refit the cams the lobes should be facing inwards, not outwards, because the engine will be TDC on 1 and 4. The lobes will be 180^o away from lifting, which translates to 90^o on the stroke.

*Quick edit - I mean the lobes face inwards on the points end, #4 on the right, outwards on the left side, #1.