Keep or pynt kz1100/kz1000 cylinder head?

I bought a random assortment of KZ1100A parts. Among the parts was a nearly complete engine. It is missing the cam caps, which turned out to be a bigger problem than I originally thought.

After getting the parts back to the house I set about disassembling the engine. After pulling and disassembling the head I noticed what appears to be burnt oil in the combustion chamber and exhaust port.

One of the spark plug holes also appears to be destroyed. I think this can be fixed with a time sert.


The rest of the head looks okay but the oil in the combustion chambers is disconcerting. Should I keep this thing? Or is it going to be too much trouble? I can provide more photos if necessary.

Any opinions or shared experience would be apreciated.

Thanks for your help.

You gotta clean everything and then measure: valve guide to valve stem clearance, seat contact pattern, etc. When you have all the measurements then judge. Oh, and the head is line bored with the caps installed. That said, many guys that have lost caps have gotten away with replacing them with cap(s) from a different engine. I'm not sure about a full set of caps though.

Looks like bad valve guide seals by the intakes. What are your plans?
Steve

I'm going to start with cleaning everything like Nessism suggested. Then check the head against the requirements in my service manual.

I suspected the valve seals were not great. When I pulled the head there were pools of oil on top of the 2&3 pistons. So either the seals were letting in oil from the top or it was getting past the rings from the bottom and the rings didn't look that bad after a first glance.

Any suggestions other than cleaning? Any tips on what I should look out for? Good or bad.

Hi CCrosswait,
When you get the combustion chambers clean check carefully for cracks between the plug hole and valve seats.


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

slmjim+Z1BEBE wrote: Hi CCrosswait,
When you get the combustion chambers clean check carefully for cracks between the plug hole and valve seats.


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Forgive my ignorance, where is the plug hole?

You stated the cam caps were missing, did you find them? if not, I'd look for a better head. I know all the worn and damaged areas can be repaired but the cams are a little different story, they are machined assembled on the head during manufacturing, not saying you can't find a set and get them to function okay, it's just a bigger gamble than just buying a complete head.

Les

CCrosswait wrote:

slmjim+Z1BEBE wrote: Hi CCrosswait,
When you get the combustion chambers clean check carefully for cracks between the plug hole and valve seats.

Sorry, that wasn't clear.

Check for cracks between the spark plug holes and the valve seats.


Good Shootin
slmjim @ Z1BEBE


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Forgive my ignorance, where is the plug hole?

les holt wrote: You stated the cam caps were missing, did you find them? if not, I'd look for a better head. I know all the worn and damaged areas can be repaired but the cams are a little different story

They were not with the engine and it was in a junk yard so I'm not holding out hope. If I can find some, I think I might try to have the caps line bored in the head. Just need to find a shop.

Thanks for the input. This is all new territory for me. So I assume like most learning experiences it will be expensive and not work right the first time. :huh:

Honestly, if that were a bathtub head, I'd invest some time and money but it isn't, you shouldn't have a problem sourcing a head for this at a reasonable cost well below what even a cheap shop would charge for a line bore on the cam bores.

Les

The plug holes are the threaded holes in the combustion chamber that the sparkplugs thread into.

les holt wrote: you shouldn't have a problem sourcing a head for this at a reasonable cost well below what even a cheap shop would charge for a line bore on the cam bores.

Les

A quick search on ebay didn't show much for an 1100 but did turn up a few options for a kz1000. I am under the impressionthat the head for the KZ1100 and the KZ100 are the same. Is that correct?