TOPIC:

Gray17 wrote:

Hi Guys, at the risk of appearing silly im going to ask what may be deemed a silly question.
As per original poster im in a similar position in that ive stripped the engine to have it vapour blasted, obviously going through everything before reassembly to ensure its within tollerence before refitting.
which leads me to the question.
On the chain tensioner rollers theres blocks of hard rubber, (6 in total)how hard should they be ie when new are they pliable between fingers? Now i could just replace them all with new, however for what they are they arn't cheap, nor are there many options in uk, on ebay they are all from US, with extortionate postage to UK seems you guys get all the good stuff! Bigger country, more choice and competition, keeps prices keen.
anyway can anyone advise how hard they should be when new. Even tried dipping in hot water to see if it softened the rubber, no change tending to indicate they should be hard? Dont want to replace for the sake of it! Same applies to top tensioner wheel blocks too.
imcidentally before strip, bike ran fine with no excess noise or smoke
Many Thanks

Hi, Gray. I'm in UK.
They should be firm but soft and they will need replacing if rock hard.
The rubber in the Idler wheels is very likely to be the same.
Get them from ZPOWER   . Z-POWER
They are based in Huddersfield.
Join the Z1OWNERS GB forum for better advice on UK suppliers.
I'm on there too.

 

Yes thank you, i thought that may be the case but was hoping not, it seems the more you delve the more you find my funds are running out so tryingvto determine whats def needed and whats nice to have, if miney was no object then id just replace all. The teeth rollers have been upgraded already to solid centre ones, the lower rubber one im going to replace as it is very hard, the cam chain tensioner assemble looks good too, think sone work has been done on it previously, whether they replaced the tensioner rubbers is unknown. More parts to order from Zpower. I keep ordering bits then find something else, when doing a complete resto  you order all the bits you think you need, then find more so you order again, then find more etc, its not just the parts its postage each time too, however if you wait youll have loads of assemblies all awaiting parts. Shame they arnt local to me.

Gray17 wrote:

Yes thank you, i thought that may be the case but was hoping not, it seems the more you delve the more you find my funds are running out so tryingvto determine whats def needed and whats nice to have, if miney was no object then id just replace all. The teeth rollers have been upgraded already to solid centre ones, the lower rubber one im going to replace as it is very hard, the cam chain tensioner assemble looks good too, think sone work has been done on it previously, whether they replaced the tensioner rubbers is unknown. More parts to order from Zpower. I keep ordering bits then find something else, when doing a complete resto  you order all the bits you think you need, then find more so you order again, then find more etc, its not just the parts its postage each time too, however if you wait youll have loads of assemblies all awaiting parts. Shame they arnt local to me.

As far as the engine goes money spent now is money well spent and any short cuts may come back and bite you later on.
Once you have a good running machine all that wallet pain will become a distant memory.


 

zed1015 wrote:

As far as the engine goes money spent now is money well spent and any short cuts may come back and bite you later on.

Once you have a good running machine all that wallet pain will become a distant memory.



 

See the update on my daily chatter post 

I've reused them with a little hi temp black silicon on both sides. Not ideal but it works. 
Steve

Not a silly question at all.  In fact now is the perfect time to ask it, but allow me to ask you a question.  You have gone thru a lot of work with your engine to get it to where you are.  Why would you not want to install the little parts and pieces now while it is apart, versus having something gone wrong later on and having to take the engine apart all over again?  Those little parts can be expensive, but in the long run it will give you great piece of mind putting them in now.  Murphy's Law usually applies in cases such as yours.  Consider your options wisely.

Rick H.

Thanks for the advice, which i agree with. Everybodies case is different, but In my case, i would love to just replace everything as its 40+ years old ans in most cases could probably do with replacement, hence why i ask, whats absolutely needed and what can you get away with why? Well again in my case in comes down to money. 1st being retired moneys in short supply, what spiralling cost of living etc, however id promissed myself aZ900 before its too late, saw what i thought was a good buy, it was US import looked in reasonable condition and started stopped and ran, but was not uk registered. But alas turned out to be nightmare everything needs doing, with hindsight should have done it in stages, but its turned into a full on resto. Truth is ive exceeded my budget long ago, but need to get it on road to ensure its what i want as havnt actually rode it as yet.
so i ask whats absolutely needed and whats not. Obviously i dont want to have to strip it again but times no issue to me and it keeps me sane and have a spare gasket set so no worries there. That said have just replaced bottom rubber roller and all rubbers again not cheap but while it was apart, after vapour blasting all carbon off found valve guides needed replacing so off to eng works to have fitted and valves re cut, then it needed pressure testing, head skim also found stress crack on one plug so needed a time sert, but 1 had been replaced with a helicoil and bodged, so that had to come out so another time  sert. The cost keeps going up and up!
took tank and panels in for paint as none standard, then discovered someone had stuck an LTD tsnk on and expensive A4 decals i bought wont fit, so ended up having to buy a brand new Tank again not cheap!
i have spent a fortune so far renovating it, but i cannot replace everything as funds just wont allow  that. Nor would i want to as youre taking away its history. Hence questions

It really is like opening "Pandora's box" when you get into these things, especially if you don't know the history. Where budget is tight (which it is for most of us) then it's better to take a little longer and do it "right" IMHO 

I replace the three sprockets and the sprocket for the cam chain adjuster with Liska units. They also offer solid aluminum blocks for the upper center roller. Normally those rubber parts are rock hard after 40-50 years.

I'm still trying to figure out why you tore down a motor that ran fine with no smoke or bad noises. We've resurrected a couple dozen bikes in the last 5 years and only had a motor issue on one. We just finished up resurrecting my 77' KZ 1000LTD with 33k miles on it. It runs great and we'll keep riding it until the motor tells us otherwise. 
We go through every system on the bike to make it safe and reliable but we won't tear down a motor just because. Most of the bikes we've done had between 20k and 30k miles on them. There's plenty of life left in these motors and it is a waste of time and money to tear down a motor for a rebuild that runs fine.

Hi Guys, strange i got this on my email but it doesnt show up on the forum post, even did a search on his name, nothing on todays date???
A new reply has been posted on the KZRider Forum

Message Subject : cam chain roller

Category : Engine

Posted by : Kelly E

URL :  kzrider.com/forum/2-engine/607936-cam-ch...ller?start=12#881253
Message:
I'm still trying to figure out why you tore down a motor that ran fine with no smoke or bad noises. We've resurrected a couple dozen bikes in the last 5 years and only had a motor issue on one. We just finished up resurrecting my 77' KZ 1000LTD with 33k miles on it. It runs great and we'll keep riding it until the motor tells us otherwise. 
We go through every system on the bike to make it safe and reliable but we won't tear down a motor just because. Most of the bikes we've done had between 20k and 30k miles on them. There's plenty of life left in these motors and it is a waste of time and money to tear down a motor for a rebuild that runs fine.

In answer to the question which is stipulated earlier in the post it was to vapour blast the engine due to previous owner spraying it with silver paint to try to make it look new. Again as stipulated and many have said it was a good job i did as several parts had failed and needed replacement, had i not stripped it, it probably would have been irreparably damaged. So whilst no one wants to strip an engine if its running ok in this case im glad i did.

It was there Graham, guess he must have deleted it. Obviously hadn't read the previous posts and then when he did he realised he was a bit late to the party.