750 twin, no TDC when kickstarting

I heard no one say a thing about the timming chain tension adjustment???? Just a thought

Cam chain tension was good.
I ended up picking up another motor for a pretty good deal and after swapping the flywheel and stator it started up first kick. Im still going to tear into my original motor once time permits. I appreciate all the help.

So dropped the 77 engine in two weekends ago and it started first kick. I didn’t have the charging system hooked up since I just wanted to know if it would start. Over the weekend I swapped out my stator and flywheel from my 1980 engine. When going to start it today the engine will not turn over at all, either by kicking or or trying to turn the crank.

I tightened the flywheel to 80ft/lbs and everything went together very smooth. I’m wondering if the 80 stator/flywheel combo won’t work on this 77 engine? Any ideas?

Technically the 77 should have a different charging system. Kawi made the switch in 78 but it’s possible you got a late production 77 or it was swapped. What does the stator cover look like? if you mismatched different years charging systems it could bind up.

I took the stator, flywheel, and stator cover off my 80 motor and put it on the 77 motor. The stator covers dont look any different to the naked eye, but I think I might have to take a closer look when i get home from work.

The internals will be very obviously different. The covers differ in that the early one has 3 screws in the middle visible on the outside

Yeah, my 77 has the 3 bolts on the outside. If I swapped my 80 stator cover with stator, and flywheel Im still wondering why I cannot rotate the engine. I also just read the flywheel should be torqued to 87-101 ft lbs. I did 80 ft lbs so I wonder if it just needs to be tightened more?

Correct, if you swap the whole charging system you should be fine. crankcases and cranks were the same through out the production. but that shouldn't prevent it from turning over. is it just stuck or does it partially rotate and then hit something?

It doesnt rotate at all; its just stuck. Im gonna disassemble this weekend and see if I just made a stupid mistake(my bet is i did).

Also, if Im running kickstart only, do I actually need the starter clutch installed?

No starter clutch needed but don't remove the starter clutch sprocket on the crank as it is fed by an oil port and if you remove it you will loose oil pressure. try turning it over without the charging system installed to see if that is causing the bind. Its common for the screws that hold the starter clutch on to back out and bind on the cover. check there.

So fun fact. The 77 crank is slightly smaller in diameter than the 80 crankshaft. So I’m gonna end up running the 77 stator and flywheel. I’ll have to get a new reg/rec and probably(?) a bigger battery. I should have done some more homework before I bought this thing.

Interesting. I had looked up the part number for the 1980 crank (13031-1005) and it said it would fit all years of KZ750, but when I look up the 1977 crank it indeed has a different part number (13031-1002), I assumed this was because the early cranks were stamped to match the bearing size for the con-rod, but it seems like there are other differences. what is the diameter of the crank end?

I have been swapping these cranks around from various motors and haven't encountered this yet, must have just gotten lucky on my match ups.