Cam install help

Got started reinstalling cams today...  1.  Lined up the index mark on 1/4 TDC  2.  Alligned the tiny, microscopic index mark on the right side of the EX cam with the head surface.  3.  Lined up the tiny, microscopic index mark in IN cam.  4.  Counted 28 pins from 1st pin above index mark on EX cam.  5.  Checked 28th pin lined up with 28 mark in IN cam.  Then I slowly tightened down the EX cam and then the IN cam using the sequence in the FSM.  Problem is as I tightened down the cams, a whole lot of slack was created between the cams, although the marks still are all lined up.  This much slack can't be right, can it?  (I started out nice and taught on the right side of the EX cam and kept it taught as I looped the IN cam, so any slack was on the back side of the chain.)

I'm probably missng something and and not real familiar with the kz900 but isn't there supoosed to be a cam chain idler betweekn the sprockets holding the chain down???

sorry if this is a dumb question

Looks good to me. Install the idler, adjust the chain then rotate by hand to check timing.
Steve

wrote:

I'm probably missng something and and not real familiar with the kz900 but isn't there supoosed to be a cam chain idler betweekn the sprockets holding the chain down???

sorry if this is a dumb question

Not a dumb question... yes there's an idler but that's the next step.  I didn't want to go there till I knew I was good up to here.
 

As long as your pin count is correct that's all ok. 
Just install the top idler and then the tensioner.
Don't rotate the crank until the tensioner is fitted.

Thanks for confirming Steve and Zed. Just one other thing...  in an old thread someone said not to install the tensioner until after installing the valve cover... repeated it a couple times in the thread actually. Does that make sense to anyone or was this possibly referring to a different bike or did I read it wrong?

That advice is for the J-motors with the hyvo cam chain.  There is no top idler assembly, just a rubbing block in the cam cover to take up the slack  between the cams.

Mike

wrote:

Thanks for confirming Steve and Zed. Just one other thing...  in an old thread someone said not to install the tensioner until after installing the valve cover... repeated it a couple times in the thread actually. Does that make sense to anyone or was this possibly referring to a different bike or did I read it wrong?

That only applies to the later J type HYVO chain equipped engines where a chain slipper guide ( which performs a similar function to the earlier top idler sprocket ) is located and held in the valve cover.
 

Well, I've got the cams in and I'm back to where I was a month ago.  With the Idler tower installed there is way too much slack.  Now as for the tensioner...  Here's the deal with that, not sure if it's not working right or if I just don't get it.  Without the intake cam bolted down, I can stick my finger in the hole and move the tensioner assembly (#10, the little swingarm with roller) back and forth freely and it provides enough travel to easily get rid of the excess slack I have between the cams after they're bolted down.  The thing is, as I'm tightening down the intake cam, this #10 tensioner assy gets harder and harder to move.  I haven't attempted to install the tensioner unit because that spring doesn't provide the pressure required now to take up the slack in the chain.  I have to put a blunt narrow object in the cam tensioner hole and push very hard to get the chain to tighten.  If anyone could provide any insight into what's going on here and what's normal and what's not, I'd appreciated it. 

With the cam installed how much slack is in the chain? You push the tension plunger all the way in tighten the bolt install it then loosen the bolt and you should hear a click as the plunger takes up the slack then tighten the locking bolt. DO NOT TURN THE CRANK UNTIL YOU GET IT SORTED.
Steve

There's a lot Steve.  So much that when the idle gear is installed it rides about a half inch above it.  But that's without the tensioner installed.  If the tensioner were able to extend as far as I imagine it's supposed to, it would tighten things up fine.  But once that intake cam is bolted down there's too much resistance in the chain to allow it to take up the slack.  Now I've never installed cams in a Kawasaki before but on Honda's and Triumph's I usually take my finger and push it through the adjuster hole and push the tensioner against the chain to make sure it moves freely and isn't jammed up.  It's always been as easy as it is on the Z1 before the intake cam is bolted down. 

Tighten down the cam should not effect #10, all those parts are between the head and block. Something must be wrong with the chain routing.