Cam wear

I am trying to put an 82 KZ 1000 back on the road. It was spitting back through no. 1 carb, so I was thinking valves might need some attention. I pulled the valve cover, and by the book started to torque the cam bearings down. All but two were stripped, so I pulled the head and sent it out for heli coils. Since the cams were laying to the side, I thought I may as well measure them for wear. The Clymer manual I have has a table of acceptable cam wear in it. All were worn past acceptable limits, the least being .014, and the most being .034 under the spec. 

I had someone tell me to shim them back in spec. Is this realistic? Somehow, doesn't seem right. This IS my first rodeo.
Any information is appreciated

I suspect they misunderstood, thinking the valve clearance needed shimming.  As for the cams, I haven't seen excess wear very often, but if I did I'd look at replacing them.

With my 750 spitting back through the carbs at low speed/idle was a signal that the carb to engine rubbers were cracked and needed replacing. 

sorry cant offer any input on the cams.

timewaster wrote:

I am trying to put an 82 KZ 1000 back on the road. It was spitting back through no. 1 carb, so I was thinking valves might need some attention. I pulled the valve cover, and by the book started to torque the cam bearings down. All but two were stripped, so I pulled the head and sent it out for heli coils. Since the cams were laying to the side, I thought I may as well measure them for wear. The Clymer manual I have has a table of acceptable cam wear in it. All were worn past acceptable limits, the least being .014, and the most being .034 under the spec. 

I had someone tell me to shim them back in spec. Is this realistic? Somehow, doesn't seem right. This IS my first rodeo.
Any information is appreciated

Firstly I would suggest that you don't take any further advice from the person who said "shim them back into spec" !!! Valve clearances are measured against the back of the cam lobe which doesn't come into contact with anything so can't "wear". I would also suggest checking the specs in the "Factory" service manual. Are the tips of the lobes shiney ? If they are worn excessively I would expect them to be dull or blued. Unless the bike has done spaceship mileage if the cams are worn this will likely be a result of poor maintenance, wrong oil or a oil pressure/flow issue to the head (if it is a lubrication problem I would also expect the cam bearings to show signs of wear/ heat.)

I replaced them, thanks for the reply.

Thanks for your reply. I'll try and find the factory spec.

Here is a pdf copy of the factory service manual.     www.kzrider.com/modules/ServiceManuals/K...Service%20Manual.pdf

I found the owners manual, and the Kawasaki wear spec and the Clymer wear spec differed by .001. I need new cams. Got any ideas on that? Only ones I can find are on Ebay, or aftermarket performance pieces for several hundred dollars. Kind of gun shy about buying used off Ebay, as they may be worse than mine. I contacted a couple of sellers to ask if they would measure them, but got no reply.

What measurements did you get, and did you use a micrometer to measure?

 

Do you have pictures of the old cams? 

I don't have a mic. that large, but I have calipers. The minimum for intake was 1.449" (36.804 mm.). I measured 1.415" ( 35.941 mm) to 1.425" (36.195mm.) on the intake. 
I measured 1.430"(36.322mm.) to 1.428" (36.271 mm.) on the exhaust. The manual says 1.443" (36.652mm.)
The exhaust isn't as bad as the intake, but still below the stated minimum.

Blipco asked if I had pics of the cams.