Replace cam chain or not?

Engine life depends greatly on how you ride the bike. In Ron's case, I suspect he does a lot of highway miles at moderate RPM's. Most of the bikes out there have been trashed at some point in their life, run hard for short trips where the engine doesn't warm up before being subjected to high RPM's - then maintenance neglected - old oil left in the bike, etc, etc.

In many ways it's not so much the miles, but rather the number of engine starts, the number of times pushed hard to the redline, plus the effects of age and heat cycles on rubber parts.

Ron shows it can be done - but all the KZ engines I've pulled apart have shown significant wear once they are around 40,000 miles.

I'm sorry to get off track a bit, I also believe highway miles are easy miles.

My friend has an 01 Yamaha FZ1. All she does is tour on it. So far last week it had 109,000 miles. It goes to the dealer for regular checkups. She has synthetic oil changed every 5000 miles, and the valves have been checked and never needed to be adjusted. She replaced the carb manifolds once. That's all it's ever needed.

If that is a sign of what modern bike engines can handle then I'm ready to step up to a new one.

I have decided to pull the motor and split the cases to change the cam chain. I just don't trust myself to get the master link on correctly without buyng the $70+ breaker/riveter tool. I can't make myself spend $70 for a tool that will get almost no use. I guess this will be good experience....I hope.

If you split the cases, it isn't really a big deal. The main issue is scraping all the gasket mating surfaces to remove the old gaskets as new ones need to be installed. The other thing I ALWAYS do when splitting the cases is put the case bolts in a piece of cardboard with a picture of the engine cases to keep track of their location. In addition, I will chase the 22 bolt holes on the top and 5 on the bottom with a tap. If you clean the bolt hole thread and the thread on the bolts, the torque specs will actually mean something. Use good sealer between the case halves; I suggest Hondabond HT or Threebond 1204 or something similar. Yamabond #4 isn't really as appropriate for this applcation. Loctite all the bolts (blue on bolts on the outside of the cases and red on the inside and put some liquid gasket around the flanged head of each bolt. Use a torque wrench to secure the fasteners.

Splitting the cases seems like a pretty big deal to me. But, I am going to do it anyway. According to the manual that I have I will be removing the flywheel, the cluth basket, secondary shaft, main shaft, and a lot more. I was hoping the cases would split without having to tear the bottom end completely apart.

I will see if I can find a correct tap to chase all the thread. I will also buy the proper loctite and sealants. I already have a couple of good torque wrenches.

+1 on chasing the threads with a tap - you almost always get a whole load of nasty stuff in the flutes of the tap, and that needs to be out, for exactly the reason that Wiredgeorge says. Just start the tap gently - it's always possible that you have the right diameter and the wrong pitch, and continuing to screw the tap in will cut a new (and partial) thread. Feel it in. Holding a bolt with its threads meshed with the threads on the tap first is a good check, the two should obviously match.

I would like to pick up on this where the subject discussion left off, as I am considering my engine cam chain replacement using this method.

My KZ1100 engine bottom end has around 90K rather easy miles on it, and the cases have never been split.  I do get on it while riding, but have never thrashed the engine in the twenty-two years and 60K miles since I found it.

I recently measured the cam chain per FSM instruction, but only the stretch between sprockets with the crank set at TDC 1 & 4. 
The measurement there was within specification though beyond center range, and the ex. cam arrow was pointing upward slightly from the head surface.  With the cam reset forward one tooth the arrow was aiming downward significantly, so I changed it back and completed the project.

It seems reasonable to snake a new chain around the crank having it temporarily linked with the old one.  Proper master link fitment would be the major critical aspect of the project, but made simpler utilizing high-quality tooling made specifically for the job.  Such a tool is made in Germany, and the cost to acquire it is hardly reasonable.





 

wrote:

I would like to pick up on this where the subject discussion left off, as I am considering my engine cam chain replacement using this method.

My KZ1100 engine bottom end has around 90K rather easy miles on it, and the cases have never been split.  I do get on it while riding, but have never thrashed the engine in the twenty-two years and 60K miles since I found it.

I recently measured the cam chain per FSM instruction, but only the stretch between sprockets with the crank set at TDC 1 & 4. 
The measurement there was within specification though beyond center range, and the ex. cam arrow was pointing upward slightly from the head surface.  With the cam reset forward one tooth the arrow was aiming downward significantly, so I changed it back and completed the project.

It seems reasonable to snake a new chain around the crank having it temporarily linked with the old one.  Proper master link fitment would be the major critical aspect of the project, but made simpler utilizing high-quality tooling made specifically for the job.  Such a tool is made in Germany, and the cost to acquire it is hardly reasonable.

 

Would future postings describing the process be of much interest here?

iwould just split the cases and be done with it . 
Sounds hard , but it really isnt.  Just a few more gaskets  

Me too.  I wouldn't want to run with a master link on my cam chain.

wrote:

iwould just split the cases and be done with it . 
Sounds hard , but it really isnt.  Just a few more gaskets  

 

Before the crank w/rods can be accessed, the top-end must be removed along with the pistons.  Then the engine needs to be pulled out and relocated to a bench or other suitable work area.  The oil pan, generator cover, ignition housing, front bevel gear housing, clutch cover, starter, (?) etc. all must come off before the case can be separated...

That all seems hard vs. just pulling the cams, and setting up a small plywood workbench on top of the head.

The other process seems one heck of a lot simpler.  After the old chain is separated and linked loosely with the new one, then both are fed carefully through the motor while manually rotating the crank with a 17mm wrench. 

Reassembling the new chain with it's dedicated master link may be tedious and time consuming to get just right, but with the proper tool it should/would/could be a nice breeze by comparison. 

Tool instruction link below:
www.biketeile-service.de/media/attachmen...f/mk-1588_manual.pdf



wiredgeorge post from page 3:
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