How long has it been sitting? I had a new chain and sprockets for my bike I bought 15 years before I put it back on the road. (engine needed overhaul). The chain was still in the box so I put it on. It developed tight spots right away. The grease had dried out. Rather than ruining my new sprockets, I bought a new chain on eBay. It turned out to be CHINESE and started wiping out my sprockets. I bought a standard DID chain and that's what I'm running now. DID and RK are good chains. The DID came with a peen over master link. It was a PITA and I got it too tight. That was the first one so it didn't matter. The endless chains are meant to be just that. You have to take off the swing arm to install them. That's great as long as everything is new. That's when the road was lousy with Z1/KZ's, but now 92 link chains are not so common. I've been toying with the idea of a swap too. You can find 530 chains anywhere.
For now, it might be wise to buy the endless chain, go through the extra trouble and ride it for 20-30,000 miles.
Steve

i finished the steering stop last night.
so unless i have missed something i believe i have fulfilled my commitment and am ready to hand the bike back to it's owner to finish up.

this allowed me an eighth of an inch clearance between the triples and the tank,with no rubbers.




hopefully i get pics when it's done and i will update this thread.

thanks for lookin,

leon

Welcome aboard!

Here are some tips that you may find helpful:

Many newbies and not so newbies run into or issues with their bikes which could be easily avoided with a little preparation or information. Here are a couple recommendations that I hope you will find useful.

Before riding your KZ you should take a little time to become familiar with it. Simple things like checking the oil, tire pressures, etc. are explained in the Kawasaki Owner's Manual. If you bike didn't come with one (they normally are in a little holder on the bottom of the seat) you can usually find one on eBay - be sure to get one for your exact year/model.


MANUAL

You really should consider buying the Kawasaki Factory Service Manual for your bike. The factory service manual provides instructions on the various maintenance procedures and schedules for your bike, procedures for diagnosing problems, proper torque values for the various fasteners (VERY IMPORTANT), and insight into how each system on your bike works even if you are not repairing that system. Studying the manual before you attempt performing service on your bike will impart an understanding of the system you are working on which will increase the odds of success.

The manuals usually are readily available for most models on eBay and other sources; but be sure to get one that has your specific year and model in it as there are differences between the various KZ650 models. I do not recommend Clymers, Haynes, or other aftermarket manuals as I have seen instances where they provide inaccurate advice. You may decide to use those to supplement the factory manual, but in my opinion they are not a suitable substitute. If you have trouble finding one for your model ask us to help.


TOOLS

WARNING! Do not even try to use Phillips screwdrivers on the Kawasaki cross head screws. Despite their appearance they are not Phillips screws. They are Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) screws. The tips of Phillips screwdrivers are too long & pointed to allow the 4 blades of the screwdriver to properly engage the screws, so when you apply force the screw head slots will deform and look like crap. The fact is that Phillips screws were deliberately designed to have the screwdriver bit "cam out." This was done to prevent production line assembly from over-tightening, stripping, or breaking the screws. JIS screws do not have this problem. A proper fitting JIS bit can tighten a JIS screw to and beyond the torque spec without camming out. Here's the good news - you can easily modify standard Phillips screwdriver tips to fit the JIS screws.

I have ground down the tips of DeWalt #2 and DeWalt #3 Phillips to make them fit JIS screws. The large crosshead screws on the cases take modified #3 bits (or genuine #3 JIS bits). To modify the DeWalt bits you need to grind the very tip a little, then test fit, then grind a little more and test fit, etc. until the bit no longer "rocks" back and forth in the screwhead. Picture 1 below shows how a DeWalt #3 bit fits the case screws of my KZ650 after being ground properly. The #2 DeWalt bits can be modified the same way to fit smaller JIS screws. Pictures 2 and 3 below shows DeWalt #2 and #3 modified bits.

I did find a place that sells authentic JIS bits. They don't list the #3 bit, but if you contact them they can provide the #3 JIS bits even though they are not listed on the website. These folks were very easy to work with, and the authentic bits do work great. Here's their site:

www.rjrcooltools.com/shop_item_detail.cfm?subcat_ID=89

Pictures 4 & 5 below show a comparison between my home made modified bits with the authentic JIS bits.

PICTURE 1

PICTURE 2

PICTURE 3

PICTURE 4

PICTURE 5

Before reaching for that wrench or ratchet consider the following. The bolts are steel, but your engine and front forks are aluminum. The bolts are much tougher than the aluminum and if over tightened will strip the aluminum threads. Although these can be repaired, preventing damage by applying proper torque will save you grief, time, and money. Tightening fasteners properly requires torque wrenches. Various vendors, including Snap-on, CDI, Sears, etc., market torque wrenches. The two most popular types are the bar type and micrometer type. Either will work, but the micrometer type is a bit easier to use, especially if you are tightening several fasteners with the same torque - such as cylinder head covers. You will need a torque wrench calibrated in INCH POUNDS for many of the bolts. You will also need a torque wrench calibrated in FOOT POUNDS for the larger bolts. Don't try to use the foot pounds wrench on the smaller bolts as it will not be sensitive enough at low torque settings to provide accurate torque. There are many fasteners that require low torque. These include such things as 6mm oil pan bolts, cylinder head cover bolts, etc. for which the torque in 61-78 inch pounds. These low torque bolts require a wrench that is accurate at low settings and this wrench should be graduated in inch pounds. In addition, there are numerous high torque fasteners such as the front axle nuts (51 - 65 foot pounds) or swing arm pivot shaft nuts (58 - 87 foot pounds). These require a wrench that is accurate at higher settings; this wrench should be graduated in foot pounds. Using the proper torque wrenches to correctly tighten fasteners will help prevent damage and contribute to a safe bike. The Kawasaki Service Manual will list the various torque specs for the bolts. I suggest you get the manual before buying the torque wrenches so you can decide which wrenches best meet the torque specs.

Consider buying a can of Kroil penetrating oil and use it to soak stubborn fasteners for a couple days before trying to loosen them. Remember, the original screws and bolts were installed on your bike when Jimmy Carter was President, so many of them may be hard to remove. Kroil can be bought online, at guns shows, and at some other venues.


MOTOR OIL
The ingredients in oils have changed over the years. For example, today's Castrol GTX oil (and pretty much all other AUTOMOBILE oil) is not the same as it was in the 1980's. Back then it worked great in KZ bikes. But, things have changed. Early AUTOMOBILE oils contained zinc phosphorus compounds (ZDDP) to protect engine components from metal to metal contact. This was good for engines, but it was found to be destructive to catalytic converters. Consequently, in AUTOMOBILE oils ZDDP was virtually eliminated and replaced with different chemistry generically referred to as "Friction Modifiers." These work fine and offer good protection for normal AUTOMOBILE engines. However, today's AUTOMOBILE oil "Friction Modifiers" are destructive to wet clutches. KZ bikes (and many other brands) have wet clutches. As a result of these oil chemistry changes a distinction needed to be made between those oils which are suitable for wet clutches and those which are not. That distinction was documented by the Japanese Engine Oil Standards Implementation Panel (JASO). JASO developed a number of different oil specifications for different applications. The specifications that apply to 4 stroke motorcycles fall under the "4T Specifications." Within the 4T specifications the JASO MA class oils are specifically formulated for 4 stroke motorcycles with wet clutches.

There are synthetic, semi-synthetic, and non-synthetic oils that meet the JASO-MA standard and any of them will work ok. However, using oils that are not designated as meeting the JASO-MA standard is destructive to KZ clutches.

Good luck with your bike. Ed

RIGHT!
You should not need a steering dampener on this bike.
Maybe if you were club racing this bike with a +110hp engine in an frame designed in 1971 with super sticky tires, that would be a different story.
If you have head shake, it is MUCH more probable it is from damaged steering head bearings in the triple tree.

My KZ1000 started doing this many years ago. If I was driving at say, 55MPH, and I'd snap the throttle closed, sit up on the seat lean back and take my hands off the bars... it would take off in a mild head shake.
I noticed I could feel a very little bump spot in the bars when coming off and going to center if I put the bike on the center stand and had someone hold the rear tire down to the pavement with the front tire off the ground.
After a week or two of it, I yanked the triple tree apart and removed the damaged head bearings and replaced them with conical roller bearings for something like $15.00... it has NEVER done it again in the last 22,000 miles.

Steering dampener:
I am not a mechanical engineer..... sometimes the front wheel isn't in alignment with the rear tire and they are moving around that single track!
All the dampener is, is a little shock absorber that slows the oscillation down by quite a bit every time the fork tubes try to move off center, relative to the frame center line and rear tire.
It has dampening in compression and rebound.

Why would you need that?
It has a lot to do with forces generate by acceleration, deceleration, torque, rake and trail of the front and swingarm with suspension parts... all relative to the frame and what you are sitting on, supposedly the stable part of the machine.
The frame, front tire, fork tubes, swing arm and rear tire are "winding up" and releasing "torque energy" and out of sync with what the others are doing.
The little steering dampener absorbs those oscillations on the front end and tries to "dampen" the effects of it all.
When you are moving forward at any speed, to steer, you are not moving the triple tree much at all... you are slightly pushing an opposite angular moment arm into the tire through the bars and the wheels gyro effect, causing the bike to lean over and subsequently fall into a turn. Overly simplistic but that is the general idea.
Go down the road (SAFELY) with one hand on the throttle and push the handle bar out, down and to the right (like you were trying to steer the front wheel to make a left turn) and the bike will turn right! Pull the handle bar to you, (like were trying to make the front tire turn right) and the bike will fall into a left turn.
How you get the bike to lean over like that is a mute point. It has to lean over in order to turn. All these parts get flexed to some degree or another. When ever there is a force in one direction, there is an opposite and equal force in the other. Dampening can help there.
All that stuff going on with a big torquing, high horsepower motor in a inadequate frame design.... and you can have all kinds of issues with the front tire being out of sync with the rear tire... your only two contact areas from your fanny to the actual road!
My old two stroke H2 750 was a stinker for frame flex and would scare all hell out of me at times... and it came with a shimmy dampener that was only modestly effective.

9.250 is the width to shoot for as an inside dimension(or overall width of the swingarm pivot).
i've done a bunch of arms and always set them up at 9.250 for 900's and 1000'S and no one has ever had any problems.

hth,

leon

I've never had to shim mine in 40 years. Good point though. When I do my gusseting, I'll be sure to do it with the swing arm installed.
Steve

Honestly the width of the kz frames varies quite a bit, I've seen a difference of about 1/8" between them, value of the swingarm? Too much, eBay around $125-$150 seems average.

Do you need a measurement inside to inside? My spare swing arm was lost in the fire.
Steve

davido wrote: but whats it from Doug??

I guess that info would be helpful. The arm is from a '86-88 Gsxr1100 using a Zx6D wheel setup and the frontend is from a '89-90 Zx7R with a Zx11C wheel and brake system.

Long, long ago I had a build thread but I think it was about 3-4 forum versions ago.

Later, Doug

I know they were popular. Everyone would like the upgrade. I see what ebay is bringing.
1981-83 GS 1100 Suzuki aluminum swing arms. Looking for a high end value $$ ??
What is the popular opinion? I have one that has all the rear axle parts and the pivot axle up front. I am going to make a nice set of 16mm spacers for the Kawasaki Z1-KZ900-1000 conversion. Last 2 I sold I used 5/8" flat washers about .125" thick.
Anyone know the exact tight fit? for the spacers? .125"-.140"-.150" ????? I don't have a bare Z1-KZ frame to check clearance.
Thanks. I am going to spend hours blasting off that ugly silver anodize.
Then again I might switch mine out and use it.