1981 KZ1000 K1 Project

Oh I definately won't forget this one for a while. And niether will my friends when I am done with them!

Thanks for everyones help! I'm sure I'll be back for more questions!

Also that shim kit from Z1 was incredible! What a great thing to have that bin of shims at your disposal so you can get it exact. Well worth it if you can afford to!!!
Although the shims go down to 2.30mm and the smallest size labeled on the tray I receieved was 2.70mm so I was scared I got the wrong one at first, but the smaller sizes were there!

So i got a different head in better shape for the bike. I had only gotten the bike to fire, and haven't even broken in the new rings and pistons. The old one was stripped out terribly and I was having issues with it. Now I went to put the new head on last night and discovered a gasket was completely junk. this is the gasket between the head and the cylinder that is rectangular o-ring type that goes around the cam chain tunnel. So needless to say nothing was accomplished last night.

z1 doesn't sell just that gasket but they do sell a top-end kit for around $55 that has this gasket in it. I already have bought the complete gasket set so I really do not need another gasket set. The local dealers want at least $40 for this gasket alone!

Is there any place to ge this for cheaper or any other solution? It is the stupid little things that keep adding up. Thank you

This isn't it?

Click > Head Gasket o-ring at Z1E

Good Fortune!

That is actually the slightly different one! I believe thats the 1015 motor one which is too different to use (i tried once when I got the wrong cylinders the first time) z1 said they do not have it separately but I may have found somewhere! I'll keep you posted

Yep, I overlooked the year needed. :blush:

Maybe this will help:

Part# 11009-1208 shows "active" per kawasaki.com

Searching 11009-1208 on ebay sometimes includes several offerings.

Good Fortune!

Back to my motor! I've been doing some frame modifications as well, and now it's time to fix up the motor correctly. I just sent my head out to get a full valve job so I'm pretty excited about that! I've had one nagging problem for a while which now is the time to address. In my first build up of the motor, the base gasket (between the bottom of the motor and cylinder jug) got oil on it and got wet and once I got the bike going or when I tried turning it over, it seeped oil from there and never did seal.

I assume I need to keep this gasket very dry the whole time and torque down properly before putting oil in the motor. Is there a gasket that works better than others here or will any stock replacement gasket do??

Another bump here too. Should I keep that gasket as dry as possible and assemble post of the motor outside of the frame? Last time I assembled most of the motor inside of the frame and I had a couple of issues. I'm pretty sure I can get the motor in and out just by taking off the valve cover?