'76 KZ900 (ZRX1200R) Build

les holt wrote: Good pcs. but not necessary and I almost have to say probably not better than stk on a good cut trans on the street, the flex they talk about is useful to the auto trans drag racers and was the reason they were developed.

Les Holt

Thanks Les. May just leave it then and get this engine built today.

Cory

So got the block cleaned and started by installing the APE main stud kit with some blue Loctite and torquing them to 8 lb/ft.

Then slung the new DID chain over the crank and aligned the bearing spacers with the dowels before letting her fall into place. Added the center main cap, support plate, and torquing them to 21 lb/ft after adding blue Loctite.




Then it was time to go looking for bearing locating rings, end shims, and circlips. A little engine assembly lube and the crank potion was buttoned up. Good thing I labeled some stuff....lol



Then it was time to drop the tranny in place. Bead blasted, rebuilt, and up/down cut dogs. Pretty.... A little assembly lube to the gears and exposed bearings.



Then it was time to install the clutch basket assembly....oh yeah I knew I forgot something! :doh. Time to order up a bunch of stuff and hopefully will be here by next weekend....



That is it for now...

Cory

So parts are in hand and will begin the engine assembly once again!





More to come....

Cory

Sooo...... Last weekend on Sunday, got started on the engine now that I had gotten some parts in. You've all probable seen enough engine builds, but here is the condensed version! Started by getting the lower case prepped. Installed the filter bypass, the shift drum and billet APE fork, the APE shift rod, the stock forks, and drum detent assembly. Everything was cleaned, inspected, torqued, and loctited where specified and where I have learned to....

Then it was time for the modified clutch basket to go in, and roller bearing, spacer/washer, and center hub. At this point bevel washer and center nut installed at this point....

The Honda-Bond came out and a thin smear was placed on the case mating surface. Then the polished stainless steel hardware, APE main stud nuts, and blue loctite came out and the cases were mated, forks aligned, and everything torqued up.

Then it was time for piston and APE cylinder stud installation. Stud threads for the case were lightly lubed with engine oil and installed with the MotionPro installer and torqued to APE spec. Base gasket was installed.

Pistons were installed, pins lubed with engine assembly lube, teflon retaining buttons installed then I needed to get creative...... Using some thin flexible cutting mats my wife donated to me, I cut them into strips and then held them around the piston ring packs using zip ties. Brought 1 & 4 up to TDC and a couple small wood pegs were placed between the case and the piston skirts. I lubed the cylinder bores with engine oil and the cylinder was lowered.
After some cursing, the 1&4 pistons were installed passed the rings and the 2 & 3 cylinders rotated up and installed. A little soft hammer tapping around the block, cylinder installed.

Then I needed to machine a bolt for the front plastic guide (new installed prior to cylinder installation) as the original JIS stripped coming out. Due to the clearance concern with the HD DID chain and new Liska sprockets, had to keep turning down the Allen button screw using my drill press as a lathe until it was the correct size and loctited and installed.

Now, ran into two issues that delayed the build a bit. First, my gasket kit set said it had an oil pump gasket as I disassembled my oil pump and cleaned, measured (.05 mm) rotor/case clearance, and then lubed before being reassembled. The gasket was not there however, and an OEM ordered. Should be delivered in a day or so. Lastly, the head gasket I got with my kit, I never measured the bore and since I did a big bore to the KZ900, needed to order a new Cometic head gasket. Other than that, coming together nicely. More to come this weekend....

Cory

So with my recent layoff....I have some time. Still waiting on my head gasket to show up, but in the meantime, made some progress. So first I finished cleaning and rebuilding the oil pump and installed it. Loctite and 69in/lbs of torque and some assembly lube and away we go.....

Then it was time to check everything over really well and grab my modified oil pan, gasket, big "o-ring" and SS allen screw kit. Again, Loctite and 69in/lbs of torque......(this will become a pattern....)

Then onto the clutch. Using a Trac-King +1 kit and they have been soaking in oil for about a week or so. Install all of the steels, fibers, new springs, and make sure the push ball and roller pusher are installed before the spring plate and we are done.

Then some covers.... Took out the covers I had PC'd last year and installed all new seals, and sight glasses. Then grab the SS allen screw kits and some gaskets....also my D&G kick start delete plate.

And last but not least, the low profile breather....Well I was just notified my Cometic head gasket shipped, so head it getting ready to go on soon..... That is it for now.

Cory

Progress!!

Love what Im seeing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave

So a quickie as I had some stuff to do today....and still waiting on a head gasket....... I decided to put together the shift mechanism. Not to much to show here, but I replaced all the springs with new and inspected all the parts, lubed them with assembly lube, and put it all back together. New seals in my PC'd trans cover, and smoe more SS allen hardware.

New APE clutch rod and my clutch rod adapter I machined to fit the Ducati slave to the D&G Chassis drag plate. You'll see that later once I clean it up and polish it.

Then starting to put my starter gear/ belt drive snout together. More to come on this....but I am tired and the Olympics are on...:thumbs:

Cory

So yesterday gotten taken up with truck stuff, so today was the bike. I started by cleaning and final assembling the modified starter clutch assembly, then adding my radial seal to my modified cover, and then putting it in place with another set of SS allen screws. I did not Loctite anything as I realized I did not have a grommet for plugging the cover where the stator harness comes through.....I'll need to figure that out!

Then it was time for the head to go on. After much research on using the 1 pc Cometic head gasket, I ended up following the general recommendation of using RTV to fill the stock void for factory "O"-ring though I was really tempted to use the "O"-ring as I could not see a reason why not to..... Got my Liska Racing timing components in place, and new Kawi shaft rubber dampers, then the gasket, and finally the head. Using the APE head stud nuts. Note I did not use the copper crush washers because frankly I forgot to get them.....The RTV was setting up, so I went forward and torque the main nuts to the factory 25 lb/ft and the outer bolts to 104 in/lbs. Also added my cam drive blanking plug.

Lastly, time for cams. First since I had multiple GPZ cams on hand, had to find the '84's. Measure the lift, and found them. Added the shim buckets, noted and documented the shim thickness in each location, and then broke out the new cam bearings. Placed those in the lower saddles, and swapped out the stock GPZ cam gears for the APE adapter adjustable gears. Snugged the bolts and placed everything in position. Scratched my head for a while while I try to figure out how to get these timed in the ball park first. Got the engine into 1/4 TDC and set the cams where I think they should be in the general ball park. Then got the cam caps loaded with new shells and bolted in place before placing the new Liska Racing top idler with ridged blocks. Placed the APE manual tensioner in place and set it lightly for now. Watching carefully, I rotated the engine a few times and everything seems to be in the general location it should be. I want to review the GPZ 1100 cam timing to verify I am where I need to be.

Well that is it for now, will look for general recommendations on cam timing to start with and go from there. I will start polishing everything prior to clear coating the whole engine.

Cory

Edit: Torqued the APE head nuts to 38 lbs/ft and not the 25 lbs/ft per the stock studs and nuts.

Cory