gbot's 79 kz650

Hello everyone,

I bought my kz in Dec. 2012 and have been a member of kzrider.com since, I have learned alot from this forum. It is my first motorcycle and i have some miles on it, around 3,000, including some 500+ mile trips. I have done some small mods including a single-seat mod, 4 into 1 exhaust, and new gauges and headlight. It was an excellent condition exterior wise when purchased but shortly after i noticed smoke coming from exhaust while pulling away from redlights. The cause seems to be a faulty valve stem seal. My spark plug in cylinder 1 constantly fouls up with oil. My mechanic says to keep riding but i plan to change the seals out myself. Im posting my project thread because i plan on breaking down the bike soon and plan on opening the engine attempting to replace the valve stem seals.

When purchased Dec. 2012


March 2016




I was displeased with the mac 4 into 1 exhaust system because the quality seemed poor compared to stock and the exhaust stud alignment was off had had to be forced into place, I plan on upgrading to the Delkevic Headers. I swapped gauges to a trail tech digital gauge unit for mph and a 2.5" rpm gauge. I also swapped to renthel handle bars and rfy shocks which have been performing good but i still want to upgrade to a better shock.

Nice bike. I like the look. Good luck w/ the seal job!

I especially like the first picture

KZRog wrote: I especially like the first picture

+1 More than the others. Ed

I have a question or two:
Do you still have the exhaust from pic 1?
Do you still have the seat from pic 1?
LOL
My '650 won't look as good as your pic 1 for many moons.

# 1 gets my vote.
Steve

Good to hear your having fun riding her gbot.
That's what it's all about.

I like it! I personally would through a nice round headlight back on but it's your bike, your way! Ride it and smile

Looking good any chance you have the seat from pic one still and would be open to selling it

Its been awhile since i have updated my project but in need of some help. Since then, i pulled the engine from the frame. Currently im in the process of swapping the valve stem seals.


Removed valve cover, cams seems to be in good condition.



Removed cylinder head, noticed alot of carbon build-up. Cylinder 1 (far right in pic) spark plug was constantly fouling with oil, seems to be worst.



I was told to check the piston rings and possibly replace them while inside the engine. Not sure how to tell if they are bad or not? The cylinder walls seems very smooth just alot of carbon build-up on top of the piston.








My questions are..
1. How do i remove these valve lifters without the special tool? Would a small suction cup work? Dont have one on hand.



2. Whats the best way to remove all the carbon build-up from pistons and cylinder head?

3. Do my piston rings need to be changed?

I will prob have more questions once im messing with the valves more.

Yes, you can use a little suction cup to pull the buckets. Some folks use a magnet, but that is not a good idea because it can magnetize the buckets. If that happens any ferrous metal grit can end up sticking to them and cause wear. Ed

Use a magnet. You can make a tool for the seals with a piece of coat hanger fashioned into a hook. Clip the inside of the hook into a sharp point. You can get under the seal and work around it until it comes off. A lot of times the seal will just fall to pieces leaving the little spring on the hook. Looks like one set of rings were failing. If I could, I'd replace all of them. How do the rollers look?
Steve