KZ1100 Performance Upgrade

How much did the hone take out ? I just took my jugs off and cylinders are all scratched up. Since I’m at 1075 machinist man suggests new / oe juggs bore to match pistons , have spare set of rings on hand. Cheapest way really. 500$ for bore and hone. Other option is next size up piston and bore. He thought the skirts would be too thin. And more z$ Thing option is big bore jugs , case bore, crank weld &the whole works with new rs34s. Will do that in good time but riding and playing with the kids are primary focus in the summer. Not trying to go jack your thread. Just going through similar issues.

Well I'm back and bringing this old thread of mine back to life. Had the bike set aside for a while while I focused on other things and moved to a different state. Sorry to anyone whom I haven't replied to.

Not much to report as far as changes, never did figure out the source of the noise even after I got a fresh set of jugs from pit stop bored to 74mm. Currently in the process of tearing down the motor with the plan to split the cases and install a welded crank. Once that's in I've got a bathtub head to put a valve job on and the cams to go with it. Basically rebuilding the motor and checking everything along the way. Plan on getting some RS34s and a dyna 2000 to top her off. Stay tuned for more!

Well I've done some tear down over the last week or so! Everything is apart and I've split the cases! Went... fairly well. 



I did snap one of the 8mm case bolts for my outside crank bearing so that sucked.   No worries though I took the upper case half in to work and used the ol bridgeport to extract said bolt and clean up the threads,  though they are a bit looser now. Im thinking it'll be ok as I already tested out to make sure it holds the proper torque without tearing the threads out, and torque value for that bolt isn't that high anyways, plus fsm calls for some thread locker on it.
 


Getting ready to send my new head off for a valve job and I had a question maybe someone can answer for me:
the #1 spark plug threads are pretty loose and boogered up so I was looking at installing a timesert, or helicoil's equivalent (an expanding sleeve insert)  but looking at it i was nervous about how close the outside tapped hole for the insert would be to the edge of the valve seat. Don't know if it is any closer in the bathtub head vs a regular J because it has the larger valves and different chamber. Haven't measured it yet but I was hoping someone had done this in a bathtub head and could ease my concerns about it. 
Ill have whomever does my valve job, be it APE or Pitstop, look at it and give me their opinion, maybe even just have them do it if it doesn't cost too much more. Just hoping someone on here has had experience with this. 
 

Update:
after measuring the plug, inset, and valve seat to existing hole, it looks like the insert may hit the very tip of the valve seat by about .004"-.005". Now I know this isn't Ideal but it's not like it'll contact the valve and the seat angles away so its just that little bit... Is it like this when you put an insert in a regular j head?

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationAsk Joe at Pit Stop Performance.  He suggested a $30 charge per spark plug Time Sert, over of the cost for a valve job.
Last year I inquired with Joe about his ebay listing for the service:


 

Joe suggested the MTC-G1135-3 piston kit (see below) for my ZN1100 (bath tub) head, and did an awesome job fitting my stock cylinder block to the kit.

www.mtceng.com/pistons/kawasaki/gpz1100/

You're the man Dave! Doing my homework for me! 

I sent him an email last week but perhaps it got lost somehow. I just sent him another.

wrote:

You're the man Dave! Doing my homework for me! 

 

Sure Biff...oops sorry, Blaine 

Just a little update. Working my way through everything and checking all tolerances on every part. Got some parts on order; new cam chain, guides, all the orings and seals for reassembly.
At the same time working on getting the old exhaust studs out of the bathtub head. Removed them on my other two heads with no issues but this one is being a real PITA. Been soaking and heating and tapping with a hammer for going on 4 days now. One is already snapped down to the head so Ill have to machine it out and timesert it if I cant save the threads. Ill see if I can manage to get the other two out tomorrow.
contemplating getting a soda blasting deal and taking off my old high temp paint and replacing it with some baked on gun-kote for better durability. Seems like every time I touch that high temp with tool or something it chips..
Just a couple pics this time,  didn't document very well! 
 
 

Well I got those damn studs out. Used a .25" endmill at roughly 18° (if I remember correctly, it was a few days ago) with the head held down on the flat manifold mounting surfaces. Milled out the center of the studs leaving just the threads in place then used some super skinny needle nose pliers to grab the threads and twist them out. Worked like a charm and saved all three threads. Still waiting on parts, a few were backordered and wait time went from one week... to two weeks... supposedly shipping today. Can't wait to get started on the cases. Think I've decided on soda blasting off my old paint and using gunkote oven cure to re-apply the black.
 

Alright, a little update: finally have all my parts in to start rebuilding.

While I was waiting I ordered some Gunkote and began blasting the old paint off of my cases. Ended up using walnut shell media and a cheapo harbor freight blasting set up. Also bought a little pop up tent from amazon to do the blasting in so I can sweep up the media when I'm done and reuse it to save a little dough. It's slow going though as I've only got a 20 gal compressor that can't quite keep up with constant blasting. It'll get done though.

Also ordered cams from APE, but lead time is quoted 8 weeks minimum  so unfortunately the head work is on hold until I get those.

Sorry no pictures this time, but I'll make sure to get some in the next week or so to show my blasting set up and the Gunkote application, hoping to get the cases coated and ready for rebuild before I go on vacation the first week of June. Darn vacations interrupting my bike schedule.

Well, took longer than planned, but here is a couple pics from gun-koting the top case yesterday. Very durable stuff for any doubters out there. I've read some threads on here where people claim it chips or flakes off. I prepped the surfaces VERY thoroughly and I can smack it pretty good with my solid metal knife and there's not so much as a scratch.

I'm a fan, especially with an airbrush you don't need to worry about taping anything cause you have so much control and the coating is so thin there's no worry of overspray and you can just wipe off any overspray you don't want with a little acetone.

 

 

 

Your GunKote coating looks great!!!! Looks even better than the stock Kawasaki finish. Like you said the whole trick to getting any coating to stick is its surface preparation. Thats whats great about GunKote once its applied and baked nothing harms it!!! I have GunKoted motors that were coated almost 40 years ago and anything I got on them ever hurt it. Carb cleaner, race fuel, oils, and other chemicals never hurt the GunKote!!!! Nothing!!! I would throw all my GunKoted motor parts into the Safety-Kleen machine, then spray them down with carb cleaner before assembly and the GunKote sitll looked as good as new!!! Never thought of using an air brush to spray it. On the original 1600 GunKote I had to use MEK for cleanup. What did you use to clean up your air brush when you finished spraying the GunKote?? 

This motor was GunKoted back in 1982!!!!  
 

Thank you sir! I'm a big believer now having used it. Good to know it lasts with age too! The air brush worked great and made getting in the little nooks and crannies a breeze. 
My prep was a couple dawn dish soap baths and scrubs, heating up to 150 for oil leeching purposes, a quick acetone bath, and one more dish soap bath before drying and application.
I used regular old acetone for cleanup and it came right off with a little squirt, didn't even have to wipe it down. I did use qtips for checking the inside of the brush gun, but it was spotless after just rinsing the inside. From what i understand the original formula was thicker and required thinning to spray and now it comes ready to rock, almost a watery consistency. Dont think you'd need anything as gnarly as mek for the 2400 or 2500 formulas they have now.