TOPIC:

SK you DL'd the "1980-81 KZ750 E1-H1 Full WSM" with supplements - explains your cam chain tensioner well and how to reset etc. Bit more work for the cam chain - pages 159 - 160.

ah yeah ill have a look at that, ive watched a bunch of tutorials on youtube recently for various things too.

Yesterday my f-ing clutch cable snapped whilst out n about, luckily i was only a half mile or so from my house but i had to push it home up some pretty big hills, these KZ's are some heavy lumps!! good bit of cardio though.
I was headed out to my local bike shop to show him the bike for some advice, so gave him a call in the end and he said that he remembered having a KZ750 or 550 in the past that had a similar thing and that it turned out to be that the cam chain was off by one tooth causing the firing to be slightly out. The timing has been mentioned a few times so hopefully this is the gremlin, going to strip the head down this week and have a looky.

Also realised recently that when i ride over bumpy lanes at any kind of speed the front wheel disconcertingly doesn't seem to want to stay connected to the ground so i think the fork seals have gone. I didnt notice it before because all the oil must of already gone yonks ago and hence no visible leaking or that little bit of oil smear you normally get on the stanchions so must be bone dry! ;?

So few jobs to do this week, if the cam chain check turns up that it is out by a tooth or so im not sure whether i will have a go at adjusting it myself or get the shop to do it? Seems straight forward enough but im a little worried about putting it back wrong and accidentally buggering up the engine.

SK if you have the room and it wont obstruct anything when you have the extra pennies get a spare clutch cable and run it along the same route as cable in use - next to it . If it breaks again ,which it shouldn't, if well cleaned and lubed just disconnect broken one and hook up new cable. Will take a few minutes - bugger that pushing it mate.
Main problem with moving cam chain is possible dropping something down the guts like a bolt or nut.Always place a one piece rag just inside top of the tunnel just in case. Would like to attempt to make some sort of plastic tray that fits in there. Not a difficult job - just be careful and take your time.Check out those videos and get your head around it .

Zeph thats a good tip ill see if i can do that with the clutch cable, would save a lot of bother in those emergency times, its pretty rare though and my own fault for not checking the condition of it when i brought the bike.

I took the cylinder cover off today, checked the valve clearances and 3 of them are out, so need to re-shim them.
I also counted the teeth links between the cam marks and it appears they are within spec, 46 teeth :/ obviously thats good but i was hoping it was my gremlin. So its back to the drawing board.

One thing i was wondering though which is probably a bit of a stupid question, but in the haynes manual the diagram of the cam chain positioning on the sprocket (see attachment 1) starts at the beginning of a link ie between 0-1 and ends in the middle of a link ie between 45-46, but my chain begins in the middle of a link and ends between links, (attachments 2/3) would this be considered off position for a cam chain or does that not have any bearing on the firing/timing?
Cheers

Patton wrote: As to the lack of performance beyond 6000 rpm, would also assure that the ignition is producing fat blue sparks on the plugs, by visually examining the spark on removed plugs while spinning over the engine.

Assure that the correct factory-recommended spark plugs are installed, such as NGKB8ES and NOT "R" resistor style plugs such as NGKBR8ES. Brand new plugs are preferable. And that solid core plug wires -- NOT "resistor style plug wires -- are fitted. And that the spark plug caps have not developed abnormally high resistance. It's okay to fit caps having zero resistance, such as the caps built in on Dyna solid core spark plug wires.

Old plug wires can leak voltage from being cracked and worn, thereby weakening the spark.

If not already done, would perform the spray water-mist test onto exhaust header pipes shortly after starting the stone-cold engine to assure that combustion is occurring in every cylinder.
The spray should instantly vaporize as it sizzles off the hot exhaust header pipe, which evidences combustion within the cylinder.
If the water spray just runs down the pipe without instant sizzle, there's lack of combustion in the cylinder.

(Apologies for what may have already been covered.)

Good Fortune!

Hey Patton, what would happen if i did have the BR8ES plugs in? i must of overlooked this post before and just went and checked them and they are indeed BR8ES plugs installed, when i replaced them when i got the bike the bloke at the bike shop said that they wouldnt make any difference, even though i questioned it and told him they wern't the right ones he reassured me that they made no difference so i went with it, not sure i should listen to this guy anymore. I totally forgot about this up until now.
I have the original non-resistor B8ES plugs still so i will try them out once i have done the valves and put the new gasket and cylinder cover back on.
Have also brought some new HT lead and going to replace the spark plug caps just in case they are worn out.
Would non-resistor caps be ok to use? or is it better to get the 5k ohm resistance ones?
Cheers.

Non-resistor caps are fine.

It's okay to have zero resistance between the coil and plug, which would be solid metal core plug wires, non-resistor caps, and non-R plugs.

The factory used resistor caps to reduce radio signal interference, but could have used resistor plug wires or R plugs.

If a resistance element is desired, it's important that only ONE is fitted. Not a combination of two or more.
For example, resistor caps plus R plugs is too much resistance.
Resistor caps plus resistor wires is too much resistance.
Resistor wires plus R plugs is too much resistance.
Resistor wires plus resistor caps plus R plugs is way too much resistance.

Too much resistance results in insufficient spark.

Might want to check out the Dyna solid core plug wires listed at Z1 Enterprises, which include non-resistor caps.
Dyna plug wires

Also available in red or yellow.

Good Fortune!

SKK - any idea how many miles the bike has done mate.

Thanks Patton.

ZR: its got 19,000 on the clock so bugger all really, it should still be running like new with that low mileage in theory.

I'm putting the bike back together today, I've moved the cam chain over one link and doing a hand crank of the engine first to make sure there's no knocking, and will experiment from there. Fingers crossed.

SKK just asking about mileage to see if that would possibly be original cam chain and it just has to be i would reckon.
Insides look pretty nice.Got a pic of where you shifted the chain to. Hoping someone else would have come in with a suggestion cause it has been a long time since i have needed to pull the top off mine - Kawasaki - bullet proof .
Didnt look quite perfect though - hope you can reuse gaskets etc - gets a bit expensive if you cant - cover gasket here for mine - OEM that is - $80.Have used Athena a bit and they are fine - as usual all down to prep.
All the best with that mate- i have my fingers crossed as well.Cant be far off now. Sometimes ya gotta experiment.

Yea must be original I think, I had trouble getting it set up and then getting the tensioner back on properly. I set it up wrong first time think I had the chain slack on the wrong side of the engine, i re did it and think its set up right now but there is a bit of noise from the top right of the engine that wasn't there before so maybe not? :/ also when I gave it a quick test run it still has the no go above 5k and it was spluttering all over the place, that could of been due to me accidentally leaving the fuel tap on prime though, the fuel seemed a bit low so will check that next time I run it.

I've got some pics of how I set it back up but I'm at work atm I'll upload them later.

Its got the new non resistor ht leads, caps and the original b7es non resistor plugs back in it now too but they don't seem to of made any difference either unfortunately.
So dont know where to go with it now. Seems like I've chased all the obvious avenues with it and still at exactly the same place. Just want to ride the bloody thing :/ maybe its time for a proper mechanic to have a look at it?

Have you seen this thread and the post on holes in the slides ?
kzrider.com/forum/2-engine/596501-81-kz1...m-any-ideas?start=20

It's a few years since I looked at cam timing on my bike and I just can't remember if I saw the same regarding pins and chain links as you described a few posts back. Think i did but memory not what it used to be.

Doesn't sound like moving the cam chain 1 link had a good effect.

Good luck

Still sounds like cam timing.
Steve