First Post Gasket set & rings recommendation 73 z1

Hi all,
I have a cylinder head gasket oil  leak 73 z1 so planning on stripping the head and barrel off
125 psi on all cylinders 
plan to hone and fit new rings if bores are in spec
28000 miles presume original pistons
what do you all recommend for good base and head gaskets and rings 
located USA 
thanks in advance 
Mike

Hey, welcome to the fun!  KZR is a great place for answers, there are plenty of members happy to help you.  

Last year I honed cylinders and replaced rings.  I used Cometic gaskets.  Ring sets came from IMD Pistons (they're in England, I sourced the ring sets before tariffs.  If you're in the US, you may want to find a US supplier).   While you have the motor apart, check the cam chain sprockets, idler, and tensioner parts for wear and deterioration - they're 50 years old and the rubber in the sprockets was dried out and broken in mine.  I replaced them with Liska billet sprockets, tensioner, and related parts (APE, now KZ Zone).  I ended up getting them thru Z1Enterprises.  I'm sure other members can recommend other gasket and ring sources, also.

If you don't have one get a Factory Kawasaki service manual for your Z1.  Also take a look at Nessism's excellent thread "new owner things to know"

IMD or NPR rings. With the tariffs I would go with NPR. Retro cycles sells them on ebay. About $75 for the set. Cometic for the base gasket and OEM for the head gasket. Should be able to find a OEM head gasket or Versa if you cant. I would also replace those old cam sprockets with Liska sprockets while you in there. Use the solid mounts they offer for the center sprocket. If you really want to freshen things up you can split the cases and replace the cam chain with a heavy-duty DID from APE. Not that big of a deal to split the cases.Clean the cases and use Locktit 518 to seal it back up. 

Looks like the bike is pretty much original. How long have you had it.

Being a 1973 you might find an original 1-piece head gasket, not two, depends on the engine number. These one piece head styles didn't have the o-ring around the cylinder camchain tunnel and were prone to weep/leak around that tunnel. Ditto Cra-z1's recommendations, he's only done a couple hundred thousand of them, ha.  

Forgot to mention sf4t7. Those HD camchains with heavier sideplates, not peanut style, are hard on original tensioners/cam sprockets where they have the rubber coating. I've seen those when used fling the bonded rubber right off those. And bizarre but last camchain i'd gotten from APE had split rollers, don't believe that's a good thing!!   

Hey Clay, this is what I found last winter when I had the cylinder off.  A time bomb waiting to demolish my engine!   

I have owned it for over 10 years bought it covered in grease out of Arizona 
got it running last year when I stupidly sold my 75 low mile z1 for a new kitchen 
but it was never really dialed in so plan to keep it and ride
 

Wow idler assembly $238 from partzilla ?

P48ker wrote:

Wow idler assembly $238 from partzilla ?

Yes Wookie, that's the idler.
Mike, you should also check the front and rear tensioner parts, the front and rear sprockets at the head to cylinder joint, and the idler roller at the base of the cylinders.  Also the little rubber blocks at those points.
Tensioners, sprockets, roller, and rubber blocks are all available from Z1E also.  The Liska billet sprockets, tensioner, and top idler make a little more noise than the rubber damped originals but they're bulletproof.
 

Yes replace everything starting at the middle roller between the case and the cylinders. Sock parts can be found but are expensive.

You may want to not your location in your profile 

Wookie nothing against Z1E but are they "really" Liska's? I've seen a lot of copycats starting years ago. And since Jeff Saunders isn't still at the helm, those cats that bought him out will peddle anything to make a buck. I miss Jeff, might give him a call later. Sf4, i've plenty of those wrecked ones too, ha. But still have great ones. P4, that's why it retained it's nice appearance!! Preserved in a slather of mucky oily residue and in the arid Arizona climate. Looks like shaded too! Otherwise the Arizona Sun would of wrecked the paint, ha.