TOPIC:

I bought a 1982 KZ750 Spectre. It came in boxes so I try to be patient. I think it's pretty easy to work on apart from removing the shaft and its housing on the lefthand side of the motor ... It does a good job at eating the seal around the gear shifter.

Anyways I love it.

My problem was with the starter. It grinded over and over and could barely turn the engine once. By choking the four carbs with my arm and boosting it with a starter I could get i going and even rode it for 10 minutes or so before the police showed up and asked me if I had any mufflers.

To fix this, I opened the engine way up and replaced the whole secondary shaft with a spare I had lying around. Two of the three springs were ruined on the old starter clutch. I put it back together and it turned over great - so smooth I was smiling for five whole minutes.

... Then I realized wheneve the bike fired and attempted to start, it would lockup and die. I've since had it apart twice. I hate gasket sealer *laughs* and my fingers are shredded from the gears. I have a manual and the shaft seems to be installed correctly.

One little feeling I have s about the starter gear ... the one which the starter touches. When I remove my starter, it rotates one way, but not the other ... just like it should. Also, though, there is about a 16th inch of play .... perpinducular to the shaft.

I put gas in the cylinders and boosted it ... it fires and backfires and I am SURE it would start if something wasn't holdign it up. Before I fire it into the old scrapheap, does anyone have advice?

It seems the bigger problem occured after you opened her up and put her back together. You say something is "holding her up", like it's locked up tight?

Are you positive you got the cams timed properly? Can you turn the engine over several times with a wrench on the crankshaft and nothing binds or stops? It's possible the cam chain jumped a tooth in the first five minutes when it was running...and now valves are hitting pistons

Well, it was running before and I didn't touch the cam chain ... I never even slackened it at all. I'm about to put it all back together. I'll let you guys know what happens. Thanks I hate liquid gasket. Its a love/hate relationship, actually. ugh

OK I was thinking you had split the cases to work on this shaft. Never mind my babble..

rdhussey wrote:

Also, though, there is about a 16th inch of play .... perpinducular to the shaft.

You mean there´s play in the starter clutch gear (big one)? There shouldn´t be - the starter clutch gear rides on a needle roller bearing (pic below), sounds like maybe you accidentally left that one out?

Also check that you installed both spacers on either side of the gear, one between the gear and the oil pump drive, the other between the gear and the starter clutch housing.

The starter doesn´t drive the starter clutch gear directly, there´s an idler gear inbetween - check that both gears (starter clutch gear and idler gear) are intact and in mesh.

Thanks for the advice - and the picture! It turns out that there was no binding at all. I had a set of fresh carbs on which weren't very clean. When one cylinder got gas and fired, the next compresion cycle just stoped the engine dead and the starter would disengage the second the motor fired .... meaning the engine went thump dead.

I poured gas in the cylinders and cleaned the carbs .... way to go