Kickstart

Hi all
I I had completed the build of my 76 900 motor and was readying for startup day. I cleaned well but did not disassemble the kick start shaft assembly so it was dropped into place while the cases were being completed. Once the motor was in the frame I installed the coil spring and the cylindrical tube into the cavity and then attached the cover with the dowel pins and new gasket. Yesterday I started the motor which was quick and sounding great other than a grinding behind the kickstart housing, gear to gear chatter which would only go away when the clutch was pulled in. Have I missed something obvious in the assembly? At this point the thought of a teardown frightens the helm outta me as I was almost ready for insurance and a ride. Any advice would be much appreciated.
David

Can you rotate the kickstart shaft clockwise a bit and see if the noise goes away.  You said you did not disassemble the unit so the alignment should be ok. There are dimples that need to aligned if you have taken everything apart on that shaft. Are you sure you have the spacer in correctly to give the required spring tension. I would take the cover off and check. Did you split the cases. If so did you remove the arm that is used to open up the ratchet gear and forgot to install it?

Everything Cra-z1 mentioned and some additional picture to make sense of it. Note the two little punch marks on shaft and gear. Upon assembly or sliding gear over shaft, these two little marks MUST be in line with each other. The arm sticking out of gear wedges into that plate he mentioned and pulls the ratcheting gears apart when kick starter is not engaged. Could of assembled the plate the wrong way? Unfortunately no fixing can be performed with lower case installed.       

Clay the reference pictures you provide from your vast stock of parts are invaluable to clarify advice given. You sir are indeed a leg end  legend

I spoke with my friend that built the majority of the engine and think that we have determined the issue. The tab on the cases is present and shaft was not disassembled so the alignment dots are not an issue. Later today we are going to remove the cover and check the spring as I was not aware that there needs to be spring tension loaded to the shaft when installing. The factory service manual doesn’t mention this so I’m hoping that’s the culprit,
Fingers crossed and thanks all for the advice.
Pics to follow soon of project as it’s been many years in the works.
David

Bingo!! That's it then i'll bet. Should of had to of used some sort of needle nose pliers to get end of spring into shaft hole kinda fighting the tension. If it wasn't a "bit" hard to install then it wasn't installed correctly. Good show! Thanks Wookie, pictures are always beneficial i believe. Even the Factory manual can be vague when it comes to this stuff with often grainy photos especially if it's a copy. Here to Help!  

Well gentlemen, it was the spring after all! I know I used needle nosed pliers on that thing when I installed it but I don’t remember getting any scratches or bruises doing it which should have indicated a future issue, seniors moment I guess!
Thanks for all the quick good responses to this issue.
David

Now i can relate about NOT wanting to remove everything!! Didn't know Your bike was soo Groovy haha! Great Job there. What did you use to paint your engine with?

A while back I was looking for a decent satin finish that didn’t take a lot of prep to apply. A colleague recommended Duplicolour, I think it’s #1634, no primer, just clean aluminum. It stands up well and is easy to touch up and engine heat doesn’t seem to bother it. It’s so nice to use that it usually takes longer to mask than to paint! If parts are sandblasted it’s fine but a liberal clean with soap and water is a must. Tried to get a fair mix of black, bare aluminum and stainless parts. 75 Z1 in the blue/green is the colour scheme.

Bike looks awesome:) the engine finish looks similar to the Cerekote I have used

Thankyou. Not familiar with using Ceracoat, this stuff needs several light coats to grip the surface then it builds nicely. Did the wheels and some miscellaneous parts with it. The gloss I’m told has been changed and it doesn’t seem to adhere  well any more.
Hope to post some pics of it finished in the next 2 weeks, been 8 years coming.

Really clean & tidy build!  Looking forward to the finished project.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE