KZ750 Restart

As I may have mentioned I have a KZ750 twin in the garage with the goal of restarting it and getting it road worthy.

Bled the brakes and pushed through some new fluid, drained the oil, and today I measured the valve clearances and prepared for removing the cylinder head. The head was leaking oil from the left hand side, the Kawasaki has oil ways sealed by o rings the move the oil into the cam chamber, and I think it is leaking from there. I hope I will see the damaged O ring tomorrow when I get the head off.

On another subject I removed and cleaned the RD350 's carbs and the 500 is a part awaiting for a rebuild. I have made contact with a guy who can rebuild the cranks with the thrust washers at the big end.

No news is good news?

Clutch Basket holding tool

Carbs and crap

Well I have been pretty busy recently and haven't had much time to post.  Here is a quick summary.
I have built up an FZR engine partly with bits that Bil gave me and partly from the engine that I got that had been in the water at some stage.
As on most engines the crankcases are matched so I went with Bils cases and the cylinder head from the watered bike - the valves all sealed OK and it seemed much younger. The cams came from Bils stuff, as the water ones were rusty!
I replaced the plain bearings on the crankshaft and the cylinder rubber seals and I am now up finishing the clutch cover and sealing it up so I can add oil and get it off the bench.

The RG has broken another thrust washer in piston NR.2 the damage is significant although I haven't even got as far as lifting the cylinder head yet! I am leaning towards getting the cranks setup with the thrust spacers at the big end to avoid this issue again. Have been in contact with a guy in Lyon who rebuilds cranks and used to mechanic for a guy who raced RG's.

I have an old KZ750 Kawasaki in the workshop that needs starting - doing this for a guy at the gym, so I will be posting some of the photos from that build.

The biggest news I have is that I am back at school, doing a CAP in bike mechanics! Every other week in Paris! I travel up on a Sunday and back on Friday. The level is quite low, but I need a minimum qualification in order to start my company up next year. So far results are great