1982 KZ1300 rescue and rebuild

Just came back from a quick ride to test again the bike after synchronizing and AFR adjustment. Starts, runs, accelerates, decelerates like a turbine! And I thought it was smooth! lol

0ne interesting thing I have done, before doing this, is I used Marvel Mystery 0il in fuel. I have been using Sea Foam on a regular basis, and it works great maintaining the carburetors. But a few days ago I finally saw a bottle of the Mystery 0il in stock at Lordco.So I bought a bottle. When doing the AFR adjustments I looked inside the cylinders - ALL shiny and clean!
I bet the same applies to the head and valves, if I could see them. The Sea Foam never did that. I saw a video where a guy compares both, and the Mystery 0il indeed cleans the chamber from carbon build up - it's confirmed. Also, the choke operates smoother, and I bet all the carburetor internal parts got a nice lubrication treatment from within as well.

Conclusion: the Sea Foam is great and definitely keeps the small fuel passages clean. But Marvel Mystery 0il does even more - it really cleans and lubricates. I became an instant fan and will be using it once in a while. Also, the Mystery 0il cost less and you get double the volume!

Lordco offers discount if you have an account, or ask. Not sure if for everyone, but I've been getting it.

I paid CAD$ 10.27 for 473 ml of Sea Foam, and CAD$ 7.75 for 946 ml of Marvel Mystery Oil. Considering how well the Marvel Mystery Oil worked, I will be buying the Sea Foam much less frequently, and stick to Mystery 0il treatment once every maybe 5 fill ups.

I was in in Wallyworld (Wal Mart) today and found they sell Marvel Mystery Oil at least the one near me anyway $10.95 + tax for the 946 ml bottle

That seems to be regular price, as here it's CAD$ 11.39 without discount.

This showed up on Ebay. If anyone watched this, sorry - it's mine!

This was one of the small little details missing. I already have the bracket for it, the bike is one small step closer to be 100% stock. I will fit it but I think I will keep it off, as I don't want to have it damaged with a flying stone. Except for bike shows. It's just too nice. And I think this was a great deal as well.

I've decided to revisit the cam chain tensioner. Right now I have a manual one installed and it's been fine. But after reading a lot of from people who are using the stock tensioner modified, I decided to do this modification as an exercise.

First, I carefully checked where the center of the back side of the housing is. Very easy, putting it on the table and giving it a spin. Like a spinning top.
Marked the center, and carefully drilled there a pinhole. Followed by larger drill bits, until the last one - 5 mm. Then cut a 6 mm thread and voila, it's ready. All freehand style

I decided to use a brass washer to protect the aluminum body of the tensioner, and also to use a self locking nut.



Before assembly. The pre-loaded spring is held with a nail.



The tensioner's push rod is held in place by a bolt. 0nce installed on the bike (with a thin paper gasket), I will release it and let it do it's job. Then - I will replace it with the original stopper bolt and screw the added limiter bolt in, securing it with the self-locking washer. The stopper bolt is not tight and has nothing to do with applying tension, so it will be very easy and accurate to screw in with fingers. I will back it off slightly on contact, maximum 1/4 - 1/2 turn.

So, the plan is to remove the manual tensioner and replace it with this modified Kawasaki stock. I will do it with the cam cover off, when also checking the valve clearances. I'd like to see how far it goes comparing to how I adjusted the manual one. After some more polishing that is!

Another thing to do will be to mark the different positions of the stopper bolt - all the way out, in, and the current position for reference. I will also measure it with calipers and keep track of the applied adjustment.