My KZ1300-A4

Very cool, much appreciated. I have no problems at all taking advice from experienced people. I consider myself a reasonably good mechanic, but I'm also smart enough to take advice from people who have already done the procedure.

It's pretty simple really - why ignore the experience of other people? The end game is to get the bike running and ride it, any advice that helps me get there is welcome!

When it comes to reassembling the cylinders onto the motor, do you install one piston at a time into the block and then onto the con rods, or do you try and slide the cylinders over the pistons while they are still attached? I guess I would need 4 ring compressors (or equivalent) to do that.

Here's my broken gear again. I keep it around to remind me that being hasty and impatient can really bollocks things up if I'm not careful.

:blink:

I replaced my block just a few weeks ago onto new rings.

You best have 3 people (6 hands) for a smooth job......not to be sexist but better with blokes than birds, unless they dont mind swearing !

Have a torch or good directional light at hand to see close up.

Fit all 6 pistons onto rods with new clips.

Lube all 6 bores well with engine oil.

Fit rings onto pistons in correct positions & upwards as per manual......arrows forward to exhausts on pistons.

Slide block down onto studs with one person at each side of bike waiting to take instructions & weight of block (and a lot of bad language!)

Get both CENTRE pistons 3 & 4 at TDC and allow bottom of bores to sit as close as possible to piston crowns. Careful not to scratch piston crowns.

You will notice the bottom of the 6 bores have a small angle inwards to allow rings to slot in which is really good.

At this stage its up to you how you want to get rings compressed before lowering block over them.

I just used my fingers to squeeze rings together hopping from one piston to the other slowly & carefully telling the other 2 people when to lower the block very slowly.

A good tip is to find a tinned fruit or veg can about the same size as piston (62mm +) & cut a piece about 20mm high off the open top then cut a slot in the side to make a compression ring so you can wrap around rings & squeeze them in......who needs fancy compression tools ?????

Sounds pretty dum........but is a very, very effective tool & FREE !.

You can feel & see the rings are inside bores thru the con rod slots front & rear.

Next get pistons 2 & 5 at TDC & do the same then 1 & 6.

You are on home straight now............breath easy, breath easy.!

Its always best to work from centre piston OUTWARDS as it gives you more room.

Finally apologise to the other 2 people for the bad language & threats you made during the fitting, then go have numerous cold beers & say thank you to god !

Oh.........dont forget to put the 4 new oil way o' rings on the 4 correct studs and a new base gasket BEFORE you position block on the studs !!!!

Its a tricky job but not that bad.

Here if you need me !

Pete F

That is a SUPERB description, thank you! Love the idea for the ring compressor, that is what I will use. Cheap and effective!

All good advice!

Just wanted to throw mine in there since noone mentions it . I've read in some places that head bolt retorquing is needed in different stages especially on older vehicles such as our bikes to keep a good seal on the head. Since the head bolts tend to stretch from the pressure and heat after initial installation.

The manual says as a last step of fitting the heads: "Thoroughly warm up the engine, wait until the engine grows cole, and retighten the cylinder head nuts and bolts to the specified torque."

It's only mentioned in one sentence on one page so it's easy to miss lol

The devil is in the details - that's not one to be missed for sure.