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Kawboy's restoration/conversion of a 1980 KZ13

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10 months 3 weeks ago - 10 months 3 weeks ago #32020 by Kawboy
I visited 5 machine shops in the past couple of days looking for a shop that could deck my block and possibly plateau hone the cylinders. 4 of the shops had antique equipment and were putting out work. 1 shop, had a Sunnen precision hone ( an older elbow stroker hone) and I talked to the owner about honing. He says he does plateau honing on his High Performance Engines he builds for drag racing. I asked him if he started with 120 grit and then followed up with 400 or 500 grit. No he says. I bore to within .005" then hone to within .003" with 230 grit and finish with 500 grit to finished size. Then he shows me a 500 cubic inch engine he just finished and the bores are as smooth as a baby's ass. No RvK grooves to hold oil at all and he thinks he's done a good job. A proper plateau hone job will hone to size with 120 grit and then follw up with 10-20 strokes at 400-500 grit, taking suface measurements to confirm the final finish. RvK of 60-70, RK of 40 and RpK of 30-40 would be a good goal to achieve. Taking out the last .003" with a 500 grit stone and all you've done is removed all of the oil retention valleys. You may as well piss your brand new rings away. No oil retention valleys and you'll overheat the rings. 
He has the equipment to measure surface finish which measures RK- average surface finish, RpK which measures the peaks above average and RvK which measures the valleys below the RK average. He also tells me that he uses Total Seal rings on all of his performance engines and he hones to their spec requirements, but I can't believe what he showed me and I'm to believe that he does good work ???
Hence why I bought a new hone. I wish people that offer services kept up with the technologies. I try to but bear in mind that I spend my time researching what I can on Google and not taking formal training courses, so I know more than most, but I'm far from an expert.
Last edit: 10 months 3 weeks ago by Kawboy.

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10 months 1 week ago #32091 by Kawboy
Still working on cleaning up the cylinder block for reinstalling the sleeves. I got about 8 hours into cleaning the block and I still have probably another 8 hours of cleaning left on the block, then on to finishing cleaning the sleeves.
I don't know what Kawasaki used to assemble the cylinder block and sleeves with, but it's baked on and no chemical will touch it. It's delicate scraping and then 400 wet / dry paper to finish cleaning. My fingers are just about wore out and cut from working inside of the 70mm bores of the block.
Bottom side of the block where 2 o rings belong.

 

Top land on the block where the top ring seals. Top o ring sits in a groove on the sleeve.

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10 months 1 week ago #32117 by dcarver220b
Replied by dcarver220b on topic Kawboy's restoration/conversion of a 1980 KZ13
My arthritic hands wouldn't fit in there and if they did, wouldn't last for long. Take it slow and easy. But you know that. 

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5 months 3 days ago #32725 by Kawboy
In the meantime.....
Just got the ignition coil  and 4 channel ignitor from diyautotune for the ECU fuel injected aspect. This is to marry up with the Microsquirt ECU. All that's left to acquire is an ait temp sensor a crank trigger and figure out how to mount a 36-1 crank trigger wheel.

The following user(s) said Thank You: zed_thirteen

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5 months 3 days ago #32727 by biltonjim
Replied by biltonjim on topic Kawboy's restoration/conversion of a 1980 KZ13
This is interesting. I'm really looking forward to seeing your ideas take shape!   That's a neat coil pack - hopefully easy to find space for on the bike frame.
Regarding cleaning of the cylinder block, would  Scotchbrite wheels of various grits, mounted on a rotary tool or a drill, make the job easier? 

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5 months 3 days ago #32729 by scotch
That is a beautifully compact "Coil-Block" !   Beats the crap outta dealing with 3 individuals and looks appreciably smaller then my GM coil. 

1980 KZ 1300 sr# KZT30A-009997
Always High - Know Fear !

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