Camshafts 1979 - 1982

Do they have the same profile? Is there any compatibility chart somewhere? Maybe Kawboy would know..

StanG wrote: Do they have the same profile? Is there any compatibility chart somewhere? Maybe Kawboy would know..

The 1979-1982's had one set 12044-1012 intake 270 duration .328" lift
12044-1013 exhaust 280 duration .305" lift
The 1983-1988 voyager had a different set intake 12044-1060 intake 260 duration , not sure of the lift.
12044 -1061 exhaust 260 duration , not sure of the lift.
( the ZN1300 service manual refer you back to the base manual for inspection repairs, but there's nothing in the base manual regarding the specs for the cams for the ZN.)

Thank you KB, as always.
I have a spare head that came complete, but there are some 'scratches' that look like if someone ran it with left overs from sand blasting....
More prominent on a few bearing journals but the cams look quite good.
The cams feel tight so maybe they would just get extra lubrication from the extra grooves? haha Just researching, will post photos but not before I will be riding the current bike.
The project is to complete a full top end spare set, including the cylinder block, for an easy swap. And I will be back to the exhaust grinding again!

 My 1300 A4 is a non runner, bought for restoration.   I often watch You Tube videos of KZ1300s, mainly to listen to the engine sound.  One thing strikes me about most of these videos -  the engine idle is rather lumpy.  I always use the BMW straight six car engines as a reference standard, they emit a silky smooth low hum, almost like an electric motor.    I expected the Kawasaki 1300 to be the same.  Should it be ?   Are most of these bikes rough at idle because of incorrect set up,  or is it due to the cam profile / cam timing ?    

biltonjim wrote:  My 1300 A4 is a non runner, bought for restoration.   I often watch You Tube videos of KZ1300s, mainly to listen to the engine sound.  One thing strikes me about most of these videos -  the engine idle is rather lumpy.  I always use the BMW straight six car engines as a reference standard, they emit a silky smooth low hum, almost like an electric motor.    I expected the Kawasaki 1300 to be the same.  Should it be ?   Are most of these bikes rough at idle because of incorrect set up,  or is it due to the cam profile / cam timing ?    

That is pretty much as I understand it, when I first bought my ZG1300 about 20 years ago, having owned numerous 6 cylinder cars before I was quite surprised at the comparatively rough idle. The ZG has the longest duration camshaft of all the 1300s & because of that suffers the worst idle lol.  

It's an interesting comparison, as I've also always thought that bike engine, per unit capacity, have much more choke area (to flow the high-rev volumes I guess?) and more aggresive cam setups to again furnish that power.

Cars in comparison (generically at least) have quite conservative designs, for very long life and supposedly 'more torque' for tractability.

Both those bits of design affect easy smooth idling negatively I think?

I know what you mean about the BMW sixes, have had petrol and diesel variants, very nice blocks and wear big mileages.