Hi Kawboy. Stem seals just fine. I have been checking all the valves, by the book. They all seem to be within tolerance ! but doing the wobble check. On a few of them not good. you can see the play. You'll need to change out the guides. Almost no point measuring the guides if the valve stems are within spec and the wobble test is out of spec. think of the valve stem as the "measuring tool" and you already know that size.
At this time, I've just ordered a micro bore gauge for the guides.
When the bike was running i did this with only the bottom part of the air box fitted. Yes a large amount of oily smoke from here. That's all I need to hear. Cylinder bores out of spec and piston rings not sealing either becaue they are out of round or the ring end gaps are too big. When fitting rings to bores, one should aim for the smaller size of the accepted spec, knowing that as they wear, the gaps will get bigger. In the case of aftermarket rings, you have to fit according to the ring manufacturers spec, not the Kawasaki manual spec. Ring material expansion varies based on material.
Can you remember a post from last year, when the head had been re-built I then checked bore pressures. You said 175 psi was too much !!! Well if too much was present in the bores. Surely this would cause this. Yes, 175 is too much but this only may cause detonation / preignition which is not good. The pressure in the combustion chamber after ignition can rise to as much as 400 psi and that pressure is what to focus on.
A typical 5.0 L v8 at idle will exhaust about as much smoke out the PCV syystem as a lit cigarette sitting in an ashtray on a new broke in engine.
Getting back to the present ! if you look at #6 on the previous picture, the exhaust valve has started to crack. Both valves on this cylinder were changed for new ones. Purchased from a Kawasaki specialist ! Too bad. Sorry to hear that.
I also see (maybe) the contour of the intake valve appears to be different than the other intakes??? Looks like a conical tit rising into the combustion chamber ??
