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Rick has a point but there are plenty of 30 year old kz engines out there that don't have bent connecting rods...

Considering you need cylinders, a connecting rod, and probably pistons you may need another engine to get the parts.

For the time and cost of splitting cases, you may be better off finding project motor in better shape, from both a time and money standpoint.


I would not buy a single part until you take your engine completely apart and make sure there are no more surprises. Having to do a crank on 13... that will get really expensive in a hurry.

We'll have to see.... apart from the connecting rod, every other part of this engine I've seen seems to be in REALLY good shape. The other pistons had awesome compression, and I've already paid for a full valve job. A new sleeve may be problematic, but there's some on Ebay that I may be able to make work. Rings are slowing coming in, and connecting rods seem relatively easy to get (now, getting the right one...).

The way I figured, I needed a winter project anyway. This far into it, I feel like finding a decent runner would cost me about the same amount of money in the long run. I won't know until I split the cases of course. We shall see.

I echo the sentiment of some of the other members as well in regards to just finding another bike or motor. I speak from my own personal experience when it comes to this model. If you are fixing the engine just to learn?More power to you Or you want a matching numbers bike? That's cool to. Semi complete non runners can be found from $300 to $500 USD on CL.I've seen a few low mileage survivors on Fleabay go for around 5K.But keep in mind theses bikes were pristine examples. Personally I rather have something a little rough around the edges rather than museum piece.I'll stop here before I keep rambling on

have you started pulling the cases apart yet? I am curious how that crank faired through it all. how did the cylinder look?

No, not yet. The next major project is to get that cylinder re-sleeved. The rod bent far enough to kiss the bottom edge of that cylinder, cracking it. It was low enough that the rings never hit it, but I'm lucky it didn't come off and fall into the crankcase. I've got replacement sleeves from another block and the three o-rings that hide under it are coming. Once I get all the parts it's off to the machine shop to get the sleeves swapped and the block decked.

I'm still figuring out the best way to pull and manipulate the motor. I'm looking at that one ton engine lift that Harbor freight sells, or a similarly priced equivelant. Once out I'll probably just nail up some wood cribbing to keep it on and flip it. That will have to wait for a few paychecks down the line, though.

I got a bunch of replacement connecting rods, but the only thing that concerns me is that they are all stamped S5, and my bent rod is stamped S3. Hopefully that just means I'll need different bearings for it, but we'll see.

I could probably just buy another motor, but at this point I'm willing to go with the devil I know, rather than the one I don't.

Cylinder bore actually didn't look bad. Apart from the crack, it was no better or worse than the other 5.