TOPIC:

2 in Canada ! How exclusive
My memory won't allow me to recall but it was either my '80 or my short-lived '79 that had those header fittings on all 6.
The "Plain" cover I just got is factory blocked. It simply wasn't drilled through.

Thanks

Today I got started on the cover by dressing the gasket face. I removed the factory milling marks to encourage the gasket to stay on the head and release from the cover.. The cover proved to be flat so the resurfacing went quickly. Then into the cabinet for some glass-bead. The factory silver coating was thin so this task went quickly as well, despite the cover being a bit tight and awkward to manoeuvre in the small cabinet. I was surprised and thankful to find no dings or scratches. This alone reduces the work by 50% ! The couple of rough spots in the casting at several bolt-bosses can be sanded out. The casting is quite porous. I must block-sand it to avoid weird distortions created when hand-sanding. I called it a day with the top of one "arm" done with 400 and it's ready for the next step - 800.
There are some small areas that have more porosity near the surface. Sometimes this can be sanded down and eliminated but often you're lucky if you can just reduce it Additional sanding can sometimes increase the "shadow" by exposing more of the porosity so a compromise must be met. As Forest Gump's mother used to say, "...............because you never know whatchur gunna git".
A quick rub of polish on the part done with only 400 and still having lots of scratches from that, suggests the cover should polish nicely. The real work will be dealing with the inside edges and tight corners.

StanG wrote: Bucko - were they factory blocked?

Yes, and no plumbing.

tackelhappy wrote: Another strange piece on this bike is the header pipes- with the "fittings " for the exhaust sensor for a fuel injected engines. How did they ever get on a bike like this , with its very low engine number is rather curious.

It's been a long time but I believe my 79 came with those bolts on the header pipes. I'll have to dig around to see if I can find some pictures.

Scotch, wouldn't vibratory polishing take the donkey work out of this? You could bolt a plate over the gasket face to preserve that. No doubt you might even build your own machine:
steampunkworkshop.com/diy-vibratory-tumbler/

Then you could really challenge Stan for the title Most Polished Parts KZ1300 !

biltonjim wrote: Scotch, wouldn't vibratory polishing take the donkey work out of this? You could bolt a plate over the gasket face to preserve that. No doubt you might even build your own machine:
steampunkworkshop.com/diy-vibratory-tumbler/

Then you could really challenge Stan for the title Most Polished Parts KZ1300 !

Game On !!