TOPIC:

I see Kawboy already explained the gist of process. Just two more cents of mine.

The thing to add to the list would be cleaning the drain holes where the cavities for the spark plugs are before working on the head, and in general cleaning everything very well. They might be plugged with dirt and cleaned with wire and a penetrant like WD40.

If you are going to take the cylinder head to a shop, then they can deal with the valve adjustment. Are you going that route?
To change the valve oil seals you need to remove the valve springs. Once that done, the valves will come out and can be checked. Of course the shop can do it all, but that cost. There are DIY ways that to remove the springs and everything checked by yourself (I did that), but I ended leaving the rest t the machine shop. If any machining of the seats or valves change is needed, the DIY from this moment will need investment on expensive tools. The good thing about the shop is they have all available in one place, and should have the experience doing it. If the process involves grinding valve stems a little, that has to be done at the shop. Valve seat change - that as well.

My suggestion would be remove the pairs of shims and buckets, take the head to the shop and ask them to remove the valves so them and you together can evaluate and choose what to do. If all is fine, you'd be lucky with just changing the shims. Make a complete list of the thicknesses of shims you have and if they fall withing the list of available thicknesses to achieve the desired gap, then re-use what's possible and order the rest. I wouldn't recommend again anything else than genuine shims. They are all marked and the markings go face down when installed.

You will need to order a simple shims removal tool for later adjustment.

This was mine on the original CCT at 33,000 miles, seems to be a bit worse than Jimichu's? So do I now hold the record?

Hi Phil, look closer at mine, it's worn down to the metal bearing under the plastic, yours is just biting into the plastic base. I'd say I won,

Reflecting I went back and looked at Kawboy's reference photos again and went back to look at my photos again, and went back and looked at my odometer again. Are you still with me?

The Kawboy's second photo shows a new one at 1500 km. I remember asking and panicking about the state of mine, and I was told I am fine.
My odometer shows 8135.6 km (original .5 - yes, I did a 100 meters already spinning the wheel, hahaha), and I have been wondering if my bike really shows the true numbers. Now, comparing, I am thinking again that yes, it's actually very probable!

Take a look at my sprocket. I don't think it's too far off from the one at 1.5k. So, I am attaching it to add to the pool of cam chain gears database.

So there's a story here. One tensioner @ 1500 kms showing the same wear as one at 8100 kms. Sounds like the first one had a tight tensioner. Wonder if it was a ZN11 tensioner and if the spring was cut the required 10mm.
This is what happens when we don't follow a standard. this is the engineering in me coming out. We need to document.
Where we started
What we decided
What we did
Monitor for change
Make recccomendations
Followup
Monitor until satisfied
Repeat as many times till we get it right.
Then document the final change that was acceptable.

Wait until I get my bird flying. The changes I'm making including grinding my own camshafts. It will be like flying a new jet for the first time. Which is not your average "ride in the park"

There is a discussion on the Z1300.co.uk Facebook page at the moment & the general consensus seems to be that when you cut a spring it actually makes it exert more force www.eatondetroitspring.com/cutting-coil-springs-calculations/
A fella did some tests & found that the ZZR1100 (ZX-11) CCT with 10mm cut off the spring exerts nearly twice as much force as the spring in the original (K)Z1300 tensioner. I'm going to revert back to the original tensioner & put a longer lock bolt in.