TOPIC: 1982 KZ1300 rescue and rebuild

Pully system

Next I am going to remove the original pistons and remove the engine from the frame. Remove the wheels, dump the cracked tires, triple tree, forks, get the frame painted and ready for a slooooww reassembly.

Once the cylinder block and the head will be done, it will be painting the engine, putting it back in frame, and closing it up.

Congrats on getting the block off. And you're the first in several years to sucessfully remove a cylinder sleeve. It's an easy job when you know what to do.
With regard to the old rings and saving them- I personally wouldn't. when they are new and positoned on a piston then run in they will wear them selves to fit that bore. Trying to run them in on another bore could be done, but it would take forever to get them to seat in. In the meantime, piston blow by will heat up the cylinder and piston causing the oil to be blown off of the cylinder walls and piston and excessive wear may result. For the cost of a set of rings- toss the old ones and start fresh.

I'm not a fan of deglazing either. My preference is to have the cylinders precision honed to true up the bores. The cylinders over time will wear themselves somewhat oval (longer in the fore aft direction. If they are out .0002-.0004" a precision hone will true them up to a round cylinder again with minimal material removal. The next question is now what is the clearance between the piston and cylinder? If it's within service limits, then rering and carry on. A good machine shop can measure the bores first and advise whether a precision hone will "fix the problem" or whether you need to bore out/precision hone to correct and then fit the next oversized pistons. Deglazing and fitting new rings is similar to above. A deglazed cylinder will not be round and the new rings will be round. Same lousy break in issue only reversed. The above with reusing the old rings- not round cylinder nor round rings.

I agree. And I wouldn't be even giving a second thought if the rings weren't this expensive!
The sleeve 0-rings will be at the shop Tuesday I think. I will talk to them and ask again about 'gentle' treatment because the good sleeves looks simply perfect to the naked eye. Real bummer that the one needs replacement...
I will find out what will the the diameter and get the appropriate set of rings. The pistons are very snug in the cylinders, seems perfect. I am hoping for a set of the original size fit the cylinders after deglazing. I will bite the bullet.

Kawasaki said the rings come in regular and then 0.5 and 1.0 mm size increase.

I know I could have gone for a kit of overbore piston and rings kits from eBay... Have the cylinders honed, and have a fresh start. But besides the financial limitations, I am kind of a weird guy always trying to use as much of the original part as possible. What I mean is, bike in war used to eat dirt, tow tanks (haha, not really), and people always got them going with paper clips (not exactly but you get the idea). These days sometimes I feel people might be too focused on splitting a hair in too many ways?

Nevertheless, new rings will come.

That sleeve out.