dogfight wrote: Well Guys, thanks for all your input. Yes I did drop the oil filter bolt first and double checked the screws and the front pipe is loose so checked off all boxes. The darn thing is just glued on there tight.
I found an easy solution to the whole problem that doesn't involve disassembling the motor! What?!
I found another motor with low mileage so I'm going to do a swap out for now and maybe rebuild the original this winter.
I'll have to swap oil pans though as the new one is a '79 and I want the extra oil capacity, so I'll still have to get the pan off this motor. Once it's out of the frame I figure a good swing with a sledge hammer should shift it.
(Kidding?)
Obviously I'll check out the "new" motor before installing it but I'm thinking that this might be a good time to swap in some new sprockets, rollers and cam chain guides. From what I'm hearing though, they are not easy to obtain.
Any guidance on procuring these treasures? Do some of the Z1 parts really work?
BTW I dabble in engineering and machining and I'm wondering how many of these machines are out there. If there's enough demand, I might get someone interested in producing some of these internals. If these parts were supplied to Kawasaki by an outside source, they may consider a limited run if demand can be demonstrated.
Any one hazard a guess? I believe that there were only about 29,000 six cylinders produced but a higher enthusiast/collector rate might put the survivor rate at 10,000 machines worldwide?
That might be peanuts in the Japanese manufacturing world but may attract a domestic shop.
What do you think?
Dogfight.
That's what I did. My 79 motor needed a rebuild. I could find almost everything I needed except bearings which are rare as hens teeth so I found a low mileage motor and put that in instead. I still have the complete 79 motor, with a rebuilt top end, pistons and bored cylinders but I need the bearings to rebuild it as it should. Probably primary and secondary chains as well. I also have a complete, running 81 motor.
Good luck with yours!
