Base ring is mixture and ground strap is heat range.
Base ring should have a light turn of soot and ground strap should have colour change on the bend.
If yours are like Warrens pic then you can't get much better.

Could be a leaking valve stem seal causing it to run on 3 until warmed up.
The dampness would be oil assuming that's the same cylinder that is slow to fire.

Guys, thanks for all the interesting advice on how to go about resolving this but as luck would have it I managed to obtain a very good 2nd hand R2 cylinder head today that can go straight on once I've lapped the valves in a put new valve seals on as a good measure. Thanks and let the good times ro...

I'd re check your comp readings. Around 90psi is needed for combustion to occur and at 65 psi you'd be lucky to get it started. If it's been stood then the valves are likely not seating fully and the rings may be gummed so i'd probably just run it a while to see if it perks up before pulling it apar...

Fair, was thinking there might be a touch of a gain if using M7 for performance cams where the cost of the bolt would be pennies over a bolloxed head. I have previously searched for suitable m7 flange bolts and what little i could find were unsuitable regardless of the stripped hole size issue and ...

Just out of curiosity could you move up to a M7 tap with a 1mm pitch on all bolts? M7 tapping drill is 6mm but stripped out m6 threads are most likely to exceed this with the resultant re tapped M7 having less bite than if done in a precise 6mm hole. M7 bolts are also less common and usually much m...

The stripped threads should be an easy fix. You can actually drill the holes deeper if needed and fit 20mm helicoils. The genuine Kawasaki bolts are around £4 each but you can buy exactly the same spec bolts at 28p each from the link below. You can pick the length you need ( 50mm if you fit the 20mm...

As always.
My latest build and any of my others are available if needed but would need transport arranging..

Thanks for that, a few things to investigate there. When I put it back together last time I stuck with the standard 29 ft lbs torque as the studs don't appear to be heavy duty. You can go to 32 ft/lb on stock studs so you should use that and re-torque the next day after first start and allowed to c...

You need 1mm piston to head clearance to allow for rod stretch which is why the head gaskets are that thickness. What compression are the pistons and what torque figure is being used on the head nuts. The comp ratio of drop in Wiseco piston kits ( and all others) is based on zero deck height and the...

Yes! Just remove the sprocket cover, pull out the pushrod and you can hook out the seal. All the seals on the drive side ( clutch, output shaft and gear selector ) are on the trans cover so as a last resort you only have to remove the sprocket and unbolt the trans cover to get a clear shot at either...

That Millyard vid doesn't show him spinning the shaft. You want the engine sat on it's clutch side with the output shaft facing up/vertical. This allows all the balls to run out sideways with little effort when you spin the shaft . When you do it with the shafts horizontal there's always one ball be...

stusco wrote:Thats great ,I did notice on some parts list there was 2 numbers listed the other ended in 1028 i think whats the difference?

The 1028 is the input bearing behind the clutch.

This should do it..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/273667122968 ... XPW47SVVTC

Unless the gears have been off their shafts and then mis assembled it's pretty much impossible to cock it up. With the engine sat on it's sump you really have to flick that output shaft round fast to get those three balls to throw out. It's much easier having the engine clutch side down with the out...