New Member

[KwakaRascal]

Hi,
Just joined the club, although had my z1b900 going on for 14years.
Owned a few bikes over the years some British but always preferred Kawasaki of which back in the early days of my youth revolved around the triples 250 & 500, great times
Currently got the Z laid up & top end off which was initially going to be a case of changing guide seals but has now developed into a bit of a challenge.
Basically, at some point wrong guides fitted
Don’t suppose anyone has an old guide that I could use as a pattern to make new ones?
By the way I’m Russel. Atb

[chrisNI]

welcome along

[KwakaRascal]

Thanks.

[Bill P]

Welcome Aboard

[marmck]

Hello & Welcome to the club, have you got any nice pickies of the old girl.

[Philippe]

Hi Russel

welcome to the club!
Show us some pictures of your pride and joy please, come on, don't be shy!
Greetings from Belgium
Philippe

[KwakaRascal]

Hi Marmck & Philippe,
Couple of pics of my pride & joy.
Although still looking for a valve guide to use as a pattern to make new ones.
Don’t happen to have one?

[steve452]

Hi Russel,

Welcome to the group.

Lovely bike (pity it's the wrong colour )

[KwakaRascal]

Hi Steve452,
Thanks for the greeting, and indeed a very nice bike to.
Just a little comment, back in the day when I could only but dream of owning a Z, I had the original poster for the bike which was the very same Red/brown & Gold. I think it came out of the Easy Rider mag.
All that said, my fav colour happens to be blue, so all worked well in the end for me.
Atb.

[Philippe]

Hi Russel
have a look at this link;
https://z-fever.de/shop/de/product_info ... rmass.html
he also has 0,1 oversize for the same price.
André doesn't take any orders from the UK so far but I can order them for you and send them to you if you pay the costs.
Why do you need to replace them? Are they worn out?
GrtZ
Philippe

[KwakaRascal]

Hi Philippe,
Thanks for the offer to source the new guides but that’s not necessary.
The problem I have is that the guides that are currently fitted in the cylinder head are odd / not standard in there profile.
As they do not look anything like the standard Kawasaki profile I need a pattern part to have duplicates made.
Also the chances are they will need to be machined oversize to fit the hole size what ever that maybe once the old guides have been removed.
So, whilst there are pattern parts also available here in the Uk offering 4 & 27 thou o/s, they may not fit.
The best approach I’m thinking is to have them “made to measure” but I don’t have a pattern of either the exhaust or inlet to work to.
I’ve attached a sketch showing the comparison.
Sorry for the lengthy explanation

[Philippe]

Hi Russel

I think that the best you can do is to get the old valve stem guides out and to measure them.
If those have the same diameter as the originals you're OK. If not you can buy one original valve stem guide for the intake and one for the exhaust and use those as an example to make new ones.
People did strange things in the past...they didn't think about the fact that the guide caps would need replacement in the future.
Good luck!
GrtZ
Philippe

[KwakaRascal]

Hi Philippe,
Your right, I would like to source a guide, however these days new ones on offer seem to be pattern parts and solely of the inlet profile.
Not knowing enough if this critical or not, hence seeking out an old original.
Thanks again for your time and thought.
Atb
Russel.

[Ultim8pc]

Russel,
Welcome, nice Zed you have there.

[KwakaRascal]

Hi Ultim8pc,
Thanks for the greeting.
I gather you have a bike business that must be handy maintaining your bikes.
Do you have Z ?