ZXR750 100,000km Service

[ajverma]

Hi all,

So my 750 is on ~99,250km right now. I've never owned a bike with kilometers this high so I wanted to ask anyone who has any experience with similar 750's or even other kawasaki's who've been through 100,000km a few questions. I'll start first by saying I've got full service history of services every 5000km since April 2000/37,000km. I bought it approx 6000km ago and proceeded to do a partial rebuild which entailed:

- Rebuilt carbs --> did not sync them!
- Replaced alternator assembly with good spare
- Oil+filter
- Air filter replacement
- All plugs replacement
- Coolant replacement
- All hydraulic fluids flushed and replaced
- Cush drive replacement with new OEM
- General re-torque on all major bolts of bike
- New tyres
- New grips
- Lithium battery
- New pads all round
- Repaired front brake light switch, was discontinuous
- Went over all wiring on bike, removed and scrubbed up any chassis grounds with wire brush.
- Touched up paint all over the bike
- Went through bike with mix of 50/50 degreaser and water with a paintbrush while bike was stripped down to chassis, engine and wheels.
- Polished any open metal surfaces
- Chain checked for tension, cleaned and lubed
- Checked all cables for tension and lubed
* I have also run carby cleaner through the bike, initially every 2nd tank, and recently every 5th tank.
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To do:

- Rebuild f+r brake master cylinders (spongy all round)
- Flush and replace hydraulic fluid (stupid me used dot3, will replace with dot4)
- Oil + filter
- Throttle cable replacements
- New discs all round... eventually.
-?
--------------------------------------------------------

Now I've explained the history, here are the questions:

1. Valve clearances? Last adjustment was 30,000km ago according to history.
2. Valve stem seals? Bike is a little harder to start and does throw out a bit of blue smoke and need revs for about 10 seconds if I leave it sitting for more than a few days. I haven't bothered too much as it doesn't affect the bikes running at all and over the last 6000km there has been no visible change in oil level.
3. Clutch? I actually am not sure what level of wear the clutch is at, how do you tell with a hydraulic clutch? If it helps, there's about 20% of travel left on the lever before it's fully out when the clutch is fully engaged.
4. Clutch basket replacement? It's noisy but I've been told it doesn't need to be touched, apparently it's pretty common for them to get noisy on Kawasakis.
5. Engine reco? How do I know when it's time for this?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm trying to learn and would prefer advice from passionate owners rather than a mechanic who would benefit by saying yes to all of the above.

Cheers!

[ZXRPI]

Nice work. 100,000km is a decent milestone!

1. Valve clearances? Last adjustment was 30,000km ago according to history. Not an overly complex job if you are OK with tools. If they were done 30,000 odd kms ago, they may be OK or only a couple might be out.

2. Valve stem seals? Bike is a little harder to start and does throw out a bit of blue smoke and need revs for about 10 seconds if I leave it sitting for more than a few days. I haven't bothered too much as it doesn't affect the bikes running at all and over the last 6000km there has been no visible change in oil level. Depends on how far you want to go when giving the bike a birthday. Personally, if it isn't blowing huge clouds of smoke or on it's last legs, I'd wait to do valve stem seals, at engine reco time

3. Clutch? I actually am not sure what level of wear the clutch is at, how do you tell with a hydraulic clutch? If it helps, there's about 20% of travel left on the lever before it's fully out when the clutch is fully engaged. Probably easier to gauge by feel rather than lever travel. Your clutch will start 'slipping' when plates are really worn / clutch springs are no longer as stiff as they should be - ie when riding, revs will climb but bike won't accelerate with the increase in revs. Will happen at high revs initially. If you want to investigate, you could take the clutch cover off and remove the clutch plates to see worn they are, but unless the clutch has started slipping, I would consider it OK.

4. Clutch basket replacement? It's noisy but I've been told it doesn't need to be touched, apparently it's pretty common for them to get noisy on Kawasakis. I'm not familiar with noisy clutch baskets, so not sure on this one. Again, replacement isn't too difficult. Not sure what the cost of a new clutch basket would be. I'm sure you could pick up a second hand basket on eBay or the like, but you can't be sure it will be in much better shape than your current one.

5. Engine reco? How do I know when it's time for this? When you experience a fair reduction in performance - ie bike has less power / when it is blowing a lot of smoke at idle and when riding / when it starts using a lot of oil.

Hope this helps a little??!

[JimZXR]

On the clutch thing mate, I discovered mine after giving a pillion ride to a mate who's around the same weight as me.
Clutch started to slip in heavy acceleration over 7Krpm.

[ajverma]

Nice work. 100,000km is a decent milestone!

1. Valve clearances? Last adjustment was 30,000km ago according to history. Not an overly complex job if you are OK with tools. If they were done 30,000 odd kms ago, they may be OK or only a couple might be out.

2. Valve stem seals? Bike is a little harder to start and does throw out a bit of blue smoke and need revs for about 10 seconds if I leave it sitting for more than a few days. I haven't bothered too much as it doesn't affect the bikes running at all and over the last 6000km there has been no visible change in oil level. Depends on how far you want to go when giving the bike a birthday. Personally, if it isn't blowing huge clouds of smoke or on it's last legs, I'd wait to do valve stem seals, at engine reco time

3. Clutch? I actually am not sure what level of wear the clutch is at, how do you tell with a hydraulic clutch? If it helps, there's about 20% of travel left on the lever before it's fully out when the clutch is fully engaged. Probably easier to gauge by feel rather than lever travel. Your clutch will start 'slipping' when plates are really worn / clutch springs are no longer as stiff as they should be - ie when riding, revs will climb but bike won't accelerate with the increase in revs. Will happen at high revs initially. If you want to investigate, you could take the clutch cover off and remove the clutch plates to see worn they are, but unless the clutch has started slipping, I would consider it OK.

4. Clutch basket replacement? It's noisy but I've been told it doesn't need to be touched, apparently it's pretty common for them to get noisy on Kawasakis. I'm not familiar with noisy clutch baskets, so not sure on this one. Again, replacement isn't too difficult. Not sure what the cost of a new clutch basket would be. I'm sure you could pick up a second hand basket on eBay or the like, but you can't be sure it will be in much better shape than your current one.

5. Engine reco? How do I know when it's time for this? When you experience a fair reduction in performance - ie bike has less power / when it is blowing a lot of smoke at idle and when riding / when it starts using a lot of oil.

Hope this helps a little??!

Thanks a lot, that helps heaps!

Looks like I will just leave it be for now other than a minor service and general checkover or everything, seems these bikes will last quite a few km if they are looked after.

On the clutch thing mate, I discovered mine after giving a pillion ride to a mate who's around the same weight as me.
Clutch started to slip in heavy acceleration over 7Krpm.

I might just come around to yours and get you to sit on the back for a test,

[JimZXR]

Nice touch!