L1 Head Gasket Change
Posted: Mon May 04, 2015 10:38 pm
Once she's out, get her on the bench and remove the cam cover (4 seals for the plug cavities may come up with it so keep an eye out. Also, when replacing the cam cover later, make sure to only torque the 4 10mm bolts to 13NM or you may snap a cam cap!!)
Remove the 4 spark plug funnels. Just to make things easier for later, set #1 and #4 to TDC, and mark on the cam shafts and chain with tipex where the teeth slot into the cam chain. (Not required, just speeds up the re-assembly.)
Now remove the pulsing cover on the right hand side of the engine. Remove the cam chain tensioner (and blade), (before you remove, just check that your cam chain is still within the stretch tolerance on tensioner.)
Now you can remove the cam caps. This must be done very carefully as I found out first hand, they are very prone to cracking (and un-replaceable). Start by loosening the 2 allen key (5mm I believe) bolts on the right hand side, for the oil-way covering the cam chain, then begin loosening the 10mm bolts holding the cam caps on (they are not very tight, around 15NM I think.) make sure you loosen them bit by bit, releasing the tension evenly on each one (when you re-install them, make sure they are ALL seated correctly on the dowels, and aligned. Also use the torque settings from the manual.) give them a bit of a shake, and they should come up from the dowels, make sure that you do this carefully, as you don't want them falling into an oilway!
Now you should be looking at both cam shafts, as mentioned earlier, mark on the cam chain the teeth that they are sat on.
Now, the camshafts can easily be removed (i'd tie something to the cam chain to stop it falling down, just makes it a bit easier again for later!) When putting everything back together, make sure the cam marked "in" is on the carb side of the engine, and the "ex" on the exhaust headers side.
Now, without the cams in, you should be able to see 10 (12mm I think) bolts holding the head on. Before continuing, I would recommend putting some tissue or something over the small oilway holes, incase you knock a shim out, or drop anything! Now you should begin removing these 10 bolts, there is a specific order to remove them, which is specified in the manuals, I believe you start in the middle and go outwards evenly. Make sure you not which bolt comes from which slot, as a couple of the bolts are slightly longer. When these are all out, there is a single bolt left to remove. This is located in the cam chain slot to the right of the head. It is a 5mm allen key bolt, which is a bit fiddly to remove!
Once these are all out, you should be good to go! Give the head a bit of a wobble (don't pry it open with a screwdriver or anything like that) and it should come up fairly easily. Remember when pulling the head off, the cam chain guides will come up with it, unless you have removed them before!
That is about it! Get the head skimmed if neccesary, try and remove as much carbon and old headgasket as you can (don't use anything harsh ie. metal/ wire etc. ) chuck a new head gasket on, and do this all in reverse!
I don't think there is anything i've missed, but please point it out if I have anyone, haven't had my hands on a zxr in a couple of months now![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
Any questions, feel free to ask on here/ pm me mate! (Reply will be much quicker if you pm me as I get an email!)
Good luck!![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Remove the 4 spark plug funnels. Just to make things easier for later, set #1 and #4 to TDC, and mark on the cam shafts and chain with tipex where the teeth slot into the cam chain. (Not required, just speeds up the re-assembly.)
Now remove the pulsing cover on the right hand side of the engine. Remove the cam chain tensioner (and blade), (before you remove, just check that your cam chain is still within the stretch tolerance on tensioner.)
Now you can remove the cam caps. This must be done very carefully as I found out first hand, they are very prone to cracking (and un-replaceable). Start by loosening the 2 allen key (5mm I believe) bolts on the right hand side, for the oil-way covering the cam chain, then begin loosening the 10mm bolts holding the cam caps on (they are not very tight, around 15NM I think.) make sure you loosen them bit by bit, releasing the tension evenly on each one (when you re-install them, make sure they are ALL seated correctly on the dowels, and aligned. Also use the torque settings from the manual.) give them a bit of a shake, and they should come up from the dowels, make sure that you do this carefully, as you don't want them falling into an oilway!
Now you should be looking at both cam shafts, as mentioned earlier, mark on the cam chain the teeth that they are sat on.
Now, the camshafts can easily be removed (i'd tie something to the cam chain to stop it falling down, just makes it a bit easier again for later!) When putting everything back together, make sure the cam marked "in" is on the carb side of the engine, and the "ex" on the exhaust headers side.
Now, without the cams in, you should be able to see 10 (12mm I think) bolts holding the head on. Before continuing, I would recommend putting some tissue or something over the small oilway holes, incase you knock a shim out, or drop anything! Now you should begin removing these 10 bolts, there is a specific order to remove them, which is specified in the manuals, I believe you start in the middle and go outwards evenly. Make sure you not which bolt comes from which slot, as a couple of the bolts are slightly longer. When these are all out, there is a single bolt left to remove. This is located in the cam chain slot to the right of the head. It is a 5mm allen key bolt, which is a bit fiddly to remove!
Once these are all out, you should be good to go! Give the head a bit of a wobble (don't pry it open with a screwdriver or anything like that) and it should come up fairly easily. Remember when pulling the head off, the cam chain guides will come up with it, unless you have removed them before!
That is about it! Get the head skimmed if neccesary, try and remove as much carbon and old headgasket as you can (don't use anything harsh ie. metal/ wire etc. ) chuck a new head gasket on, and do this all in reverse!
I don't think there is anything i've missed, but please point it out if I have anyone, haven't had my hands on a zxr in a couple of months now
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
Any questions, feel free to ask on here/ pm me mate! (Reply will be much quicker if you pm me as I get an email!)
Good luck!
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)