FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

Okay, so i noticed radiator fluid on my frame and could not pin point the location of the leak. I finally saw a slow leak at idle coming out of the left side of the motor between the head and block. I am going to remove the motor to replace the head gasket and see what else i can find. I am about to pull the motor tomorrow, everything else is already off. Anyone have any helpful hints on doing this? I have already read all the posts i could find on all of this. I will attempt to post pics here to show my findings so far, but have failed before at doing this so bare with me.


To start with, if you look close enough you can see the radiator spray on the frame


A few parts taken off...


More parts...


The beginning of the tear down




Taking off right side frame


Any comments, ideas, tips?

Okay, so i have not gotten any tips or comments so i went ahead and pulled the motor and took her apart and do a rebuild as needed. I am going to attempt to put a step by step process in here for others to use and for any comments or tips from other users. If there is anything i missed or left out please comment on what it was so others can accomplish this with ease. Also, im still a little new at bike motors and no mechanic, so any and all help would be appreciated.

Start with draining all fluids and disconnecting all plugs and wires connected to the motor. Most of them are simple male/female connectors, with the acception of the starter. I didnt take picture of these steps. If you cant figure out what to disconnect or how to drain, you should seek a mechanic for help. Good Luck

Motor pulled, theres 4 motor mounts to remove. 2 small ones on the left and right up on the 2 side frames, you need to remove them to pull off the side frames, along with disconnecting the side stand safety switch.


You should pull the motor off the right side after you remove the two motor mounts in the rear. Make sure you have a jack under it before you remove them!


The motor alone.


Remove the oil feed line, 2 bolts and a allen bolt for safety.


Remove the 8 bolts that hold the valve cover down.


Remove the stator cover, carefully there is a short wire in there, as soon as it is away you can slide the wire and guide off the motor to remove it.



Align the T line to the line on the front side to aligh top dead center


Make sure these dots line up, that indicated top dead center as well.


Remove the 2 alen bolts that hole the tensoner in place.


Remove the valve cover and gasket.


Remove the timing chain guide. 4 bolts 8mm.



Remove the valve guides. Make sure to use a cross pattern and only do a 1/2 turn at a time until they come out all the way. Time consuming, but better than having to replace them.


Theres 2 ways to take the chain off acording to the manual. I chose #2, without cutting the chain. Remove the 2 bolts on the intake sprocket.


Push the sprocket to the right and the chain comes off easy, pull both shafts out and make sure to tie off the chain to ensure it does not fall into the motor.



Size 6 allen bolts hole the block down. Remove them in the same manner as the valve guides. Cross pattern and only 1/2 turn at a time as to not crack the aluminum.


Pull the top end off the motor carefully, there will still be a little oil and antifreeze in the block. Dont mix well!!! Be mindful of the chain as you remove it from its home! Take off the gasket at the same time.


Then the bottom end will just come off the motor, again be mindful of the chain and chain guide as you remove it.


Be cautious with the pieces you take off, clearly mark them and keep them organized!


Replace your gaskets, clean everything off, get rid of all carbon if possible, reset the valves or buy new shims if you need them. then put it all back together and fill up the fluids and fire her up. Good luck!

a) those are not "valve guides"..they are the cam bearings/cam 'caps'.

b) no need (NONE) to remove the cam sprockets from the cams. with the tensioner out and each chain guide (all three) out of the engine the chain will have enough slack to skip the chain off the sprocket and feed the cam out whole. Since you have removed the sprockets and bolts, be very very diligent about getting the bolts back to torqued-with blue loctite on clean hardware and threads.

another note-this can be done without entirely removing the engine...leave the bottom rear engine mount bolt in place (loosened) and the engine will tilt down at the front

I thought about keeping it in the bike, but one bolt and a few connectors for a lot more room to work seemed worth it to me. I tried to slide the cams out with the tensioner and guide out and no prevail, also the manual says to remove the bolts in the intake sprocket, so i did as it said. But i will use locktite and torque it back down! Thanks for the correction on terminology, still learning.

+1 to Reelrazor on leaving the sprockets on the cams. There is no need to take them off. I've done it plenty of times without taking the sprockets off. Just a note for the future if you need to do it again. It IS possible.

desmarat wrote:I thought about keeping it in the bike, but one bolt and a few connectors for a lot more room to work seemed worth it to me. I tried to slide the cams out with the tensioner and guide out and no prevail, also the manual says to remove the bolts in the intake sprocket, so i did as it said. But i will use locktite and torque it back down! Thanks for the correction on terminology, still learning.

That one bolt is the difference in NEEDING a second (or third) person to reinstall the engine or just jacking the front of the engine up and throwing in the other bolts

Ya, didnt think of that! Luckly i have a bunch of cool neighbors. I think next time ill leave it in the bike!

I like that you took it out of the bike, it yielded better pictures.

Are you installing new rings or doing any honing?

Not sure yet, i am still looking into it. I was looking at the rings and they all look rather well and new, had solid compression before i got the antifreeze leak. But as i look further into it i will decide as i go if any or all parts need to be replaced. And ive never done any honing before, so i need to do some reasearch before i decide to or not to do it.

If you can see that cross hatch on the cylinder walls, honing is not necessary. New rings are always advised, but not always necessary. I don't know what the deciding factors would be in that case.

Thanks man, the cross hatch pattern is still present in all cylinder walls. I gaged the top gap and bottom on all 4 and they are all cooresponding to the other, so i think the honing is not necessary. Do u onow of a good place to buy the rings? Its going to be about a week for the gaskets to come in, so i have some time to perfecsome things. Im going to strip the bike and paint the frame again, make it look good while im in there.

desmarat wrote:Thanks man, the cross hatch pattern is still present in all cylinder walls. I gaged the top gap and bottom on all 4 and they are all cooresponding to the other, so i think the honing is not necessary. Do u onow of a good place to buy the rings? Its going to be about a week for the gaskets to come in, so i have some time to perfecsome things. Im going to strip the bike and paint the frame again, make it look good while im in there.

Stock FZR (3HE) rings are stupid expensive-like $75 per cylinder(they are hard chrome plated on the comp rings)...that's one of the reasons I went with the YZF/4TV-660 on my rebuild (those cylinders are plated so the piston rings are nodular cast iron and run about $22 per set iirc. )


If you don't hone, DO NOT 'break-in' the engine...run it as hard as possible as soon as you know it has all teh air out of the coolant passages. Me, I wouldn't put it back together without at least hitting the cyls with the appropriate ball hone to deglaze. The ball hone is about $25, and it sucks that you will put about 20 seconds of wear on it..but it's worth it.

Okay, thanks man. Any sugestions on what ball hone to use? Is there a certan one that works better than others, or a certan size that you would recomend? Thanks!

The right size-see your local (quality) auto parts store, armed with your engine's bore size. I think the trade name "Flex-Hone" is gonna be the only available.

Mount it in a drill, get the cylinder walls dripping wet with the same oil you run the bike on, block up the cylinder near the ground(so that the bottom of each cylinder is unobstructed) hold it between your ankles and spin the drill mid speed and plunge into teh cylinder going up and down to teh pace of "one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four, one thousand five" ....On "...five" you should be exiting the cylinder. Each down stroke should expose about a third of the hone.

After you do all four (total of 20 seconds hone time) wash the entire cylinder with dish soap and hot water and a sponge.

It isn't clean enough until a white paper towel remains white after wiping the cylinder walls. (NO grey).

Wow, great write up. Thanks. Ill get on that by the end of the week. Thanks man!