Hey! I'm changing my cylinder head to one which has been ported and got race cams. I was told to use the "standard" head gasket, so i ordered an original one from a kawasaki dealer. put everything together, and tried to turn the engine before putting in the cams, but the engine wouldnt budge. So i loosened the head again, and the engine turned fine. Took the head off and measured the depth on both original and tuned heads. i took a water level ruler and measured the depth on the two heads. The tuned one was 53.8mm and the original was 54.7mm. So its been milled down. Any ideas to where i can get "custom" head gaskets?
It might be better to enlarge the valve pockets at the top of the pistons.
Adding a thicker than stock head gasket will lower the compression and lower the horsepower, but it will allow you to use lower octane fuel and might increase the engine life.
You can use clay to measure for the correct amount of clearance between the valves and the pistons when turning the crankshaft by hand- it is best to get this measurement from someone who has modded this engine before (mine is a stock). Too little, and the valves could hit the pistons at high revs, even though there seems to be enough room when turning the crankshaft by hand.
Yes i took out the plugs, because i wanted to try and turn the engine with the head bolted on. But it didnt turn untill i slackened up the cylinder/head bolts
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