Spent a good amount of time cleaning debris that fell into the valves, lol. It's not as harsh as brake cleaner and safer for some rubber parts. I used a mild spray cleaner like Simple Green and Maxima Suspension Kleen for those hard to reach spots. You do not want any debris falling into the valves. Before disassembly, always CLEAN the exterior of the engine thoroughly, especially around the throttle-body to head coupling. I will highlight some of the quirks and observations that I ran into.ġ. I won't go into a step by step DIY, as you'll find all that in the service manual. Hence, I didn't reuse anything like o-rings and seals, because I would probably cry if I had to tear into it again should a seal immediately fail. This is a one time deal, so replace all the parts that call for replacement according to the service manual. So if you want to tackle this job be prepared! Have all the proper tools, garage, parts, and patience beforehand. Presently, I have not fired it up yet, I'll wait till next weekend to flush and add coolant and the long awaited test ride. Sure a pro garage could do it in half the time if they got all the replacement parts readily available. In total, it would take an amateur like me 9 days to complete this job solo.

Finally, add one more day to flush and replace the coolant with test ride. That is 6 days plus add another 3 days for the liquid gasket sealant of the cylinder head cover to fully cure (as per instructions). I started this on Monday and assembled everything by Saturday. Well, I decided to replace the OEM cylinder coolant seal with the Norton seal because of green piss.

Kawasaki kz400 head gasket sealant