For reference I am doing a headgasket replacement on a VG30ET. I am using a carbide-tipped gasket scraper to remove the head material. I saw these scratches in the light and got concerned. Are they bad? My fingernail does not catch but they look quite severe. Thanks in advance.
Recently i've been running into a little bit of trouble with my big bear. It idles fine and runs fine until about 1/2 throttle, then anything above that, it seems like it just doesn't have power. Increasing throttle from 1/2 to WOT does quite literally nothing. I've been trying to figure out what it is, so I cleaned the carb, made sure it was getting enough fuel, check timing and valve clearances, replaced the air filter, and it didnt seem to help. After checking the spark plug, it seems as if it's running rich (black plug), so I turned the air fuel mixture screw all the way in, and it's still running rich. Tried adjusting the float height, but it still didn't seem to fix it. Any ideas? Anything would be appreciated.
I got this old girl up and running, but now i'm hearing a (maybe) concerning ticking noise in the top end. Check timing chain tension, valve clearances, and timing. All seem to be good. I know Kawasakis are known to have a ticking noise, but this seems slightly excessive. Does anyone have an insight as to whats going on? I'm thinking it's something with the valve train but everything seems to check out. Any help would be appreciated.