Looking at this 73 Z1 for sale

That's the direction I've been planning on taking Hardrock.  I dropped the pan today to check the screen and look for any metal.  Screen was a little sludged up as expected but it didn't look bad in there at all and went through the sludgy oil on the bottom of the pan and on the screen with magnet... was clean in that respect. 

wrote:

I did check the timing...  it's off.  First time I turned it over by hand to line up the marks, it jumped the chain. That's when I realized something was off with the tensioner.

"First time I turned it over by hand to line up the marks, it jumped the chain."

If the first time you rotated the motor the camchain jumped, that's a red flag about what might have happened the last time it was rotated by persons unknown.  The tensioner got jammed for a reason & likely took much force to do so.

We've not seen downthread if you've confirmed the camchain guide #22 is in place and intact; their presence isn't negotiable..  They don't tolerate loose or over-tight camchains well at all.  

When you're replacing the exhaust cam, either do so with the tach drive removed, or be very careful that the tach drive pinion meshes correctly with the worm gear teeth on the exhaust cam as the cam cap bolts are tightened so as not to damage the worm teeth, pinion teeth or pinion holder.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Getting ready to put the cams back in.  I noticed there was no tach drive gear attached to the exhaust cam.  I purchased one but it appears to go in by inserting it from the outside of the engine.  But to get it in first the seal with the tiny spring around it needs to come out, which seems to be stuck.  I can't pull it out or push it through.  I've changed these before on my KZ900 and they came out very easily just by grabbing them with a needle nose and pulling lightly.  Can't imagine why this thing would be stuck in there so tight.  Tried going around it with a small flat blade screwdriver and prying but it won't budge.  Am I missing something here?  Anyone ever have this problem before?

Edit.. got it out. Just pulled it again with the pliers and it popped right out.  All for naught because I soon noticed Partzilla sent me the wrong gear.  Dammit.

There is nothing in the hole in the head.  The tach gear should have one or maybe two (I've seen them both ways) O rings on the gear side that fits in the hole.  The side that attaches to your tach cable should have a seal inside it.  It's a tight fit so it may not come out easily.  

It was just old and dried out and stuck to the flat seal behind it.