I noticed an extremely loud tick at 8,000rpm. Throttle position has no bearing on the loudness or when it occurs. Its always at 8k, in any gear, WOT or partial throttle. I will dig into it further tonight. Makes me think something in the valvetrain is not doing so well..

 

Check your valve clearance, I suppose. And could that be cam chain slap? It usually rears its noisy head at lower rpms, but perhaps could be the cause. If so, I highly recommend Krieger's tensioner as a replacement to the stock POS.

 

Not to scare you, but I had a tick like that right between 5-6k rpms after I did my 351 before everything blew up. It would only tick in that range too.

 

My bike has so many loud ticks, rattles, clacks it isn't even funny.

As long as you haven't done anything to it lately internally, I wouldn't get too worked up about it.

I gave up a long time ago trying to diagnose any noises with this engine. While sounding harsh, these engines seem to be very reliable and long lasting. Mine goes like stink and sounds like the lifters are going to fall out some days.

Heck, it might not even be the engine, it might be something vibrating when you hit a certain speed and rpm.

 

Cam chain adjuster. Get he manual one and set it and forget it!

 

Did you ever figure this out.

I had a similar situation that I just figured out. Clutch lever, believe it or not.

https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...-rattle-36230/

 

Haven't looked at that yet. I did run a tank of race cas through it to check for detonating with no change.

 

I've had clutch lever and keys on the triple clamp before...

Forgot, the side panel vibrating against the metal tank too.