Thrown together to ride til winter

I am New to KZR but i will say in the last week I have become a huge fan
I put this post up because I have an attachment to the old KZ'a my brother begrudgingly took me to school on his Z1 back in the mid 70"s
I always said after owning a few Harleys and most recently a Goldwing "If I ever find an old KZ1000 I will buy it!" and lo and behold a friend of a friend brings up having one in a conversation it has been sitting for the 2 years he has owned it and a couple years before he got it at least he was the bazillionth owner and it had no title yada yada he wants 500.00 for it his schpeal was that he got it road it 1 time it got away from him ( he is about 6'3" 240+ Rides a HD Dresser) he laid it down in someones yard putted it home it sat ever since. anyway about a month Later I see it sitting in my brothers garage they were gonna get it running and play with it at the drag strip couple blocks away it sat another couple months and I finally asked the guy if his number was still 500 and offered him 300 well we ended up at 500 only if I could obtain a title. so off to work I went downloaded the forms and 7 trips to the license branch and I was no closer until after my 3rd attempt at finding out who the last titled ownner was the state called me and said we cant keep taking your 4.00 money orders just to send a letter saying the patriot act and privacy act wouldnt allow them to disclose the needed information all I needed was a bill of sale and a police inspection and I could apply for a title. Simple enough i thought so thats what I did Took 2 hours and 2 managers and 3 clerks to actually get someone to call the state and verify that was the proper procedure. 47.00 and a 2 week wait I finally had title in hand. now to go pay the man and get my motorcycle.
wow it was in alot worse shape than I anticipated no side covers no working brakes no plugwires headlight I mean My brother said he had it running and it needed the carbs done and he thoought maybe a coil. I think it was about march and my hopess were to be riding it by june. I had the girlfriend convinced we would be riding it painted and pretty for under 1000.00 bucks total.
so for those of you that love a foot in the mouth sappy love story I have embarked on one and will share it. comment if you wanna follow it.

OK trailer it to my buddies shop made the deciscion not to tear it apart til I heard it run so I ran and got an oil filter oil, battery and fresh gas scrounged up some known good plugwires. and my brother was right it would run on 1 and 4 the 2&3 coil wasnt firing it had an old dyna 3 in it so looked up the website called em and sure enough the dyna module was presumed bad. I cant say enough about the guys at Dyna he said send it to them they would test it and call me. excited that it would run I was itching to throw caution to the wind and start ordering stuff. I removed the Dyna and took the cover with me it was pretty rough but it was gonna take some time to send the ignition off and either fix it or buy s new one (not in the budget) the Tank and tail fin came off so I could get ready for paint which I intended to do myself.


I stopped by my brothers garage to brag about finding the problem and use his pollishing stuff to get the rash out of the points cover and he presented me with the side covers cracked and tattered at least I had all the bodywork

congrats on your fine purchase.what state do you live in?I wish I could do that in Florida.I bought a bike form out of state with a title and still had to have a cop look at the vin on frame to verify.

Nice photo essay...thanks for posting. Careful, you are dangerously close to having Kawasakitis.

you did well...plenty of effort and it pays off...great pics....it was my older brothers friend who first pulled in our driveway ......years and years and years ago...good score

Congratulations. I'm liking your enthusiasm! Keep up the good work.

lived in indiana still had to have the police inspection done the hardest part was getting someone who knew what they were talking about. one DMV manager told me i would need to have it impounded and buy it back from a police auction it almost drove me nuts.

Thanks for the support It didn't take long for me to get Kawasakitis. I spent a little time polishing on that points cover and had to go home so I could start scouring for for parts my list was pretty long.
the normal stuff
Plugwires plugs headlight bulb various maintence stuff

The list grew daily I live 55 miles from where my buddies shop is so my june promise to my gal was basically unrealistic but none the less I work 3 miles from his shop so daily visitations on my way home were mandatory he closes 2 hours after I get off and with the hour drive home my Gal was beginning to regret going along with it but he is open til noon an saturday and I dont work on weekends I could have 3 hours provided my kids or grandchildren or honey do's didnt take priority.

Taking as many things home to work on in the evenings was my best bet ordering my parts online and a game plan was essential. Parts list on non reapirable cleanable or fabricated is as follows I am sure I will leave something out

Headlight Bucket bent up Handlebars bent (remember the guy rode it once ended up in someones yard)Headight ring and hardware missing,
Speedometer sitting on 20mph dented and ugly no cable. no tach cable front master cylinder empty full of peanut butter, brake lever broken, starter button rewired with a cute mini button screwed to housing clamp rear brake pedel spring broken held up with a bungy cord to the sidecover grommet
Side cover emblems missing, seat torn on both sides,

500.00 for bike 50.00 for oil filter and plugs my 1000.00 on the road estimate possible for a rat rod but I find this youtube video of a 77 KZ from spaceballs 04 and I am in love. I start thinking I didnt say June of what year!!






little paint lots of sanding and 5 minutes on the deburring wheel before my brother started complaining

sorry about the multiple pic's trying to navigate the site

Got a game plan buddy has some parts left over from a KZ he used to have Master cylinder check 140mph speedo check

ok lets start takin it apart I can clean and paint as it goes backtogether

gonna paint the upper triple tree while i got the gauges off might as well clean contacts and replace dash bulbs too



i am 5'4 with a 28" inseem tip toe isnt very cool sitting at a stoplight on an oldschool hotrod so brilliant idea get some aluminum and make me some struts exwifes husband owns a truck equiptment shop he provided the aluminum for free deffinately in the budget

Ok now I get to spend money Z1 parts and Z1 enterprise here I come oh cant forget oink Johnson on ebay I havent bought a thing yet but have everything KZ related memorized on ebay i just hit the newly listed button 10 times a night I ordered super bars (one of the things I remember my brother wanting back in the 70's lol) chrome covers for the gauges brake lever cables etsc...

on my way home I have stopped by the paint shop to inquire about paint love the green on the youtube bike I find what I like its a tricoat I love it. well... the base was 280.00 for a pint the midcoat (green color) I never heard how much I quit listening at 400 something My bubble was bursting quickly


but I am making progress smart shopping about 200.00 bucks I have the neccesities i'm in at 750.00 no ignition no carb work no paint. Chrome is a neccesity) and most of all I feel like I am making progress

was still not sure what to do about paint but the tank looked awful and even worse when i hit it with some sandpaper it had been a week no word from dyna and waiting on Z1 enterprise and oink to send my parts its april but i;m not sweating it so lets start getting the body work ready here is a few iphone shots I havent"t painted anything in 15 plus years but spray bomb would look better than what I currently have if all else fails

Got the call from dyna the module was bad as predicted gonna send me a new Dyna S for 75.00 with shipping only problem is they wont have any for a week or 2 but promises to ship it as soon as possible. In the meantime I took my tank by my exwifes shop they also have a boby shop (she remarried well) her husband says dont strip it its bnot that bad he will fix and paint one color for 300.00 thats probably a decent deal however i got time to wait on the ignition and anyone can pay a profeesional to build them whatever they want besides I am 825.00 into my 1000.00 dollar project with a june deadline. So a stop to walmart for some Rustoleum primer ans Pivco for more sandpaper and some filler I'm off for some sanding filling and priming after couple weekends i was in primer





I still want the green color and in the meantime I have a million ideas about graphics. I used to airbrush as a hobby 20 years ago and consider myself artistic so the skies the limit right?