Injected wrote:

The bead breaker worked fine, got the old rear tire removed but it was on there pretty good. I needed to use dish soap solution and a combination of the breaker bar and tire spoons. I have not put the new tire on yet.

The rims/wheels on the project are 81 GPZ550 (forks,swing arm,rims,brakes) I believe the PO had it set up for road racing because most of the bolt heads were drilled for safety wire.

The 550/650 rims are smooth on the inside.

Are you referring to those rubber tube locks on the rear tire? Both have them but I don't run them, I closed up the rim holes with plastic plugs.. 

The rear rim I have came off a KZ750 G.  It's strange they used a ridged rim on the 750 twin for such a underpowered bike. 

 They are a bitch to get over. I was hoping the bead braker would handle them. 

We'll see soon. 

 



 

The bead breaker worked fine, got the old rear tire removed but it was on there pretty good. I needed to use dish soap solution and a combination of the breaker bar and tire spoons. I have not put the new tire on yet.

The rims/wheels on the project are 81 GPZ550 (forks,swing arm,rims,brakes) I believe the PO had it set up for road racing because most of the bolt heads were drilled for safety wire.

The 550/650 rims are smooth on the inside.

Are you referring to those rubber tube locks on the rear tire? Both have them but I don't run them, I closed up the rim holes with plastic plugs.


 

Decided to go ahead and start my 73 Z1 build thread since technically I've already started. I'm starting with a 73 powder coated frame and swingarm and a 73 motor that came from a different bike. A NOS OEM Kawasaki gas tank I was told was manufactured in 83 and a 73 rear wheel assembly missing the sprocket hub. I've got the cases split on the engine and so far have only had use two or three outer gear bearings from a '76 motor I've torn down to replace rusty ones on the 73 that was missing the inner and outer sprocket covers. All clearances in the crank and the gearbox that I could measure are all within normal limits. I'm in case prep mode now and will hopefully get it reassembled in about a week.

I thought that possibly these were not original mufflers .... seems that question is answered.
when I had the rear wheel off I do not recall seeing that the adjustment slots had openings to roll out with bolt installed.... dropping the swing arm as described would be easier than pulling a muffler, tho they come off easily. 
not worried about doing the job in the shop, want it to be simple in case of emergency during ride.
thanks all

I'm just guessing here, but my guess is that the front wheel from a KZ650B would be a direct swap. 
The rear wheel would be harder.  My guess is the KZ1000 spoke rear wheel would not be a direct fit, as I think the hub and sprocket carrier (and probably axle) are larger. But if did the work to adapted it you could keep the rear disk. 
Otherwise you'd need to convert your bike to use a KZ650B drum brake setup.  If you managed to find a junk bike and could get the whole rear end setup that might work. 
You'd need the rear wheel, swingarm, brake lever and pivot, brake rod, and every other piece associated with the swingarm and rear brake.  
I'm still guessing here, but there is a good chance the brake level pivot bushing is in the same place on the B and SR frames.  I mean, why change things around that much?  So there is a good chance the 650B brake lever and pivot would bolt on, and the swingarm should bolt on, and then you're set.  Maybe? 

Here are photos from auctions for an SR and B frames. The brake level busing looks to be in the same place.
 

As mentioned, they probably deleted it for cost savings. My 81 1000 LTD didn't come with one either. When I did a frame up resto on it several years ago I saw how bad the swingarm was and installed a zerk fitting in it myself.

Almost ten years later, and this thing is still kicking. Two weeks ago, I had my first crash and I was fortunate enough to miss all the boulders on the side of the road and more or less walked away with a lot of severe bruising. The bike definitely took the brunt of it, but all things considered we're looking at mostly cosmetic damage to the bike, but of course it's all the expensive bits like the exhaust, tank, and instrument housings. That being said, I've managed to find another, this time a 1980 KZ750 that's been sitting outside for who knows how long and while some things are roached (seat, tank, mirrors) the bike is in surprisingly overall good condition and with only 7k on the clock and oil in the engine still, it turns freely! 

So I'm at an impasse - I can use it as intended as a parts bike to fix "my" bike with 26k on it that I love dearly, or I can swap good parts from my bike to this new project. But that's for mulling over some more later perhaps with a few fingers of bourbon and a campfire. For now, I just want to get back on the road. 

That said, looking at part numbers and diagrams most everything should swap fine, but I noticed the gauges on the parts bike are slightly different in terms of what indicator lights are on which pod, as well as the addition of a voltage meter on the tach side of the 1980 not present on my 1981. I know the mechanical tach and speedo will be fine, but am I correct in guessing getting the electronics to work will just be a matter of matching the correct wires to the correct pod? What about that voltage meter? 

The other curiosity was the swingarm on my 1981 has no grease fitting which I always thought was odd - the swingarm on the 1980 DOES have one and I was considering swapping them. Is there a reason it was deleted on the 1981 that anyone knows of?

Glad to have found this community and be a part of it.

I did not feel like wrestling with old tires today so started bolting parts on instead.





Got the inner fender, shocks, lift handles, and swing arm installed.



Also installed the points cover I polished last night along with the oil cooler fittings, and the GPZ starter motor.



I checked the spaced out stock 650 rear brake pedal, it just clears so I am going to trim about 1/4" from the inside edge of the foot platform.





I can still see the oil sight glass looking straight on.



I also got the center stand installed with my custom DIY limit bar.



Not a bad start to putting it back together.
 

Had to wait for new swing arm rollers to come through. Old ones were totally destroyed and. Made no sense to use them with new bearings.
i was dreading this, but getting the bearings in the freezer for a while and lots of oil made it really simple. Moving on….

CAP’N MERICA wrote:

H, if I’m not mistaken? I *THINK* the dimensions are approx. .8” for the 2002 zx6r pivot shaft and 1” for the bushings. Does that sound right? 

All the measurments will be in METRIC not Feet and inches.