The Weirdest New Member Introduction Ever

When I was a teenager, my oldest brother had a KZ1000 with a twin turbo setup. Rode it once. Scared the living hell out of me, and I never got on it again. Flash forward 45 years later, where I have been vintage road racing sedans for 30 years, and I end up buying a sports racer project. Original motor in the late 70s was a Honda CBX, but the builder was disappointed with the HP, and sold it. I bought it sans motor, where it hadn’t been raced since the early 80s. Some older racers think that it ran a KZ1000, so here I am. I wasn’t sure which forum to ask questions, so I’m all ears. Maybe it’s not KZ1000 based, but it’s my only lead for now. I’ll try posting some pictures to see if the motor mounts appear correct for a KZ1000. Thanks, Marc in Indianapolis

The photos below are of the Z1 frame. I'm fairly certain the KZ1000 frame is the same but there are some differences with the LTD frame.

One of the guys from Grassroots Motorsports had a vintage D-sports racer with a KZ1000 engine in it.

grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/1...esting-and-teardown/
grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/1...tions-in-the-garage/

The mounts on your chassis look like they are roughly correct for a KZ1000. Unfortunately, the frame dimension pictures don't have the specific measurements you need. If no one else has the dimensions handy, I could probably take some measurements.

Also note that the top rear of the engine doesn't mount directly to a hole in the frame (it uses brackets), so you won't see that mount point in the frame pictures.

Thanks for the help, guys. I was going to try to use some of the measurements from the blueprints to come up with a scale to check the dimensions I needed. Still, if you can verify even 2-3 of the dimensions on your bike, that would incredibly helpful. In the perfect world, I would find someone in Indianapolis who had a bare block that I could verify the mounts in probably 5 minutes. I'm really hoping that it turns out to be a KZ1000. The other common motor used in that era was the Suzuki GT750, which is as rare as hens teeth, and with minimal modern go-fast stuff.
Thanks!!!
Marc in Indianapolis

I fixed all your pictures
PLEASE hit the insert all OR insert button and you will be good to go.
Nice project . I was interested in racing one of those in my youth.
To fat now LMAO. Would need 427 chevy to haul my ass around
You may try contacting PDM Les Holt. His shop is a hour or so NW of Indy
Dave

I took a few measurements. How did you measure the side view? Is that mount to mount, or is it the distance between those points as projected on the the front-back plane of the vehicle. The projection onto the plane is typically how a mechanical drawing would be dimensioned, so that's what I was assuming.

Anyway, my top view numbers should be right, and it does't look promising. These are takes from a 1978 KZ1000 bare frame. They should be fairly accurate within a 1/2" or so.

Top View
A-A : 10 3/8"
B-B : 12 5/8"
C-C : 5 5/8

Side View
A-B : 9 5/8"
A-C : 16 1/2"
B-C : 8 3/8"

Even just looking at Top View A-A, there is no way that the KZ1000 front mount is 8" wide.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationHave you considered a GS1000 or GS1100 based engine? A very similar engine is a lot of ways. Poking around on Ebay, it looks like the front mount might be narrower. I can't tell where the lower case mounts are.



Another thought. Are the two rear motor mount points (in the aluminum plate on your chassis) vertical, or is the top hole offset towards the front of the car relative to the bottom hole. I believe the KZ1000 rear mount points are directly vertical. It looks like the top hole on the GS block is offset forward.

Okay, I did so measurements off the diagram, and not likely KZ1000. I'll check out the GS1000, but I'm leaning towards having the fabricator fab it up for KZ1000 when I get the cage built. Period correct for a late 70s sports racer, and a lot more engines out there, with a lot more HP parts available. You'll see me back eventually in the engine forum.

Marc in Indy

Well, that didn't last long. Posted in the Suzuki Air Cooled forum, and got locked out by the moderator for " car related" posting violation. So much for following up on the GS1000 suggestion.

Like I said, I'll set it up for a KZ1000 engine. Better motor anyway. Thanks for being warm and fuzzy compared to the Suzuki guys.

See you later in the Engine forum.

Marc in Indy

This post is particularly helpful. Knowing the back mounts are narrower than the existing aluminum housing, it allows me to have decent chance to fit a KZ1000. I can always use spacers to fill the gaps and line it up with the rear sprocket. The front mounts can be easily fabricated. This is preferred motor, so I'm pumped to GO GREEN!

Try The GS Resources. super helpful community there with a lot of traffic.
www.thegsresources.com/_forum/forum.php

A 16V GS1100 engine will put the smackdown on a KZ1000, and there are tons of go fast parts available

128racecar wrote: got locked out by the moderator for " car related" posting violation.

That's really lame. Sorry to hear that.

Nessism wrote: A 16V GS1100 engine will put the smackdown on a KZ1000

I have a great fondness for the KZ1000 engine. If period correct is your goal, as opposed to peak performance, it's a great choice. The bottom end is extremely stout, and is likely to take the abuse of pushing a car. But it is a very heavy engine.

But I agree with Nessism that the later Suzuki engines have a lot of advantages. First, the 4-valve motors just make more power. Second, the later GSXR motors use a very well designed air/oil cooling system (SACS), and at the time were still competitive with the water cooled bikes. Still a vintage engine, still air cooled, and plumbing an oil cooler seems easier than running a full water radiator setup. I have no idea how the mounts might have changed between the GS and GSXR generations, but it may be worth looking in to.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Advanced_Cooling_System

Do you have any class limits on what engine you can use? Are there other similar cars that you're going to be running against?

Looks like Suzuki used that engine in the Bandit 1200 (GSF1200) from 1996–2007. Those are probably a lot easier to find that an 80s GSXR, and newer too.