1981 Daily Rider Resto-Mod

Hey Guys-

I've got my dads shovel, but knew I wouldn't want to ride it everyday to work. So I've been looking around for a cool 70's Jap 4 bike to build to ride everyday. Something cool, but budget and not too nice that I wouldn't want to ride it all the time. I was looking for a CB750 mostly when I fell into this 1981 KZ1000 LTD. I would've preferred a bike with a kicker, but for $500 bucks with clean papers I cant argue with this gem. 9k original miles.

It's remarkably clean for a bike this vintage for this cheap. It's all there, no hacked wiring, solid compression on all cylinders, all papers clean and clear. It wont fire due to intermittent spark, probably from a bad ignition box. I'm going scrap all that stuff and go with a Dyna setup anyway. I've had nothing but awesome luck with those. Speaking of, anyone know which Dyna fits the 81 1000 engines? I know they are slightly different from earlier bikes.

The plan here is clean it up, get it running nice and not change much unless it makes it more comfortable, faster or handle better. Trying to remain true to what the 70's style Z1 and KZ's were about. Pods, a Kerker or equivalent exhaust setup, some new bars, and lightly updated semi-stock suspension.

I do have a few questions.

I'd love to run spokes on this bike. Does anyone know which hubs will fit the dual front discs and rear disc with minimal work. I don't mind lacing them myself I just dont want a headache fitting the hubs. I'm thinking an 18" rear and 19" front to get the stance about right.....opinions?

Bars, two knee destruction's and an ankle full of hardware later I much prefer mid's to rear sets, so I plan to clean those up simply, maybe with some homemade pegs in the stock position. I also don't like leaning over the tank with a ton of weight on my wrists like most clip-ons give. Anyone ever throw a set of super bike bars on one of these got some pics?

Suspension, I imagine someone makes a set of progressive springs for the front forks. Does anyone know a direct swap rear shock that's decent for the money?

The seat, the thing has to go, am I better retaining the stock pan and just having new foam molded to the shape I want. Can any of the earlier KZ flat seats be installed? Other aftermarket options?

I think all the LTD's came with the "cruiser-ish" rear fender setups. Anyone know how hard it is to fit a 70's style "ducktail" fender to one of these. I'll be eliminating the rear fender and just want to run the stock plastic tail piece with a light tucked into it.

The tail section in question:



Thanks in advance guys, I think should be a fun build, with a cool end result.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationWelcome




Progressive springs up front and got these for the rear.



Got a used seat for $40 delivered.


I like to take some stuff with me so I added some room.


Steve

Thanks for the welcome, I've been reading lots of things here on the board.

Looks like this might be the ignition setup I need, I'll have to switch to Dyna 3 Ohm coils, but that should cure any and all ignition problems. We recently did this to a friends hacked up GS550 and it worked like a champ.

www.oldbikebarn.com/dyna-s-ds2-1-electronic-ignition-system

I got mine from Z1E $139 and my Dyna coils on eBay. What coils do you have now?
Steve

swest wrote: I got mine from Z1E $139 and my Dyna coils on eBay. What coils do you have now?
Steve

Stock coils on the bike now.

How many OHM's do they test out to be? Some were 3 and even 2 in the later years.
Steve

I havent put a meter on them yet. It's on the list of to-do.

I believe the Dyna requires 3 OHM coils. I had planned to buy their coil kit. I hate electrical problems.

How hard is it to fit an earlier tailpiece on these later bikes? Some things I've read said it involves cutting off the frame supports and welding on earlier ones, other reports say just add in bolt brackets, which seems really simple.

I'd also like to run one of these Corbin Gunfighter seats, but it seems they stop at the same time the tailpiece I want to run stop. Can one of these be fitted to a later frame? Or am I stick having the stock pan recovered and reshaped?

Well last night I tore into the heart of the thing. As the bike had been stored for 6 years I knew the carbs would at the least need a good cleaning. I was right, the varnish smell almost knocked me down when I pulled the bowls. I'll soak them for a couple days in PineSol then carb clean them and paint them before re-installing.

I did have a question, I will be swapping to a manual petcock, which lines can I block off that were for vacuum? As far as I know this bank only has one fuel supply line correct? Also which lines are for bowl overflow?

None of the lines were on the carbs when I picked the bike up.

Also can someone help me ID which carbs these are? I want to make sure before I order the gaskets and stuff.

Hey there, congrats on the project and very exciting for sure! First off I highly highly highly recommend getting a Kawasaki Factory Service Manual for your bike, I picked one up and it makes all the difference in the world.

That being said, I am pretty darned new to bikes myself though not new to wrenching come from the automotive mechanic background a while back. I would wait for someone else to verify it for me but those look near identical to my Mikuni BS34's so shooting from the hip thats what I would guess, but again wait for someone with more experience and far smarter than me to confirm. AS for the vacuum line for the petcock, I am converting to a manual one myself. There is just one vacuum line that runs from the petcock to the carb bank. If you are asking what to plug, you need to plug the vacuum port coming from the petcock as well as the vacuum port on the carb bank... if memory serves it is carb #2 that the vacuum line goes to. Once again though, verify with someone with more experience and more brains than myself.

Best of luck and hope that helps!
- Brett

Pine Sol totally wrecked the finish on my 78' LTD carb's!!
Turned them a very dark charcoal grey/black.
And although getting grease and road grim off very well, did very little to clean the innards, passages and critical tiny emulsion holes.