1978 KZ1000-A2 "Barn find"

I painted the bezels on my gauges gloss black. It's not the right colour but it may help you see how little of the gloss actually comes through. I would probably leave them in gloss. You could just put them back together without the ring (just get some duct tape on there to hold them together) and see how it looks. If you're not happy then break out the matt clear.

Maybe this photo helps. Difficult to show in pictures. That black bit near that would be near the top. It's cockeyed, so when it's assembled, in some places you see the teal, while in others you see black.

So today I reassembled the speedometer. Of course, my freshly painted housing got scratched while putting the clamp ring back on, so I taped it up, gave it a light sanding and resprayed it. I checked at the end of the day and for some reason it orange peeled like crazy.. Lots of creative language was used, but now I’ll probably let it sit for a few days and think about what it’s done.

In other news, primed the tank, side panels, and tail piece today. I still wasn’t 100% happy with the dents that were repaired after primer, so I did a little more repair work, primed again, sanded with 320 grit, and will need to prime again tomorrow. Hopefully I can lay paint on Wednesday. Spending a lot of time prepping these guys to ensure they’re perfect.

Looks good. Nice work

Been a while, so I figure an update is due. Been spending a lot of time building fences and decks, so things have slowed down a whee bit.

So first, an update on paint. This is new to me, so it took some trial and error. Ended up having to strip the tank and start over more than once. Mostly just comes down to patience and improper gun setup I think. First time I painted the tank, was pretty much perfect except for a quarter sized section that looked like it was sanded with 80 grit. In order to smooth that out, I ended up burning through the primer. New bit of primer kept separating and kept getting worse, so I stripped the whole tank and stated over. I then had an issue with primer not adhering properly. I think I actually just laid it down too fast. It looked good, and was dry, but when I started sanding, it started peeling off. Stripped again. Primed perfectly. Painted. No good. There was a chemical reaction of some kind in the top right side of the tank. Not sure what caused it. Managed to sand it down, do VERY light coats of primer with plenty of dry time between coats, clean it up and get it painted. The local paint shop is completely out of clear in quarts, and I sure wasn’t about to buy a gallon, so I used 2 rattle cans of 2K clear for now. Once I have decals, I’ll cut the clear, apply decals, and spray more clear, which hopefully the shop will have by then. Really happy with how things look right now. Color came out perfect.



The gas cap was disgusting looking on the inside. Very rusty. Pulled in apart and soaked it in metal rescue. That stuff is amazing. Couple hours later, good as new.


Battery box and center wiring harness mount thing was all rusted up, so I cleaned it up and repainted them, along with the horn, side stand and probably a bunch of other parts I’m forgetting. You can see the center stand stop I bent up in the photo of the painted side stand. Eventually, this whole bike will end up getting torn back down and powder coated, so I’m not after perfection right now. Just want to stop the cancer from spreading.







The chrome plating on the front fender is peeling off. For now, it’s just being polished as best as possible along with the forks. Will probably replace eventually, but It’s coming out pretty good so far. Pics are the latest my friend sent me. He’s since put many more hours into them.


A few other things that have been done: replaced the front master cylinder piston, replaced the peacock gasket as the old one was gooned and leaked a bit. Ordered a new diaphragm too just to be safe. Will probably be putting in a large part order in the next week or two for exhaust (probably Delkevic), a new seat and grab bar, and a few miscellaneous items. Was hoping to get new tires for it right away too, but everyone seems to be sold out of the right size at the moment.

Quite a nice job on the fork tubes! Does your friend want to do a couple more?

Rick H.

Ha! Unlikely. Between his bike and river trips, he ended up getting to these several weeks later than planned. Worked out with all my paint issues, but itching to get this thing back on two wheels.

Great work... Looking forward to the finished bike... Don't get hung up on the small dings and dents... Keep moving forward...

Revco has the Avon AM26 Roadrider rear for $136.72 + GST with free shipping right now, but no front. revco.ca/avon-roadrider-tire.html Both Revco and FortNine ship for free after $100, so I'd order the rear and keep an eye out for the front. Alternatively, The first set of tires I ran after resurrecting my bike were Kenda K657 Challengers. They were OK and I got 9,000 kms from the rear and 16,000 from the front. They're cheaper that the Avons, too, but I definitely prefer the Avons.
revco.ca/kenda-k657-challenger-tire.html

The bike is looking great.

Thanks. Been watching both those sites for either the Avon Roadriders or the Kenda Retroactives. Will probably go with whichever gets a front in stock first.

Kaylinator wrote: So I looked all over town for a color match for the gauge interior. Rust-Oleum Turquoise was a dead ringer for the color, but can only be found in gloss. Now I have a decision to make. Given it isn't really seen, I could just leave it at gloss and I'd probably be happy with it. This would probably have the added benefit of reflecting more light at the gauges. My other option it to clear coat it afterwards with a matte clear to dull it out. Decisions, decisions.

I've played with lots of automotive instrument lighting and having used both gloss and matte paint on light baffles I've found matte to get a lot more light to the gauge faces/needles. These were both color changes from the factory blue/white lighting using neon matte paints.

BCScott wrote: Revco has the Avon AM26 Roadrider rear

I think the AM26 is the race version of the roadrider. I think you might want the roadrider mkii that was recently released.

www.avontyres.com/en-us/tyres/roadrider-mkii