'78 KZ1000 Ugly Duckling

Buzz the fuse is to protect the M-unit not the starter, I have looked at a couple of diagrams and don't think some are drawn very well. You should have two wires to the input side of your starter solenoid. One from the battery, the other with a 40a fuse to supply the M-unit (this could also come directly from the battery to the M-unit as in the diagram below) The other big terminal on the solenoid goes to the starter. The two smaller terminals on the solenoid then go to ground and the M-unit respectively

Got it, thanks!I agree that some of these diagrams (particularly on Revival) are a little needlessly confusing, as they present overlapping alternative configurations and (not to throw shade) tends to favor the assumption that you're buying their solenoid rather than keeping the stock one.

Anyhow, I got some painting done this weekend. It's not a Kawasaki color, but it is green:



 My son designed the tank badge, and I think it looks pretty cool. 

Interestingly, the legendary hotrod builder Ed "Big Daddy" Roth ended his life here in central Utah. His estate has an annual event each June called the Rat Fink Reunion:
 


​​​​​​​It attracts builders, afficiionadoes, people (like me) whose favorite Hot Wheels car when they were kids was the Red Baron T-bucket roadster, and tons of practitioners of the dying art of hand pin striping. I'm thinking about taking the tank there and getting an artist to outline the badges with black One Shot—I think that might lean up the lines a little, and also make it pop.Conversely, I might just get a 1/2 pint of black One Shot and a high quality brush and have my son go after it. Thoughts? 

Looks like classic British graphic (Triumph, Norton etc) which is after all where the whole "cafe" genre started with Tritons etc. At the end of the day the input from your son will come back to you every time you look at it. 

I'm already getting that paternal glow from it

Nice paint/logo work.  I was going to say it looks like a throwback to a Norton script but Wookie beat me to it!

I told my son this was his opportunity to make up for the '66 Norton Atlas I had to sell when he was in utero. That was a beautiful bike, but I surely don't miss trying to figure out the Lucas electrics and Amal carbs, nor hunting for Whitworth tools in the days before you could instantly get anything online.

...and as for trying to find "petrol" or tires spelled with a "y" in the States, don't get me started

The wiring is done!

I've still got a lot of work to do (wrapping and securing the wiring, setting up the brakes, reassembling and installing the carbs, etc, etc.) but I couldn't resist rolling it outside for a quick photo session

 

Buzz that is awesome 

Thank you so much—still lots of work to do, but it's starting to feel like I'm on the downslope.

I'm thinking my next project (I've got my eye on a nearby Z1R in black) is going to be a lot more "resto" and a lot less "mod." Still, this has been a great experience.

I've been up to my eyeballs with moving, but I and my son were able to take the hottest hours of the day off from loading the truck yesterday and head over to the Rat Fink Reunion in Manti Utah (of all places!) Ed "Big Daddy" Roth spent his last years there, and now there's a long-running event in his honor. First we went to the car show:

 

Then we headed in to the Ed Roth museum:

 

And then we took the plunge and got one of the many pinstripe artists there to do my tank, fender, and seat cowl. He asked me what color I wanted and I said black.

"No you don't," he answered while he mixed paint on his palette, "Black'll blend right in."

"That's kind of what I'm going for."

"I think you should go with something like this." He proffered a puddle of the most garish, poisonous-looking green I'd ever seen.

"Dear god, no."

"Just let me put a little stripe of it on there, and if you don't like it I'll clean it right off."

He put about four inches of it on the fender, and I fell in love.
 

It was a real giggle to watch him work; just absolute magic. He charged $125 for the job—less than we spent on tee shirts at the event. 

Also less than I'll now be spending on pinstriping supplies so my kid can start practicing.

That turned out great.

Sounds like a great day, the pinstripe has transformed the look of your panels, they're outstanding