My 73 Z1 all done

Well, I finished the Z1 this week, struggled through several problems, some real some phantoms (imagined lack of oil flow to the head).  A couple things, if you all remember, I bought this bike from a widow whose husband was supposedly a Harley mechanic and had been restoring it.  I could see he had been inside the motor but didn't know to what extent, which was the source of some anxiety.  I proceeded with caution with this project and when I bumped up against something I wasn't sure about I tossed it out to you guys to help make sense of it.  (Cam chain installation comes to mind)  It's tough picking up a project where someone else left off, not knowing exactly what they'd done so far and even more so, was what they did do done right?  So all in all, I think this deceased old Harley mechanic did know what he was doing. I suspect he may have done a full rebuild on the motor, although I have no way of knowing for sure but a few little things make me believe he had the case opened.  But I've got about 20 miles on the bike now so far and it runs great, very quiet, shifts smooth and accelerates the way I remember my buddy's did back in 1975 when he let me ride his... a day I'll never forget because it started a life long love of old Kaws, especially Z1s.  So anyway... here she is.

Beautiful

Very Nice!

Mike

Good to see the orange only where it should be… Saweeeeet!

Perfect...!

WOW!  Very, very nice!   Ed

Nice

It looks really nice! 

I saw a couple of things you may want to do.  First, the swingarm bolt goes from right to left.  The nut should be on the left side.  Second, there should be two cable ties on each side of the bars.  

Thanks for mentioning that.  I'll switch it around next chance I get.  Also ordering handlebar ties today.  Nothing cheapens a bike up more than tie wraps. 

Does the rear wheel need to be removed to pull the swingarm bolt or could I just support it with  jack while i remove it?

Here's the before picture.  The PO had actually laid down a half way decent paint job, using a very rough approximation of root beer brown, probably not even color scanned but picked off a color chart.  Then the orange pattern was also a very rough approximation of the stock paint job, with the two sides not even meeting up behind the filler cap on top.  But he made up for the missing orange on the tank by painting all the engine side covers and cam cover orange and painting every bit of scratched or rusted chrome black. The guy definitely was a bit weak on the cosmetics.  I shouldn't make fun though. If he planned on keeping the bike then all that should have mattered was whether he liked it or not. 

Wow!  What a difference you've made!  That old stator cover looks terrible!

No need to remove anything to change the swingarm bolt.  When you pull it out simply put a similar bolt, like a front axle bolt or even a cheater bar in place to hold it while you withdraw the bolt.  

Those bars appear to have a higher rise than stock bars.  Is it just the way the photos were taken?  I agree on the ty-wraps.  Partzilla sells OEM wraps identical to the originals.  Kawasaki used short ones on the bars.

Love seeing another one brought back.  Looks like you did a a good job.  Ride with pride!

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE