Trying to Rescue a Late 1970s (1977??) Kawasaki KZ1000

I bought these on eBay. Cheaper than on his site and came quick. $19.95 free shipping. 
Steve
Ricks Motorsport Electric - 70-103 - Starter Motor Brushes

Thanks guys.

I'm starting to look at that crusty starter motor.  Hopefully all the seals kept the innards clean.

I think there are factory end cap index marks, but surprisingly they're offset by about 2 mm, which seems unlike the usual Japanese assembly precision.

The long case screws are well seized and are not chewed at the heads, so perhaps no one has been in the yet.

Moving slowly to avoid breakage, hopefully.

 

It’s not external debris that affects them. It’s a build up of brush material (graphite/carbon). And the degradation of the commutator. 

I got into the starter with the aid of a hand held impact on the long JIC case screws.

I'd say the axial play on the armature was about 4 thou, and I'm wondering if I should shim this to a lower clearance??

Surprised to see it's a 2-brush motor, and there seems to be about 5 mm of brush life remaining.

Don't know if this is a large, moderate, or small amount of brush wear residue, but I don't think it was gumming anything up.

Cleaned up the commutator, and there seems to be a small "wound" on it, but only about a thou deep, which can be seen on the working brush faces (red arrow).

Feedback appreciated..............

 

I would change those brushes. I wouldn't do anything with the washers. 
Steve

The scar in the commutator won't cause any issues, the only thing I would add is to run some emery paper along the grooves to remove the blurring on the corners caused by the lathe. The brushes are soft and the sharp corners will bite into them

Took a break from the starter rebuild, and had a look at the ignition points.

This whole assembly looks very new, so I'm wondering if it was replaced sometime relatively recently??

The Daiiachi points show the little three petal flower logo, and the points were not pitted, but did have some time on them.  I waved a diamond file over them a few times and they cleaned right up.

I think the condensors are alright.  Mounting them in the hot engine likely shortens their life, so I might put them up by the coils.  But maybe they're special-made to take the heat.

The many screws on this points fixture had spring lock washers under them, but I deleted those while keeping the pain washers.  This was done to get more thread engagement for the screws.  As the reverse side shows, with the washers deleted the screw's threads stop about flush with the plate.

For now I'll keep the points until the bike proves worthy of a Dyna S.  I recall that these points are good for about 6000 miles before adjustment is required.



 

Starter motor reassembled and tested.  With index marks well aligned!!

New brushes are on the order list ....growing to get free shipping.

I tested the starter with a 4-Amp headlight in series, but 4 Amps won't run it.  Deleted the lamp and just flicked the battery lead onto the positive post.  Spooled right up.  Just momentary, as with no load it might overspeed.  Very quiet and smooth.

Forks next as seals arrived yesterday.

Stockers is a good source for starter rebuild kits.  

My fork seals arrived.  So started to do the "front end".  Seals are branded "Parts Unlimited" and size 36 48 10.5 mm.

Fiche shows balls in the steering head, so I expect these tapered rollers to be an aftermarket upgrade......hopefully.

Outer races and rollers look to be in new condition.  This is probably light duty for such bearings.

 

Disassembly of the forks was interesting.  The left fork cap was about hand tight.  The right fork cap required my 1/2" impact and a propane torch atop the tube, which fortunately came out with the threads intact.

The used fork oil was very dirty, a bit low in quantity, and very smelly.  The smell reminded me that in out youth of the 1970s we accused the Japanese of using fish oil in the forks which had gone rancid!  True ??

The fork's innards don't seem very complex, so I expect their ride quality to be adequate, but well shy of the front of my 2003 ZR7s.

The new seals went in tightly with my rubber mallet and aluminum pipe seal driver.

Best I could tell from internet searches these forks take about 185 cm3 of oil.

The reassembled forks are sitting in a pail should there be any leaks from the Allen bolt or drain screws.

I'll have to find one of those friction fit rubber caps for the fork tops.

Perhaps too many pictures below.................

 

The steering head and triple should be all good. Someone upgraded to tapered bearings. Repack lightly as you would wheel bearings and install. As for the forks. I have never seen the seal placed in the lower without the upper stantion installed and using a seal driver. I hope you don’t have problems. I lube the seal lips with fork oil before install. The lower Allen cap bolt needed a new copper crush gasket and a thread type sealant. I use Loctite 518. Finger crossed your good.