Vintage Racing the KZ

sup everyone!
season just ended, not 100% how i wanted but a great one none the less.
I've got the 1980 KZ1000 ltd still sitting in my garage. Its goint to need a lot of work to get it race ready and I figured I'd turn here for any advice and questions.
Anyone ever road race one of these or something simular?

here are the rules for the series that im running it in
Vintage 5
Pre 1983 2-stroke factory road racers up to 500cc.
Pre 1983 Production based 2-stroke up to 750cc.
Pre 1983 4-stroke push rod unlimited displacement.
Pre 1983 OHC Twins to 1200cc.
Pre 1983 OHC 2 valves per cylinder to 1085cc.
Pre 1983 OHC 4 valves per cylinder to 1025cc.

Among the eligible V5 machines are the following: Ducati F1A and F1B, 750cc limit; Honda CB750F, CBX, CB900F, pre-1986 Honda VF500, VF700, and VF750; Kawasaki KZ750, KZ1000, Z1, GPZ 550/750, and EX500 without restrictions and regardless of year; Suzuki GS1000, Seeley Suzuki 750, pre-1986 Suzuki GS 750 (no hybrids, i.e., Suzuki GS 1000 motor in a 1985 mono-shock frame), GS 500 (no restrictions); Yamaha FZ600, Seca 550, Seca 750, Virago 980, TZ 750 (steel frame, twin shock). RZ 350 with maximum displacement of 450cc.

Its eligible for the 1085 bore and Im allowed to use any kind of technology that was in use at the time. I head that the GPZs tried F.I. in the early 80s and wondered if its possible to fit a GPZ FI head on what Ive got now (of course Id need the electronic stuff added to it).
Im really in uncharted territory, I've never had a bike a) this old b) in this bad shape (engine seized and ect) c) that i wanted to put on the track so baddly to see what it would do...

i read the motorcyclist article where they prepped a KZ550 ltd to run the Mid Ohio National VIntage event and Im really stoked about getting this thing up and running.

any ideas, advice, warnings and ect are all welcome, I'm all ears right now as I know Im probably in over my head.

thanks in advace guys
Curtis

Hey Curtis. Steve Darlington is a kzr member who races a Kz750 in the Canadian Vintage Racing Series.

Do a search under the name Darlington in the archives and you should be able to get in touch with him. Come to think of it he currently has some Kz parts for sale in the classifed section of kzr, that will probably be your easiest way to track him down.

He is fairly knowledgeable with the vintage Kz racing stuff.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada
1977 Kz650 - 810 big-bore with lottsa go-fast goodies tucked away inside.

Curtis:

If you are not now a member of the MSN group Z1/Z900 Owners group, join (it's free). There is a fellow (whose handle is BigAl) who is fairly active in that forum who roadraces (in California) a 1973 Z1. He should be able to help you with prepping a big inline 4.

I hope you stay stoked. Are you continuing with poject? Some advice I would give you is to also read Ahrma rule book. Make the bike so you can run Wera or Ahrma. The vintage Wera races in Ohio you'll be lucky to race one other bike. As for racing an LTD frame, you realize the rear will be just entering when front is exiting a turn. It could be used however. When I have built my vintage superbikes. I throw away the front end, guages, wiring harness, all electrics, rear wheel, strip frame to bare metal and start. Gusset frame everywhere and modify stock swingarm. I had mine cut apart and widened to accept 4.5 inch rear wheel with disc. Also, gusseted and braced. Look at ZRX swingarm and copy. Buy a complete front end, it has to be from another Kawasaki donor bike to be AHRMA eligable. Then look at the motor, electronics and carbs. Then consider what you want to do with the motor. I would suggest writing everything you want to do and assign a budget. Then I start crossing things off or modifying wish list. If you start now, you can be ready for Mid-Ohio in August. If you have any questions, I would be willing to answer for you. I have many friends that want to race V Superbike but none has built one yet.

The biggest and most important question:

How much money are you willing to invest in this project?

Next question:

What can you do yourself and what tools/equipment do you have access to?

Tell us how much your budget for the motor and your budget for the frame and suspension are, and what you can do yourself with the tools and equipment you have or have access to, then we can make reasonable suggestions.

Ahrma120, how did your season go? Were you able to compete on the 650/880 against the big bores?

I campaigned in Thruxton and Heavyweight with Z-1. My mechanic took over my 650. Never got my dream project done the KZ750. But I am back at it. I was second place in Thruxton and 2nd in Heavyweight at Mid-Ohio. Got second Saturday. Then on Sunday laid the case on the ground in 10, left hander under first bridge, going for lead around CBX. We were ahead by 100 yards no reason to take him there. Stupid. Well, it was all bad. I knew if I got it back on front tire there it would high side so I just laid back and pushed the bike away. When we hit the dirt, the bike started rolling, I watched the tank fly twelve feet in the air, spewing fuel in a semi circle. The bike was bad. Due to the crash, family situations and having no chance to win championship. I didn't go out west, Miller and Sandia, which I was planning to do if I finished both races ahead of Moto-Guzzi.
I plan to be at Daytona on the Z-1 with a new front end more ground clearance and I am taking my motor to 1025cc or maybe to 1100. I am going to build a GPZ as I have accumulated all the parts. I want to have it done for the short tracks. Thanks for remembering.

Congratulation on your successes so far and your grit and determination. I would love to see some race pictures if you have a link.

Ahrma120, sounds like a rough season but keep perservering. Sounds like you did the right thing, too bad the bike tumbled.

I'm curious did you drop your max 650 project due to trying to build something that works for WERA and Ahrma? That is one of the issues I've seen trying to build a vintage racer - striking a balance on something competitive for both groups seems difficult. It seems like if you are Ahrma competetive the bike will be way underpowered in WERA.

It's all about the rider. Give me less power in wera and I'll beat all of them. So will everyone that runs AHRMA. Competition is now the comparison. Everyone worries about the HP. Stupid. Check out Daytona comparisons last year. Thad Wolfe is an ex-superbike rider, Will Harding, Thomas Marquadt, John Staska.are excellent riders. Plus I ran Thruxton Cup, Jay Springsteen, Nixon, Doug Polen Jimmy Felice and they didn.t win on any regular basis. check, Tim Joyce Robert McClendon, Max Hinds and me. All come all welcome and see. I've seen supposedly the best vintage racers from WERA. Send em all. I'd put Ahrma riders against the best. You win in Ahrma? Good luck. Yeah there is certain classes you can pick but not the premier clsses. Compete with the best. I can bore you with stories about Ahrma,riders. The problem with vintage road racing and Ahrma is guys come out build a fast bike and think they will win. Not the case. The riders are excellent. You will spend three to five years to compete, if you even have the skill. Take Randy Shank, he is what road racing is all about. He has gotten a lot faster, but he is out for all that racing is about. What it is, is about is being there. It's a different thing. Most people dream it, say they are there, they are not. The real test is if you are not good enough, know it and enjoy it, because you are there. How many get to ride Daytona? Very few. Until you go there, you can't understand. It is what it is. You want to pee, vomit and have sex, before and after you don't know which before or after you get off the track It's makes no sense' but once experienced there is nothing to compare it to. There are many reasons not to do it. I have heard them all. So don't do it. You may be riding against ex-pros on Superbike teams. Not fair. It's not, but don't think because you build it, you should win. Maybe you should go drag racing were its about nine seconds and you can go back to your pits and say you should have done this or that. In roadracing your out there for twenty minutes or more. Everyone knows. So build it and oome and don't give up.

Hey good timing! I just read the new motorcyclist and they have a 1980 something cruiser 550 that they are racing. You should see the mods they put on that thing. I tried looking for the pic to show you but I have the book in front of me now and no scanner. They put on these shocks that I pressume are like 13" long now after they had on the 15" ones, changed the handle bars, rebuilt the engine and bored it to 600 and something, changed out the front forks and its a kawasaki green bike. Real nice