Tank restoration advice KZ1000A/ KZ900

Some progress made on my tank swap, the petcock I got for $16.50 on eBay arrived today along with my rebuild kit. So I spent some time this evening soaking it and cleaning it. I gave the outside a mild polish, so it looks something like a new one. I then put together again. I was confused for a while reassembling, until I realized it's not like the petcock on some of my other bikes where the handle goes to the required setting, it's the pointer opposite the handle on this one that tells you where you are position wise. All in very pleased with it, it has the dual outlets I need.







Why do all the rebuild kits contain 4 washers/O rings, I could only find a place for 3 - did I miss something? I just couldn't see anything the diameter of the one left over.

Struggling to find anyone who can paint my tank at a reasonable price, or at all, one guy said he's closing for the season, not open until spring. I wanted to get it done soon, but if not I'll wait until the weather's warmer and do it myself, I'm pretty good with solid colors, because you can do a lot of rubbing and polishing, if you get enough layers of paint on.

I think I will put the stock petcock on my existing tank for a while, so I can send the Pingel off for a rebuild. There may be a day suitable for a ride at the end of the week if the forecast holds true.

I've found someone to paint my tank, suddenly realized someone I know is the manager for a big body shop. I asked him if he knew of anyone and he said he will do it himself and for a good price too. Just need to get it ready to give to him, have to decide what to do on the interior. I ordered up my 77 KZ1000A1 decal set too in gold to contrast the black.

Rockranch wrote: I've seen matching 'added' stripes on side covers that added an awesome touch when they had the right 'flow' to them to join the tank and tail. Had an awesome profile look from the side view. I'm trying to find a pic.

I've seen them too on a couple of bikes. but don't see them now and can't remember exactly what they were like either..

Anyone know some dimensions as to where the 77 KZ1000A1 pinstripes go on the tank?




bluej58 did a great post for the A2 decals recently, something like this for the A1 would be fantastic

kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork/600...ent-78-kz1000#694805

redhawk4 wrote:

PaintWorkz wrote: Are you sure you measured the KZ900 1976 tank at 122mm? Looks 140mm in the picture.

Only the 73 tanks are 122mm and a few rare early 74 tanks, after that they were all 140 except for the LTD's

Wow I must need glasses or I should put the garage light on, I measured again and you are 100% correct it is 140 mm :blush:

I'm glad you called me out on that, because now I know I will need new tank emblems, that would really have frustrated me if I got the tank already to put on and then discovered my incompetence. Well that answers that one and I also didn't realize the LTD taks were always the smaller ones - mystery solved.

Do you know if the Z1 decals will fit the KZ900 tank? I know there are some differences regarding seams etc. but are they dimensionally similar enough?

The original emblems can easily be restored. They are some real soft alloy. Buff the raised edges and repaint the black and white. If you go with pinstriping, I would just buy some pinstriping and apply it. No need to spend extra on those precut jobs.

I don't have original emblems for this one, so got some reproduction ones, for now at least. I won't be applying any pinstriping :blush: , I can fix just about anything mechanical, electrical, plumbing and handle just about any sort of construction, but if you give me anything sticky it's a disaster, I think I'm to the point now where I panic, anticipating the problem ahead of time so it goes from bad to worse. The only benefit of buying the cheaper pinstriping would be I wouldn't end up with $80 worth of decals stuck to my forehead I'm planning on leaving all that to my painter, that's what I'm paying him for, and for me it will be money well spent. Perhaps I'll give it a shot myself when I redo the paint on my KZ650. I did by some vinyl for that and had plans as to how I was going to do it, before it got on the back burner, Working on my 1000 has renewed my enthusiasm to do the last few bits to my 650.

I took my tank and tail to a vinyl pinstriper in Apache Junction, AZ. I think is cost me $65 then I took it back to the painter and had him clear over everything. I just printed off pics of the OEM paint and he did a great job matching it as you can see below

Nice, those are great shots to get the proportions from.

I bit the bullet today as I've made the arrangements to get my tank painted next week, I 'm handing it over on Sunday, so it was time to get off the fence and give the inside a once over. I went with the Etch and Prep Phosphoric Acid in the end. It worked really well, I only had some light rust so even diluted heavily it did a nice job, a nice gray interior.I was surprised how much stuff came out of the tank though considering it looked pretty clean inside prior to cleaning. I rinsed it with water and some baking soda, then Acetone and finally poured some WD40 in and slopped that around to coat the inside to keep rust at bay while it's prepped and painted. I hope soon it will be mounted on the bike and brimmed with ethanol free gas , I'm starting to feel quite excited at the prospect, I'd say very excited, but I'm conscious of the fact it's winter and so there's likely to be a frustrating period where I won't be able to ride it for a few months Still just looking at it now and again in the garage will help lift those winter blues

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationZ1 Parts has 2 emblems & 4 screws for 40.00, if that helps

Pete

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

pete greek1 wrote: Z1 Parts has 2 emblems & 4 screws for 40.00, if that helps

Pete

Already bought some for $32 but thanks anyway.

Well my tank has gone to be painted, in fact I'm getting everything redone, he said the tank finish would be so good, that the rest wouldn't have matched, which is setting the bar pretty high as they were nicely painted, but I guess not to a show standard. So for an extra $50 I'm getting the side panels and tailpiece done as well, which for that much extra was a no brainer as one of the side panels had a couple of tiny scratches on the clear coat that I was going to buff out. That will also help with the decals for the tailpiece which will also be clear coated over the top and everything will match. I'm starting to feel excited for their return in 2 weeks - a nice little Christmas gift for me