KZ1000 in Wisconsin

New member here. I've been lurking for a few days now and figured it is about time I posted. I bought this bike for *$20*!

For simplicity's sake, I'm not going to document my progress at getting this thing on the road here again. I'm already documenting it at a forum for my other moneypit, the BMW E30 3 series.

The post at e30tech can be seen here... www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?p=632309

I've always been an auto mechanic; I've never so much as touched a motorcycle. I specialize in vintage BMW, but will work on any vehicle.

For this bike specifically, I've noticed that the petcock is always "on" no matter what position it is in. I'm guessing there is a diaphragm inside of it that is leaking?

Wow what a deal! Hope the grinding sound is nothing serious.

I read about your plans to fix up the bike. what are your plans for the exhaust if you find a replacement? ebay?

Welcome, Slowman.

Take your time and enjoy bringing a classic back to life. A little time around here will show that some of these bikes have made an amazing recovery.

Welcome to the forum. I think I can safely say that if you wanted to make ten times your investment on this bike there would be a long line of buyers here. BTW I call first place in line.:laugh: There is nothing to fear with that bike, it is probably one of the most bulletproof ever made. I can't see in the pic of the petcock if the handle is still there or not, it is mounted crooked. There should be 3 positions off, on, and reserve. They are readily available both used and on the aftermarket.

IowaKZ, the exhaust is as good as yours if that is what your asking. I'd really like to find a 4 to 4 replacement. I'm under the impression that these came on some of the earlier bikes, and I like the way they look. This will be many months down the road of course, I've got to get the thing on the road first!

I'm very likely going to be cleaning it up as much as possible without tearing the bike down. There is a little surface rust on the frame which I'll probably just sand down and coat with POR15. I'd like to polish the parts that are painted and clean up the chrome portions with metal polish.

N0NB, I've been looking around for a few days, and some of you guys have some VERY nice looking bikes.

I've fixed the positioning of the petcock, and yes the handle is still there. I emptied out the year old gas, and noticed that it ran out into my oil drain pan no matter what position I moved the handle to.

I bought a fresh battery for it earlier today and cranked it over with the plug wires off. No grinding sound at all, and when I drained the old oil I saw absolutely NO metal shaving in the oil or on the drain plug. No evidence of engine damage whastover. I'm going to top off the oil tomorrow and put some fresh gas in it and see if it starts up.

Thanks for the replies.

Oh and if you want to prove to your wife what a shrewd investor you are I'll take that ugly sissy bar off your hands for what you paid for the whole bike.

The Gringo wrote:

Oh and if you want to prove to your wife what a shrewd investor you are I'll take that ugly sissy bar off your hands for what you paid for the whole bike.

Sure; very conveniently I work in a shipping and receiving department at a local business.

Are there private messages on this forum? Edit: I see that there are, feel free to PM me. I will let you know that there is some light surface rust that peeled some of the chrome coating off, but I'm sure the entire thing can be sandblasted and then polished out to a nice shine. If you choose that go that route but don't have the means to sandblast it, I can do that before I ship it out to you.

I'm up in Upper Michigan ... Feel free to IM me.

Beatpoet wrote:

I'm up in Upper Michigan ... Feel free to IM me.

Sweet, a UPer. My wife has never been up there, now we can take a trip up to the UP. She's been wanting to see Door County in Wisconsin, she wants to take my car for that trip.

wow,awesome score.always did love ltd's,is it an 80?can't wait to see some after pics.

It is a 79 LTD with 42,xxx miles, cylinder head rebuilt at 35K (and boy does it look clean in there). I've discovered a Dyna ignition installed(would appreciate people informing me of what this is as opposed to points ignition, I've seen Dyna referred to elsewhere on the forum). Another question... is there supposed to be any oil in the stator? I had about a quarter cup spill out when I took the cover off of it.

I also found out the problem with the petcock... the internal joint is broken that turns the plastic piece. Both of the little ears broke off inside of this which is why the handle would turn freely but not actually switch the petcock.

I've got most of the painted parts of the bike polished up. I'm going to be rubbing a very light coat of black Rustoleum onto the frame tubing just to freshen up the appearance of it, and I might get to polishing the chrome bits as well tomorrow.

Pictures to follow tomorrow, its 1:54 a.m. where I'm at now!:blink:

You got this for $20 = You Scored

I'm gonna have my '78 LTD1000 memorized pretty soon...