73 z1 newbie

Hello there to all,

I'm new to the z1/ kz bikes but I've just started the build of my newly acquired 73' z1. It's a 12/72 build date with frame z1f-042xx and engine z1e-043xx. I understand it's a fairly early z1, but that's about all I know at the moment.

I have bought a new painted bodywork kit from z1 enterprises, and that's as far as I've gotten. If you have any information or links, please feel free to share, I'm familiar with the Kawasaki h1's and h2's, just not the z1's.

Thanks,
Dan

Hello, Dan, and WELCOME to KZr!
We're glad you're here!

The bodywork kit is a really good start.

What's condition of the rest? Pics?

Good Fortune!

Welcome Dan! You have the King of Bikes to restore...lucky man...really. So, what is your intention with this bike...a full restoration or a daily rider? You have already located one of the best sources of parts for your bike... www.z1enterprises.com and its' owner, Jeff Saunders. If you want to restore the bike, you need to invest in some literature... a genuine Kawasaki Z1 shop manual (readily located on eBay) and possibly a restoration guide... Dave Marsden's is pretty good (but currently pricey as it has gone out-of-print)...borrow one if you don't want to buy one. The book is 'Original Kawasaki Z1'.

My intention with the bike was to put it back apparently stock and as clean as I can afford, I've considered taking the spare engine I've got and going pretty wild with it. I mistakenly said that's all I had for the bike, I've got a nice front and rear fender, grabrail, gauges (76 kz900's I'm going to reface as 73's) a set of the correct carbs, front forks, front caliper, nice original seat and other stuff I'm sure to remember later. As of right now it's practically a bare frame and the engine is missing the head but otherwise complete, I picked up a kz1000 shaft roller (6k miles) off craigslist for 100 bucks, ran but the guy tried to lighten up the bike, cafe racer project I guess, and it got messy with the wiring.

Thanks,
Dan

Nice find on the shaftie...I'd be happy with that...but if you picked it up to supplement the Z1, you are out of luck...the KZ1000E models are oddballs and have many unique parts that do not interchange with any other Kawasaki model.

All I was going to keep off it was the cylinders, crank maybe the trans and the assembled head, was considering the 1075cc kit at 10.5 to 1 comp. ratio. I've got a ported head, need help id-ing it too, looks like a kz1000, but I'm not sure, it has been ported very well intake and exhaust. Stock cams with adjustable sprockets to keep it very streetable. I'll have pics up later today.

Thanks again,
Dan

Can anyone tell me what this is off of, I think it's a kz1000 head, but that's about all...I'd like to build this head and use it if I could, I'd like to use the stock z1 bottom end with the kz1000 cylinders and this head with a set of mild web cams and my 28's, how much hp could I expect out of this? What could I do to improve output?






Thanks,
Dan

im guessing 76 900 or 77-78 1000,looking at exhuast studs anyways