New to the bike world, but not mechanics

Hi everyone, my name is Ben.

I have been wanting a bike for a couple years now and recently had a friend offer me a bike they had sitting on their property that they were selling and said she just wanted it to go to a good home. So, I asked her for some pictures and low and behold it was a beautifully sheltered LTD 1000. So, I got a buddy to go out there with me, his pickup, and my neighbors motorcycle trailer and grab it. I don't really have any history for the bike other than it doesn't run with no idea why and that it has an 85 plate on it so that is probably when it was parked. So all of this has brought me here with my first bike/project.

Of course, as with every new member I am coming here with a question and not just a hello. I have searched high and low and can't seem to find what my VIN number means in regards to B1-4. This is important to me because I want to buy a service manual for the bike, but don't know which one to get. Can anyone help me with this or point me to the right place to post this question? Also, can anyone explain the difference between each of the B revisions? I hope that assuming that B# is the revision of the bike is the right assumption. Please correct me if I am wrong in assuming this.

My VIN is: KZT00B-521808

Thanks,
-Ben

Vin should 17 characters long if it's older than late 70's. There will be on a sticker on the frame, in the front, under the forks and instrument cluster. That looks like the number found on the enigine. Is that right? The code is usually read as: country, size, year, model, production #. Find that sticker then goto: www.weeksmotorcycle.com/motorcycle-vin.html

If iam not mistaken the "B" family of bikes are all 1000 ltds with mag rims ltd tank and dual disk brakes in the front and disk rear. Theres also a chance that you will have the mk11 motor or cases and covers. and possibly a few other things i cant think of right now. But by zedders website and the vin you gave its a 79 kz 1000 -b3 ltd.

Thanks sig, but that is the VIN from the sticker on the forks. I'm fairly sure it is a pre 81 bike.

Cool, thanks Powerstroke_fan. Zedder's seems to be a pretty cool site, but somehow I hadn't come across it in my search. What is significant about the mk11 stuff?

I've been kinda curious about the MKII as well. They are nice looking, but the engine is basically the same as the other 70s models.... not sure if there's a performance difference or what?
Bring a Trailer - KZ1000-A3 MKII - Dec 2011
The first comment below the article is good for a chuckle. I guess the CB guy never heard of a Z1.
What this has to do w your Ltd, I have no idea? hee.

The mk11 motors are actually alot diffrent. The cases are stronger. They got more webbing on the cases. For example: Right behind where the oil fill cap is the are two triangle gussets. On the non mk11 cases only one of the triangle gussets go all the way down. With the mk11 cases both triangle gussets go all the way down. There are also a couple other diffrences on the cases. As far as the internals go. If its a mk11 motor, it will have a 16 tooth crank. The crank is stronger with diffrent shaped lobes. They have a larger mass than the 1000 and 900 cranks, so they actually spin slower than the 900 cranks. But have more rotating mass. They have larger pins. The end where the stator goes on is larger than the non mk11 cranks so they cannot be switched over without modification. They have the 32 tooth timing chain sprockets and a larger cam chain. The trans is stronger. The gears are actually lipped out where they mesh. The cams possibly have diffrent grind cam ( not sure on that tho). The stator is a completely diffrent stator. The head will have emission ports. The valve cover will be squared instead of round style in the 1000 and 900 heads. I believe the 80 ltd models will have electronic ignition. All the covers: sprocket,stator,points cover, and possibly the clutch cover also is diffrent than the non mk11. The sprocket cover is more squared and has a square cover that adjustes the clutch push rod. The alternator is more round and says dohc. The trans door that sits behind the sprocket cover is diffrent also. That is most of the diffences between the kz 900/1000 to mk11 motors. Hope this helps.

Edit: I have heard that some of the 79 models has mk11 cases but the 15 tooth crank. So if you determine it has mk11 cases you would need to remove the valve cover to verify which crank you have by counting the teeth on the cam sprocket.If its 30 tooth then its only a 15 tooth crank, which is not a mk11 crank.

Cool, thanks for all the info guys. This should be enough to get me started with getting this bike back on the road.

On last thing for the moment, I have plenty of experience on cars, but is there anything that would not be obvious that you can think of that I might need to do to make this thing safe again?

Make sure you have good tires and tubes. A tire blowing out at 55 could be deadly. And double triple check all nuts/bolts after your first ride.

Of course. New tires are a must at this point.

Won't all of the important nuts and bolts have safety wire, or is that just a newer thing?

They dont have any safety wire maybe a few might have lock nuts. I was mainly reffering to all the nuts/bolts you reomove. It would just be bad if some of the bolts came out while riding. When i built my bike i had the two rear caliper bolts come out on me. Luckly i noticed it before it did damage or hurt me.

Wow, this is surprising. I will probably be investing in some locktite when I put things back together. The caliper is the type of area that I have seen safety wired on newer bikes because exactly that can happen.

Why didn't you just post up a picture of this bike? I mean from that we could have all told you exactly what bike you had if it was original paint.

CrazyJew89 wrote: Cool, thanks for all the info guys. This should be enough to get me started with getting this bike back on the road.

On last thing for the moment, I have plenty of experience on cars, but is there anything that would not be obvious that you can think of that I might need to do to make this thing safe again?