Greetings from England

Hello Zed fans!

Always wanted a big Zed ever since I couldn't afford one as a teenager (the nearest I got then was a Z500). A few years ago I managed to acquire a '95 Z750P9 (or GT750 as it's usually know here in Britain), but I still hankered after what I really wanted: a very rare Z1000ST.

(Incidentally, you probably know this already, but for some reason these bikes have always been plain "Z" here, no "K").

And yesterday...I bought one! Recently imported from the USA with the clock showing 20,000 miles and condition to match. New tyres, new battery, beautifully repainted gas tank (in standard colours), new pattern mufflers, fully road ready, I was able to just jump on and ride her 130 miles home (cold miles at this time of year)!

There's a few issues: although she starts on the button and runs smoothly at highway speeds, she will not idle and she's lumpy around town so I'm going to have to take a look at the points, timing and carbs. And the front end is like a pogo stick over bumps, so after 37 years she may need a fork overhaul, some new oil and maybe some new springs! I just bought a genuine factory workshop manual on eBay, from just up the road in Leicester, only £19 (the one for the 750 cost me 5 times that!)

More good news: I've got Hepco & Becker hard cases on my 750 - and H+B can still supply frames to fit the '79 ST from their factory in Germany, so France and Italy are on the horizon for the old girl in the summer!

Anyhow, good to meet you all, and I hope to be here a lot more to share my successes and failures with these old bikes!

Welcome,

There are many from the British isles in here as well as the rest of Europe. They dropped the K in the European market because KZ was the abbreviated designation the Nazis used for concentration camp.

Better post some pics ASAP of both the shaft and the GT.

Welcome. Yes, pics, need pics. :woohoo: Might have to sync the carbs.
Steve

GPzMOD750 wrote: Welcome,

There are many from the British isles in here as well as the rest of Europe. They dropped the K in the European market because KZ was the abbreviated designation the Nazis used for concentration camp.

Better post some pics ASAP of both the shaft and the GT.

Never knew that! Very interesting.
Concentration camps (German: Konzentrationslager [kɔntsɛntʁaˈtsi̯oːnsˌlaːɡɐ], KZ or KL)
Are they Zs or KZs in Japan,anybody know?

Welcome from Canada and send pics of your ride.

Thanks for your welcome, will get some pics when it stops raining!

welcome Bazster i am also from uk got a csr1000 love it ,the rain is a pain here ,we need pics ,rubber side down

davido wrote: Never knew that! Very interesting.
Concentration camps (German: Konzentrationslager [kɔntsɛntʁaˈtsi̯oːnsˌlaːɡɐ], KZ or KL)
Are they Zs or KZs in Japan,anybody know?

KZ everywhere but Europe. It just kinda carried on the Z1 heritage anyway.

Sorry I haven't got any pics yet, but while the weather was bad I started dismantling both bikes to try and get them sweet for the summer.

The GT750 has horrible clattering noises coming from the starter motor clutch, and boy is that a pig to get to. So far I've got the exhaust system and the left-side engine covers off, next I need to get the clutch cover off, and the clutch basket, and the sump. Only then can I get the secondary shaft out to replace the clutch (which fortunately is still available new).

Wanting to avoid the probably-seized cylinder head flange nuts I planned on removing just the silencers and the collector pipework, which would've been enough to allow the sump to be removed, but I simply couldn't separate the collector from the header pipes (not helped by some gorilla having put it together at some point with a bunch of mismatched nuts, bolts and screws, some of them with hopelessly inadequate cross-heads, and at least one cross-threaded, which I'm going to have to saw off). So I decided to see what the flange nuts were actually like and the answer was...barely done up at all! It seems like the same gorilla who mashed up the collector area forgot to torque up the flange nuts! I've ridden this bike all over Europe and I'm amazed none of them every worked loose and fell off. Still, they made it easy to get the whole exhaust system off!

On the Z1000ST, I solved the refusal to idle by simply turning the idle adjustment screw! Unfortunately another gorilla has been at this one, and the plastic knob on the end of the screw is missing. I've turned it as far as I can so it idles (but not at the correct speed) but I just can't turn the shaft any further with my fingers. I plan to solve this by fitting the outer ring of a guitar concentric control knob! This is 18mm diameter with an 8mm hole for the shaft, which should fit perfectly. It has a grub screw to hold it on, but since it's metal on metal (and I don't want it ever to come off) I'll also glue it on with some epoxy. Oh, the knob is £1.50 on eBay!

I'm waiting for a new K&N air filter element to arrive (the original one is falling to bits) and I might also replace the throttle cables since I'm struggling to get the right free-play adjustment at the twist-grip. Once all that is sorted I can dig out my vacuum gauges and balance the carbs, which should hopefully see it running sweetly. Oh, and some fool has fitted the kind of chrome-trimmed grips that would look best on a Harley Davidson, so those are going to come off and be replaced by plain black Baja foam grips (which I find excellent for combating the white-knuckle-tingle on a long ride).

I'm pulling the forks now for a clean-up and some new oil. I'll send the legs off to be powder coated (someone has painted them, badly) and decide whether it needs new springs.

Still on the to-do list:

Fit Hepco & Becker pannier frames/rack, and fit a Givi top box plate to the rack. This is exactly the same setup as on the 750, so my H&B panniers and Maxxia top-box can be swapped between the two bikes as required.

Fit Goodridge brake hoses (not trusting my life to 37-year-old hoses!)

Replace the shock absorbers (again, 37 years old!)

And lots and lots of little bits of finishing (the bike is really very clean and tidy but I've already spotted lots of areas of worn paint/chrome).

Phew! How long 'til summer?