Got it! 1976 KZ900 Ltd

Link14 I saw this on Craigslist and thought you might have an interest.
cleveland.craigslist.org/mcy/922494406.html

A set of exhausts for your bike. The guy is asking $100.00.

While we're strutting, here's a link about mine. :laugh:


Patton's 900 LTD

[Click on each pic for larger view]

Wow Patton, great album and a very impressive bike. Gave me lots of things to think about. Do you really need an oil cooler? Oh, I really like your sissy bar. I'll bet those are hard to find.:laugh:

Gringo, well I e-mailed the guy to see if the exhaust is still available and groveled for some pics. We'll have to see how it goes.

Thanks again guys

hey patton i also have one of those nylon sprockets i had never seen another until now. i used it for a while and it worked great but i was parinoid about wrecking it so i put on an steel sprocket and put that one in my stash of neet parts.

Definitely, get those pipes if they are original! (Jardines 4 into 2) If they are anywhere close to being OK. They are in my opinion the single most hard to get item when restoring these bikes. They are few and far between, and then when they come up for sale, they are rashed, rusted and dented beyond decent use. that's why I just bit the bullet and did the Vance & Hines 4 into 1. (I was going to make a trip to CA and steal LTDRider's pipes when he wasn't looking.) Good luck with the pipes. Let us know what you end up doing.

Very nice red hot beauty you got there Patton. I've never seen a sissy bar on these. Looks good and Very 70's. (And maybe 60's) :laugh:
Skippr

Very impressive LTD Patton, nice work.

Great bike, looks to be in better shape than my 76 ltd was when I picked it up. Good to hear all the positive comments on it as well.

Update on the bike. Best news so far is I got my seat back yesterday! It looks great and unfortunately these pictures don't do it justice.

Rest of the update:

Exhaust - Still haven't figured it what it is, but probably not stock. Ltdrider pointed out that I had a centerstand that wasn't standard on the Ltd's. The exhaust must have been changed to accomodate the centerstand.

Tank - Dumped the varnish out and flushed it in a parts washer. Since I'm not going to be messing with it for awhile, I went ahead and put about 6 oz of 10W oil in it and coated everything. Looking inside most of the tank looks ok but I've got some scaley rust along the left bottom seam.

Petcock - Dumb, Dumb, Dumb . After soaking for over an hour in solvent, still couldn't move the the handle, so I very carefully grabbed the handle with a wrench and proceeded to snap it off. I was so pissed! Anyways, just won a '77 KZ1000 petcock off of e-bay that should work.

Carbs - Hit the outsides with the pressure washer and the insides with parts tank, carb cleaner, and compressed air. Waiting for some tests.

Engine - With the carbs off and the sparkplugs out, I did a cold compression test (after changing the oil and rotating the engine by hand for a while) and the results weren't great #1-90 psi, #2-70 psi, #3-60 psi, and #4-30 psi. Next is to check the valve clearances and try to figure out how to do a leakdown test.

May not be much going on for the next bit. Saving up for a gasket kit and the temp in the garage is around 2 deg F.

Well, after losing 4 bids on Ebay for a stock grab bar I finally got one!

Here's my chief assistant mechanic trying out the new seat and grab bar:

Not as much progress on the engine front. This last weekend I checked the valve clearances which were all in spec (.08-.10 mm) so I put on carbs, installed new spark plugs, hooked up a small temporary tank and cranked her up!

Started on the 5th revolution and sounded great. I thought I might have issues with #1 cylinder since it was cold but I tapped the bowl to carb #1 and wiggled the gas line and the #1 header started warming up...then I ran out of gas.

I'd spent most of the afternoon on the bike and knew my time was almost up, but I had a chance to check the compression on #4 cylinder with the engine warm, and it was still 30 psi. :huh: I'd have thought with the valve clearances good and not seeing any white smoke, I would have had better.....unless the valves aren't seating.

Next steps, yeah I know Patton... a leak-down test. That and saving money for whatever that tells me.

g,day link a nice old z mate
just a thought i had a real good signwriter do my pin striping on my twin had the tank painted colour then rubbed back with 2000 paper then took it to signwriter he cut out the stipes and put them on then took it back and had clear put over all ,one of our mates here sent me a pic of the 78 b3 twin original stipes this guy did it all from a pic i printed ,your lucky i guess to still have the old original layout
worth a though mate
have fun and good luck

Thanks grace, it's going to be a while before I've got enough funds for the paint job. I'd thought about having the pin stripes painted on, the guy who does it did a great job on another '76 kz900-A4 in town, just thought I'd try and keep it a little more original. Still kind of erks me to pay over 100 USD for 2 USD worth of pinstripe material, but I knew going into this that it was going to cost me some bucks.

Thanks for the idea. Have a great day!

no worries mate \i think last year it cost me $185 aus to get the stipes put on he matched all of it from colour samoles and multi stripe rolls of the stuff ,thought alot easier than me stuffing it up half way along the tank ,i guess if you went original colours etc your only lookind at gold stipes are they ? they told me that the gold ones were the easiest to match and replace
good luck with it look forward to seeing your results ,good investment ,they selling over here for a good jaffa or any z a or b around $15k plus
cheers graeme