Testarossa's 78 KZ1000 Fighter Build

Well, that was certainly optomistic of me to think that I would get my paint booth assembled today. Once I got my head all wiped down and masked off I realized that I had to revise my plan. So I decided to continue with the masking. The head, cylinders, inside countershaft cover, and the points housing all got masked. After staring at the head for a while, I decided to go ahead and paint it with the duplicolor. I couldn't see me trying to paint all of those little nooks and crannies any other way. Now all that I have left to mask is the two case halves. Maybe I can get some painting done tomorrow.

Since when has the man who uses an oven to fight embitterment from re-chroming on spokes worried about safety?





Back when I played paintball we ran 750-1000+ psi through lines rates at 100 psi, it was commonly done and passed safety check at all tourney's. In 5 years of doing it I only had one line let lose on me.... right after a flash fill (bad for the gear but when you have back to back games, it becomes standard) the line popped right next to my ear; screwed up my balance for about an hour (felt like being drunk).


I just cut the blown part of the line out and played my game... I hear now they have made new stuff to deal with the pressures we ran, but the old stuff worked just fine.


BTW, those lines were only about 2-3mm wall thickness...


Generally pressure ratings are 1/4 of the products burst pressure (and rarely does something actually burst at it's burst pressure!).

Easy fellas. I already stated that I agree with Plummen's assesment of the situation. I was ignorant to the danger, but I learned. Plummen was very respectful in handling this situation, and was merely pointing out a potential safety risk on my part. If you guys have a personal beef, I would appreciate it if you handled it outside my build thread. It's already too long, and I don't want it full of rants. I will thank you in advance for your consideration.

porchev914 wrote:

On a side note, the little wife was looking over my shoulder while I was reading a post and she noticed "Kawasaki" being abbreviated to "Kaw". She was of the opinion that I should change the abbreviated form to "Kawk", so that we cam all ride a round on our hotrod Kawks. :dry: :huh: :pinch:

Your wife my be smarter than u think.
my freind tells me that KWAK was a comon term for a Kawi. and a rider is then called a KWAKR.
:laugh: LOOK CLOSELY AT the plate on sTEVES 1428.

I finished my last round of engine case masking this evening. Hopefully I can get you guys some shiny motor pics this weekend.

As promised, I finally applied some paint to my cases today. I just might be able to start re-assembling something for good.







As you can see in the last picture, I started to polish the edges of the fins.

Looks good!

Did you paint it with everything assembled like that?

No Jake, I painted each piece individually. Quite a lot of work with all the masking. Masking really pisses me off. One of those case halves would take an hour to mask, and then once you paint it, the masked sections peel off in 45 seconds. It will be worth the effort in the end. I have a theory regarding motorcycles. No compromises. Any car that you buy is always a compromise. Unless you are a rich man, and can afford multiple vehicles. However, the motorcycle is very much an individual vehicle, so you better have the one that you really want. BTW I just saw a 78 Z1R like yours for sale on CL locally. 4500 with no pictures, wonder if anyone has called him?

looking good.I like the cooling fins ends mill finish.did you decide on the color of the body work?usually I dont know for sure until I actually buy the paint.youre getting close. now its all just clean assembly work.

Go back to page 30. There you will see my bike with a rattlecan mockup of the paint that I will do. It's actually quite a bit lighter blue than what I will actually do, but it's the only metallic blue available at the borg. There is still a little dirty work left, such as prepwork on the frame for paint, and I still need to put the clutch hub rebuild kit in. I am actually starting to feel like I can see over the hill.