1975 Z1B 900 restoration in Alaska

I have this bike sitting in my shop at work up here in Alaska, it belongs to another employee, it was given to him by an ex-driver that used to work for me and due to health issues cannot drive much less ride anymore.
I have made an offer and it appears that I will own the bike, I was originally going to pass it up as an old obsolete bike that should just be parted out. I'm not paying a lot for it and we may agree on a rifle swap.

I have two others, one a new Yamaha 1300 and the other a restored 1980 Honda CX 500 Deluxe with a Vetter fairing.

The Z1B looks like crap, seat needs a complete re-cover, engine is all surface oxidized, fuel tank has rust stains inside and paint is all faded out.It turned over easily and appears to have good compression but would not start until I cleaned the point contacts, and then it fired right up with a shot of starting fluid, I will have to use a temporary fuel supply until I clean the tank, I have a setup I used for my Honda, I will probably work on getting it fully running in a day or two on gas, and then I will plan a strategy about what would be the best thing for it like re-polishing the engine or just painting it, I would like to see it shine myself.

Because its been exposed to the elements the chain is all rusted up, the header pipes may have been chrome at one time,they are all rusted right now, they are Kerkers and go to the right side of the bike only. On another forum some people say this year is sought after pretty much and after a good restoration tend to sell at some pretty good prices. I don't know if that still applies, I do know our market in Alaska is pretty much all Harley and Goldwings and not so much for metric vintage bikes.

Sorry no pics, I would when it looks better though. I can do almost anything as I have been a mechanic for 40 years or so, I am still not overly excited about this bike but only by the fact that many others see it as something that needs to be restored that I'm willing to give it some TLC.

Howdy. You will find many more people here at KZR that know and love the Z1's and will be able to get any info you need. I promise not to make any mean comments, btk makes me angry sometimes :blush: Good luck with the project!

I was posting in the vintage section of the Kawasaki forums but the replies were minimal, lots of info though, and then I heard of this forum.

When I bought my CX 500 I found a specific forum for it and it helped me tremendously.And I shared a lot of my ideas as well.

Yeah, most of the people here are Z1 nuts, and those who have other bikes (like me) all ride bikes similar to the Z1 in one way or another, so basically it's a hotbed of knowledge and passion for your bike. Check out the filebase under the KZ info tab at the top and you can find lots of writeups and whatnot.

Here's a little motivation
kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_marketp...&adid=3632&Itemid=46

There is one thing that I think I am understanding is that the 1975 Z1B had actually more horsepower than the next year when the KZ series started, something like 82hp? That Kawasaki felt it was too much for the rest of the bike?

Silverado6x6 wrote:

There is one thing that I think I am understanding is that the 1975 Z1B had actually more horsepower than the next year when the KZ series started, something like 82hp? That Kawasaki felt it was too much for the rest of the bike?

The story is that for the 1976 year model, Kawasaki produced the KZ900...and there were some changes from the 1975 year model. Folks tend to regard the KZ900 as a detuned version of the Z1 series (due to the influence of Ralph Nader (really!)). One of these changes was going from VM28 carbs to VM26 carbs. Hotrodders viewed this as a step backwards in performance, but some Kawasaki afficiandos regard the KZ900 as the overall best handling/performing of the 900 series. Personally, I see the Z1B as being better looking than the KZ900A4

Do a lot of people swap out for the dual disc brakes from a later year to the Z1B?

Silverado6x6 wrote:

Do a lot of people swap out for the dual disc brakes from a later year to the Z1B?

The quick answer is yes...many folks used wheels/disks, plumbing etc from the later LTD series...but, if you wish to do a true restoration, Kawasaki did offer a dual disk kit in 1975. These kits came standard on the Euro exports but had to be ordered for the North American exports. If you can locate one of the period OEM upgrades, and they are pricey (the last one I am aware of sold for US$1100 just for the kit!), then you'll not detract from the restoration.

Wow, $1100 US for the double disc kit. Wish I'd kept the oem kit I paid $ 139.00 for in 76. Kinda like all those 4-4 stock Z1 pipes I threw out putting on headers.

Jack wrote:

Wow, $1100 US for the double disc kit. Wish I'd kept the oem kit I paid $ 139.00 for in 76. Kinda like all those 4-4 stock Z1 pipes I threw out putting on headers.

I confess to bad judgements also...threw away new 4into4 pipes for my Z1B, new 4into2 pipes from my KZ1000A1, and 4into 2 pipes from my KZ1000B3...all for cheap 4into1 headers...because it was cool to run those (they did sound good, though.

With the Z1, the bikes value is directly proportional to how original it looks.

If you plan to either keep the bike as an appreciating asset, or sell it on to cash it in, you want to retain the stock look.

Once you start swapping parts out, the collector/enthusiast will immediately reduce their perceived value of the bike by the non-standard parts on the bike... ...it's important to retain the original parts - many are date-coded - and a restorer may want to go thru the effort of refinishing marginal parts to retain authenticity.

Restored / mint Z1B's fetch $15,000 or more. A couple of years ago, a low-mileage Z1B sold for over $17,000 on ebay. While the bike market is a little depressed at this time, Z1's are still selling at very decent prices.

If you plan on just riding the bike, avoid any permanent modifications to frame and components - these devalue the bike.