1980 KZ1000

I'm going to post this in hopes that you guys help keep me motivated. I have a bad habit of starting projects but not finishing. A friend of mine has been restoring his KZ750, and got me started.
I got this bike back in '90 or so horsetrading. A couple of buddies of mine had a bike shop and I would buy or trade for bikes that people didn't want to pay to get running.
This bike was traded with cash for a running 900 I had at the time.
The bike had been sitting and the carbs and brakes were gummed up and stuck in back in 90 or 91, I forget.
29mm Mikuni smoothbores were in a box.
Here it is in the day...





I dug it out and removed the fairing and sissybar. (and the critter infested airbox)



I had another set of carbs in decent shape and stuck them on today, just for fun. They leaked a bit, but oh well....
Again, this bike has not run in 20 years.
(not sure if I did this right... You might have to click in it or cuss it, I don't know. I wish there was a preview option here...)
edit: click the pic for video link...

Woo hoo!!

Here I go....

killer model...go man go.....keep up the pics and keep up the progress

Today's progress...

After bath....


This stuff in the crankcase ran like water and smelled like old gas...

you do know you have one of the cool/rare ones..right?

never sell it....fix it slow and tight..like you are already because this is worth doing right...you have killer model...the black A-4 1980 is the shit!!!!


they are not the holy grail of KZ but they are up there


here are a few picks to keep you going

the last two pics are not A-4's they are in order a euro MKII and a friends 79 A3-A...but they are examples of some clean MKII's

I've waited and saved up for 20 years to restore this bike.


I got a new black Kerker header last night on ebay....

nice...that is the route i shoulda gone...i got about that into a old school one trying to make it nice...shoulda bought a new one...black headers on these are super cool

Pulled the rear wheel today. Tire is rotted. Bearings a bit suspect...
Somebody tried maple syrup for brake fluid....
Yuk...

I love this bike...

:grin:


BTW...
To do a period correct restoration, would braided stainless brake lines be acceptable?

And.....the frame paint seems to be a bit off gloss..
Any rattle can color close?

boy we all wrestle with the frame being touched in spots...to do it right means down to frame and often down to metal or close...

which opens another can of worms/debate....some are preaching powder coat some are spraying em with different can paints...one group swears a epoxy sprayed right with a clear (i think this is the best for the effort of stripping and going the full route) will resist the years and fluids...i think the shooting epoxy flat black is gonna grab and hold and a clear will seal/shine and protect the paints from gas ect...seems the 35 yr old kz frames that were painted held up well enough......

steel lines are not against the grain of a big cc kawi..unless your trying to do a full factory resto....

i also googled PJ1 frame paints and thought the product seamed like it could be made to work....

here is a picture of the gunky brake fluid as it i found it in my frozen rear brake (barn find 1979 MKII A-3)after running some new through for a few times and bleeding it was much better...another pic of the rim after it first cleaning in a few decades i bet

Ok. I'm not doing a full restoration. My plan is a fully ridable 10 ft. bike. (Looks perfect from 10 foot away)
The frame seems to be semi gloss? Semi flat? It's not gloss, fer sur...


The braided line deal...
No factory resto.
I would like period mods tho...
I was young and dumb an rode stock sh*t in the day.. :lol: (I turned 50 last year...)

No hillbillys I rode with had braided lines, but I like the look, and surely you west coast guys had them?

Oh man...

I was just trying to get the rear caliper working properly...

SNOWBALL!


To the guys at my favorite local dealer that busted their nuckles getting that 30 somethin tire off the wheel....

Thanks!

lol...


Vintage Koni shocks should be easy to rebuild huh?



I hate rust....

Too bad about the rusty shafts, the rest of the shock is an easy rebuild. I have a set of those Street Strokers like Tri's, but they have rusted shafts too. I'm jealous that his are so nice (as is the rest of the bike)

FWIW, Z1 Enterprises has black coated braided brake lines from Goodridge if you don't want the silver. I used them on one of my bikes. They look OEM from 10'

Santa wears a brown suit...

Does anyone know anything about gold anodized end caps? Was it something cool?


Working on the rear wheel and brake. I guess I'll do the chain and sprockets as long as I'm here..

I ordered the Caswell zinc plate kit the other day. It should be here Tuesday.