Son and I want to start this 76 KZ900

THe avatar is actually a Photoshop mockup of a bike, Not real. I'm building something similar though. My build thread is in the projects area.

I saw the wrench monkee article. some very cool bikes there. this one has some ground clearance issues, you can see his pipe has been dragging.

:huh:

After 18+ years buried in the garage, my son and I go to start it. I follow everyone's advice; new oil change, in-line filter on new fuel lines, new battery and a squirt of oil once a year in the spark plug hole.

The key that has been in the ignition for at least 15 years is no were to be found. :huh: :huh: :huh:

If this was not so funny I would scream.

Back to searching the garage. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Is it in the seat lock?

We found the key.

Of course it's in the box of KZ parts my wife organized on a shelf. DUH!

What is missing is the threaded coupler that holds a petcock onto the tank. We replaced the internal O-ring and a black rubber washer on the bottom of the petcock bowl. There two black rubber washers left that must go to the coupler I can't find (no the wife did not hide it :woohoo: ) Were do I buy one of these?

We ran fuel to the bike, with a gift lawn mower tank. It looks like there are two fuel inlets on these Mikunis (between carbs 1-2 and 3-4) on swivels. As soon as fuel got to carbs 3 and 4 this swivel started leaking. Is this a carb rebuild issue? Those two swivels must have o-rings on them.

I love this web site. It has become a gold mine of information.

Stop! You have the carb bowl overflow tube hooked up too the vacum line for carb adustment.

Whew! Glad someone saw THAT.

This is how it came 19 years ago.

Thanks for the heads up. Do they just hang down under the battery towards the ground? Do the stay on the rubber carb boots or the float bowls?

I respectfully suggest you buy a Kawasaki factory service manual for your bike (they’re usually available on eBay, just be sure to get the one for your exact year/model) and go through the manual carefully before starting the bike. You should familiarize yourself with the bike using the manual then check the bike over to see if the various systems are ok before starting it. For example, have you checked the condition of the brakes and brake fluid (I’m betting it’s now Jello). If the PO attached the carb overflow hoses to the carb holder vacuum ports (as shown in your pic) there’s really no telling what other bizarre crap you may run into. I hate to think of the consequences of starting a bike with those hoses hooked up that way. Please check out all the systems before doing anything like starting or riding the bike that may injure you or damage the bike. Ed

Thanks 650ed.

I am wondering if one of his grown sons wanted this bike and did that to the lines. They were there when I bought it from the ex. They said it was the only one of the four in the garage that ran. She appeared to just want her two car garage back.

I am grateful you caught that in the photo.

OMR sent me the PDF of the Factory Z1 shop manual. I printed the 160 pages and I am putting it in a binder. I will look for the 76 KZ900 factory manual also.

The Haynes book does not have the best tips and images, because it covers 73-80.

Thanks again.

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Thank you for the tips.

I just bought a 1976 KZ900 Factory Service Manual for $11.50 on Ebay. If it's as good as the one OMR sent me, I will print it also.

:woohoo:

I talked to several folks who have rebuilt Japanese fours (mostly Honda 550s).

They with 95K on a motor stored 20 years (even with no fuel in the carbs and tank) it would be to my advantage to have the carbs and engine rebuilt. So I guess I'll be posting photos of a tear-down and paint job, while carbs and engine are traveling to somewhere(?).

I only paid $500 for this bike, so what if I am out $5k when it is all done? Its either this amount or go buy a used ZRX1200. Where's the fun it that? :laugh:

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