Where to start???

I picked up a 1980 E-2 about 3 weeks ago.



I needed something to get around on, and when I found this one for sale, my brother STRONGLY encouraged me to get it. I took his advice and after looking around the site, seeing how helpful everyone is, and seeing what many of you have done with your KZ's, I'm quite excited to see what I'll wind up doing with the bike. Right now I'm swimming with ideas and design concepts. But the FIRST thing I need to do is to stop all the drips, backfiring, and rust from spreading any further. Other than mechanical, I NEED to figure out a way to put forward controls on this thing. I'm about 6'3", and these standard controls are killing me.
From the pictures below, what might your suggestions be to stop all the leaking and backfiring.



This is from multiple days of sitting in the same spot, not just one day. And I should've taken the pictures of where the leaks were coming from off the engine BEFORE I washed it, whoops!
It backfires on deceleration and if I let it idle for a bit. And I hear it out of the exhaust and from the carbs I think. (That's a valve clearance issue yeah?) When I bought it, the PO took it to the shop to get the carbs cleaned for me. The bike was sitting for a year or two in his yard. So when I got it, it ran, but not too well. After a little tinkering, and putting back on the main vacuum line, it ran a lot better. Go figure.
But I am still overwhelmed with all I see, and I don't really know where to start. Here is the picture montage!















[attachment:10]DSCF0828.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment:11]DSCF0830.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment:12]DSCF0831.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment:13]DSCF0832.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment:14]DSCF0833.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment:15]DSCF0836.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment:16]DSCF0838.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment:17]DSCF0840.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment:18]DSCF0845.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment:19]DSCF0847.JPG[/attachment]

I just want to ride, I've been in a cage way too long! I've picked up a gasket set and am waiting for the manual to show. But since I do not have near the experience most of the people on this forum, I would greatly appreciate your suggestions about how best to proceed.
In your debt,
Michael

Have the carbs rebuilt, put in an inline filter, set the valve clearence, change the oil and filter and ride it. 99% of the problems with these bikes is the carbs.

Chaotic Reason wrote: "When I bought it, the PO took it to the shop to get the carbs cleaned for me."

The PO lied bigtime! It is not possible to clean the carbs and leave all that crap on them even at the bowl/carb body joint. Those carbs haven't been cleaned in 20 years. I would start by buying a Kawasaki factory service manual and cleaning the carbs and changing all the fluids (especially the oil before you destroy the engine with whatever crap the PO left in the crankcase). Ed

The first thing I did was sand it down and paint it. It was beyond horrible to see. The very next thing I did was change the oil. It had definitely been awhile since it was done. I JUST got a filter for it from Z1, so I will be changing the oil again here soon. I am not riding it until I get the service manual, that I ordered almost 2 weeks ago, and do a thorough tune up on it. As well as change some gaskets where I am noticing the leaks.
I had noticed that the PO lied. We agreed that he would clean the carbs, get it running, and put on some used tires for me since both were flat. Well, it was running when I got it, but about 2 weeks after I got it, as I was leaving for work one morning, I was about 3 blocks from my house when my rear tire went flat. When I got it back to my house I noticed, he did not put new tires on my bike, he PLUGGED the rear tire! There was a 3/4 to 1 inch gash in the tire that he PLUGGED with 2 plugs to make it hold. I'm going over this bike with a fine tooth comb now! Hence me asking for help.

Getting it to go is one thing but getting it to stop is another. You need to flush the brakes out completely since it sat outside long enough to rust that much. Get the big bottle and flush it until no crap comes out the bleeders then check it again after you have rode it for awhile to see if any more came out of the caliper or master sleeve as it might be badly rusted throughout.

The carbs have to be removed and rebuilt, you will need a kit from Z1E and a lot of carb dip. Take lots of photos as you do it, follow the book and don't force anything. Best to get a impact driver for the screws and jets that looks like this:


The wiring has been monkeyed with as there is a very large inline fuse showing on the left side of the battery box that isn't stock and a blue clamp splice showing in the top view of the battery area. The PO might have all of the main power going through the inline fuse he added and then just spliced the other systems hot off of it rather than going through the fuse box. Check the box for power and also for melting. If it is melted with no power to it then his fix is just moving the melting to another point along the harness.

Your gasket set might not have a tach drive seal so you may need to get one of those by itself as looking at your photo of your front leak that is most likely all coming from it and not the head gasket.

Good luck!