1980 Z1R at a snails pace

Glad to see you taking this project on!

I am doing my 1978 and it after years it is finally on the homestretch.

The Zee One Are is a rare bird and I am happy that there is one less being scrapped thanks to you!

There used to be a 1980 in this town that had a 1978 paint job and a 1978 that had a 1980 paint job. No lie. Haven't seen either in years.

I sold Kawasakis in 1977 thru 1981... I sold 10 or 11 of the 15 or 20 sold here back then. A LOT of the owners immediately had them custom painted and hung pipes on them. Very few originals eve survived. I sold the only Molly TC in town to a radio deejay who let me race it at the strip a few times where I turned a 10.98 on my first pass. He eventually got it into the 9's with wheelie bars and the boost cranked up. great memories!

Good luck!

Will post some pics of mine soon.

Wayne

300kph wrote: Glad to see you taking this project on!

I am doing my 1978 and it after years it is finally on the homestretch.

The Zee One Are is a rare bird and I am happy that there is one less being scrapped thanks to you!

There used to be a 1980 in this town that had a 1978 paint job and a 1978 that had a 1980 paint job. No lie. Haven't seen either in years.

I sold Kawasakis in 1977 thru 1981... I sold 10 or 11 of the 15 or 20 sold here back then. A LOT of the owners immediately had them custom painted and hung pipes on them. Very few originals eve survived. I sold the only Molly TC in town to a radio deejay who let me race it at the strip a few times where I turned a 10.98 on my first pass. He eventually got it into the 9's with wheelie bars and the boost cranked up. great memories!

Good luck!

Will post some pics of mine soon.

Wayne

welcome.you should post some pics we need more z1r's.
where you located?

leon

I'm in Winnipeg and I regret not taking pictures from the beginning as it looked like it was ready fro the scrapyard... Bent frame, completely rusted old Kerker and scrapes everywhere. Hideous candy lime pain that was so badly sunfaded and all the body parts were dented, gouged and ground. Found nice used stuff and had them expertly painted. The owner had the original pipe and the engine cases were clean as he had engine crash guards. The frame was bent and I sourced a parts bike and did a swap. It is about a month away from completion. Will post lots of pics when done.

Wayne

More Z1Rs ... MORE Z1Rs!!!
Well, how goes it? ...oh yeah: welcome! ...but how goes it?

-KR

No too much has happened since i last talked. Work is killing me and i ahve been gone on weekends which reduces time in the barn to an effective Zero hours per week. Odd things I have been doing:
Parts:
Ordered some new superbike bars that i will try and drill out at my buddies. I will let you know how angry i get.
Ordered some new fasteners. wooo. But yeah, actually woo. Not flashy bt it is a good thing to do.
Ordered 4 new signals.

Put the fork ear on the bike. it is real purty.

Tried to order some foam for around the instruments and for the seat trim but I didn't find anything and I have enough rubber innertubes in my house that should be able to whip something up.

Pulled the gauge cluster and cleaned it and used a lot of tape to mark out the wiring. Oh yeah, while I was gradually pulling bulbs out of the bottom of the tach and speedo I realized that there may have been an easier way. I still finished what I was doing though. I then realzed that I could have just unclipped the 2 connectors. *sigh*

I have made a paper template for a hidden fender for under the seat. I made it with the lid of my sneaker box and it fits pretty good. I don't think the cardboard will be a good material. i ahve to visit a scrapyard and get some sheet metal to try and make it. I think 2mm (ish) will work. I may have a line on a band saw at a buddies place of work.

I am in the process of measuring the remaining plastic bits of the fascia for the gauges. I am thinking about making a version out of sheet metal from a template made out of ....yep, cardboard from a sneaker box. Has anybody done anything like this? It would not be similar to the original, basically just a faceplate that goes around the cluster and has ports for the lights in the center. I would have to figure out how I would do it. I have seen the carbon version and know that is waaaaay out of me and my wallet's league.

Somebody on here has a saddle and I am just going to ahve to man up and take it off of his hands for a KILLER deal. This is oing to be sweet.

I think I already talked about the new clutch perch.

My brother in law has a sander and I am going to try and do my first bits of painting: The tailpiece. I need more time and I am looking forward to geting these parts in teh mail. It snowed up here on the moutains this morning. Winter is coming.

The snail inches forward. Man, looking through these projct threads can be a humbling experience. Yet motivating too.

I got some new parts and got them. Guess I vhae to do something with them instead of letting them sit in my living room. A buddy has a couple of machining tools at his work so I will try and do a couple of things with them. Not sure if it will be possible to do everything but i will find out tomorrow.

There are 3 things that i am going to try and do:
1. Drill out the handlebars so that i can route the wiring from the left side.
2. "build" a hidden rear fender. I have never liked the big plastic piece that hangs down. So I am cutting one out of scrap aluminum.
3. Build a new gauge cluster fascia. I think that this is the crux. THere will be three parts that are terraced. It looks good with paper but something tells me that doing it in metal will be a teensy bit more difficult.

I installed the new signals but there is a bit of a problem: The old broken rear signals had 2 wires, the front signals had 3 wires. THe replacements had 1 wire less respectively. As this is not an original bike the wiring and wiring colors don't match. So I ahve to figure it out. Some reading in the electrical section might be in order.

The tools


The super complex rear fender template made out of a sneaker box


This is all that was left of the dash. There is now even less. I cut out the center box that contains the lights. I am going to try and attach it to the metal plate underneath. Working on that still.


The paper template for the dash. THe upper and lower portions will be recessed behind the main portion for the tach/speedo.


THe metal ready for cutting.


Need to sand the tail section and repaint it. Hopefully I can get the saddle under control before the end of the year. I am looking at ordering a supertrapp can. THen all i have to do is bolt a couple of pieces back on and it should be good. Although i am sure that Custer said something similar and we saw how that worked out.

Oh yeah, and here is a nice hike that I did not long ago. DOn't forget to get outside.

can't wait to see how your dash turns out.

leon

oh my

killer Z1R...KILLER

Here's what I learned this weekend:
1. I am glad I took pics of the bike before I disassembled because I could not remembre which wires went where as I tried to slowly cobble the front end back together again.
2. I suck at teh machining. It took forever and I only got half done. I used an air compressor dremmel on steroids and might have taken off a bit too much at times. Hand files seem to be the way to go when it comes to fine work. More work is needed but I have a good start.

my snail needs a walker! :woohoo: