1982 KZ1000p project progress

Hello fellow KZriders.

I picked up this 1982 KZ1000p about a week ago. I got it from a police officer in Lake Havasu, AZ and rode it 5 hours to San Diego. The body is very clean for how old it is with zero rust. Engine sounds and starts up great but needs some attention. It has 52k miles on it and I paid $1200.

I don't want to just do another cafe, bobber, or brat styled bike so I plan on taking ideas from each style and making something a little different. This won't be a full tear down because I like being able to ride the thing as I progress and it's in pretty good nick already.

I'm new to riding and working on motorcycles so I'm learning as I go. Jeff @ Lach Motorsports is helping me with the tricky bits, I was impressed with his work in the past. I have nearly 18 years systems/software engineer/web development experience so I plan to use this as well as selling off the parts I remove to fund the project. In the end I expect to pay a couple grand out of pocket.





I had the shop go through the entire bike to give me a better idea of the state of things. It turned out that the chain masterlink was missing the clip so I'm lucky to have made it home. The bike is also low on compression (around 100-110 psi and 85 psi in the #3) and oil in the cylinder test shows it's the rings so that will need to get done at some point. Currently it's getting valves adjusted and a leakdown test to get a better idea of the extent of things.

Electrical is a little bit of a mess but that's something I'm more comfortable with. I'd like to replace the fuse box. The charging system was generating 14 volts at idle so that's great.

The rear shocks were adjusted completely different from each other, one was half way the other maxed out (not sure how I didn't notice). Suspension is in good shape so I can save it for a little later but I do plan to address it.

Here is what I got for it so far.

• Ordered the factory service manual
• EMGO Classic Vintage Headlight and some fork ears that should fit the stock turn signals
• The front wheel was from 1997! I'm just replacing them both with Bridgestone Battlax bt45v tires.
• Needs new brake pads at the front (had 20% left).
• New chain and sprocket. I'm changing it to 530 15/35 or 15/38. Sunstar sprockets and DID xring chain.
• Vance & Hines 4 into 1 exhaust.
• K&N pod filters
• Rejet kit
• Some new rubber parts and gaskets.

I plan to make a custom seat using a 1981-1982 KZ1000 CSR LTD seat pan. I want to remove the front fender and get a fork brace. I need to do something about the massive rear fender, not sure if I want to chop it up. They are really cheap on ebay and mine has a bunch of chips in it anyway. I have some drag bars or superbike bars that I will put on it for now. I want to keep the "Police 1000" side covers to be ironic, there something about making a police bike loud and obnoxious that appeals to me. I definitely want the bike to remain some original character.

As for foot controls I'm still trying to decide. I think I will go with some universal rearsets unless I can find something from a different bike that I can make work. I'm not in a hurry, the floorboards are very comfortable and clearance is better than I expected.

I get it back from the shop next week and I will take some more pictures. The back has been stripped down so it's front heavy and removing that anchor off the front and mounting the headlight and signals will be my first task.

I have been looking for 530 sprocket conversion. It looks like the front sprocket is unique to only a few models but for the rear sprocket I can use anything that fits a "KZ550C, KZ550D, KZ550H, KZ650C, KZ650D, KZ750M, KZ750G, KZ750B".

At least this is what I gather from reading what bikes support the sprockets listed on the z1enterprises 630 to 530 conversion page.

Does anyone know if this is true? I notice z1enterprises only carries the JT brand but I wanted to get a Sunstar rear and I found the Sunstar 2-534438 that I'm thinking will fit.

The sprockets will be in next week, hopefully everything fits. The throttle cable was about to snap so getting a new one. Without the exhaust on the left side it looks a little weird with the kickstand sticking out so far and the huge mounting tabs. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. The metal bracket used to hold the front fender on should work as a fork brace in a pinch and shine up nicely, I may mount a small fender to it at some point.

I will defiantly need to clean up the electronics, lots of electrical tape and some frayed and exposed wires. It was clear that it had electrical issues in the past. I wouldn't want to ride it in the rain. I may just make a new wiring harness because I don't need most of the wires on the thing.

I'll take some pictures of the bike early next week, I forgot to do it while at the shop, Here is some more weight I removed.



Just waiting on throttle cable and the front sprocket.

Did a leakdown, it looks like the valves are each leaking around 12-26%. I'm going to run a fuel system cleaner that will hopefully restore some of the compression.

The rear wheel bearings are a bit notchy so I ordered a set of those and I'm replacing the front wheel bearings as well. The rear sprocket fit great, no problems there.

The new exhaust is on but it hits the old rubber mounting tab and doesn't quite line up. I'm going to cut off the old exhaust mounting tabs because I don't want that rubber melting to the exhaust. I'll use a bracket to secure it to the frame.

Can also see the headlight mocked up, still need to attach the turn signals and wire everything.

Your bike looks good - thanks for posting the pictures - I have a 2005 P24 and have been wondering how a Vance & Hines 4 into 1 would fit - It looks like it fits pretty well.Thanks again and good luck with the rest! Scott

Good luck with your project blakeem. Maybe this is something for a bit of inspiration,if you need it;

www.barebonerides.com/2000-kawasaki-kz1000p-chp-cafe-racer.html

Thanks for the kind words and that is defiantly one of the bikes I was looking at along with this one by Evan Burgess (youtube channel) .

I got the bike back from the shop today.

Without the baffle the exhaust sounds insane! It's mounted to the threaded hole just above the one that holds the stock exhaust that had to be cut off. I'll take some good pictures of it this weekend, I know I was looking everywhere for pictures before I got it and couldn't find any.

This weekend I plan to wire up the headlight/front signals, replace handlebar, get a small crankcase breather filter, clean up the exhaust mount, and run some Chevron with Techron fuel system cleaner to try to clean carbon buildup on the valves. I'm also looking for a transparent inline fuel filter and fuel petcock rebuild kit.

Friday night I wired up the headlight and turn signals all neat and heat shrink wrapped. This morning I found a crank case breather that fits. I removed the ugly chain guard.

I tested out the two handlebars that I have and they are way too small for the bike, there wasn't enough room for the controls. I think I'm going to get some wide drag bars and do some research on what rear-sets to get.

I ran the bike without the baffle and it's way too loud, although it does sound awesome. I don't want to have to ride with ear plugs and I know it would piss off the neighbors every time I warm it up. I removed the sound deadening material wrapped around the baffle and put it back in and now it's just about perfect. I has the same low metallic growl but without making my ears bleed.

I wired the carbs to the frame to support them. I cleaned up some wiring. I cleaned the wheels, the rear was solid black. I tweaked the suspension, it was screwy after loosing so much weight. I buffed the tank with a little simichrome & microfiber cloth and all the marks on the side came out.

I have so much to do, I hardly know where to start.

blakeem wrote: I wired the carbs to the frame to support them. I cleaned up some wiring. I cleaned the wheels, the rear was solid black. I tweaked the suspension, it was screwy after loosing so much weight. I buffed the tank with a little simichrome & microfiber cloth and all the marks on the side came out.

I have so much to do, I hardly know where to start.

AWESOME PROJECT!!
Looking forward to more pics and progress reports!
Regards
Ed

I finally found a 1981 KZ1000 LTD seat on Ebay that will be here early next week. I ordered the widest drag bars I could find, 32'' and I think they should be better proportioned to the bike compared to the dinky 28'' ones. This will also be here by next week.

My clutch cable broke at the lever on the way home Father's day so I had to get a tow. A new cable won't be here until Friday. While waiting I re-mounted the gauges below the mounting point rather than above lowering them by about half an inch. I flipped the fork ears around so the headlight is closer to the gauges. Since I had to cut my nice turn signal wiring I'm using bullet connectors for the signals this time.

I was seriously contemplating chopping the rear fender just below the taillight however now I'm thinking I should just remove it entirely and go all LEDs for taillight and turn signals. I think it would save a lot of weight and I really like the look of LEDs on old motorcycles. Maybe some flush mounted ones on the brackets in back and stalk ones in front on the fork ears. Maybe a red LED strip across the back or some cat eye style brake lights. I'd like to wire them all up as running lights.

More pictures next week once I get the handlebars and seat.

I didn't end up having any updates last week because I was shipped the wrong handlebars and the new ones will be here today. I also wanted to get a better idea of what I'm going to do and get a little more done before doing an update.

I went though some old parts bins for inspiration and found some small chrome teardrop turn signals from a Harley that I want to mount on the back. I think I'm going to go all retro style with the lights. I need to find something similar to put on the front.

I bobbed the rear fender just below the brake light. I also removed a couple tabs on the frame. I had to remove the center rear tab for the 1981 LTD/CSR seat to fit properly. My Dremel wasn't able to grind down the weld so I bought an angle grinder for that. It also made short work of the left side exhaust mounting tab and the rear fender.

When I got home from the ride yesterday I noticed my right side cover missing, it fell off on the freeway somewhere. I wasn't able to find it and it's probably destroyed. To replace it I cleaned everything up a bit and put on some metal lath that I painted satin black. This is only temporary, I eventually want to clean up and hide all the internals and have no side covers. I may get some black drilled metal sheet, I think it may look decent until I can get a new harness and smaller/relocated battery.

I was having gasoline leaking out of the intake when I forgot to take it out of PRI so the carbs are having a complete rebuild to seal everything up. I'm also having new pilot jets installed because it has been requiring full choke to start and was sputtering at low throttle.

I did a couple hard group rides and since the fuel treatment finished and I'm burning a lot of oil, around a quart every 100 miles! It spits oil mist out the exhaust when I let off the throttle but otherwise it runs and sounds good. It looks like I need valves and rings done pretty bad so I'd like to get it done by the end of next month.

If anyone has any ideas of what should be checked, replaced, or cheaply upgraded while the engine is apart I'm all ears. I was looking at the crankshaft specs for various models, it seems there may be a cheap swap I could do. I don't want to do more than I have to but I'm all for cheap/easy performance upgrades.

Pictures tonight or tomorrow once I get the handlebars on. I ended up getting the Emgo Wide Magna Handlebars, They are 32'' wide and look like dirt tracker bars. Rear sets are also planned.