1976 KZ900 Project

I started putting together a budget for my 76 KZ and wasn't at all surprised to see the tally reach $2500 extremely quickly. This doesn't include much for the motor except for carb kits and tuneup supplies. It includes nothing for labor except the blasting and the powdercoating.
The labor will be provided by moi with love. The vin starts with a Z1F-100xxx and that appears to be a Japan assembled bike and indeed it has triple disc brakes. It also has mag wheels. My saving grace with this bike was the initial cost of $70 dollars from a guy in NH that was selling it for parts. He was a Harley guy, probably glad to get out of his yard finally. He said it was a 650 and I wasn't in the mood to argue with him. He and his buddy gave me a hand loading it into my van. It passed the vin check and I registered it but that's it. It started up with no issues after a new battery and oil change and float bowl check and had good throttle response. The compression isn't the greatest at around 130 but it is the usual with the two inner cylinders a bit lower. The valves are within spec.

It will receive all new bearings and seals. Rebuild master cyls or replace if needed, forks with progressive springs, rear shocks, updated regulator but keeping the points for now. I picked up a chrome Kerker the other day that had never been installed and it will get that too.

I'm contemplating the possibility of selling it afterwards but who knows. I wouldn't want to subject myself to postpartum depression. If I do sell it will be for a sufficiently high enough price just to see the look on the potential buyers face.

When I disassembled the bike there was a dent in the area of the steering head that houses the upper bearing the chord of which was around 1" - - not so small. To fix this i removed the lower race that was not dented and tacked it to a piece of 1/2x2 cold rolled and then cut off with an angle grinder a section slightly larger than the dent and then finished the weld fully. Inserting this into the head i had plenty of leverage to spin out the dent. It worked great but in being cautious i want to check the frame for straightness.

I'm thinking I can use my 5 beam Berger laser level to help with this. I really don't think it could have twisted the frame (whatever caused this dent) but now is the time to check. The new race went in with no trouble at all.

I may get to do this tomorrow because rain is in the forecast again.

Using the cst/Berger 5 beam laser worked well I believe. It's accuracy is dependent solely on the care taking to set up the frame level especially with regards to the area of the neck and the swingarm pivot. The unit self levels making setup a breeze. Placing the unit midway between where the swingarm mounts will suffice to level that area. A bubble level under the main backbone and atop the two lower tubes assured level there. I even set the rake at 27 degrees for the heck of it. A plumb Bob dangling from the neck and bingo, the laser hits the stringline.

Next up is to attach the front end sans wheel and same with the swingarm and recheck.

When buying an old bike with a past uncertain this strikes me as a simple way to assure a solid foundation under your build.

In fact, I bought this level to supplement my rotating laser for my construction business. It did things the other one didn't and with its first use i decided to put in the foundation myself for a 24' x 36' garage with living space above. After stripping the forms my lead carpenter quipped that the foundation was within 1/8 of square and he couldn't believe it.

I just replied, that's okay, next time we'll do better.

This is a great great tool.

I get off on the relativity of it all. A laser is no different than a string line.
I'm like a kid playing with toys still.

I took some pics of the setup but they are on my phone. Later I'll post them.

These are them and one from out the back of the barn window.

Good to hear! So it wasnt a 650?

The 900 motor was painted black by someone. I started cleaning and assessing what I would like to do with it. I like blacked out motors and i like polished motors as well and everything in between. The hardest part is just deciding what to do sometimes. The black invariably gets dinged and chipped and looks crappy then it's more work to restore. For convenience and to speed up the project I've decided to strip most of it and black out the cylinders and the head and use the covers as accents. I'll not go through the trouble of polishing right now as its best to do that with 6 feet of snow on the ground.

I've decided to up the budget to 3K but split it between this one and the 78 ltd to get two safe riders for sometime mid to late September. My son turns 22 this year and has been working all summer on Block Island the lucky young man. I figure one of these bikes might make a good present and coming home gift. I'll put a copy of Persig's book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" under the seat.

He can then finish it as he sees fit or sell it.

I hope he opts for the first choice.

No Saablord, haha. What happened was I put an ad in Craigslist circa 2011 looking for kz650 parts to complete a little project I had been doing and someone answered the ad and said he had a 650 and wanted $70 bucks for it. I got there and knew straight away that it was a 900 or 1000 but I just played stupid because I'm really good at it.

But inside i was kvelling.

Okay, just ran across that 77 kz1000 Speedo cable dumpster fire of a post and realized that my discs are in the rear too so my 900 is a mutt, a mongrel but I don't care about that. What do I expect for $70?

What I do care about is ordering the right parts and being able to call a company if I have an issue whether it's my fault or whatever to expedite the process or better yet, access the product knowledge beforehand like was the case years ago when I called.

Z1E used to have a phone number, that I remember clearly, and if what is being said is now that it has been taken over by a larger interest that deems it in their own best interest to not have the capability to be contacted by phone then that's very unfortunate indeed for my own interest and I'll need to consider that going forward. I'll respect their decision of course because they are the ones that have to justify what happens and why within their company because it's their company. I do the same with mine and customer satisfaction is paramount to me especially when it's me that needs to be satisfied. I'm a tough customer, that I'll admit, I'll pay for my mistakes but I'll not readily forego the convenience of getting on the horn to be able talk to a person rather than type things back and forth through email.

Jeff, you strike me as a very knowledgeable source that is willing to help when possible. If you have any sway with the upper levels of the operation then maybe let them know what has happened here. I was counting on your knowledge of these bikes to help with a few projects that I have right now. If we can collaborate this into a win win then fine, we can do business. If otherwise then no hard feelings either way, it's business and that is all it is. Your product knowledge has been greatly appreciated, I just want you too know that. You are an incredible asset to your company and the time you spend here comes across as genuine love of what you do and not as a company shill.

PS, too many OOS items as well while I'm at it.

Best regards,
Rob aka Togoster

Togoster wrote: Okay, just ran across that 77 kz1000 Speedo cable dumpster fire of a post and realized that my discs are in the rear too so my 900 is a mutt, a mongrel but I don't care about that. .....................

Maybe / maybe not a mutt. I haven't seen a picture of your bike, but in another posting you mentioned it has mag wheels and triple disk brakes. That makes it sound like it is a 1976 KZ900 LTD. If so, you do not have a mutt. The 1976 KZ900 LTD came with mag wheels and triple disk brakes with the front calipers behind the forks. Ed

1976 KZ900-LTD

I personally love the look of the LTD. That voluptuous motor bulging out from under that little tank. This bike has the plain mags with no ridges like on the LTD. It also has the 18" rear wheel. The neck sticker is long gone but the vin is a Z1F-100xxx and not a KTOO.

I'm not all that concerned either way though really. I'm leaning towards just keeping them in the family so I can go riding and work on them with my son. He's not very mechanically inclined at this point but that can be kindled. These are simple bikes to learn on for the most part, at least as compared to the new stuff. Those he'd need to have worked on and that ain't cheap.

They are also conversation starters at the gas pumps or elsewhere. The new Sawoopy 4000 could be right next to an old KZ or has happened my 84 GPZ and someone will walk over and ask if it's an old...

A little attention that way is fun. Especially if he customizes it and makes it his own.

Thanks for the thought tho Ed

Rob

Oh, that one pictured ha a Fiamm horn. That's what I want, got spoiled by my old R100S horns.

Today is the 14th Joe, where the hell are ya? Don't even tell me that your bike had an electrical issue.

You've got till tomorrow.