Wakt out KZ1000

Here's what I'm starting with: 1978 KZ1000

with cash and some love it will be as cool as Bob's z1. Im pretty much gonna copy his. Cause that's cool.

Can't wait to get started. From what I read frame bracing is key. Im debating dropping the coin ($640) for BS34s from George. I think it will be worth the dough, but I'm not even sure of this bike's condition. I can spin it with the kick start, but nothing is in ready to run status.

Im pulling the carbs in a day or two to clean them up, and reinstall. Tank is very clean inside, even though the bike sat 4 years. Hoping they drained the carbs too.

Since the fork is all wadded up I've been looking into stealth upgrades, such as the 90s zx11 front end and brakes. I want to keep spoke wheels to keep with the era.. the era before mushrooms were replaced with stupid aluminum mags. I guess too much cocaine in the 80s brought mag wheels and square sealed beams into our darker history. Spoke wheels just look better on these to me.

Anyone have a measurement of the space between the dual rotor setup?

8

2

3

3

6

1

-Wakt

Why do you want to ditch the stock carbs for BS 34s? Seems like an expensive way to gain a lot of headaches to me.

Also, the Ninja forks tend to be pretty short. I think the 636 front end is the longest of the bunch.

Jon (KAW-A-HOLIC) high sided because of the short forks. Now he's done riding for good.
Steve

Thanks for chiming in. Decided against the ninja fork.

Old turd is missing a few parts and removing some is proving to be annoying too.

Someone robbed the ignition lobe. there are Dyna 2000 coils installed, and old points, but no lobe.

I was tryin to remove the several extra front foot pegs, but they are mounted by the lower engine bolts. HOW IN THE WORLD do I get those off? The nut on the back side is visible, but no way to get a regular wrench for counter hold.

Pinesol carb clean... they are turning out pretty nice.

I removed bag mounts, and there is this extra tab on each side of the frame. Do they all have this?

Those tabs are on all KZ1000's. I have them on my 1980 LTD.

Are those carbs 26 mm or 28 mm?

waktaylor wrote: I removed bag mounts, and there is this extra tab on each side of the frame. Do they all have this?

I think you are referring to the rear turn signal mounts. I don’t recommend it, but if you decided to cut them off and can do it reasonably non-destructively I’m in the market for a pair.

I think they are for helmet hooks.
Steve

Did some thorough grime removal today.
Also found that the PO had replaced the lower engine mount bolts with smaller ones. I guess the stock nut is large enough to hold itself. All good cordless impact got it out.

Carbs are headed to WiredGeorge. #2 is stuck and #3 is sticky.
Ordered Dyna 2000 and plug wires since the PO removed the advancer and ignition lobe.

Removed rusty battery tray. Will do something with that. Im gonna need the 9" rear engine bolt and spacers soon. PO took it out for whatever reason.

[/URL]

It's a good idea to squirt some penetrating oil on all the nuts and bolts and give them a few light taps with a hammer in advance of removing them.
I used an epoxy paint on my battery box and it is holding up great, Z1E sells the rubber bumpers that go in the box

Surprisingly most everything is coming off easy. The lower engine bolts were the wrong ones since PO used a regualr nut instead of the tear drop ones. I made me a nice order from Z1 yesterday. Im about to pull the trigger on swingarm brakes wheels and fork.