Some assembly required. 1996 Kawasaki GPz1100

My trolling the local CL motorcycle parts section popped with another Kawasaki muscle bike rescue this week. This is a 1996 GPz1100 water cooled monster. Rated at 129hp on the web sites I hit. I need a owners and service manual. A total basket case in the true meaning of the word. I was literally picking up parts and fasteners that were scattered all over this guy's garage floor. I did try to show up prepared by taking my 2 wheeler and a few empty 5 gal buckets, shop towels and citrus hand cleaner, but this genius had already scattered the engine, He had even dismounted the tires from the rims. BUT, I was thoroughly amazed that this guy had a clean MO title >in his name< AND a key that fits all 3 locks. The title is already applied for. He had been advertising this for about a month for parts.. he had 4 pictures of the tires he pried off of the rims and one vague pic of the empty frame sitting on the floor.. Had this rocket surgeon posted some better pics, and left the bike unmolested, it would have sold faster and for more money... his loss, I hope is my gain. We shall see.



He said he did not check the oil for quite some time.. Kinda lame excuse considering checking the oil is just a quick LOOK.. sight glass under the sprocket cover. It has one rod bearing shucked hard. and up and down movement can be felt checking it by hand.. He took all of this stuff apart with no idea how to fix this engine while scattering the entire bike. duh.

It was a truck load to bring home. The first thing I did was remount the tires so I didn't have to drag it around on the exhaust and oil cooler lines.:S He didn't remove the exhaust or anything else, just let it hang.. smh


It is missing 8 out of 10 head bolts, He unbolted on front caliper so he could get the wheel off and those bolts are nowhere to be found in the pile of parts that I bought.


AND, I noticed on the chain adjusters that a channel lock and slip jaw pliers is his favorite tool. I am thrashed after cleaning up all of these parts and dragging this derelict old muscle bike home. At least I found all of the cam caps for that line bored head, and I do seem to have most of the parts. I will try to call him later after I sort more things out and ask him about some of the missing fasteners. I retrieved all of the axles and spacers out of the mess. I will be pressure washing the frame and parts / head / block etc. It has 26K miles on the clock. He scratched the rims pretty good. It looks like he used a screwdriver instead of tire tools. I will get more pics of the roller frame tomorrow in the daylight.

One of my favorite bikes. Thanks for saving it. That bad rod bearing may be the result of a crash, and the resulting oil starvation from running on its side.
I am looking forward to this resurrection.

old_kaw wrote:
I need a owners and service manual.

I can offer you the owner Manuals:

EDIT: delete the PDF owner manuals

I can offer only a German Service Manual:

www.manualedereparatie.info/manuale/Kawa...dereparatie.info.zip

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationThanks for the owners manuals. For some reason it pops with an error when loading the *.pdf file. I will give you my direct email in a PM my friend.

"Error
Failed to load PDF document."

Not sure what's up wit dat.

Although I got along with the locals well when I was stationed in Germany, It think it was more of them understanding English and Americans, more than my understanding the German language. I can't make anything out of the German language service manual.

I just ordered a used hard copy off of eBay for 26 bucks shipped. This is not the one I ordered since the auction has now ended.


The e-manuals are handy, but I still wear out my printer on the pages I want to reference in my little work shop.

i'm confused. do you still need one?

ned37 wrote: i'm confused. do you still need one?

Love your profile icon pic. It reminds me of a certain Indiana mayor. lol

All kidding aside, I just ordered a used hard copy off of eBay for 26 bucks shipped. It is not here yet, but neither is my 26 bucks.. lol I do hope it is readable and in good condition when I get it, no pages missing and greasy fingerprints. They posted ~5 pics of the outside of the book and made no claims to it's condition (usual) It did not look bad from the outside, and to get to the inside, it needs to he handled. Fingers crossed once again..

It would be nice to find a hard copy of the OEM owners manual unless it's stashed somewhere on the bike I did not see yet.

The tank looks clean inside so it's looking like the carbs should be usable as is. That's great considering all of the other things that DO need attention.




Only a little garage rash.

You got a PM old_kaw

[quoteI just ordered a used hard copy off of eBay][/quote]
if it falls thru, let me know. i've got one you could have that i just use to keep my 83 gpz info from blowing away.

ned37 wrote: [quoteI just ordered a used hard copy off of eBay]

if it falls thru, let me know. i've got one you could have that i just use to keep my 83 gpz info from blowing away.[/quote]

Thanks for the offer Ned. I see you have an 83 It had the nissan / bosch EFI. From my research, KHI made the GPZ 1100 1981-1984,, using the new J motor, then did a reboot in 1995-1998(?) with Keihn Carbs and water cooled totally redesigned engine> I was hoping this was a EFI bike, but KHI went back to carbs in 1995. This engine is a different animal compared to my J engine. I am not sure exactly what happened but in cleaning up these engine parts, It appears the rubber coupler / damper for the alternator chain drive nut may have come loose, the nut is hogged out, and possibly contaminated the oil. It also appears to have gotten into the clutch pressure plate, and put a bunch of dings and gouges into that. This motor must have been making a LOT of noise from lots of different little doohickeys. :woohoo: I'll try to get some internal damage pics this weekend.

Nice score . Looks like you will be busy for a bit . The dings on the clutch is probably from the starter chain tensioner . Its a known issue on these motors . My zrx has the same issue . Heres the fix when you get that far .

www.kwickstand.net/Hyper-Formance.com/Tensioner_Tamer.html

Old _kaw, are you a member of ZRXOA? If not, you may want to sign up. The starter chain tensioner is a known problem on those engines, and its failure can be catastrophic. The ZRXOA forum has a mountain of information about that engine family, and a bunch of really helpful members.

Here is a place I recommend you spend some money--

www.kwickstand.net/Hyper-Formance.com/Welcome.html

He carries quite a few factory parts, makes some unique tools ( his caliper pliers are da bomb), and is very helpful and knowledgeable. Where else can you get a titanium ignition key? He is focused mostly on ZRX stuff, but most, if not all, of the engine related stuff should be the same.

Dang, I almost forgot--

www.kwickstand.net/Hyper-Formance.com/Tensioner_Tamer.html

Double dang, I see riturbo beat me to the punch. Need more coffee.