Trying to Rescue a Late 1970s (1977??) Kawasaki KZ1000

A bit more on installing the carbs, air box, and air filter.

I'd like to get more original parts for the air box, but I hope that'll come once I get it running.

More pictures for you comments........thanks.

All progress is good 

I was fortunate to have an ad pop up for some KZ900 parts not too far from me, so I picked up a 1974 KZ900 rear fender which is reported to fit my 1977 KZ1000.  And indeed it does fit.  There's a bit of chromium plating rusted through, but it looks fine at 5 or more feet.

Here are a few pictures.

I've got a lot of wiring to do so I have some patience searching for the taillight.

There seems to be a few local KZ650 Kawasaki being scrapped, and I wonder it that tail light would fit?  Thanks.



 

I wrote earlier that painting skills have eluded me despite efforts and learning.

But it was time to rattle the can of RustOleum Blue Cobalt Metalflake,....... and accept the results.  This is of course not a Kawasaki color, but it might suit the period.  I joke that it is Jimi Hendrix Purple !!

Fall weather was the right temperature and right humidity, and pollen counts were low for in-garage painting.

I'll include all four pictures as they illustrate how viewing angle affects the color.

It's not as glossy as I was hoping, but I do have a clear coat and a test piece to experiment.

The tank will change color tomorrow morning.

 

Looking good so far.  
Remember - resist that "one more pass" urge!  

Got the tank painted this morning,....... managing to avoid runs.  

Tooth picks in the badge screw holes hopefully kept the threads clean.

The tank is a big acreage of blue, and needs to be broken with some pin striping (or perhaps flames as my buddy suggested!!).

But what color pin stripes?  Yellow/mustard is blue's complementary color, but I have no artistic sense.  What color pin stripe should I use?

Somewhere in the history of time the engine's generator cover was installed without a gasket and with a smear of unidentifiable goop.  This was a bit worrisome as the axial play of the starter intermediate gear is controlled by how close the cover is to the crankcase.

So I got an OEM gasket from Kawasaki. $22 CDN.

And undertook to install that gasket today.

There is a full charge of oil in the engine, so I wanted to do the work with the bike leaned to the right.  Which involved leaning her lower right frame tube onto some wood.  And just in case she fell over, the big plastic garbage can might cushion the fall.  Real "shade tree" stuff! 

The stainless hex screws came out cleanly, but were way over tightened

A bit of rubber mallet action loosened the generator cover from is dowels and goop sealant.  And the sprocket cover was removed to keep track of the stator wiring.

Lot of goop removal was time consuming, especially the goop down the screw holes.

I was pleased that the stator showed no heat damage and all the starter gears are as new.

The intermediate starter gear is in full mesh with the starter, but is not in the center of the sprague clutch gear.  See red arrow.  But the clutch gear is wider so engagement is fine.  Backlash in the three-gear train seems perfect with a hair of play.

A detail shot of my haphazard wood cribbing.

And an overall shoot of the work before buttoning her up.

The OEM gasket was a 100% perfect fit.. I decided to install the gasket dry, a possible mistake???

I suppose it's time to face the music of getting busy with wires !!!

Hi Guys,

I'm out of practice posting, but I'll try a few updates on finding a tail light and doing some pin stripping and clear coating.

In November 2024 I bought a pretty good tail light assembly on eBay for $20 CDN.  Shipping was going to be outrageous, but it turned out a car trip was going to take me close by.  The seller was great about pickup and turned out to be Shellhaas Drag Racing.  I got a nice shop tour of 5 different classic KZ1000 drag racers.

Here's a few pictures of the tidied up tail light.  I haven't put it on the bike yet, as it's cold in the garage.  

The tape on the lens is just a reminder of the wire colors and function.




 

 I'm near the end of the painting and pin stripping and clear coating process.

Used all Rust-Oleum products as in the picture.

The yellow pin stripping was chosen as that's the complementary color to blue.  Since I have no artistic ability, colors were chosen on a technical basis!

I would have preferred the tail piece pin stripping to curve up and over the rear of the tail piece, but there was no way I could get that tight of a radius.  So I just settled for a horizontal line on each side.

I was really happy that the clear coat made the Cobalt Blue Metallic paint come alive so much.

All through the process, I had a test piece and monitored the compatibility from primer to point to stripes to clear.

She's not a 100% stock rebuild, but that might be for the next owner.

Maybe it'll all dissolve off with the first gasoline spill.

No clear coat on the tank yet.  Gotta limit my indoor spraying in deference to my wife's nose!! 

The circular photo is through a 25X microscope showing that Rust-Oleum was generous with the amount of metal flake.



 

Nessism wrote:

A Shindingen SH775 is what's known as a "Series" type R/R.  These units help preserve your stator by shutting down power generation when not needed, thus keeping it cooler, which extends life.  With a shunt type regulation system, the stator is putting out max power at all times, which isn't needed, and generates too much heat. 

I get that some people want to preserve the originality of their bike.  What I don't understand is why some people spend $100+ on a shunt type R/R, when good used SH775's can be found for half that much.

Would you happen to have a wiring diagram on how the SH775 is wired into a stock '78 wiring harness with the separate Regulator and Rectifier?