The herd grows by two- better pics added

On Monday I decided to work on the KZ900 a little bit. I needed to correct a few little things that had been "Goobered up" prior to me getting the bike. One of my Zulu buddies had given me some old parts he had hanging around his garage and in the box of stuff was a ground collar I needed since I still haven't been able to find the one I have and a turn signal and stem to replace the one Goober rashed. I also changed out the battery leads since the ones on it didn't have any ends on them just frayed wires. I put the battery in it and decided what the hell let's take this thing for a ride.

Now it has probably been a good 20 years since I've ridden a 76 KZ900 and I truthfully had forgotten how strong these pull when you smack the gas I didn't ride it very far but let's just say I got it going much faster than I should have on 32 year old tires.

I know I said I wasn't going to do any resto work on this bike but after that inspirational little ride I decided to try doing a little polishing on the clutch cover with some Mothers mag polish. After about 15 minutes work I could see myself in it so I took the point cover off and went downstairs and hit that with the buffer with more good results. So now one side looks good and since it had an aftermarket clutch cable on it that is too short I figured what the heck I might as well change that out and while I have the countershaft cover off I'll polish that as well. So far all I've got done on that is the inspection cover but after only about 10 minutes work you can shave in it.

I really am convinced that Kaw must have used a better quality of aluminium on the mid 70's bikes than on the later stuff because the older covers always seem to clean up so well. Now I'm thinking I need to pull the rashed dyno cover off and swap it with the unrashed one that is on the 77 LTD after polishing it up of course.:S

I really am hoping I sell this bike at Vintage Days because I really don't need another project bike but if it doesn't sell it looks like it will come back pretty easy. It still won't idle and I'm toying with the idea of trying to drop the bowls with the carbs still on the bike to clean out the pilot jets. I'm just not sure it will make the bike bring any more of any less money so it might not be worth the effort.

Do you have a price in mind for the 77 LTD??
I REALLY need one for a buddy with cancer.
Pat

I've been meaning to update this thread for a couple of months now. Back in December I got an email from the guy who bought my KZ900 at Mid-Ohio this year. He shipped it all the way to Denmark, stripped it to the frame and set about restoring it. It really came out nice, makes me happy to see someone do such a nice job on an old Kaw. Here is a pic.

And here's another.

he did a great job.
at least it wasn't broken for parts and sold on e-bay.
great work on finding a home for the old kaw.

Very nice work. Nice to see one saved like that.

Thats great! I wish i had the cash to do that to my 900