Too good of a deal to pass up?(Now With Pictures)

Thanks for those tips KT. I'll get to the zook real soon.

79MKII, I believe that the 16V Suzuki head fits on the KZ motor. I read somewhere that they have the same bolt pattern and spacing. Not sure what all is needed to make it work, but I bet somebody here does.

testarossa wrote:

Thanks for those tips KT. I'll get to the zook real soon.

79MKII, I believe that the 16V Suzuki head fits on the KZ motor. I read somewhere that they have the same bolt pattern and spacing. Not sure what all is needed to make it work, but I bet somebody here does.

now that would be interesting, i gotta go byy my boy Eds place tomorrow, I'll ask him he would know
lookin good BTW

i had a chance to get one of these but it was an 82 E model instead of the L model. 16 valves even. I went for a spin and i couldnt get out of second gear, the clutch slipped so bad its like it didnt even have one.. and the gearbox made a horrific snap and then grinding noise everytime that shift lever went up (once)

sort of off topic, but where you been little man?

9am53 wrote:

sort of off topic, but where you been little man?

hes been out test driving a gs1100! :laugh:

testarossa wrote:

I'd bet a dollar that some Suzuki engineer was sitting in front of a Z1 motor when they came up with this engine design. Everything is in the same place. One nice thing that Suzuki did, was the valve lash adjusters. No shims necessary.

Winner,winner Chicken dinner...Suzuki just reverse engineered the GS 1000 from a Z1. Never tried it but a GS 1000 cylinder head apparently fits the stud spacing of the Z/KZ. In addition to the valve adjustment the other improvement was in the camchain area. Paul Gast once told me a Suzuki made 10+ more hp by not having all the rollers & guides of a Kaw.Still not getting one.

The head swap thing is very interesting......I don't remember ever seeing one though. There has to be somebody, somewhere that has done it...or at least tried it.

9am53 wrote:

sort of off topic, but where you been little man?

Who me? i have been moving to my grandma's house. My grandpa passed away so somebody has to keep the furnace stoked.. I GOT A MORGAN CARB SYNC TOOL FOR MY BIRTHDAY TOO!!!!!!! i havent been doing much with my motorcycle do to the weather and prior engagments. ill be making new sidepanels for my bike out of flat sheet metal this weekend.
Sorry to steal your thread, im just excited about my everything im gonna do to that LTD.. Also, what year of head off of a GS1000 would fit on an 81 LTD1000? I got a guy with those heads laying all over his garage. Im sure he would part with one of them for a good set of gauges or something that i have. since i gotta do valve adjustments to my bike before winter ends so ill have that all apart anyways.. Let me know whats up if you know of a good candidate for a head swap, if this all happens, ill get oversized cams and different springs too.....

Just got off the phone with my mechanic.. He says that i would need to get new pistons as well. Do you think GS1000 pistons would fit on stock KZ1000 connecting rods? i would probably have to get some machining done.. to the cylinders.

Your guess is as good as mine on what interchanges. I've only been learning about the Suzuki motors for about six weeks. Kawasaki did change quite a bit on the 1000 motor by the time they got to 1981. My guess is that the swap works with the 73-80 motors.

zook lookin good. looks like a good ride for the nephew, if teaching to drive went so far, what would a bike do? nothing like ridin with kinfolk.

here you go