New KZ1000 owner

Hello all. I'm a new motorcycle owner and it just happens to be a 1982 Kawasaki KZ1000J. I bought it from a friend at work. She's in a state of needing to be fixed up but she runs great. Just some polishing of the heads and casings. A new paint job and she'll be a sight. I do have a few questions: When I turn on my turn signals, their is a delay from when they come on. I'd say about 1-2 seconds.
Also it takes a while to get the old girl started. It's hot out right now but it takes some cranking to get it to turn over. The carbs were rebuilt by the guy I bought it from. Do you think it could be the jets aren't set right? Thanks guys and look forward to bein a member of this community.

There's a good chance it's the carbs. It only takes a little bit of junk in them to clog up the pilot jets etc. Might as well replace the spark plugs if they are old. Make sure the battery is fully charged.

Sounds like a simple bad battery or undercharged battery to me.... When you get to it, there will be some wire connections to clean up too...

MoFro624 wrote: Hello all. I'm a new motorcycle owner and it just happens to be a 1982 Kawasaki KZ1000J. I bought it from a friend at work. She's in a state of needing to be fixed up but she runs great. Just some polishing of the heads and casings. A new paint job and she'll be a sight. I do have a few questions: When I turn on my turn signals, their is a delay from when they come on. I'd say about 1-2 seconds.
Also it takes a while to get the old girl started. It's hot out right now but it takes some cranking to get it to turn over. The carbs were rebuilt by the guy I bought it from. Do you think it could be the jets aren't set right? Thanks guys and look forward to bein a member of this community.

OH,MY NECK
Steve

Did someone try to murder that poor KZ? :blink: :woohoo:

That photo was taken in Australia. Here's the Northern Hemisphere version. :laugh: Ed

Someone lost a fender.
Steve

:silly: yeah I don't know why it posted it up side down. Guess because I posted from my phone. No I have lost the fender. I have it in the garage but the tires is to big to mount it on there. I am missing the right side cover though. The dent with the bullet holes was also there when I got it. Like I said she's gonna be my fixer upper. I am going to replace the plugs and wires even though I was told they were fairly new. The battery was put on a tester and shows it's still good but I'm going to replace that too when I get the money. Thanks guys for the advice.

What size tire is it. I have a 110/90-19 on mine. Have to take off the fender to change the tire and almost 0 clearance between the bracket. Doesn't wash out like the smaller one did.
Steve

MoFro624 wrote: :silly: yeah I don't know why it posted it up side down. Guess because I posted from my phone. No I have lost the fender. I have it in the garage but the tires is to big to mount it on there. I am missing the right side cover though. The dent with the bullet holes was also there when I got it. Like I said she's gonna be my fixer upper. I am going to replace the plugs and wires even though I was told they were fairly new. The battery was put on a tester and shows it's still good but I'm going to replace that too when I get the money. Thanks guys for the advice.

If the battery tests OK don't worry about it. You should go over every electrical connector on that bike with contact cleaner (be careful, it's nasty stuff) and reassemble with dielectric grease. Be sure clean the fuse box and all the ground connections too. Do the same to the kill switch (and all the switches while you're at it, but kill is important one). I'm not sure ignition switch can be cleaned, but they only cost $30 to replace. Then, once all that is done, measure the voltage at the battery and then the voltage at the coils (that is, red wire at coils to ground). If it's more than a fraction of a volt lower at the coils, then you might want to consider doing the coil relay mod.

Sorry for the late reply. Well the tires are 130/90-18. They're a little to big. That's why the front fender is missing. I'm still having problems with the ol girl starting and I can't figure it out. There's quite a bit that needs to be done that I know. The gas tank is rusted on the inside, plugs and wires definitely are going to be replaced and probably torn apart this winter and put a gasket kit in it. While I'm doing that I'm going to clean up the heads and block too. Any good suggestions on how to accomplish that? Also can anyone tell me the chain size. I can't find it any where.

Do you have a MANUAL?
Steve