Why are there two kz1000 motors?

Photo 2

Yea, the KZ1000J came out in 1981. I'm still pretty sure they went below 1000cc to comply with AMA superbike racing rules. 1983 was the last yr of cheap 750s. All the 750s such as GPZ750, Honda VF45 interceptor ect were sold in 1983 for around $3400, come Harley tariff on the 1984 models over 700cc, suddenly a GPZ750 was now $4500, so you pay the piper or get a KZ700 or a 700 interceptor for $3500. 700 is a piece of crap, we need 750cc. Well nothing wrong with a 700, but getting less power for the same money seemed wrong, but paying $1000 more for basically the same 750 as was sold in 1983 didn't seem right either. This was the end of "cheap" bigger cc motorcycles, if you can call $3400 cheap. Inflation has ran rampant ever since. All because of Harley. :laugh:

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Had one of those Falicon supercranks in a 1200cc.Z1 Instant revs - at the time I only weighed 160 lbs. and it worked just fine...until the #3 rod broke at the top of third gear.

You got me curious about the snowmobile engine, any pictures of one or info on it ? I do recall Kawasaki snowmobiles in the 70s but not any that large

That's right Ron & Laguna it was the 750 class that dropped because of the tariff. I must be dehydrated since I didn't remember that. Off to hit the water fountain!.

Bill

Jack wrote:

Had one of those Falicon supercranks in a 1200cc.Z1 Instant revs - at the time I only weighed 160 lbs. and it worked just fine...until the #3 rod broke at the top of third gear.[/quote]

You don't go on to say whether or not it was a MKII Crank like the one pictured, and whether or not you had the Main Bearing Crank Cap supported. Z1 Crank has a 15T Pin, MKII has 16T Pin (Stronger) for those that may not know.

mtkawboy wrote:

You got me curious about the snowmobile engine, any pictures of one or info on it ? I do recall Kawasaki snowmobiles in the 70s but not any that large

I've only seen 1 set of pictures of the engine. The cast cases had no transmission - basically being cut-off behind the crank. The final drive coming off the left end of the crank. The cylinders and head were very obvious as being KZ1000. The picture came out of Europe. I don't know if it was a production snowmobile or not. I'll try and find the pictures.

Side shot

rear shot

front

Everything was 2 stroke when Kawasaki made snowmobiles I think. Maybe it was home made

RacerZ wrote:

Jack wrote:

Had one of those Falicon supercranks in a 1200cc.Z1 Instant revs - at the time I only weighed 160 lbs. and it worked just fine...until the #3 rod broke at the top of third gear.

You don't go on to say whether or not it was a MKII Crank like the one pictured, and whether or not you had the Main Bearing Crank Cap supported. Z1 Crank has a 15T Pin, MKII has 16T Pin (Stronger) for those that may not know.[/quote]right after 1200cc.z1 instant revs kind of says it all to me! :laugh: