Do inexpensive rebuild parts even exist?

hardr0ck68 wrote:

OMR; you sure take pokes at you worse than Steel did when he was on the receiving end of your BS. Those who can't take it and all....

For the most part these bikes are not collectors items(the z1's and some other odd exceptions excluded), they are junk... the real issue is no one makes parts for junk.

So you come to a forum that is called KZ rider and tell everyone that if you dont ride a Z1 your KZ is junk. If that is how you feel sell yours and find some other site to troll.
Tom :blink:

wow i run down the street to fix a boiler drain and return to find out i missed out on all your usefull info again! dratz :laugh:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
It seems to me most people come on this site looking for help don't even read previous posts, most of which have covered a subject around twenty times. A bike is a bike is a bike. You put money in to it nimrod and it has worth. If you ride and enjoy it it goes beyond the price and that is the way it goes.
My view is this... you aren't going to get much if you don't invest much. If you want some r6 running bike then buy one. It doesn't take an idiot to see that in order for you to make your no money bike in to a fast bike you gotta spend some money and time. If you want to join the group half fast then you need to spend as little as possible on your rat and fix it up using a pair of pliers and a file. Or didn't that piece of information pass through that little hard rock that you call your head.
First rule of hot rodding is the question to ask. "How fast do you want to go?" The answer is "How fast do you want to spend?" There are limitations to an aircooled motor. They aren't that big of a deal as if you build the bike right it's going to scream regardless. The zx14 has 13/1 compression you do that to an aircooled bike and ride on the street all day long you will melt down your bike. Can I build my bike to be scary fast. Absolutely. With 300 dollars? Put down your crack pipe boyz you aren't going to go far.
No two ways about it though you aren't going fast if you don't spend some money on quality parts and build the engine precise. You can file down piston rings all day long you aren't going to have any more than a rat when you are done. I don't know where everyone is talking about building a fast bike outta 300 dollar parts. The cams on my bike cost that much. The carbs at least twice that much. Riding is a passion to some people and they pay whatever it costs to get their bikes the way that pleases them. My bike is coming along nicely. Could I buy a zx14 for what I have invested in to mine...very close. Do I want to ride a bike that everyone else has. Yes after I finish building my two bikes in my vision of what I like to see. Am I going to get off cheaper buying new? Yes. Is it going to be something that will catch peoples eyes. Unless your blind. It most certainly will be just another zx14 going down the street.
It doesn't matter what you ride, it's that you ride. The whole simple joy of riding is riding. You obviously lost yourself on that fact.

Some people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. If you know not the value you can't possibly have any idea about its worth. I have ridden so many fast bikes that my brother and my brother's friends have let me ride and tried to break them. I have the money now in my life to buy a garage full of bikes yet I remain faithful to my z1. You do whatever you want. You can even remain delusional but when you try to impress your half baked notions on those that know you can go f yourself.

WOW. . . walking into this thread after a few days and it looks like some kind of frag grenade went off.

I didn't think asking about inexpensive parts sourcing would touch off such emotions.

By the way, it was "inexpensive" not "cheap."

As in alternative to unnecessarily overpriced.

We beat the Japanese in WWII, and to me (an opinion) some of this excessive dealer parts pricing is some form of revenge.

I guess if I subject was about brake rotors (in the chassis forum) I might have not gotten anyone's feathers in a ruffle.

Some of the ideas have been really helpful.

It looks like I am going to have to "inspect prior to correct."

The oversize might end up being the only correct repair.

And of course I can't tell that until I do the actual teardown.

In the meantime, I am in the process of dismantling another 650 engine that supposedly only had 1800 miles on it, from another 78 SR like mine.

I saw some parts on E-bay, gas tank, side panels, fenders, that sort of thing, and saw that they were in excellent condition for their age. I sent the seller a question and he told me that the engine was also available.

I went to Kentucky last week and picked up the gas tank that I had won, and the engine which had not been listed.

I had a chance to find out what kind of gas mileage my '93 1.5 Mitsubishi Mirage got. . . 37 mpg. . .which is pretty good for a 4 door 5 speed with a 150+ miles on the odometer. I needed to replace the injectors on a hunch, and got the four of them out of a yard for $26.50, which included a 30 day warranty which I don't think I will need them to honor. Problem fixed, inexpensively.

Not cheap.

KaZooCruiser wrote:

We beat the Japanese in WWII, and to me (an opinion) some of this excessive dealer parts pricing is some form of revenge.

I had a chance to find out what kind of gas mileage my '93 1.5 Mitsubishi Mirage got. . . 37 mpg. . .which is pretty good for a 4 door 5 speed with a 150+ miles on the odometer.

Last part doesn't really dovetail with your theory that Japanese products are part of a larger conspiracy to get even for WW2. The truth is, the Japanese became a major force in the manufacturing sector by building cars that were better and more reliable than the junk coming out of Detroit, and Detroit has been trying to catch up ever since. Motorcycles were the same story: look at the rattletrap junk being made by Harley and Triumph back in the 60's, Honda ate their lunch and others soon followed. Look at the fact you can buy a 175 mph rocket for maybe $8000 these days and compare (in adjusted prices) to the junk sold back in the 60's, and you will see the Japanese effect. BTW, same thing applies to electronics. In the 60's, a crummy 25" color TV cost about $800 (about $3000 in today's dollars) and now you can get 27" color sets with much better performance for $250.

If the Japanese were trying to hurt American consumers for revenge, the plan sure didn't turn out that way.

And for the record: there is not a single Asian person to be seen anywhere working at both local Kawi dealers here who gouge shamelessly on parts. All white faces who smile as they stick the blade in. One dealer was charging $28 for a tube of 3-bond gasket sealer that sells everywher else for $4. And it was $12 for a single rubber O ring. Seriously.

This post turned into a pissing match pretty quick.

This post should be deleted by a moderator and never discussed again.

There are better things to be discussed on this board.

P.S.

IMO - KZ650 do rock and just wait another couple of years and see what they are worth. I do not plan on selling mine anytime soon.

Thank you for proving my point, bountyhunter.

Just because some Toyotas are manufactured here in the states does not take away from the fact that the land of the rising sun is deriving large percentages of profits due to captive american markets

12 dollar 0-rings

Parts Information for injector from Japan for the Mirage.

Part OEM Part Price
Fuel Injector
Fuel Injector MD175075 $286.40 each

I guess the Magnuson-Moss warranty act did away with some price gouging.

But the consumer ultimately pays the price when you cannot maintenance repair the part due to inability to obtain alternatives to factory list.

Which are set by the corporate owners in this case in a land, far, far away.

Just be glad there is an aftermarket for most of these bikes. Imagine if you had to go to the kaw shop for cams,gaskets,pistons etc... If youre so Anti japan, then why arent you driving some detroit auto and riding a harley??

last time i looked there were lots of japanese parts on harleys/chevys/fords/chrysler/..........

i understand that,im just saying everything has japanese parts these days and it still costs a lot more to buy a harley than a kaw. :laugh:

KaZooCruiser wrote:

Thank you for proving my point, bountyhunter.

Just because some Toyotas are manufactured here in the states does not take away from the fact that the land of the rising sun is deriving large percentages of profits due to captive american markets

12 dollar 0-rings

I didn't prove your point, unless the point in question is that you didn't comprehend the simple text of my post. That's the only point I saw proven.

How can you sling racist crap about the japanese extorting us on the price of parts when (as I pointed out) it is American dealers who are shamelessly marking up the factory parts as well as aftermarket parts and every other item they can gouge for. Kawi isn't forcing the dealer to charge $26 for a two ounce tube of gasket sealer, their cost on it is no more than $3 because it sells for $4 on the net. The $12 O rings are the same crap.

If you doubt the dealer markups are extreme, explain for us how it is babbittsonline and other places routinely order genuine kawi parts from the factory and sell them 40% lower than dealers and still make a fine profit?

And your absurd point about how the japanese are raping us is particularly ludicrous as you are trying to sell it to somebody who (as of this late time of my life) has never purchased a Japanese car. Here is the countdown: '63 Plymouth, 1966 Dodge Charger, 1970 Plymouth Duster, 1986 Dodge Charger, 2002 Chevy cavalier. I am well aware of what American cars are about, and they gouge on parts as bad or worse than Japanese cars. Don't get me started on that '92 Saturn my wife bought that ate water pumps and Alternators, not to mention heater hoses, batteries and window lift motors... the prices for those junk factory replacement parts was outrageous. And when my '86 plugged the heater core, the dealer only quoted me $900 (back in 1990) to fix it, the core cost about $500. And two months ago, the fuel pressure regulator on my chevy (not the pump, the pressure reg) failed after a grand total of 40k original miles and cost about $300 for the replacement part from the dealer. God only knows what an injector or fuel pump would cost.

My wife also never owned a japanese car (until now) and owned a Pinto, plymouth, saturn.

Her last buy five years ago was a Nissan Murano and all the problems it has had so far are...... ZERO. Parts are cheap when they don't wear out.

Yeah, it's those awful japanese....:laugh: