Z1900 vs KZ1000 Transmission

Are these 2 transmissions (gear sets) interchangeable? I know there was a change in the crank, but does that effect the trans?

All the gear clusters are the same for the z900 - z1000 -z1r - and the mark 2 which had the bigger crank pins and more teeth on the cam chain drive.
It is the later J/GPZ style motor with no kickstart provision which uses a slightly modified and beefier cluster with larger dia output shaft.
This is not a straight swap without using a couple of different bearings and a spacer which can be bought from APE etc for this purpose as it is a popular mod with the race lads.


P.S. Wanna sell me your spare drouin drive pulleys ?

Thanks!

New PM sent.

only the output shafts are dif. the z1 has a cotter pin hole in the end(witch can split). the kz shaft is the better 1. all parts are interchangeable.
after reading Jeff's post bellow, i stand corected. All the gears are not the same from a z1 to a KZ.
Thanks Jeff.

kz1000/mkII motors have stronger gears

PLUMMEN wrote:

kz1000/mkII motors have stronger gears

This is a rumor. All part numbers are the same on gears from a 1977 KZ1000 as they are on a MKII, so to me that means gears are not any stronger on the MKII.

Although Kawasaki retained the same part number, they did beef up the parts. I've not tried intermixing any of the parts, but when you put a Z1 gear cluster alongside a 80 KZ1000 gear cluster, you can see the difference.

RonKZ650 wrote:

PLUMMEN wrote:

kz1000/mkII motors have stronger gears

This is a rumor. All part numbers are the same on gears from a 1977 KZ1000 as they are on a MKII, so to me that means gears are not any stronger on the MKII.

stick em side by side and tell me that :laugh:

OK I admit I may be wrong. Usually they do the exact opposite, having 5 identical parts with completely different part numbers.

Ron, Kawasaki is VERY inconsistent when it comes to managing part numbers revisions.

Just on a 'simple' thing like the Z1 4-4 pipes. There are 4 distinctly different variants of the pipes - yet only one part number. Even a Z1 tank can be very different depending if it came on the bike, was purchased before 1976 or after 76... The changes are very noticable, but the part numbers remain the same. You even get a situation where the 73 Z1 replacement takes won't accept 73 tank emblems - yet the fiche make no mention of this.

Honda is very good about managing revisions - I wish kawasaki had done the same thing.

Kawasaki irks me with some of the changes they make - chrome parts become zinc finish. Nice chrome hex head bolts with a slight dome on the head become common 'home depot' zinc hardware with bolt grade on the top (but still the price as before). Order a Z1/KZ900 master cylinder cap and you get a very nice blue plastic cap these days...

In cases where Kawasaki issues a new part number as a supercession, there is no guarantee that part will be backwardly compatible. The KZ900 chrome lower fork covers will not fit the Z1, even though the xref says they will...