NOS never titled 78 Z1R Turbo

650ed wrote: How was he able to compare rideability between the different carbs if the bike has zero miles? Did he test it with the odometer disconnected or is he basing that comparison on someone else's experience? Ed

I can tell you all this from personal experience
My kit supplied carb from many years ago was fair to good for driveability I think it was a Kiehin ( Forgive the spelling ). But when I couldn't find gaskets for it any longer I went back to Mr Turbo and purchased a 42 flatslide Mikuni carb and it is great !! Biggest negative for my turbo bike is that its very cold blooded and needs to be warmed up properly before it will simmer down and purr
With lower than stock compression I could ride all year on shit fuel if needed from home to California , then just put good fuel in it and grab a fist full of throttle and win races
Dave

Thanks Dave and thanks Patton for the info. I'm very curious about Turbo driveability but didn't realize I was asking such a loaded question- Scott

Watch this!
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=60291462308...video_comment_tagged

We were on our way home from a bike rally, 60 plus miles from my home, bike isn't 2 days old with the turbo and listen to the idle, the throttle response, I do a burnout, roll up and idle!!! I'll ride this thing anywhere you want to go! Now, as for cold natured? BAD, really bad. It'll start and stay running with help from the throttle but it wont sit and idle for no one until it's warm.

Oh, did you notice it's foot shifted? I'll jump a stock busa in a heartbeat!! Since that pass I've upped the boost from 8# to 18# and took 4 teeth off the back.

Turbos are easy to ride, until boost says other wise. To call all turbo kaws bad is just uninformed and or uneducated. They had their learning curves when they came out and quite a few people still base their opinions on those factors but with the better technology carbs we have today, they are a tamed down dinosaurs with a subtle hint of pissed off under the skin.

Said it many a time, I ride, come on down and lets play!!

Oh, another adventure of mine besides my frequent rides to work or just out and about!!

www.cycleworld.com/2013/09/04/2013-cycle...-concours-bike-show/

Turbos are very streetable and have been for years, don't let someones bad experiences sway you away from them. Automakers didn't!!

Les Holt
PDM Custom Fabrications

He owns a turbo v-max and a turbo CBX Honda 6 cyl so id guess from that, I really don't know. I just met the guy Saturday. Ralph when I took the pictures I had no idea what was correct & what wasn't, I hadn't seen one since they were new in the show rooms

Patton wrote:

fitscott wrote: Hey Ron, What problems did you have with it or what did you not like?

Read'em and weep! :lol:

www.kzrider.com/forum/2-engine/593181-no...-78-z1r-turbo#626447
www.kzrider.com/forum/2-engine/592094-19...ased?start=20#615871
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/59...e-observation#614670
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/58...78-z1-r-turbo#585503
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/56...ales-log-book#563014
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/53...g-to-look-for#539279
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/46...ers-out-there#464638
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/43...call?start=60#435168
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/35...d-information#351069
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/32...-last-weekend#324833
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/23...cally-updated#239621
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/21...-78-z1r-turbo#212117
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/21...-78-z1r-turbo#212076
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/18...-turbocharged#183075
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/18...-turbocharged#183064
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/18...1r-here-in-cl#182990
www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/18...1r-here-in-cl#182365
www.kzrider.com/forum/2-engine/103008-440-turbo#103170
www.kzrider.com/forum/2-engine/102043-z1r-turbo#102075

Good Fortune!

Damm Patton
Well you proved to me one thing.
That Ron really is consistent in his anti Z1R Turbo beliefs.
Im Happy to say Les and I have had great experiences running Street and Strip KZ 1000 motors for years

Dave! you got to get your ass down in my neck of the woods! We have one of the best county's next to me in Indiana to ride in. They have over 30 covered bridges on some good ole back roads that lend themselves to some good pics! I'll bet I could get Ramtought63, going out on a limb but i'd bet bluej58 and a few others could make an appearance as well. What say you?? I have 1 guest room and a whole lot of room for camping!! Only thing short is gas stations!! got to plan around those. lol

Guys, send me a PM if you'd like to hook up in some way.

Les Holt

les holt wrote: Dave! you got to get your ass down in my neck of the woods! We have one of the best county's next to me in Indiana to ride in. They have over 30 covered bridges on some good ole back roads that lend themselves to some good pics! I'll bet I could get Ramtought63, going out on a limb but i'd bet bluej58 and a few others could make an appearance as well. What say you?? I have 1 guest room and a whole lot of room for camping!! Only thing short is gas stations!! got to plan around those. lol

Guys, send me a PM if you'd like to hook up in some way.

Les Holt

Les
You know Im in.
Just need to get mine and your Honey Doos caught up and Family matters completed.
When we do it, We can swap bikes for a ride like discussed and add to our fun .
This can be our Midwest Mini Rally as I cant see having the time or money to go al the way to Colorado.

Dave

I bought mine with only 800 miles on it, it was good as new in looks, however if you look at that paint job, it is really pretty fricking awful. It's really kind of sad they took a new 1978 Z1R and painted it all up the way they did. That was my first observation, so cosmetics are a personal thing so opinions vary. Put the bad paint aside, you have a nice Z1R, and some came not repainted from what I've read, but I've personally known 15 or more of these just in Denver and all were this black Moly job and they only made 600? So I've known first hand one in 40 of the production run, which I find rather difficult to believe, but maybe they all congregated to denver, don't know.
There was no documentation to help with working on the system, so you are on your own. There are wires running to big transistors mounted on brackets with termination methods really crude, just like they took the factory harness and hacked it up, stripped wires, wrapped around screw heads, then tightened with wire and insulation hanging out to the sides, like someone does by adding goofball fairing or whatever, so strike two, but I could have lived with hacked wiring looking like done by a 6th grader. The big deal was the way it ran. They didn't come with any of the carbs mentioned. They came with a Zenith carb. Zenith better stay with TVs. Carb was only good at full throttle. No cruising, no easy commute. Impossible. No documentation, they had jetting system no one knew or would divulge the info on, had things if disassembled were impossible to reassemble correctly for the most part. Well get it assembled correctly it would run strong, but no manners, no fun, if you're not full throttle, just down right disgusting. Expect to foul plugs every ride unless full throttle. No provision to drain gas from the carb, so expect gas to go stale and varnish in 30 days if not ridden. I can let other motorcycles sit acouple months, but not this one.
Last complaint is probably just Z1R, not turbo specific, but walk by that thing in the garage, brush against the turn signals with 0.1LB of force and they get out of alignment and loosen internally. Disassemble to tighten the internals up, then there is the nice blue head pipe thing to constantly look at.
Otherwise it was a good bike.

Ron, the story I got was they built around 530 of them. The first 250 were mainly silver blue. with the Black Molly paint being a $150 option. The silver blue did not sell well at $5k and no warranty, but the Black Molly's did at $5150, so around build 250 they were all Black Molly's and sold all they could build until they ran out of warehoused 1978 Z1R's that were not selling well.

Around build 300 they went from the log pipe to the spider pipe and kept raising the prices on them.

Rare air in Denver could have something to do with drivability?

les holt wrote: Dave! you got to get your ass down in my neck of the woods! We have one of the best county's next to me in Indiana to ride in. They have over 30 covered bridges on some good ole back roads that lend themselves to some good pics! I'll bet I could get Ramtought63, going out on a limb but i'd bet bluej58 and a few others could make an appearance as well. What say you?? I have 1 guest room and a whole lot of room for camping!! Only thing short is gas stations!! got to plan around those. lol

Guys, send me a PM if you'd like to hook up in some way.

Les Holt

Les, I know Park County, Shades State Park, and various other roads well. My brother lives outside Bloomingdale. I usually tie in that loop with a hometown visit to Paris, IL. I could bring Bluej58 and Saxjonz down with me sometime.

Sorry for the highjack now back to Turbo Talk! :lol:

Incredible.