My Gpz1100 nightmare project bike “ warning explicit photos”

Dragbike_Mike wrote: Damn! Sorry to hear of your discoveries with that motor, Streetfighter. Here in the states, we'd call whoever worked on that motor a "hammer mechanic".

Mike

Well a new case and crankshaft has been ordered, it is the only one anywhere i can find on the internet thats off an A1/A2 unitrack and from Germany so fingers crossed its in as good as shape as the seller says. Im going to talk to a real good engineer/ tool maker to see if he can part off the offending piece and make and press fit the end, it would be a shame if he can as the crank is perfect other than that.

hardrockminer wrote: I just learned the same lesson with a cheap 650 I'm trying to bring back to life. But not as bad as yours. I hope your frame is in better shape.

haha im laughing through my tears Hardrock, the original frame was a ringer, had to shell out 550 euro for a legit one from the uk but its an 83 with low numbers. Now i have a perfect frame with janky numbers on it that just takes up space. What was up with your engine?

That crank is not entirely junk, may be usable for a drag bike by welding a starter nut on the end, or leave plain if its a kick start bike.

Man... I am now even scared digging into my 650 engine (already found some "Stuff" under valve cover)
There was couple topics like this after I made my discovery. Feels like cars get less of this type of mechanics..

I won't spoil your thread with the details but you can read about my issues here.

www.kzrider.com/forum/11-projects/615186...0-bike-build?start=0

There comes a time when for the benefit of your own mental health you need to say enough is enough and part the bstrd out on Ebay. I'm sure you considered this but now since you've ordered a new case you're probably into it for too much. I picked up a CB900 Custom several years ago that seemed to just need some minor work. Paid 800 US for it, which ended up being WAY too much. this was around 05 and you could pick up a clean 900 or 1000 Custom for 15 to 1800 bucks. This thing then proceeded to nickle and dime me to death. By the time I had it running I had around 2200 in it and it was high miles and not even clean. I could have bought a like new one for less than that. Had I parted it out I probably could have gotten $500 back and been down only 3. But I've always felt parting out isn't a good option. In some cases a bike can even be worth more parted out but it's a lot of work... disassembling, taking pictures, making 25 or 30 listings on Ebay and THEN all that junk doesn't just sell over night. You've got a pile of parts laying in your garage for several months up to a year or more and every time you look at the pile you think about how you should never have bought the piece of crap in the first place. Had I known the headaches I was in store for with that old CB I would have enjoyed beating it apart with a sledge hammer and then lighting it on fire, and I would have been about $1400 bucks ahead of the game. Yeah, we live and learn. Sorry you got stuck with this nightmare KZ. One consolation is, I imagine you will have a great feeling of satisfaction bringing this abused mess back from the dead. I just hope it's worth close to what you've got into it after you're done.

Robb2018 wrote: There comes a time when for the benefit of your own mental health you need to say enough is enough and part the bstrd out on Ebay. I'm sure you considered this but now since you've ordered a new case you're probably into it for too much. I picked up a CB900 Custom several years ago that seemed to just need some minor work. Paid 800 US for it, which ended up being WAY too much. this was around 05 and you could pick up a clean 900 or 1000 Custom for 15 to 1800 bucks. This thing then proceeded to nickle and dime me to death. By the time I had it running I had around 2200 in it and it was high miles and not even clean. I could have bought a like new one for less than that. Had I parted it out I probably could have gotten $500 back and been down only 3. But I've always felt parting out isn't a good option. In some cases a bike can even be worth more parted out but it's a lot of work... disassembling, taking pictures, making 25 or 30 listings on Ebay and THEN all that junk doesn't just sell over night. You've got a pile of parts laying in your garage for several months up to a year or more and every time you look at the pile you think about how you should never have bought the piece of crap in the first place. Had I known the headaches I was in store for with that old CB I would have enjoyed beating it apart with a sledge hammer and then lighting it on fire, and I would have been about $1400 bucks ahead of the game. Yeah, we live and learn. Sorry you got stuck with this nightmare KZ. One consolation is, I imagine you will have a great feeling of satisfaction bringing this abused mess back from the dead. I just hope it's worth close to what you've got into it after you're done.

True. Every single word. The only question I have is: Do you really EVER have projects like this worth close to what you got in them?? I just don't understand how is this possible. I got 2x kz650 for $800 (one for parts) and I feel like it will be another $2-3k before I am done with it.

In answer to your question katit....no, at least not in my case. Without going into all the gory details, I lost my a** on my KZ-1000. I will never get remotely close to what I have invested in my bike when I sell it. It looks good and runs good, but in hindsight it was a loser from the get-go. I paid $6500.00 for my KZ and easily doubled my investment in it trying to "do it right" repairing it. The seller was either a complete numbskull about motorcycles or a shrewd rip-off artist. Pictures of the bike were great but I will never buy something major again based on what a seller tells me. If I can't see it in person I won't buy it. I trusted what the seller told me and at my age I should have known better. I had thought about returning the bike and trying to get my money back as it was an Ebay deal, but I would have been out at least a grand for shipping charges, so I felt I was locked in at that point. In hindsight it wasn't all bad, I learned a lot about KZ's in general and it was rewarding finally getting to a spot where I could say it's done, but it's never really done. I am always fiddling with it doing this and that. The carbs turned into a nightmare, but that's a whole separate story where I got taken to the cleaners once more. A plus was stumbling on this website and getting to know a whole bunch of people with way more Kawasaki knowledge than me. Suffice to say had it not been for the help I received here my KZ would still be sitting in the garage in a thousand pieces. I will say it is gratifying when people stop by the house and are immediately drawn to looking at the KZ sitting in the garage and want to know all about it. I just smile and gloss over the details thinking to myself you should only know the real story here.
Rick H.

Rick, as long as you happy and it runs I think it's worth it. Experience, people - this is main thing. Maybe professional resto-shops will make their money back. But they know what to buy, etc. And even though - seems like they make profits from customer orders, not from something they bought, fixed and sold.

To me - it's strictly fun hobby project which will cost money and I have no idea or desire to know what I lose on it. It keeps me busy and sane. And I learn, thats a most important thing. But I do keep track of every expense just to get an idea. I noticed once I started tracking expenses - they actually doubled comparing to what I "thought" or "feel" it was.

Nnooo! I've purposely never kept track of a bike build. I do it as a passion, a labor of love & not for what I could sell it for after.

I could never do it as a business.

I hear what ye are all saying and i agree for the most point but... I see ye all live in the states, i live in Ireland, bikes are rarer here, the cost of them and parts for them when they reach a certain pedigree can be quite a bit and Brexit has all but closed the door on the uUK. I was looking for a gpz1100 for a few years that was not a fully built and perfect bike as they get good money, when i got a chance at a 750 euro bike for 300 shipping i kinda jumped quick and blind, my first time being burned in 30 years of buying bikes. The frame was perfect but a ringer, fake numbers fake documents but im kinda hoping that Johnnys vintage might part out a Gpz1100 with a twisted frame and clear title, fingers crossed...Funny you should mention mental health Robb, I own a tattoo studio, a fairly successful one and a tattoo machine building business too. The ass has fallen out of our world from lock down to lock down with us being closed way more than half the year so far. I get up these days and i go work on bikes, i have 4 projects going on right now and in about 3 weeks ill receive delivery of the Phoenix when she is done with her sea voyage. Im spending money i had been saving up for a newish Harley Decker ( im selling my XV 1700)and money i would have spent on a month bike trip through the Asias. To sum it up, i have 4 bike builds to keep my busy right now, im the son a mechanic/rally car builder, I started life in a spray shop in a sheet metal fabrication plant, where i learned welding, lathe and milling. Maybe one day ill earn my money back on all of this... but until then it keeps me sane and away from the whiskey that will really hurt me, until then i get up and go to work 8 hrs a day on vintage Kawasaki's, silver linings right.

On anther note, My engineer mate says that there is a way of fixing the crank, cases are junk,,, but i also have a spare head... so when the crank if sorted ill have a crank, head, maybe a frame.. and a full injection system, loom, front end and back end bar the wheels... maybe a whole other bike someday? fingers crossed. Im going to bite the bullet and start a build thread on Sunday when i can get photos uploaded.