KZ Nuts and Bolts

I recently had someone contact me looking for all of the bolts I may have with the number 4 on them. I have found it hard at times to replace bolts on my mid/late 70's KZs as modern bolts (hardware store) do not seem to have the same thread spacing or ?pitch? to them. I just accepted this as a fact of life but does anyone have a tutorial on the nuts and bolts on the 1977/78 KZ? What do the numbers 4 and 10 stand for on the bolt ends? Why can't a modern bolt be fitted in most/many cases? Is there a reliable and reasonable source for replacement bolts of this type?

Always wondered...

Modern bolts work perfectly fine; you just need to get the correct size. Kawasaki bolts have metric threads, so if you try any other type bolt it will have the wrong diameter and thread pitch. Within the metric bolt system there are different thread pitches for a given diameter bolt. So a bolt may have a standard (or coarse) pitch, a fine pitch, or in some cases an "extra" or "very" fine pitch. Here's a chart that might help:
www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/M...ic-Thread-Pitch.aspx

The numbers under the "Thread Pitch" heading represent the distance in mm between the threads.

If you are trying to find a bolt for your bike you will need to determine the diameter, the pitch, and the length (in mm) to identify a matching bolt. Bolt Depot (see link below) has a good selection in stainless, chrome plated, and regular zinc plated steel metric bolts in case there's something you cannot find locally. Be advised that there may be a few bolts on your bike, such as those that fasten the rear footpegs, that have unusually small hex heads; these can be found but they require some searching. Also, some bolts are specially hardened, such as the bolts that hold the cylinders on the engine, so these should only be replaced with like or stronger bolts. The heads on the cross head screws on Kawasakis are JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) screws, so don't even bother fighting with them using a regular Phillips screwdriver. Do a search on this site for JIS and you'll see an easy way to deal with them. If you cannot find it let us know. Ed

www.boltdepot.com/Metric_hex_bolts.aspx?nv=rel

I dont know about where you guys are from but here in indiana you can go to about any True Value store and they will have a big selection. Also Rural king has a good selections as long as you dont mind them being colored.

For some reason, the pickings at the true values around me in ohio are pretty slim. That said, I've lived in some podunk towns with True Value's that had much better selection. I'm still able to get the majority of what I need without having to resort to ordering bolts online. I think the only thing I wasn't able to find locally were exhaust studs of the appropriate size, and those were easily obtained online.

I haven't been able to find squat at the few true values I have tried even Rural king has limited selection of 1.25 pitch and 0 stainless.

I found a company pretty close called imperial fastener that caries a limited supply of stainles metric 1.25 socket head I imagine they are a chain

Thats crazy i assumed they all had a good selection. The two closest to me has like 4 or 5 aisles full of every type of fastners and screws.