78 Z1R Winter Project

So here is my winter project that is walking the dangerous line of becoming a spring project. Between work and school it's been difficult to get motivated to work on the bike. I'm hoping that having this thread going with all of you guys asking for progress pics will keep me on track and moving forward with the project.

Anyway, the bike is a 1978 Z1R that my Dad bought new in 1979. He rode it up until 1995 when he bought his harley and then it sat in the shed until spring 2009. Last spring, after some encouragement from my Dad, I pulled the bike out of the shed and put new tires on it, cleaned the carbs, worked out the sticky brakes, and put a new battery in it. When I got it all running and ready to be registered for the first time since 95 my Dad surprised me and gave me the title.

So I rode it through the summer constantly working on it to get it running better. I now have it running fairly well, but it still smokes a bit and it seems that one cylinder is running cooler than the others. So I am tearing it down to repaint the panels, get the frame powder-coated, rebuild the top-end, and paint the engine cases.

Right now I need to get the panels off and sanded so I can start sending pieces to the painter. I also need to get the engine out of the frame so I can get started on my rebuild/paint on that and send the frame to get powder-coated.

Here's a couple "before" pics to get you thirsty for more!

That is one sweet bike! What was he thinking? Park that Hardly Davidson and ride the Z! Oh well, his loss is your gain. be safe Tom

areyou going back to the origional blue?

What a lucky son you are.

Always liked the Z1Rs.

Thats a beauty.When I started riding bikes my dad gave me a dirty look.

Nice bike dude. Since it has been in the family since new i would never ever get rid of it. Never

Thanks guys, it is a nice bike I just want to make it even better!

I was thinking about putting it back to the original blue/silver color, but I never really liked that color. The only reason I would want to paint it that color would be to make it original again. Since I still plan on riding it for a few (many) years with the usual scratches and chips that unavoidably come along, I decided to make it the color I want and I can put it back to original when I'm ready for it to become a living room decoration.

So black it will be...well, stay...minus the current scratches and chips.

Luckily my Dad saved all of the original parts that he took off, so I have most everything to make it 99.5% stock. I have the original turn signals, ignition, and exhaust! :woohoo:

Kawickrice - Yeah, I'm planning on keeping it forever...well, until I have a son that's ready for it.

welcome,always need more z1r's around here.i can't wait to see what you do with this bike.i have a 78 and an 80 the 80 is my rider and the 78 i rode when i was a young idiot and it now needs a resto/mod.
z1r's bring people out of the woodwork to talk to you.keep us posted.

leon

Well I got a few hours of work in on my bike today. I started pulling the the panels off and removing the pinstriping so I can sand them.

Originally I wanted to go straight black with the bike, but after seeing it plain black I don't think that will look right. It's too much black, the edges and lines seem to get lost.



So, after stripping only one side of the bike I got sidetracked on finding a new color for the pinstriping. I like the gold but I think it stands out a bit too much. I want something that shows the sharp Z1-R styling but doesn't pop out at you.

Here's a pic of a side cover the way it was:



I think I have decided to go with a dark gray stripe, probably darker than in the following pic, but that's the darkest gray I have at the moment. Let me know what you guys think, and please disregard the terrible pinstripe job :blush: it's just temporary to get a feel for the color.



By the way, does any one happen to know exactly what the factory placement of the Z1-R emblems on the side covers is? Dimensions for the right and left sides would be awesome.

the gray stripe looks pretty good.nice and subtle.you might try two pinstripes in different colors,kinda like the factory pinstripes but with your color choice.my 80 model z1r has red and gold pinstripes from the factory and it is hard for me to picture it with anything else.i am of no help on the sidecover emblem placement as my 80 model is different and my 1978 has had them removed.ggod luck with the color choice and keep us posted.


leon

Here's a little update:

This week I've been sanding down the body panels so I can send them to my painter. This is a lot more work than I expected; so far I have the two side covers, the little seat rails and about 85% of the tail done and I already have over 12 hours in it. I still have to do the fairing, tank, and front fender; I'm going to have well over 25 hours in the paint on this bike and I'm having someone else paint it! :huh:

Anyway, my Kawasaki emblems are screaming at me to redo them; the paint inside the letters flakes out more every time I touch them and the black edges are chipped as well. Does anyone know if the original lettering color was pure-white or if it was an off-white? The Z1-R badges that haven't been on the bike for almost 30 years look like they are an off-white "cream" color, but I'm not sure if that is discoloration or original. I know that I'm splitting hairs on this one (especially since I'm not going with the original paint color) but I would still like to know.

Here are a couple of pictures of the badges, don't mind the water spots! :blush:

If it were me on the tank and the front fender I'd go the aircraft stripper route. Put it on and powerwash it off, it will save you time and money since sandpaper these days is costly. JMHO.