93' KZ1000 Police cafe' project

Hey guys, Just signed up and I am sure that I will have a bunch of questions for my next project. I just adopted a 93' Police cruiser, and plan to turn it into a cafe racer. I am not new to old school cafe bikes, and pretty handy with fabrication, so the basic build should be a snap, but this is the first KZ I have ever had.

My first question is what years will this 93' cross over with? Body parts, electrical, motor components, etc. All of the police goodies will go away (of which are for sale, pm me if interesed), and I want to replace the wiring harness with a standard model. Any ideas for this bike are greatly appreciated.

Here is a pick as it sits now:


And here is my last project I finished a couple months ago. 79' Yamaha RD400F "Daytona Special" (2 stroke baby!). 2 years in the making, and a complete down to bare metal resto:

Wow, love the RD. I have always loved those and want to pick one up some day.

Look forward to seeing where you take the KZ.

I'd love to pick up a Daytona project. Awesome little bike!
Don't have answers to your questions but I'm sure some experts will chime in. Motor is a J motor, same for all 81-up Police bikes AFAIK and there are many of them out there, probably easiest model engine to find spares for.

Z1enterprises is one of the best sources for parts, gaskets etc.
www.z1enterprises.com/catalog.aspx?pid=KZ1000J

Frame is kinda low behind the tank that will probably be your main challenge in making it look good.
Cool project!

Yes, The motor is a "J" series motor and was made from 1981 to 2005. The Police frame however is a critter of its own and will not cross to anything els than other police bikes. In the "J" series bikes the rolling Chassis went threw a few stages of evolution, about four from what I remember.

Thanks guys for the info. How about the side covers? Are they also specific to this model?

Nice cop bike should be a blast when its done.

The Daytona pic made me drool on my keyboard a little I grew up on the old two strokes and had a Daytona Special when I was younger, wish I still had it.

Here is a pic of my RD350 that I gave to my brother a few years ago

Where did you get the chambers for the RD with the stingers? My brother is looking for a set like that.

Apparently my Daytona is getting all the attention :laugh: (not that I mind at all, it is truly a prize!). Kawickrice, that 3 fiddy is sweet! And for all the 2 stroke fans out there, if you have not checked out www.2strokeworld.com (I am RLB454 on there as well), I highly recomend it, the drool factor definately goes up whilst cruising that site.

As for the KZ, I am finding that (thanks to you all) it is a pretty specific bike, and is its own breed. I was hoping that there would be some crossover to standard KZ's. Sorta makes me ask myself it it would be worth putting all the effort into at times, but then I talk myself into the fact that this will be a truly unique motorcycle when I am done with it.

So if I read the replys right, I should be able to find the electrical components from a 81'> to replace the police electrics, ie; wiring harness, dash, fuse pannel, etc.? I would rather eliminate all the bells and whistles,or should I say lights and sirens, to clean up and have minimum wires to deal with.

I would also like something like a Norton Manx style tank, but with the triple tube backbone on the frame, the tank selection might be pretty small? Any ideas?

I appreciate all the info, and if anyone has some ideas, post them up! I want to get an idea as to what exact direction I want to go with this thing. Like I said before, this project will prob take a while, but that is ok, my Daytona took almost two years, and just look at it!

De-policification has begun :ohmy: Next on the list is to start de tabbing the frame, only the absolute neccessary tabs will survive my die grinder. I have been searching for ideas in as many places I can think of to get a vision for this bike, and am starting to see it. I do a lot of mold making, so I think I am going to make my own fiberglass seat/tail section, and possibly side covers, we'll see. Any ideas are welcome.

The guy I got this from said there is not a single pound of compression in any of the cyclinders, which tells me it is prob a timing chain issue? The motor looks great from the outside (I know that dont mean much, but...) and has 37,000 miles on the clock. My understanding is that these motors are pretty much bomb proof, so I figure the compression issue is a simple one. I guess I'll see when I take the heads off.






I dont think I mentioned that this bike was just given to me...I like free!

I found a sharp sawsall blade to be more effective and faster than a die grinder at removing frame bits I may need some mold making tips since I am just about to make molds for my sidecovers. I'll PM you about it
FREE! You can't look a gift bike in the crankcase :laugh:

RLB454 wrote:

Thanks guys for the info. How about the side covers? Are they also specific to this model?

The csr 1000 side covers fit also..

Thanks Chance on the heads up for the side covers, I'm watching a set on e bay as we speak.

Hay Rick, can you tell me what the diameter of your front rotors is? I am using those forks with a different wheel, calipers and rotors and was wondering before I start putting everything together. I am putting the fork-tubes on a narrower tree from a GPz1100.