What would you do? With My KZ 1100

Ok So I have my KZ 1100 that i was turning into a cafe racer, I since then acquired a KZ650, and now I might be getting another 650 or a 89 ninja 900. So I am trying to see what I can do with my KZ 1100, turning it Cafe was going to be an expensive journey, I am still thinking I want something mean and fast. I still have all the stock parts, I would like to keep my open header exhaust, but I keep hearing that I will burn up my valves, or warp them because of cooling. But any ideas are welcomed. I would like to finish one project at a time so I am going to respect this bike by it being my first KZ, and fix her up good.

I think you would be better off staying with one bike modding it lightly and riding it. If this is a first project for you I would select the model you like best. To try and build 3 or 4 bikes at once gets real crazy real fast and before you know it you might have $5 to $10K +++ spent and nothing still runs. I see countless projects unfinished, people finally realize 1/4 way 1/2 through. I have over $20K into 1 of my bikes and it still does not run (lol) almost done now though. Another assumption with alot of projects is "the motor ran good last time it ran"...... truth is MOST of them will need time & more $ than was planned. Best of luck to your build, cheers Doug

I have been running open headers and you will not ruin the valves. Roy

Thanks guys, my 1100 is just a flat out bad bike I love it so much. It is my first bike...But yes you are right, it seems once you start on it ...you just keep on putting money into it...My 650 runs but is very ugly, and just needs a carb cleaning, my 1100 is modded with rearsets, and clipons, there are so many issues that I haven't gotten past like my kickstand hitting my shifter for the rear set, which not a good thing or a the gasket on the shifter leaking oil, biggest problem with her is the Reg/Rec burning up stuff, so I am putting in another fuse box, reg/rec. The forks leak so I need new seals and oil. The 650 just is in need of a electrical update, valve cover seal, and fork seals...she rides now and rides well, but backfires because of carbs being dirty. BUT I am not to sure which one to invest time into, because they both ride, and both are bad, but it's hard to choose...BUT i need to get one of them up and road worthy to save gas money.

On my kz1000 I am running rear sets and since the stock shifter was too long so I am now running a shifter from a CBR 1100XX Blackbird. It's a non linkage shifter and works well for my application. I don't have any clearance issues so it's something to think about. On the regulator/rectifier issue burning things up. I'd make sure that the system has enough total resistance in it. A friend of mine has a RC51 that was constantly burning things up and three issue was that the PO had replaced the system before and cut a good portion of the wiring out which decreased the system resistance. I spliced in extra wire to increase the resistance and he hasn't had any problems since. Just a thought but it may be worth looking in to.

Well that's pretty sweet, and I will look into that. I modified the frame mounts to the stock Brake/Shifter assembly, so I have to be attentive to what I try to fit on there for a rear set. Does both brake/and shifter assembly work from the blackbird? Also the PO did a lot of crappy short cuts to make things work on that bike which i believe contributed to failure of the reg/rec and the stator. Because my stator is brand new, and is putting out 13. V when the bike is running at idle, and yet my battery wont charge for nothing. Honestly i believe about $2500 invested in this bike will make it a killer looking bike, and a awesome long lasting bike.

Im not sure what the pegs fwereor the rearsets are from since they were on the bike when I got it. The rear brake is a mess too. When I got the bike it required you to take your foot off of the peg to use the brake. It had a piece of aluminum all thread between the brake pedal and cylinder. It flexed really bad and was useless. I fixed that with a drum brake tool and an extra 13mm socket. It's crude but it works. The blackbird shifter mounts just like the stocker but is quite a bit shorter so I can shift without taking my foot off of the peg which I couldn't dio when I bought the bike. I got it for free from my friend with the RC51 because it was on his bike when he bought it since the PO had it set up as a GP shift pattern so I imagine that any splined shifter that is the right length would probably work

sweet that's actually what I did to mines, I cut and rewelded the old shifter, and then turned it upside down, and it work great, but I wanted a actual rear set, but i believe that i will be going back to my old config. Any suggestions on baffling and tuning with open headers?

I'm running the carbs jetted the way they came and they seem ok. I'm going to be tuning it on the dyno here pretty soon so that may change. When it had vm26's I was ruining 20 pilot needle on the 4th clip I believe and 120 mains and I'm at sea level.