Long time lurker, first time KZ owner

I've loved KZ's since riding my dad's beater KZ 900 with a 1000 motor. In fact, I created a username on this forum in 2006 and here's my first post. I did ride a ZRX1100 for a while, and then went with a Sportster that I bobbed and have been tinkering with the last couple of years. The Sportster isn't the greatest highway bike, and my wife didn't like having to follow me everywhere in the car as there was no backseat for her.

So last weekend I took a roadtrip to pick up this beast. '78 LTD frame with an earlier 900 motor. Previous owner picked this up with a blown motor (which he gave in pieces in a few tubs). The motor was supposedly rebuilt by a motorcycle shop he once worked at. The engines owner never paid the bill and he bought it from the shop. It looks real clean minus the dust in the crevices. Looks like it sat on a shelf for a while. It has police model CV carbs with pods, a Kerker pipe, and fires up within seconds.


Plans include rebuilding the forks and making it a generally reliable ride. Needs a lot of tlc, but should look good with some love and a new paint job.

Also need to revert to a more sensible riding posistion. I love the look of the clubmans and the rearsets, but it's not comfortable!

Great! That should be a good bike for 2 up once you make some refinements. Good to see you came back from the DarkSide.
That KZ will be great once you get it set up, serviced etc.
KZR is the right place to be for sure.

Welcome.
Looks like you've found a nice bike.
As far as for two up, your wife might want a Voyageur or similar.

Actually she wanted me to trade up to a bigger cruiser. But we're not talking about cross country touring, just maybe quick blasts down to Galveston for the day. This should work well enough for short trips.

After almost three years I thought it was time for an update. This project for pushed aside a couple of years...

I started off with a front end rebuild. New set of fork tubes to replace the rusted originals. A forum member set me up with a nice used set. New seals, progressive springs, and tapered head bearings. Painted the lower tubes and triple tree.





New left switchgear, headlight bracket, and front master cylinder, all universal parts off eBay. You knw what the say about universal part, they fit every bike equally poorley.

Removed swinarm to paint and install new bearings. Found it to be cracked. I used a cut off wheel to open up the crack and welded it back. Its a temporary fiix. I have a gpz swingarm for a possible future wide tire conversion, but I'm considering a gs1100 so I can keep the wheel and brake stock for now if anyone has one for sale, let me know.





I cleaned up the hacked wiring harness, added turn signals, converted to blade style fuses.

Replaced JIS engine screws with stainless Allen bolts. Added engine guards. Thought I could find a cheap used set, but as common as they once were they best deal I could find was a new blemished set.

I "un-cafed" by ditching the clubman's and flipped footrest for superbike bars and stock controls.

Halfway through the body work, the project was put on the back burner. Reason being the arrival of our first child and the desire for a bike I could ride. That led to to the purchase of this...



2002 Buell Cyclone. Its a lot like the Kz. Air cooled, loud, fast, and a pain in the ass to find parts for... Main difference is that it can handle! Its turned into an ongoing project too, but I've managed to rack up one or two thousand miles when not down for repairs or modifications.

I finally completed the paintjob that I started a year or two ago. Stripped the old paint,filled dents, cleaned out the tank rust with vinegar before coating with Red Kote.



After sandible primer came a few coats of Krylon gold metallic..



Then a coat of glitter paint.



Then came many many coats of duplicolor metal cast. Its a translucent paint. It took a lot to bury the glitter. If I would ever do it again I recommend covering the glitter with clear before using the metal cast. Would have been cheaper.



End result is a candy apple red metalflake. Last week I sealed it all in with 2k clear in a can. It has some orange peal,some dust specs, and an few gold specs from where I sanded the candy too far, but overall looks great for hundred dollar paint job. I'll wetsand and polish after the clear has cured for a few months, or years...

Yesterday and today I've been working on wiring in my new coils and powder coating my pitted gas cap. I disassembled the cap, cleaned it Sandpaper and a wire wheel to smooth out the pitting. Sprayed it with black powdercoat, carefull not to fill the key or pivot holes. Had it almost back together before I noticed the bubbles on the side. I pushed the bubbles and it made a crinkling sound. It wasn't an issue with the powder, the chrome was lifting. So I spent some time with a razor blade, peeling off chrome . Here's what I ended up with.


I guess I'll try again next weekend.

You can get a new one here.
Steve
z1parts.net/gas-cap-with-lock-kz900-kz1000-kz-kh-s1/

Nice!
What did you use to spray the glitter? Was it in aerosol form? what are the specs?
Really digging the paint job!

All paint was aerosol. The gold base coat and glitter paint came from Walmart. The red candy came from Autozone. The only special paint involved was the clear with hardener, ordered from Eastwood. Its nasty stuff that you shouldn't breathe and it obsorbs through your skin. You're supposed to be using an air supplied suit. This was me before spraying...

Good stuff!!!!