1981 KZ1000 LTD (The Zombie) Build

WARNING: This is an ongoing project, I will post updates as often as I can.

I decided a few months back I was going to buy and restore a KZ1000 and give it as a gift to my old man who had one new back when he was my age, he also claimed it to be the fastest bike in the west... Anyway through talking to people who have or had these bikes their biggest complaint was the braking and handling could use some improvement, I figured I could just put a more moddern sport bike suspension on there and fix all that. So I bought a complete 1997 Suzuki GSXR 750 for around $200 pulled all the suspension, brakes and wheels off and sold the rest of the parts
Once I had the parts I wanted and the rest of the donor bike gone I started looking for a KZ, little did I know how hard it was going to be to find one in decent shape for a decent price in the Southwest? Eventually I found what I was looking for, a 1981 KZ1000 LTD that runs, rides, is registered and has a clean title!

I found the bike Friday morning and was on the road that night, I drove for 20 hours straight from Las Vegas to Sacramento picked the bike up and drove back. stopped by Reno on the way

Once I got the bike home first order of business was to safety check the bike then take it for a spin

When I got the bike the seller told me it needed a starter clutch and some intake gaskets, what I didn't realize was how bad the starter actually was, it would just spin and fail to engage the starter at all, once I got it started I rode it to my job and was honestly impressed with how fast this bike is, unfortunately when I was trying to ride home the starter would not engage at all and was just spinning, long story short I got the bike home and pulled the side cover I wish I would've got a picture of this bolt that had a screw driver tip broken off vertically through the head of it. 15 minutes of drilling later he bolt was out and the cover off.
Once I got everything apart I found a police version of the generator and clutch hub and flywheel, it would appear as though the starter clutch had been replaced but the bearing that goes on the crankshaft had been left out/forgotten my original plan was to ride this bike for a week and feel out all the things that need attention but I guess I'll just start the tear down now.

can't wait to see how this turns out.

leon

I should be making some major progress with the frame and suspension soon, I am however having some trouble finding a machine shop in town that is able/willing to do the work I need done on the engine? My best recommendation was to ship the head out to extrudehone.com and have a local shop do the simple things on the block.

Nice to have a compleet bike to strip.
Looking forward to seeing you progress.
/A

Small update, got the nightmare of a wiring harness out during removal I found this connector to have had a "thermal incident" that unfortunately damaged surrounding wires as well at this point looking over the factory wiring diagram and finding all the attempted repairs and damaged wires I'm just going to be making my own wiring harness now.

Small update cont. Removed all the body panels and fenders along with the front suspension.
During my two day ride I couldn't help but feel how stiff the steering was when turning and how loose it was in a straight line. Now I know why!
P.S. I will have a lot of KZ parts available once I'm done with everything, I have been careful with the removal of everything incase anyone needs something I no longer do. I will create a new for sale thread of everything so just keep an eye out.

Finally got the engine removed!
This little guy is gonna be on hold while I get the rest of the bike sorted.

I decided to mock up the suspension to get an idea of where all the issues are going to be. does anyone else hate this twin size mattress of a seat as much as me haha!
I figured the front would be pretty simple, I'm going to press the KZ stem into the GSXR tripe clamps using a bushing/collar, most likely I'll bore out the GSXR stem ID to the same size as the KZ stem OD then cut the GSXR stem the same height as the triple clamp. Drill a set of handle bar mounts in the upper clamp to keep the original bar style and control mounting locations (start button, lights, turn signals, etc) instead of clip ons that won't look right or fit right without hitting the tank for that matter. Weld on new steering stops
And finally make a bracket for the head light and gauge cluster. Unfortunately I can't figure out a way to retain a steering lock? But that's not a big issue to me.

The rear suspension on the other hand is going to be a completely different story... the swing arm is hitting the foot peg mounts
So I'll have to cut the mounts off and smooth the frame out and see where it's at after that.
The next issue is the Grand Canyon size gap between the inner frame and the outer of the swing arm pivot. this is not a huge issue seeing as the GSXR pivot bolt sits slightly recessed into the swing arm so the gap is easily corrected by machining a metal washer/bushing to the correct dimensions to get everything squared up and make it a snug fit.
The next issue is the GSXR pivot bolt is twice the size of the KZ, so much so they fit inside each other with room to spare :laugh: I can bore the swing arm pivot hole to the same size as the GSXR bolt no problem, my only concern is that the GSXR bolt is almost the same size as the welded in bushing,

My last issue is, even though I thought my string was pretty funny! I have some doubts about it holding up under serious riding conditions :laugh: I'll be putting a mounting bar across the frame almost directly above the swing arm pivot with a mounting tab, add a similar mounting tab to the lower bar where the center stand was while attempting to keep as close to correct geometry as possible. Finally I'll have to figure out where to stuff the battery seeing as there will be a shock where the battery box used to be?