75 Z1 project

I have seen that. Maybe down the road. Thanks Peter

Cleaning and polishing do nothing to change the originality of a bike. When you start changing factory surfaces by powder coating, painting and alike then you start to change the value. It can be restored 100 times, but it is only original once. Rebuild the brakes and get new brake lines. Change the fluids: fork oil, brake, engine oil and make certain you use an engine oil with the proper ZDDP levels. Old engines do not have roller cams, they need the zinc and phosphorus as friction modifiers for the rubbing parts.
Ride it, it was engineered and manufactured to ride. The joy comes from riding it. If you want to park it get a nice picture of it, sell it and buy something you'll ride. Beautiful bike!

Thanks I appreciate that advice. Thats the plan. I know about the zinc deal, just got my fuel injected 493/383 mopar running. That was a big concern for a new engine.

Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner really?

I'd say no. Harsh cleaners are not the answer. Include dish washing soap in the harsh category. Mother's, Mequiars, or other quality finishing products you can trust. Including the chrome and aluminum. Chrome is surprisingly delicate. I thought of it as super hard until I completely ruined a piece. It is gorgeous as it sits, buff it up where you can and where it responds to some love . Leave it where it doesn't. It is wicked cool

I just love this site!!!! Just keep rubbing on it until Pay Day!!!! And keep all ordinal parts and dont EVER let them go. You will regret it. Ive had mine 41 years.

Tim wrote: Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner really?

Yes sir
It's good for all dirt grime on the frame coils harness etc. Whenever I get a bike, and I had a couple it's the first thing I do. Strip the body and soak the bike with scrubbing bubbles. I use the family dollar stuff , sprays on blue turns black with the dirt

Hey all,
Been working on stuff. Got the tank cleaned out, side plastic cleaned and waxed, front & rear fender, seat, front rim off and cleaned up.

Just ordered new rebuild kits and brake lines. What do you think of these helmets?

Hi Tim,
Nice find. We were gone for two weeks & just saw the OP.

Gentle cleaning and light polishing would be appropriate. Leave as much patina as is practical. Refurb instead of restore.

Over polishing the aluminum is a very common mistake. It was never mirror polished from the factory, more like shiny-ish satin.

+1 on rebuild the MC and caliper. Make sure it'll stop before you make it go.

The outside of the #'s 1 and 4 float bowls were polished from the factory. Take care to return them to their original positions, as they will fit any of the four carbs. You'll definitely need to replace the "T's" between the 1/2 and 3/4 carbs. Maybe the carb holders too, if they're cracked.

Don't replace the float needles & seats unless absolutely necessary. They just don't make them like that any more.

There were some misprints in the Kawasaki White Manuals. Wouldn't hurt to get one, but cross-check with the KZ-900 manual too. It has some updated and more detailed info in it.

The main 20 amp fuse was a round glass affair in a holder that was barely adequate to pass the current required to run the bike. We've seen many that were melted. We've updated that one piece on all of our Z-1's with a modern blade fuse & holder that simply plugs into the connectors for the glass fuse holder. No hacking of the harness necessary, and can be returned to stock condition in seconds. We'll post pics shortly.

+1 on the JIS screwdrivers mentioned above. You'll thank us later.

We'd check the torque of the head nuts and bolts. You might be surprised how much under torqued they could be.

Clean & apply dielectric grease to all pin connectors. They have a tendency to grow creeping crud over the decades.

Stuff some new grease into the wheel bearings.

We prefer the K&N air filter over the paper filter. The position of the airbox opening allows water from the top of the tank to drain into the airbox opening when washing or parked in rain. When the paper filter get wet, the bike will run poorly, if at all until the paper dries. Once oiled, the K&N filter will still breathe even if exposed to water.

The grease between the ID of the spark advancer cam and the advancer shaft has probably aged to where it's more like stiff glue. Careful disassembly, cleaning and new high-temp grease will ensure the advancer returns to full retard at idle.

The fading common to the blue is apparent on the tank top, at least one side over and the tailpiece. We'd leave it that way.

We think we see some perforations in the mufflers. If you choose to replace the exhaust system with a repo system, do not discard the original pipes!

Some here may disagree with the cosmetics, but a set of case guards would protect the dyno and points covers from damage in a simple parking lot drop.

Cool helmets! If you ever show the bike, make sure to include those helmets alongside.

Great project on an unmolested bike with a known history. They're becoming increasingly rare like that.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Wow, thanks so much for this great information. You have a shop?

Tim wrote: Wow, thanks so much for this great information. You have a shop?

You're quite welcome. It's great to see a nice, original Z-1 in good hands & being brought back to life.

We don't have a shop, per se. We're just eat up with Z-1 fever. It's an affliction. Our (private) shop is the result of slmjim living & breathing Z-1's since he bought his first one new in 1974. Over the decades that first Z-1 has grown to a collection of six Z-1's, with the help and encouragement of The Lovely Z1BEBE. If you browse our introduction in the New Members section you'll see it and all of our other Z-1's, along with short versions of their back stories. We're not really a business, more like an enthusiast's shop/toy room/aZylum, but we will assist a fellow Z-1 enthusiast in any way we can, remotely or in person.

slmjim did work part time in a very good local bike shop for many years that specialized in Z-bikes, until they closed during the recession.

As promised, the main fuse modification. The holders were purchased at PepBoys. We spliced two OEM bullet connectors w/wires onto the pigtails, so they could be plugged into the original connectors for the OEM fuse holder. The blade fuse holder fits the space occupied by the OEM holder perfectly.








Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Thank you I'll get on that.