‘76 KZ900 LTD restoration

I bought this bike in ‘77 when I was 17 years old. Bought it from a long haired hippie dude that took me for a ride on the back seat and it scared the hell out of me. He rode this bike hard. I have owned it since then and enjoyed the hell out of it until……

I found this when I drained my oil about 12 yrs ago. Broken cam chain guide. New guide on the left.

OUCH! Not a good thing to see. Fast forward to 2023 and I take on the task of getting it back on the road again. Here’s what it looks like today.

As many of us did when we were young, we modified our bikes to what was the “hot” thing to do back then. Now, we are all doing all we can to restore our bikes to OEM specs. For you older guys do you remember that doing the “Allen” head bolt and screw kit was a must have? Well, I’m so glad I kept a bag of my old parts and had the bolts/screws to put back in.

Details of the rebuild to follow 

I am one of those "older guys" but I guess I just never "grew up" cause I can't leave anything alone 

I'm another one of those older guys who modified my Z1B.  But I never kept it so I had to buy another one to restore.  If you were like most of us you used the wrong screwdriver on all those OEM screws, and now the heads are twisted ugly.  You can buy brand new ones from various sites.

Good stuff. Yeah, those Phillips head screws were real easy to muck up. I spent hours and hours filing many of these screws and wire wheeling them to look proper again.

Funny, last year I trailered this down to a local bike show and a guy who obviously knew what he was looking at said “well, if you’re restoring this bike proper, you need to change out those handlebar bolts to the chrome hex head bolts”. I was amazed that he noticed that. Anyway, I have a nice bag of Allen head bolts if anyone wants them. 

That broken guide is pretty common on these engines, probably because people dont adjust their cam chains often enough. I was also one of those hippies from the 70's.  This was a police bike when I bought it . A couple versions.


 

motomisfit wrote:

As many of us did when we were young, we modified our bikes to what was the “hot” thing to do back then.

Now, we are all doing all we can to restore our bikes to OEM specs. 

 

I must have missed that memo 
 

zed1015 wrote:

motomisfit wrote:

As many of us did when we were young, we modified our bikes to what was the “hot” thing to do back then.

Now, we are all doing all we can to restore our bikes to OEM specs. 


 

I must have missed that memo 

 

I heard something about a memo, but after 40 years I'm still a fan of the mildly hot rodded Z1  (with the addition of the ignition coils relay).  Not gonna change it back.   

That’s some funny sh*t guys. Ok, maybe not ALL of us…..