I want to have my cake and eat it too

[Loco_Hosa]

I have a 89 ZX-10 with 60,000 miles on it, and I recently got it for commuting to and from school (paid $1400). The previous owner didnt do much to it, he was an older black gentlemen. He claimed to have never wheelied it, and I believe him. He says he never even changed out the clutch for the 30,000 miles he had it.

The bike ISNT in good cosmetic shape, and that doesn't bother me. It makes a good first impression, and for an 18 year old in college, lets face it, hell of a lot cooler than a honda civic.

I have been learning to wheelie on this motorcycle, (I know, number 3 rod bearing can go from this, shame on me) and Im satisfied with it, but more power would be nice. It also seems to fall off in power around 8-9000 rpm.

Im going to do a valve adjustment soon (Next week I hope, any links or free instructions, I will LOVE you) and then I want to make it just a bit more responsive and maybe get more of the top end I think belongs there.

Synthetic oils, love them, hate them? Any recommendations?

Where can I get a set of individual air cleaners for this bike, how hard to install are they, and what are the pros and cons?

Exhaust, I CANT spend $500 on a 4 into 1, no way no how. My buddy ordered a set of short little glass packs for his GPZ, would I get any increase in performance by using these? I know some welders, (And Im trying to learn) are there any better ways to get the same effect?

Jet kits, I have heard bad things about jet kits. Also, "Kit" sounds expensive. Any reason I shouldn't just by the individual jets, then run the bike at full throttle, pull a plug and see if I need to go up or down?

Frame Sliders, I cant find any. Any one got some suggestions? The bike isnt pretty, but I would still like to save the plastic that's left, and more important, keep the tank and cylinders off the ground.

I have heard of swapping the entire head, valves, and carbs of a ZX-11, someday that would be nice, but for now thats a bit out of the price range.

Please, dont cut me down for not knowing what I am talking about. I tried to research this stuff, but information (And parts) for this old thing is scarce, and I really want to learn more about building up a sport bike. I dont pretend to know much, but this is what makes sence to me.

[pedro juan]

hi loco,i think that a good place to start would be the carbs.try a simple balancing.this is done with vacume gauges that will not cost alot from say ebay and you will see a big differance in throttle response and power delivery.i did mine and it was a big differace..the next thing would be to fit a full stainless system this will improve power and it will sound great and it will only cost about 100 english pounds for the front pipes and then you can get a can from ebay very cheep and make a flange yourself for the can,i did this and all in cost 140 uk pounds.the next thing to improve wheelies is to remove the belly pan and or side fairing panels as this will make it wheelie "at will".as for jet kits and filters and stuff...leave it alone because kawasaki spent alot of money and time perfecting the airbox for max torque and power (beleve me i have tried filters and it just makes the engine fluffy and gutless)the valve clearances on ur bike i beleve are not very easy to adjust as they are shimmed you can check the clearances easy enuff to see if you need to re~shimm.give your bike a basic oil and filter service and DO NOT USE OIL FLUSH as @60000 miles if you have any loose bearings in the engine doing this will show up all of those to your expence.change the spark pugs too.the recommended oil for your bike is sae 10w40 10w50 20w50se or sf class.go for the thinner one as thicker oil costs you power.its up to you if you wanna semi or sinthetic its all money and you sound like me...broke!lol...and so just stick to the recomended oil.dude be carefull not to put the front wheel down too hard when you are poppin wheelies as you WILL snap the brackets that hold the headlight fairing on.thats all i can think of for a min and will keep you busy for a couple of days.good luck

[Loco_Hosa]

(I only have a few minuets, more detailed response later)

I have never seen just aftermarket headers for this bike, please, if you know where I can get them that would be AWESOME.

I am surprised that with a aftermarket exhaust I wouldnt want to jump up a jet size, but you guys know alot more than me.

Thanks!

[pedro juan]

the thing is with this bike you have;kawasaki are the smallest outta the big guns like yamacar honba and back in the day when they were making these bikes they couldent afford to make so many parts,so alot of the parts on say your bike and mine (and others of the same era) will fit and the pipes are really simular.

[Loco_Hosa]

Does this mean that I can take the 4 into 1 downpipes off a ZX-11 and fit it on? I thought there was a clearance problem at the oil pan or something, how hard to overcome is this?

[pedro juan]

i dont know about that but it cant be far out!suck it and see.is there any way you can get to a breakers and offer up some pipes or maybe look at what you are thinking?

[Loco_Hosa]

i dont know about that but it cant be far out!suck it and see.is there any way you can get to a breakers and offer up some pipes or maybe look at what you are thinking?

I dont think so, I have only seen one ZX-11 in the area, and I dont know the owner. I would be buying off E-bay, then just planning on doing some bending and tweaking I supose. If the ports are the right size, I can make it work.