My KZ is finished - warning, many pics

[Skunkwurcx]

Well, my Z is finally finished(aside from a few tweaks on the timing) I know some of you might not like the idea of changing something that is original but . No j/k. Everything that has been done can be changed back, I have kept everything that came off and nothing was altered.

This is a list of things that were done :

Tank from California, one side cover from Ohio I think. Tail and the other side cover from an E-Bay vendor named Brian, KZ Customs Vintage Kawasakis - a great guy to deal with. All paint work done by a good friend of mine. PM me if you're local to me and would like to have him do your paint work.

Vance and Hines pipe from a e-bay vendor in Chicago.

Engine bolt kit from Wise Guys Bolts (e-bay vendor)

Superbike bars from a local shop. Switch gear from an e-bay vendor.

New fork seals, new fork Progressive Suspension's frt fork springs, new Progressive Suspension's rear shocks and springs. Dyna coils (and Dyna ignition from local Kawi dealer) new mirrors(Emgo's - not happy with them) New '81 on up KZ1000 billet exhaust holders, new exhaust gaskets. New clutch and throttle cables. Z1000 emblems and a few other odds and sods that I'm prolly forgetting, all from Z1 Enterprises (thanks Rob)

New tank rubbers, as well as new carb holders came from another e-bay vendor.

Carbs were removed and kits were installed as well as float bowls and carb tops polished. Final balancing (syncing)done by Toad's Cycle Works (great job Dave !!) Fork ends were stripped of old clearcoat and polished using a bench grinder fitted with buffing wheels. That's a messy but rewarding job. Same for the cam cover, except that proved WAAAAAY more difficult. All other finished engine covers received a good going over with Mother's Billet polish. Tried to brighten up the engine, but as it didn't need to come out of the frame, it doesn't shine quite like new.

New Dunlop Arrowmax tires frt and rear - the back went up one size to a 140. Rear signal stems were replaced with shorties, and the frt ones came from Red Line Cycle so that I could mount them out of the headlight bucket. A Wired George Ignition relay was also installed as the voltage to the coils was lacking. K&N air filter is now installed also.

Finally, an ELR style seat was acquired from Z-Power in the UK(thanks Dave, hope the Grand daugter and mom are doing well !!)

So, first pic is the day after I brought her home last summer


Some pics of project in progress




beer break


back to work now





well, apparently only 10 pics are allowed per post, so this will continue in a minute....

[Skunkwurcx]

Body kit wasn't back from the painter and I needed a 4 CYL fix, so two weeks ago the original kit went on for a bit



New body kit arrived last week and it stopped raining yesterday so pics were taken last night






It runs great now and handles so much better than it did when I got it, so I'm really happy with it.

Well, I hope you guys enjoy the pics even half as much as I enjoyed working on the bike

Cheers,
Andrew

[A2rider]

Oh wow! Good job, she looks wonderful! That's two KZ's that got back on the road this week.

http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/fo...y-present.html


I love the pipes, maybe some day for mine.

[CTRider]

Great work - she looks great.

[hayward6]

You get extra points for the state of the art test gas tank

[zedx11]

that looks great.

Originally Posted by hayward6

You get extra points for the state of the art test gas tank

I noticed that too. lol

[lh4x4]

Great job! That's a fine machine. Ride safe now.

[Nate]

Bravo!!!!

[longbeachgary1]

Wow

[83 LTD 440]

That's amazing, looks like it rolled off the showroom floor. Great work & attention to detail.

[CheeseHeadNinja]

That looks immaculate! Very impressive.

Got a question for ya... the oil filter on that bike, is it a oil screen or is it a replaceable filter? Where is the filter, any recommendations on changing it? What weight of oil do you use? 10W-40 or 20W-50?

Sorry for the questions but I know someone with an 81 KZ1000 that needs help changing the oil and I don't know anything about the bike...

[Connman]

it's a beauty, I love a good restoration project.

[98ninja98]

Good job. Do you mind telling how much the whole project ended up costing?

[W-P Bill]

Beautiful! Very well done!

[antiq]

BRAVO! Very nice indeed.

[Guitar7272]

sweeeetttt. Great job!

[Skunkwurcx]

Originally Posted by CheeseHeadNinja

That looks immaculate! Very impressive.

Got a question for ya... the oil filter on that bike, is it a oil screen or is it a replaceable filter? Where is the filter, any recommendations on changing it? What weight of oil do you use? 10W-40 or 20W-50?

Sorry for the questions but I know someone with an 81 KZ1000 that needs help changing the oil and I don't know anything about the bike...

Thanks CHN....the oil filter on mine is a cartridge type, meaning the filter element material is not wrapped in tin like the one on most cars. It fits inside the engine on the bottom towards the frt of the engine. There is a round, ribbed plate on the bottom of the crank case which has a bolt in it's center. Remove that bolt, and the plate will drop to allow the filter to be removed. There is a secondary bolt too, which allows the oil from the filter housing to be drained before you remove the filter. This is not the main oil drain though...there is another one just to one side of the filter location. As for oil....that depends on the air temperatures that can be expected while running a particular weight oil - I use 10W-40 as the temps here never get too blisteringly hot.

It's not hard to change the oil in it, the biggest issue is getting the bike high enough to get a pan under it and still have some room to manouver, and there may be a clearance issue with the pipe. Get the engine warm first is all I would say.

[Skunkwurcx]

Originally Posted by 98ninja98

Good job. Do you mind telling how much the whole project ended up costing?

Thanks.....uh cost...yeah, uuuummmmmm....lost track really , but I would say, including the price of the bike to start with, between $5K and $6K, but closer to $5K, rough guess. The bike was pretty much immaculate to start with for the year, so I didn't get it for cheap. The only things that weren't done by me were the paint, the tire change, and the carb balancing. Put labour cost on top of that if I couldn't do the work myself and you could pretty much dbl that figure.

Thanks again

[Skunkwurcx]

Thansk all for the kind words....like I said, I'm really happy with the end result - both in looks and the way it performs now.

[Miralcos]

Wow, very good job! That's one sweet lookin' scooter. I would love to have one of those old school rides.