1990 KZ1000 police cafe build

OK, nearly done with the rear bump. I did more fill work, primered it and riveted the seat pan on.

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Here it is sitting on the bike. I need to make some shroud to cover up the gas tank bolt and tie the two pieces together, but all in all, I think it looks pretty good.
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damarble said:
I'd be looking for another way to hold down the tank so you can remove that tab.

Good idea. I didn't remove the tab, but rather modified it to have a lower profile. Thanks.
 
So finishing up the seat pan, for now. I needed to move the gas tank mount bolt so I could fab up a low profile shroud to cover that gap, here's the work:

Before: You can see how far up it sticks.
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After: Almost like it isn't even there.
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And here is the shroud I made. It looks like a lot right now, but once it's covered with the seat, I think it will all flow pretty well. Sitting on it is kinda cool, you literally drop right into the bike. Once the clip ons and rear sets are rigged up it will have a pretty aggressive riding position.
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Now that I'm satisfied with the seat, its time to start into the engine. When I picked this bike up the odometer read around 55000. The guy who sold it to me said it hadn't worked once since he bought it several years ago. Given the unknown miles and the fact that I've already pulled it out of the bike, it needs to get checked out for wear and a rebuild if necessary. Let the good times roll!

Here it is on the makeshift engine cradle I build. The whole thing is sitting on a movers dolly, making the act of rotating it so convenient.
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After pulling the cam covers. I was pretty stoked that all the cam bearing surfaces were within factory tolerances. There's a couple bushings that I'll replace, but all in all, pretty minor. Hopefully the rest is as good.
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And I pulled the top end. I'm gonna soak those pistons in solvent, then decide their fate.
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Question for the masses: Has anyone reading this done a Kawasaki motor rebuild? I'm curious if there are performance packages out there for this old engine. I haven't really looked into it yet, but if you know of any shoot me a link please.
 
Tons of HighPo parts for the Zeds around.


Make sure you look carefully, though, as the later Police 1000 motors were slightly more evolved than the stock J motor they started out as.


Many things for the J motors will bolt right on, but double check anyway because there are a few tiny changes in some things.


Looking good!
 
Nothing special today, just cleaning parts and taking measurments. I pretty happy that everything I was able measure on the crankshaft checked out. Still gonna take it in to Kawasaki so they can check the balance and alignment. Also going to have them do my valves and resurface the head, along with a few other things.

So I decided that I don't like cleaning parts. This revelation spurred me to soak everything in a solvent bath overnight, and make a box for sandblasting the surface pieces. I'm also in the process of scrapping together a tumbler for all the hardware. Gotta love machine conveniences.

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Don't hate on my box. I got the wood from a scrap heap, haha.
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Those are some clean pistons...
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MotorbikeBruno said:
Really inspect that gear box for worn gear dogs etc. People were known to destroy 2nd gear all the time on these!

This bike would jump out of gear in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at 5500 RPM consistantly. Every time I rolled on the throttle hard it would pop. The actual gears and dogs look alright, possibly some worn drum detents? Any suggestions?
 
Hmmm, kinda sounds like your clutch was slipping unless you mean it jumped into a "neutral" position....and you physically had to "click" it into gear again? In that case, there usually is some sort of retention spring that can be stretched over time too. (yours may not have one, I am just going off another bike I had that did that, so don't take that as info on your exact bike)

If I'm not mistaken, there should be some sort of wear limit on the gear forks, and such. I'll have to see if I can find anything specific to that bike.
 
It's a pretty common mod to undercut the gear dogs to ensure they engage properly. Done all the time in the drag racing world - and pretty much mandatory for racing Suzuki GS motors.
 
hillsy said:
It's a pretty common mod to undercut the gear dogs to ensure they engage properly. Done all the time in the drag racing world - and pretty much mandatory for racing Suzuki GS motors.

Cool, something I didn't know, I'll say it a billion times. I love this place. :D
 
So I think I found the problem with my xmsn jumping out of gear, but I'll run it past the masses. I'm certainly no expert. Here is the shift drum detent I pulled, and I assume that the wear on the roller in giving the shift drum just enough room to pop into neutral.

Here is the roller as it should be, I think.
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Here is how bad it is worn. Would this be enough to cause my problem?
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Finally got the clip-ons I ordered. I've been looking for control boxes to replace the stock police ones (since there are now a bunch of unused switches) but so far haven't found any I liked. Any suggestions?
 
Waiting on my engine parts before I could put it back together, so I was fooling around with the front fender and control levers instead. What do you all think, thoughts? Opinions?

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MotorbikeBruno said:
definitely getting there. I like the look of a front fender that is shorter on this bike.

Thanks. I wanted to keep a short fender over no fender. I'm also running a similar one for my Harley.
 
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