1985 Kawasaki ZX600 (GPZ600R)

Hey Folks,
This will be my first build thread on this forum. I'm currently in my last year of highschool and I picked up my fourth bike/project 2 weeks ago. It's a 1985 Kawasaki ZX600 with 58'000km. Milage is a bit high but I'm not going to let it scare me. Only paid $300 for it and it ran when upon purchase.

My Dad and I are working together on this one, he's become increasingly more interested in bikes since he's seen me work on previous projects. The goal for this project is to get it mechanically and cosmetically sound.

Current problems include:
Cracked and badly worn rear tire
Split rear brake line
Missing turn signals and mirrors
Has cheap pod filters
Wiring has some problems/broken wires
Carbs need to be cleaned
Valves need to be adjusted
Gas tank has some rust
Fairings have some minor cracks

Here are some pictures when I bought it and proceeded to remove the fairings.

Nice looking bike. Brings back some memories. I had a red/white/blue '86.
Stage 3 jet kit with K&Ns and a 4-1 was pretty common back then.
Valves were always needing adjustment, the heads were soft on these motors.

alzcbz said:

Nice looking bike. Brings back some memories. I had a red/white/blue '86.
Stage 3 jet kit with K&Ns and a 4-1 was pretty common back then.
Valves were always needing adjustment, the heads were soft on these motors.

Click to expand...

Thank you, yeah it seems like the common form of performance upgrade for this bike. However the pod filters that are on it currently are to wide and it's real pain to get them on the the carbs because they hit one another.

I have a small order of parts coming in today:

New rear tire
Taillight lens
Turn signals

I adjusted the valves last weekend, the exhaust we're just a tad tighter than spec but the intakes literally had no clearance so I'm glad I got that fixed. It was also nice not having to buy shims for this bike.

Set them on the loose side and you should be good for a while. Yeah, I got pretty quick at doing valve adjustments, maybe an hour or so.
The telltale sign was hard starting first startup for the day. The rest of the day was fine. Then same thing the next morning.