Kawasaki Z1000 Turbo Reborn

As it has still got the Rayjay fitted, are you planning to run this or upgrade to a ball-bearing turbo and if you're sticking with the RayJay, how do you plan to increase the oil-pressure for the turbo? (Or how has it been implemented in the past?)

Hold on a sec - is that you Mr.B from the old OSP-Forum?

No, the engine wont be turbo'd, the original turbo was worn out, and the turbo kit got sold off to Z-Power many years ago, for one their show bikes. You have a good memory, I was Mr B on OSP, pity that forum died, as many have.

Maybe we should actually revive it... Not really feeling at home here or on brand-specific forums and the different ideas were always very inspiring.

I still post on Britchopper, but that too seems to be slowly fading away, with less and less posts. Seems everyone is on FB, Instagram etc. There are a few big forums still going strong.. Pistonheads has a Bike section, though most posts are about new bikes, while advrider probably has the best range of subjects, their build section has some amazing build threads. Link here https://advrider.com/f/forums/some-assembly-required.83/
These days I tend to spend most time on YT.

Got the engine cases and block back from the powder coaters... in satin black, very similar to the factory finish..

The other day I dragged out the box holding the MK2 tank and side panels, and tried them out on the frame for the first time. Looks pretty good, still waiting for a seat from Japan, which is on back order via Z-Power.

BTW the gold bars, wheels and shocks wont be used in the final build..

When I was much younger I had a Z1R-TC in dark gray.

The Z1R Turbo are worth a lot of money these days.. £20K or so here in the UK.

Bevelheadmhr said:

The Z1R Turbo are worth a lot of money these days.. £20K or so here in the UK.

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Yes I kick myself often for selling some bikes. My 47 Knuckle would be a $50K bike and my 39 Knuckle would be an easy $100K. My friend's Black Shadow which was a free basket case would be worth several hundred thousand now. I also had a wrecked ELR with factory race provenance and I wonder how much it would be worth. Kawasaki sold the bike after the races for $5K and the new owner wadded it up at a WERA race. I bought the remains for $200 and used the engine in another frame.

Pity we cant keep them all.. so many I wish I'd kept..

I bought a used crank from which turned out to be for a Z1000A1 and not an A3, probably my fault for ordering the wrong part. So I ordered another and its now been taken apart, checked, cleaned, trued and welded ready to go in the engine.

Meanwhile the A1 crank has also been rebuilt too and is sitting on a shelf waiting for to be used one day,

A replica seat arrived from Japan along with a replica rear lamp. A front headlight is out of stock, so will have to wait to get one.

One of the many parts I need for the engine is a starter motor. So I found a starter from a Honda CB900F which fits and is more powerful than an OE starter (0.8 Vs 0.6 kw) ..

The engine is finally coming together. Needed a gearbox, so bought the best I could find off Ebay. Another buy from D&K, as always its a bit of a gamble when buying used. But once stripped, cleaned and checked.. turns out it was in good condition. Already had a strengthened clutch from the Turbo, which left the charging rotor and gear to find. Seems the MK2 and ST are different from the earlier or later models, and therefore more expensive. Typical!

Its also had new heavy duty studs from APE, new cam chain etc.

The head will need completely rebuilding with new guides, recut seats etc. The job will go to Roger
Upperton over in Leeds, who did a good job on my 1170.

Meanwhile hit the Buy button on Ebay again for a mint pair of Yamaha gold spot 4 pot calipers, which will be used in place of the OE 6 pot Tokicos on the ZRX 1200 forks. They'll need one off adaptor plates to fit the forks.

might be worth the time to check that you bought the correct cam chain since you have found out about the crank differences between the early and late models. the MKII engine needs a longer cam chain than the Z1 engine becuase the tooth count is different on the cam sprockets and crank... happened to me when I put together my MKII engine, had to completely tear it back down to reinstall the correct length cam chain.

The engine build I'm leaving to an expert, unlike me, he knows big Zeds very well.

The Z1000Mk2 engine taken out to 1400cc with Orient Express block. The bottom end is now all done. The engine is from my old turbo Z1, it had a spacer plate below the block to lower compression, with that removed, fitted one piston to check the deck height. Piston is 1mm above the block, should be easily corrected by using two base gaskets.

Cool machine; I'll be watching.

buzznichols said:

Cool machine; I'll be watching.

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All my recent projects are on YT.. this one is here.. just 3 vids so for

I have a supercharged kz1000 big bore with one of the few droin super chargers. I need finish it.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

HollywoodMX said:

I have a supercharged kz1000 big bore with one of the few droin super chargers. I need finish it.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

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Sounds interesting, my mate has a supercharged Zed, been pondering making one for myself. I have some empty cases, block and head.. all worn out of course.. but I also have a special block cast here in the UK in the late 70's, which allows the head to be fitted backwards, so the blower is at the front, exhaust at the back... too many ideas, not enough time or money ..

Also finally decided what wheels to use. Had been considering Dymags, but at £2500 they were a bit over budget.. I wanted a pair of 17 inch, 5 spoke, lightweight, good looking wheels, with a 5.5 inch rear, in gold. After much looking, found a pair of new old stock wheels that fit the bill, which are due to arrive tomorrow. Of course they wont fit the ZRX12 forks and swingarm, but I hope we can make them fit...

And here's a potatoe quality pic taken of the rear wheel.. from a 2008 to 2015 R6 and also the FZ1.. new old stock. Now looking for a set of discs.

Anyone used Armstrong discs ?