My 4th Zed

[Bevelheadmhr]

I have three other Kawasaki Zed projects, all at various stages of completion, so I need another like I need a hole in the head.. But there comes a time with each project when you cant do much. Maybe waiting for a part, or work to be done you cant do yourself, lots of reasons why work can't progress. Meanwhile, my consultant told me to do more of what I like, and less of what I don't like.. so doctors orders I go an start another project I guess..

I'm always looking for the next project, on Ebay or via friends, so had made a couple of bids on bikes 'that need work' on Ebay. One was a rough looking Kawasaki Gpz 750 Turbo, while the other was a basket case seventies Z1000. Both sold for far more than I though was sensible. I kept looking. Decided to built another ground up restomod, so rather than buy an overpriced basket case, most of which will be replaced, I bought this instead..

Its a 1978 Kawasaki Z1000A1 frame, all complete and straight, a little surface rust, imported from the US. Its a start..

Already started buying stuff for it, but wont do any real work on this one till the other Zeds are done... tho said that last time....

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

For this project, the budget is to be a lot bigger, so can afford some cool parts. Time to join the 21st century and fit an USD front end. I;ve steered clear of USD forks in the past as they are usually too short to fit older frames, as newer sports bikes have much steeper head angles than bikes from the seventies and eighties. Its also tricky to make the front fender mounts look right on an older bike. There are ways around that problem, such a using a stepped top yoke, pic below, but didnt want to go down that route with this bike..

Its rare for me, but this week had a couple of good buys off Ebay, bought a complete USD front end with calipers, which was immaculate, followed by a rear wheel, including disc and sprocket carrier, along with the OE tyre. Seller said its done just 6 miles, and probably true. The tricky bit is making it all fit on an old Zed..

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

To keep things simple, I bought a matching swing arm, rear caliper and spindle, all from a Z900RS. It was a risk, and sadly I cant use any of these parts as the swing arm pivot area is far too wide to fit the frame, and it cant be modded to fit.. A Shame as the arm would have been easy to convert from mono to twin shock.

Now on the look out for a suitable swing arm, I don't really want to use one from a ZRX1200 as already used that twice before, maybe a XJR1300 will do? Ordered one, only £50, and from the look of its pivot area, plenty of meat on the arm to machine it down to fit the old Zed frame if needed....

Its a nice looking arm, on this project it wont be left anodised or polished.

 

[buzznichols]

Cool stuff, and a great start. I'll be watching closely

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

The XJR1300 sing arm arrived, and its only 10mm wider than the frame, so will be easy to machine 5mm from each side of the pivot to make it fit the Z1000A1 frame. Of course the pivot spindle is a larger diameter at 20mm than the original Zed spindle at 16mm. That can be solved by either modding the frame or using a Zed spindle with top hat spacers to make up the difference in the swing arm.

Note that there are two versions of the XJR1300 swing arm, the early version has a 20mm wheel spindle while the later version has 28mm. I got the early version, as the Z900RS rear wheel I want to use also has a 20mm wheel spindle.

However, I'd like to add an under brace, something like this one from Over Racing in Japan. Thing I know how to bend the alloy box section, so if that works ok, should be do-able...

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

Cool stuff, and a great start. I'll be watching closely

Its on YT, though only two vids on this build so far..

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

With the XJR1300 swing arm narrowed, it was time for a test fit in the frame. Not unexpectedly, the pillion foot peg mounts got in the way of the now wider swing arm.. they had to go. Everything went together ok, the frame still needs to be braced, and a few other lugs and brackets removed or modified.

 

[irk miller]

Big fan of the rear wheel, amongst all of it.

 

[Streetfighterkz]

I was wondering how long it was going to take until someone put a set of OEM RS wheels on a Kz/Z.

It’s looking like it’ll turn out great.

Later, Doug

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

I was planning on painting the wheels gold, but the rear wheel is new, got it for a great price, so a shame to paint it. Still on the look out for a equally good front wheel. I now have a new Z1 tank, all the way from Japan, so just need a front guard that fits the Z900RS USD forks and that's all the bodywork sorted.

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

New side panels and Z1 tank.. all the way from Japan. Quite reasonable price having seen how much dented, rusted out tanks go for on Ebay.

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

The custom seat has arrived from Japan, a bargain as its pillion strap was missing, no problem, as I don't fit them anyway. The rear caliper mount is done though it needs a little more work to make it look better..

 

[Streetfighterkz]

It’s starting to shape up nicely.

One question: why not a completely underslung rear caliper? The bracket would be 50% the weight and gets the caliper away from the shock so it doesn’t look as bulky in that spot.

Later, Doug

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

2 reasons, makes it difficult to bleed, and hanging so low makes it more prone to seize up since it's closer to all the rain and dirt being flung up from the road.

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

Finished machining the caliper mount, it'll be hard anodised later. Moving to the front end, the Z1000 stem has had a threaded steel plug welded into its base, next a spacer needs to be added which will be a press fit into the Z900RS lower yoke.

Bought a head for the engine, in good condition, with its cam caps, but valve seats will be recut, with new valves etc.

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

Today split the cases for the Z1000A1, and checked them very carefully for any damage or cracks, thankfully they look ok. So the cases, cam cover and sump cover can be taken to be ceramically coated in the week. While the barrel will need to be bored out by 1mm to suite the new pistons, and the head needs its valve seats recut. Then they in turn can be coated.

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

Have been slowly buying new and used parts to build the engine. Bought this 1015cc block, like most of on Ebay it had a broken fins, this one was one of the better blocks for sale..

So took it to a friend who filled the broken area with weld, then we carefully filed it smooth, looks good as new. Next I'll have it bored out by 1mm to suite the new pistons, and finally t needs to be ceramically coated, same as the cases. The rest of the engine is going to be silver, but might have the block coated black...

 

[Maritime]

I vote black with polished fins for the block.

 

[doc_rot]

that XJR arm looks good. how long is it pivot to axle?

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

Its approx 2.5 inches longer than a standard Zed swing arm, but you can reduce that by moving the wheel in the sliding wheel adjusters. A Thunderace is the same as the XJR arm, but 30mm shorter.