Topic: Yes, a Z1 & H1- unofficial Kawasaki thread - H2 is now a rider!!!

[Terry in Australia]

Congrats, Steve.

This is my 73 Z1

That is sweet. We got mostly "Jaffa" (brown/orange) Z1's here, but I always liked the yellow/green color scheme. My Z900 was just brown, by late 1975 Kawasaki had gone really conservative on their paint schemes, which is a shame, the earlier models were the prettiest. Cheers, Terry.  

[Stev-o]

Congrats, Steve.

This is my 73 Z1

That is sweet. We got mostly "Jaffa" (brown/orange) Z1's here, but I always liked the yellow/green color scheme. My Z900 was just brown, by late 1975 Kawasaki had gone really conservative on their paint schemes, which is a shame, the earlier models were the prettiest. Cheers, Terry.  

In your opinion.....

[crazypj]

You know that's an early one by the black crankcases

[Terry in Australia]

That is sweet. We got mostly "Jaffa" (brown/orange) Z1's here, but I always liked the yellow/green color scheme. My Z900 was just brown, by late 1975 Kawasaki had gone really conservative on their paint schemes, which is a shame, the earlier models were the prettiest. Cheers, Terry.  

In your opinion.....
[/quote]

Ha ha, have I hurt your feelings Steve? Best you get over to the "Pissed off" thread, and let me have it!

[Sgt.Pinback]

Please ignore my bike.
I didn´t want to hyjack Steve´s thread.


For Steve´s Z1-B (?) there are beautiful colour combos. I would opt for blue:



Pic taken from here

http://www.google.de/imgres?biw=1120&bih=618&tbm=isch&tbnid=CtbO3oAofzw6HM:&imgrefurl=http://www.paintworkz.com/customersZ1photos.html&docid=5qB-JWc9rhJQqM&imgurl=http://www.paintworkz.com/z/75kawZ1Bmontana.jpg&w=700&h=525&ei=J0Z7UrjADseO5AT7toCAAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=476&vpy=190&dur=326&hovh=194&hovw=260&tx=113&ty=101&page=1&tbnh=131&tbnw=166&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0,i:89

According to this site, the "yellow ball" green/yellow 1973 colour scheme (my bike) was not availiable in US.

[Retro Rocket]

I prefer the blacked out engine, looks great....

[Stev-o]

That is sweet. We got mostly "Jaffa" (brown/orange) Z1's here, but I always liked the yellow/green color scheme. My Z900 was just brown, by late 1975 Kawasaki had gone really conservative on their paint schemes, which is a shame, the earlier models were the prettiest. Cheers, Terry.  

In your opinion.....

Ha ha, have I hurt your feelings Steve? Best you get over to the "Pissed off" thread, and let me have it!
[/quote]

Ha! Not at all, just letting you know my opinion is different.  Would be real boring if we liked exactly the same bikes/colors.

Please ignore my bike.
I didn´t want to hyjack Steve´s thread.


For Steve´s Z1-B (?) there are beautiful colour combos. I would opt for blue:



Pic taken from here

http://www.google.de/imgres?biw=1120&bih=618&tbm=isch&tbnid=CtbO3oAofzw6HM:&imgrefurl=http://www.paintworkz.com/customersZ1photos.html&docid=5qB-JWc9rhJQqM&imgurl=http://www.paintworkz.com/z/75kawZ1Bmontana.jpg&w=700&h=525&ei=J0Z7UrjADseO5AT7toCAAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=476&vpy=190&dur=326&hovh=194&hovw=260&tx=113&ty=101&page=1&tbnh=131&tbnw=166&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0,i:89

According to this site, the "yellow ball" green/yellow 1973 colour scheme (my bike) was not availiable in US.

Sgt - all Z1 / Kawasaki pics, discussion and tech tips are welcome here.  I like to think of it as the unofficial Z1 thread. 

I prefer the blacked out engine, looks great....

I like the black too, I may do my spare engine like that.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, those colors are sweet too, my 1975 build Z900 had a very plain metallic brown paint job as standard that was nowhere near as nice as that one. Cheers, Terry.

[Stev-o]

Ok, back to my bike:

More work to the engine the other night, I do not like the aftermarket stator cover the PO put on at some point...
[sorry for the poor pics, garage needs a lighting upgrade]




Got all the screws loosened but one, the head stripped out. Yes, was using an impact driver, it was damaged previously. Drilled off the head in just a minute or two, removed the cover and was left with this...





So I tried the vise grip trick, no problemo....






Everything looks good in there, nice and clean....

[Terry in Australia]

Very nice Steve, I've got a set of CB750 cases with a screw that I had to drill the head off like that, trouble is it's not a metric thread and it's jammed in good and tight. I think I'll need some heat to get it out. Cheers, Terry.

[Stev-o]

Ok, I'm back, got the new stator cover gasket and some stainless socket head screws and installed the polished stator cover.
The actual stator does not easily disconnect like the CB750, so had to be real careful not to damage the wires upon removal.
Heres a bad pic of the installed part...looks a lot better than it appears here...




Removed the oil pan, doesn't look good!  But the metal shavings are stuck to the bottom so nothing recent. I'd say it needed a oil change, eh??



The bottom end of the motor looks clean and this bike runs great with no odd noises so no concerns about all the crap that was in the bottom of the pan.



Got the polished oil pan on and took the chromed centerstand off and installed a powder coated one [Thanks member Powderman]. Used the "screwdriver trick" per the KZRider forum to get the spring on, penny trick was a no go, that is one tough spring!



So thats where I stand, got nothing done yesteday, but for good reason...
Front row in the Main Grandstand, it was effin awesome!!!





Next up.............exhaust.

[Terry in Australia]

Looking good Steve, but geez that's a lot of metal in that crap that you loosely referred to as "oil"? I hope all's well, the Z1's are pretty bulletproof, but not changing oil regularly will still kill them, and that's a lot of metal, way too much for "normal" wear and tear. That looks like what came out of the first 'Wang engine before I binned it and bought a better one. I think you should have changed the oil as soon as you bought the bike, it's a good habit to get into, I'm guessing yours hasn't been changed in years! Cheers, Terry.

[Stev-o]

Looking good Steve, but geez that's a lot of metal in that crap that you loosely referred to as "oil"? I hope all's well, the Z1's are pretty bulletproof, but not changing oil regularly will still kill them, and that's a lot of metal, way too much for "normal" wear and tear. That looks like what came out of the first 'Wang engine before I binned it and bought a better one. I think you should have changed the oil as soon as you bought the bike, it's a good habit to get into, I'm guessing yours hasn't been changed in years! Cheers, Terry.

The metal was stuck to the bottom of the pan, that tells me it's been in there quite a while. Who knows, maybe the motor grenaded at some point?
Forgot to mention, the drain plug was a chore to loosen, I literally broke a 3/8" extension into two pieces trying to loosen it!
I hadn't changed it previous 'cause I planned on changing the pan all along and the bike was not a safe rider until recently due to the 12 year old tires on it.
BTW - what is the best oil to use......ha!

[MoMo]

So you want to turn this into an oil thread Stev-o? My personal preference has always been extra virgin oil ....Larry

[Stev-o]

So you want to turn this into an oil thread Stev-o? My personal preference has always been extra virgin oil ....Larry

We can only dream of Virgins, Larry!   

[crazypj]

With the crap you had in oil pan, I would use something high detergent, probably Rotella 15W/40. (maybe even a re-fill with real cheap diesel oil, just get it hot and change it after 20~30 mins)
Rotella is cheap enough to change after 2~300 miles then go to 'normal' intervals.

[Godffery]

   *Spam alert*

I don't think I have posted this here yet so just one quick Shameless self promotion:

  I have recently added PHENOLIC Replacement brake piston for Kawasaki KZ 650 & 900. to the list of brake pistons I make:
http://www.vinmoto.org/gallery/v/VinMoto-Garage/album03/Godfferys-Garage-123/95/PHENOLIC+Replacement+brake+Caliper+piston/PHENOLIC+Replacement+brake+piston+for+Kawasaki+KZ+65+900/

I now return you to your regularly scheduled distractions.   = ]
 
Godffery

[RAFster122s]

Stev-o,

You see the Moriwaki Z1 swing arm that motogpworks has, listed on Wednesday...?

Did they change hands or just buy out the pipe builder...

[Terry in Australia]

Looking good Steve, but geez that's a lot of metal in that crap that you loosely referred to as "oil"? I hope all's well, the Z1's are pretty bulletproof, but not changing oil regularly will still kill them, and that's a lot of metal, way too much for "normal" wear and tear. That looks like what came out of the first 'Wang engine before I binned it and bought a better one. I think you should have changed the oil as soon as you bought the bike, it's a good habit to get into, I'm guessing yours hasn't been changed in years! Cheers, Terry.

The metal was stuck to the bottom of the pan, that tells me it's been in there quite a while. Who knows, maybe the motor grenaded at some point?
Forgot to mention, the drain plug was a chore to loosen, I literally broke a 3/8" extension into two pieces trying to loosen it!
I hadn't changed it previous 'cause I planned on changing the pan all along and the bike was not a safe rider until recently due to the 12 year old tires on it.
BTW - what is the best oil to use......ha!

Any oil but the crap that came out of your engine Steve! I don't think your engine has grenaded before because with roller main bearings that would be unusual in the extreme, and the metal in your oil looks like alloy not steel anyway so either your cam chain is rubbing against an alloy casting, or your cams have chewed out the plain bushings that they run in (top end oil starvation?) and the oil has carried the swarf down into the pan. Is your top end noisy? Was there lots of crap in your oil filter too? That's interesting mate, as I said, it looks like the junk that came out of my 'Wang engine because the PO didn't change the oil in 10 years! (was about the same color and consistency as yours too) Best of luck!

[RAFster122s]

Rotella T was what I use in my bikes as it is inexpensive and works. $12.99 gallon at NAPA the other day (would rather buy there than Walmart any day...).  Same oil I use in my Cummins 6BT
w/Allison transmission powering my motorcycle hauler.

[MoMo]

Rotella T was what I use in my bikes as it is inexpensive and works. $12.99 gallon at NAPA the other day (would rather buy there than Walmart any day...).  Same oil I use in my Cummins 6BT
w/Allison transmission powering my motorcycle hauler.

David,  how is the hauler coming along?  sorry for the hijack Stev-o...Larry

[Stev-o]

Stev-o,

You see the Moriwaki Z1 swing arm that motogpworks has, listed on Wednesday...?

Did they change hands or just buy out the pipe builder...

No, did not see the swing arm.  Heard he bought out the pipe builder, Mick may know more details.

[Stev-o]

Looking good Steve, but geez that's a lot of metal in that crap that you loosely referred to as "oil"? I hope all's well, the Z1's are pretty bulletproof, but not changing oil regularly will still kill them, and that's a lot of metal, way too much for "normal" wear and tear. That looks like what came out of the first 'Wang engine before I binned it and bought a better one. I think you should have changed the oil as soon as you bought the bike, it's a good habit to get into, I'm guessing yours hasn't been changed in years! Cheers, Terry.

The metal was stuck to the bottom of the pan, that tells me it's been in there quite a while. Who knows, maybe the motor grenaded at some point?
Forgot to mention, the drain plug was a chore to loosen, I literally broke a 3/8" extension into two pieces trying to loosen it!
I hadn't changed it previous 'cause I planned on changing the pan all along and the bike was not a safe rider until recently due to the 12 year old tires on it.
BTW - what is the best oil to use......ha!

Any oil but the crap that came out of your engine Steve! I don't think your engine has grenaded before because with roller main bearings that would be unusual in the extreme, and the metal in your oil looks like alloy not steel anyway so either your cam chain is rubbing against an alloy casting, or your cams have chewed out the plain bushings that they run in (top end oil starvation?) and the oil has carried the swarf down into the pan. Is your top end noisy? Was there lots of crap in your oil filter too? That's interesting mate, as I said, it looks like the junk that came out of my 'Wang engine because the PO didn't change the oil in 10 years! (was about the same color and consistency as yours too) Best of luck!

No the top end is not noisy at all, I think the photo above makes it look a lot worse that it is. The oil filter had no debris at all. I'll shoot another photo, 1 part of the pan is very clean, the other is where the shaving are stuck to the bottom. There was quite a bit of oil in that part even after I drained it, approx 5% of the oil does not drain out.

[fendersrule]

In your opinion.....

Steve does say this a lot. But I've learned to take it in a gentle "inquisitive" manner. When you hear it so much from him, you start to understand that he's not trying to be competitive, but he's just stating that he feels differently in a good intention.

Probably a better way is to say it is "I feel different" "that's not what I think!"

Steve, white stripes go better on orange than black stripes.

wait for it....

wait for it....

[Stev-o]

In your opinion.....

Steve does say this a lot. But I've learned to take it in a gentle "inquisitive" manner. When you hear it so much from him, you start to understand that he's not trying to be competitive, but he's just stating that he feels differently in a good intention.

Probably a better way is to say it is "I feel different" "that's not what I think!"

Steve, white stripes go better on orange than black stripes.

wait for it....

wait for it....

I disagee!