Topic: Terry's Kawasaki ZZR1100 "Bring it back to life" project.

[Terry in Australia]

Friday, 20th of April, 2018:

Since the dawn of time, I have lusted after Kawasaki's ZZR1100. I did an advanced riders course when I was in the Army back in the early 90's and there was a young soldier on the course who had two. One in a trailer that he'd crashed (and almost killed himself on) and as he couldn't wait for his insurance payout, and had plenty of deployment money left from his return from Cambodia, he bought another one. I still remember him wheelie-ing it past me at close to 100 MPH, I wonder if he's still alive?

Anyhoo, I wanted one. Once they were no longer the "World's fastest production bike" (the big K held the crown for 6 years, then Honda's Blackbird had it briefly before it was snatched away by Suzuki's Hayabusa forever) their value seemed to drop markedly, but they were still too expensive for me, and more recently I've seen some really scruffy ones that have been either left out in the weather, or tastelessly customised, yuck. A couple of nights ago I saw one advertised as a "non runner" for cheap so after dreaming about if for two days I finally made a lowball offer today, and the seller accepted it, and I'm picking it up tomorrow. Woohoo!

It hasn't been run for years, so might have some issues, but my experience with Kawasakis is that they're pretty tough old beasts, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be as wonderful as I've been dreaming it will be!

Terry's ZZR1100 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's ZZR1100 1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's ZZR1100 2 by terry prendergast, on Flickr   
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[Terry in Australia]

Saturday, 21st of April 2018:

I picked it up this arvo on my way down to Bairnsdale to visit my mum. The bike has a fascinating (to me) back story, and reminds me of when I bought my Suzuki GS1000S in Adelaide in the early 1990's, in that this bike has only had one registered owner, who bought it new in July 1992, and was still the owner when the registration expired in 2000. He wasn't the guy I bought it from, but interestingly, it's been parked in a little garden shed, unridden and (on closer inspection) unloved for the last 18 years?

The odometer says that there's only 8000 Km (5000 miles) on the clock, but of course it might be 108000, which is probably more likely, even though that's quite a lot of klicks for a bike that was only on the road for 8 years? The bloke I bought it from wasn't the owner, he was a thickly accented European who told me in his best broken English that his mate bought it as a "non-runner", tried to fix it, gave up, and put it back in the shed, then moved back overseas.

It seems legit though, I did a search to see if it was stolen, but nothing came up, and the dude I collected it from gave me both keys, the owners manual, the original 1992 sale documents, and a factory Kawasaki workshop manual. There's no crash damage that I can see, only one scratch on the tank that I'll touch up, but a couple small cracks in the plastics that I'll have to repair, once I remove them all to get to the engine to see why it's not working.

It does look like someone pulled everything off it (and didn't put it back together properly) so it'll be interesting to see what the problem is, but I love a motorcycle challenge, so I'm looking forward to it! Cheers, Terry.

Terry's ZZR1100 pickup day 1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's ZZR1100 pickup day 4 by terry prendergast, on Flickr


   

[Terry in Australia]

Sunday, 22 April 2018:

I think I may well have pulled off the perfect crime this weekend! My wife left to visit her ma yesterday before she could see me hook up my trailer (to go collect the big Cow-A-Sucky) then as God is my witness, she'd just popped out for some groceries when I arrived home with the bike in tow today, (I'd driven the 400 mile round trip as I do every second weekend to visit my old ma) so I was able to unload it, roll it down the driveway, put my trailer back and get the gates closed before she arrived back. Sweet!

Terry's ZZR11 project hauling home by terry prendergast, on Flickr

She did come out to chat as I was cleaning 18 years of dirt and muck off it, but she didn't say anything, so I'm guessing that she thought it was just one of my other bikes that I'd hauled out of the garage for some maintenance. I know I should feel guilty for not telling her, but then again, I've still got both of my balls attached and not badly bruised, so I'll call it good. The bike is sound, but with lots of minor issues, so as it might take some time to sort it out, I thought it might be fun to document my efforts along the way.

Once behind the gates, I thought that before I start looking for whatever's wrong with it, I'd have a crack at cleaning off all the crud that has accumulated over the 18 years that it's been sitting in a garden shed. On closer inspection of the front wheel, I realised that it wasn't actually painted black, but rather, was covered in oil and dirt. Looking around a bit I noticed that the left fork seal had leaked all over the rim, brake discs and calipers.

Terry's ZZR11 project cleanup by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Searching around the garage I found 3 (mostly empty) bottles of wheel cleaner, so I gave both wheels a good soaking. I was actually pretty impressed with the result!

Terry's ZZR11 project cleanup 1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

I did attach my little lithium battery to the bike's battery and turned the ignition on to see if there was any life left in the electronics, but no dash lights came on. I checked all the fuses, but they all looked OK, so I'm not sure if this is the issue that the PO wasn't able to fix, or maybe just one of them.

I decided to pull the battery out and see if it would hold a charge. It's a Motobatt battery and while dead flat, I'm hoping that it will come back to life, like it's host. We'll see. In the process I managed to drag 2 fingees over a particularly sharp frame section, and being that I'm swallowing anti inflammatories for my Bursitis, I bled like a stuck pig:

Terry's ZZR11 project cleanup blood letting by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Ever resourceful, I made myself a couple of bandaids from shop towel and masking tape, and continued on.

Terry's ZZR11 project cleanup wound repair by terry prendergast, on Flickr

The tank was empty, and when I removed it I could see that it had only just been shoved back on the bike. It's full of rust. It doesn't look like it's rusted out, so tomorrow I'm gonna buy some rust remover and clean that sucker out.

While I was removing panels so I could take the tank off, I found this:

Terry's ZZR11 project Electrickery by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's ZZR11 project Electrickery 1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's ZZR11 project Electrickery 2 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

I haven't done much research yet, and couldn't find any installation instructions for it amongst the paperwork the seller gave me. I am wondering though if this thing is the cause of the lack of electrics, or maybe I'm just hoping? Tomorrow I'll try to disconnect it and re-connect the old OEM electrics, and see if that makes a difference. If not, (and providing that it still works) it might be a good thing to elicit a few more BHP from the big black beast.

Garden sheds here are usually made of thin steel, and on a hot summers day, the temps inside can exceed 120 deg F. I've noticed that the master cylinder on my Triumph Rocket III that resides in a 20 foot steel shipping container has started to weep brake fluid past the seal in the lid, maybe due to expansion? Possibly because of this the front brake master cylinder on the ZZR1100 has failed and needs a kit, or I might just buy another master cylinder, it looks like a pretty common one that I see on Ebay all the time.

The throttle cables are seized, or maybe the slides are. This week I'll remove the airbox and the carbs as well, and see what gives. I'm hoping the diaphragms are OK, I imagine they'll be expensive.

Terry's ZZR11 project carbs by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's ZZR11 project stripped 1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

By the time all this was done, I was feeling like I'd done enough for one day, and wandered inside. More tomorrow! Cheers, Terry.

[CBJoe]

Sunday, 22 April 2018:

She did come out to chat as I was cleaning 18 years of dirt and muck off it, but she didn't say anything, so I'm guessing that she thought it was just one of my other bikes that I'd hauled out of the garage for some maintenance. I know I should feel guilty for not telling her, but then again, I've still got both of my balls attached and not badly bruised, so I'll call it good.

Hahaha!  That about made me spill my coffee 

Looks like it'll clean up nice....that's a very spaceship rear tail on that thing...Almost looks like you could make a sport touring, but can't imagine how you'd mount saddlebags on it

[BobbyR]

Nice looking nice Mate. You will have it well sorted in no time.

[754]

I have a front end off a GPZ , a 94.. looks same as that.. going on my current build.  Will run wire wheel and maybe only one disc..

[spotty]

get it going and bring it round for me to look after or i tell mrs terry....you have been warned

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, thanks men, and Spotty, I'm sure we can come to an agreement, no need for blackmail mate, but let me get the thing running first, OK?

Monday, 23 April 2018:

Well it was the best of days, it was the worst of days, and........... it might even be the end of days. First off, I did a trip to my local "Supercheap Auto" on my way home from work, and picked up a 5 litre container of Evapo Rust, (fcuking expensive too, $89.99, but cheaper than a good rust free tank, I suppose) some cheap oil, some coolant, carb cleaner and brake cleaner.

Terry's ZZR1100 Rusty Tank 3 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

The tank was rustier than I remembered:

Terry's ZZR1100 Rusty Tank by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's ZZR1100 Rusty Tank 1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

I used the other end of the overflow hose to block off the tank, (it has an inline fuel tap, so just a spigot out the bottom) then dumped the Evapo Rust in. I gave it a good swishing, and some of it started running out past the seal (or pehaps out of the overflow hose in hindsight, d-oh!) so I taped it up and that helped, but didn't stop it dribbling past completely. Good enough.

Terry's ZZR1100 Rusty Tank 2 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

While that was doing it's job, I decided to remove the airbox and take a peek at the carbs. I did notice that one of the bolts that hold the airbox onto the carb bank was missing, but as there are screws missing all over the place, I didn't pay it much heed? The air filter is I presume an after-market item, that has seen better days...........

Terry's ZZR11 air filter by terry prendergast, on Flickr

The carbs actually looked pretty good. No corrosion, and the big arsed OEM inline filter will have prevented any rust from getting to them. I sprayed some carb cleaner into them, and the slides and butterflies freed up right away. Sweet.

Terry's ZZR1100 Carbs by terry prendergast, on Flickr

OK, so I had a fully charged battery, some jumper cables, and a can of carb cleaner.......... time to hit the tit! (Bobby will know what that means) I turned the ignition on, all the lights came on, I hit the starter button, and it fired up straight away! Woo hoo.... er, what the fcuk is that clanking noise? Vroom, clank clank clank, Vroom, clank clank clank, Vroom, clank clank clank...... uh-oh............

Bugger. It sounded like something was loose and rattling badly, but what? That missing bolt from the airbox? Could it have dropped thru one of the carbs, into the combustion chamber? Or is it still sitting on the inlet side of the intake, holding a valve open? Damn and blast! Even though it was still 28 deg C (83 deg F) it was getting dark, so I thought I'd come inside and drink myself unconcious, and decide on my next move.

Terry's ZZR1100 end of day....s. by terry prendergast, on Flickr

I took a look at Youtube and did a search for ZZR1100 (ZX11 in the US) engine rebuild, and found a couple of video's of guys talking about the ZZR1100's "Notorious" oil starvation issue in #3 crank journal, resulting in big end bearings disintegrating, and rods exiting out the side of blocks. Could that "rattle" be rod knock? Double Fcuk.

I looked to Leo for solace, and wondered how he's grown in recent weeks, he's getting way too big for his "Nest" now, how time flies when you're getting old........... More tomorrow.

Leo getting big by terry prendergast, on Flickr 

[Don R]

 Time does fly, I told my wife the way the weeks are clicking off we'll be dead before you know it. She failed to see the humor in that. On the bright side, she did ask where the cb400F came from. After she rode along two hours each way and spent an hour looking at it while I bought it and made new friends with the sellers.

 Good luck with the rattle.

[kpier883]

Terry,

Is the camchain on the left side on ZZR?  Old KZ had camchain in the center, so it was a pain to get at.  My old 86 Concours had a left-side camchain. I bought it with a terrible grinding/rattling sound that disappeared above maybe 3500 RPM.  I took a chance that it was a tensioner issue or some such.  Turned out the PO or his mechanic had dropped a fairing bolt into the camchain cavity.  My mechanic found it , removed it and i did several short runs with oil changes in between.  Then rode it for years with no problem. 

Best of luck!

—Kirk

[Stev-o]

Nice project Terry, subscribed to see you get the big beast Kaw running.

You failed to type on how you found it?


BTW...lookie what $2K will buy you in New Yawk.....

https://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/mcy/d/kawasaki-zx11/6563405798.html

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Steve, it's my first FB bike purchase! Last Wednesday I was looking at the marketplace and an advert for "Motorbike $1300" (about $1000 US) came up, with a pic of a black ZZR1100. There was hardly any info, apart from saying that it was a non runner, and the price was negotiable. I asked if it was still available, and where it was located, then I thought about it. For three days.

On Friday I checked the registration number on the VICROADS (our version of the DMV) website and it didn't come up as stolen or written off, so asked if it was still available, and it was, so I offered $1000 ($760 USD) and the seller accepted. I said I'd collect it Saturday.

I was expecting it to be in horrible condition but actually it was pretty good with no obvious mods, and no crash damage. It even has the original exhaust, which is great because the Victorian Government has just cracked down on "Roadworthy" Inspections, so now, without the original pipe on it for the inspection, it won't go back on the road.

The story is that the original owner sold it in 2000 as a "non-runner" and the buyer (a bloke from somewhere in Europe) bought it, couldn't fix it, so left it in a shed at his friend's place, and eventually went back to Europe. The guy I handed the money to gave me both keys, the owners manual, 2 factory workshop manuals, the original purchase documents, registration documents, and some receipts for servicing, in the original owners name. The only other bike I have with this info is my Triumph Rocket III that my brother bought new in 2007, so that's pretty cool.   

Anyway, for $1000 ($760 USD) it was a bargain, and hopefully it still will be by the time it's on the road. Kirk, I'm hoping it's a bolt or a nut rattling around in there too, but the more I read about them, the more I'm leaning towards rod knock. Good news is that if I do need new rods, I can buy some really nice looking forged steel H beam rods for less than $200 (USD) per set, including ARP bolts! I also found a really good site for ZZR/ZX11 genuine parts too, and prices aren't too horrible. We'll see, it's all part of the adventure..........  

ZZR Rods by terry prendergast, on Flickr

[MRieck]

Terry,

Is the camchain on the left side on ZZR?  Old KZ had camchain in the center, so it was a pain to get at.  My old 86 Concours had a left-side camchain. I bought it with a terrible grinding/rattling sound that disappeared above maybe 3500 RPM.  I took a chance that it was a tensioner issue or some such.  Turned out the PO or his mechanic had dropped a fairing bolt into the camchain cavity.  My mechanic found it , removed it and i did several short runs with oil changes in between.  Then rode it for years with no problem. 

Best of luck!

—Kirk

I personally have replaced 4 cranks on the early ZX-11. Not a rod problem....it is the oil feed system that feeds the crank/#3 rod journal. It is a small diameter separate pipe with banjo fittings rather than part of the main galley. Superbike Mike and Mr Turbo used to modify the oil pan with a -6 hose (and other custom parts) to get more oil to that area. Apparently it worked as I never saw the engines again.
 Also the main bearing saddle oil feed holes often don't line up with the main bearing blocking oil. I modified the oil feed holes and bearings.
 It is a $hitty oil feed design but it can be fixed with the mods mentioned and a new crank, #3 rod (if you can get the right weight now which I doubt) etc.
 Then there is 2nd gear.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Mike, yep, I'm learning more about ZZR/ZX1100's, they had a few issues, for sure! Motorcycle forums are wonderful resources, I've learned that the oil feed issue was common, as was the 2nd gear problem. I was going thru all the paperwork that came with the bike, looks like the gear problem raised it's ugly head in 1996. I can't find any invoices for repairs for the gearbox, but as the bike came off the road with this current issue in 2000, hopefully the gearbox was fixed, and is still all good.

Interestingly, the ZRX1100 engine (which had no issues) will bolt straight in, once you swap the heads. I'll keep that in mind, but I'd rather keep my original engine, there's an engineering shop not far from me that can grind my crankshaft and supply some undersize bearings if necessary, so it won't be a huge problem. As I said originally, I've always wanted one of these, and because it's been sitting in a shed for the last 18 years, apart from the engine problems, the rest of it is in pretty good condition. Cheers, Terry.

[ofreen]

In the process I managed to drag 2 fingees over a particularly sharp frame section, and being that I'm swallowing anti inflammatories for my Bursitis, I bled like a stuck pig:

My KLR frame sliced me good one time.  A razor blade couldn't have done better.  Must be a Kawi feature.

[Terry in Australia]

I think you're right Greg, although on reflection I've managed to lose skin on just about every bike and car I've worked on, I might have to try wearing gloves.

[MoMo]

Looks real similar to the Concours I had.  I just acquired a 1982 Kawi KX1000K2 LTD to go along with my 1991 Ninja ZX600C, both are decent bikes.  Good luck with the bike and here's to hoping the noise is minor...Larry

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Larry, I hope it's nothing, but I suspect that it's something........... bad.

[Terry in Australia]

Wednesday, 25th of April 2018:

OK, so reading more about the dreaded #3 rod journal oil starvation issue, the easiest way to diagnose the bearing failure is to dump the oil. According to the ZZR experts, if the bearing has failed, I should find big flakes of a golden material in the bottom of my oil pan.

So as not to contaminate the sample I thoroughly cleaned my yellow oil pan, and wiped it dry.

ZZR1100 Oil inspection by terry prendergast, on Flickr

I even wore gloves!

ZZR1100 Oil inspection 1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

The oil that came out didn't look too bad, considering that it's been sitting for 18 years. Being a water-cooled bike I was a tad worried that the oil might be a nice creamy coffee colour, but no, it just looked like used oil.

ZZR1100 Oil inspection 4 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

There are several oil drain points on these engines, one sump plug at the front, one at the back at the base of a very deep "sump", and I also removed one of the oil cooler pipes to drain the cooler. I was kind of disappointed with what remained behind though, I was expecting a lot more metal?

ZZR1100 Oil inspection 5 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Not all those tiny specks are metal, some of the black bits look like clutch materiel, and some are just dirt that dissolved when I rubbed it between my fingers. There are some tiny flakes of silver materiel that could well be bearing materiel, but are they big end bearings, or something else? I couldn't find anything that looked like pieces of gears, valves or pistons though, so at least that's not an issue! (I hope..........)

Anyway, I feel confident that I'm getting closer to finding out what's wrong with it. I still want to pull the plugs and poke my inspection camera into each plug hole and see if there's any piston/valve romance, or if there's a bolt floating around in one cylinder, I'm only waiting for the stores to re-open after todays public holiday so I can buy a plug wrench to fit, I can't find anything here long enough and narrow enough to get down to the plugs.

If the worst becomes the worst though, pulling the engine won't be very hard at all, both bottom frame tubes are removable, so it should be a piece of cake, compared to a CB750. No heavy lifting required, I'll wheel my hydraulic lift trolley underneath, undo some bolts, and (hopefully) wheel it away! Stay tuned for the next exciting episode, where I'll quite possibly be eating my words..........

ZZR1100 Oil inspection 7 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

ZZR1100 Oil inspection 6 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

 

[754]

Oil looks pretty normal, give it the magnet test to see how much steel..

[madmtnmotors]

Subscribed! Looking forward to seeing how things progress.

[Leino]

Did you open both drain plugs? 

[Terry in Australia]

Did you open both drain plugs? 

Thanks everyone, and yes Juha, I removed both 17mm drain plugs, the bottom oil cooler hose and the oil filter. No big pieces of anything on the filter either. Tonight I'll pick up a plug wrench and some batteries for my inspection camera and dig a little deeper into this 18 year old mystery.......  (Cold Case?)

[Terry in Australia]

Thursday, 26th of April 2018:

OK, so I stopped at Supercheap Auto again on my way home from work and picked up a deep reach spark plug socket and some batteries for my inspection camera thingy. I've had this camera for several years, and while I've shoved it down a few spark plug holes over the years, it really hasn't done much work, in fact, the best thing I ever did with it was shove it in my mouth to inspect a cavity.

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis by terry prendergast, on Flickr

It was useless. It wouldn't fit down the 10mm plug holes, and from the top of the plug hole everything inside was black, even with the little LED's on the end of the lens on at their brightest. Poop. Hmmnn, OK, well, I poked my magnetic pickup tool through each carb's venturi but didn't find any loose bolts but I still couldn't let go of the idea that it might be something rattling around in the top end, so I removed the carbs (surprisingly easy compared to a CB750) and just shone a torch down each of the inlets, and could see that there were no loose bits and pieces to be found.

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis 1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

The plugs all looked pretty sooty, probably due to my running it on carb cleaner the other day, but they were all uniformly black with no oily residue. They do look brand new, which I think is a fair indication that this bike was pretty well looked after, I haven't found a butchered bolt or stripped thread yet.

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis 6 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

So far the source of the rattle has eluded me, so even though the inlet valves all looked good, I thought while the carbs were off I'd do a compression test. Keep in mind that this bike hasn't run for 18 years and I've no idea how accurate my gauge is (I pulled it out of a scrap metal bin many years ago) but even though the numbers look a bit low at around 135-140 psi, they're all very close, so I'm thinking that there's not much wrong with pistons, rings or valves. I suppose I should have squirted some oil down each cylinder to better seal the rings for the test, but hey, it is what it is, and I'm happy with the result.

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis 2 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis 3 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis 4 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis 5 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

So, what next? Back to the #3 conrod bearing? Maybe, what I noticed while I was cranking the engine with the plugs out was the total lack of "Clanking", which I found interesting. Why would that be? No pressure on the pistons from the combustion process? Engine not turning as fast just on the starter? No load on the engine?

Well I think I'll refill it with oil, shove the carbs back on, put the plugs back in, hook up a reserve tank (the gas tank is still being de-rusted, more on that later) and hit the button, and see what happens? It'll probably be a waste of good oil, but if I don't need to take the engine apart, well, that'll be a good thing, a gasket set is around $200 USD....... We'll see, but if I'm still hearing clanks in the night, the engine is coming out! Cheers, Terry.  



 

[BobbyR]

Great detective work Mate, I am watching this with great interest.