Well this old thing has been waiting in the wings for me to make a start. Back in April last year I bought my bargain basement priced Kawasaki ZZR1100 (ZX11 in the US) with the blown engine.
Terry's ZZR1100 by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
I'd sold a pair of Henry Abe CB750 wheels to a cashed up Japanese buyer, and was trawling thru ebay for ZZR parts when I saw an old 1977 Z1000 (KZ1000 in the US) based drag bike for sale for $3000 ($2500 USD) or best offer.
Terry's new Zed 1 by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
Terry's new Zed 3 by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
Now I owned a 1975 Z900 back in the 1980's, and loved it. Prettier to look at than a CB750, with better brakes and a bit more grunt. Like a lot of my bikes I wish I'd kept it, I paid $1600 for it in 1983 with only 5000 miles on the odo, and with the exception of rotted pipes and a recovered seat (the PO, a Navy guy, had a pet Cockatoo, which chewed his seat cover while he was away at sea) it was "As New", and with a bit of haggling, the shop I bought it from threw in a set of 4 into 2 pipes that had been hanging in their attic from the time when that shop was known as "Sonic Choppers" back in the 70's.
The only reason why I'd never bought another one was that the prices for any "Z" bikes here are just silly, and I couldn't justify spending the money on one when there are so many better modern bikes that do everything at least twice as good (the 1992 ZZR1100 that I'd bought for $1000, for instance) for way less money.
I also don't like the "VJMC" crowd here, they seem more interested in trailering their bikes to shows than riding them, and I suspect half of them couldn't ride for #$%* anyway, they're just posers who like to show their "investments"off to their wanky mates. Another reason I like "Bitsa's" like the K2 I built last year from a host of different models.
Redneck Sunday Ride 25 Feb 2018 by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
Anyway, I digress. I'd seen the old Z drag bike on Ebay before, I'm pretty sure the seller had started at around $5K and received no bids, so dropped it to $4K, with similar results. His description didn't help, it was very much, "Here it is, in the middle of nowhere, take it or leave it, don't waste my time". Hmmnn, I've worked with guys like this before, so I threw in a lowball offer of $2000, and I was surprised that he accepted it! Woohoo!
The next problem (apart from telling the wife, of course) was that the seller lived 400 miles away! I know a guy who transports bikes from all over the place who probably would have picked it up and dropped it off at my place for a few hundred bucks, but having the mind of a 12 year old kid, I was too impatient to wait the week or two it would have taken, so opted for a road trip.
I love a long drive. I'd done a couple of previous drives to Canberra and Sydney in the past to buy bikes and parts, so early on Saturday morning I hooked the trailer up, and left for places unknown. "Unknown", because while I knew the general area where the seller was, I was having problems finding his place on google maps. On top of this it was miserable weather, absolutely pissing down rain for the entire duration of the 800 mile round trip.
In 2015 I leased a new turbo diesel Ford Territory "Titanium" with all the bells and whistles to do my weekly 1000 mile "Melbourne to Canberra" commute, and because I over-estimated fuel usage, am thousands of dollars "over budget" for fuel, so the only cost for this trip was the donuts and coffee I consumed on the road. When I stopped for fuel/coffee/donuts in Gundagai, I got a text message from Craig, the seller, asking me where I was, and he gave me instructions on how to get to his place. As it was I overshot by a mile, so he had me turn around and sat on his bicycle in the middle of the road to get my attention. The reason I missed his house was that it was about half a mile off the main road with not even a lane way, but rather I had to just drive through a couple of farm paddocks, then go thru a farm gate. No wonder I didn't see it!
Anyway, Craig was a bit of a hermit, he'd bought the big Z as a street bike 30 years ago, rode it on the street for a few years before he became interested in drag racing, and like Jerry, when his marriage failed, the bike survived the divorce. He'd moved to a place in the middle of nowhere, had no money, and worked as a cab drive in Canberra, 90 miles away, commuting in his ancient Ford Falcon. He'd contracted an aggressive form of cancer a few years ago, and didn't look too well at all, but was able to kick start the big Z into life for me and I was impressed, I've started it only once since, and it has a ton of compression, it was like kick starting a Harley. It was still pissing down rain and Craig was keen for me to fcuk off as he had to go to work, so I snapped a couple of pics, and hit the road. This is Craig saying goodbye to the big Z.
Terry's new Zed pickup day Craig by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
OK, so as you can see, there is a ton of work that needs doing. The Z1000 wasn't as pretty as the Z1, it was a bit porkier in appearance, had a disc rear brake and a less attractive 4 into 2 pipes, longer fenders etc, because it was now a "Tourer" rather than a full on hotrod like the Z1. I have no intention of turning it back into this:
Kawasaki_Z1000_1977 by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
But rather, a street beast with a more aggressive stance to match it's hotrod engine. I've been buying lots of bits and pieces like frame sections (to replace all the tabs that Craig chopped off) fork lowers (because Craig ground off the fender mounts) swingarm, rear wheel, Z1 tank, pingle fuel tap, front brake rotor and caliper, etc. To get it thru a Roadworthy Inspection it'll have to look fairly original, but once that's out of the way I'll look at later forks and wheels, brakes, alloy swingarm etc, to help it around corners and stop. I may brace the frame as well, but maybe not, we'll see. A road going version of Craig Vetter's race bike might be nice?
kawasaki-kz1000 by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
Whichever way it goes, with around twice the rear wheel HP of an original Z1000, it should be scary fun!
Terry's Zed Engine by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
