Topic: Terry's Kawasaki Z1000 Mad Max Bike, my er, 2020 summer project.

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, thanks Per, I'm gonna say right now, that my current black beast is faster than the TC, with some frame bracing, and far better brakes. The 1428cc bike (which I'll brace the sh1t out of) will be in Hayabusa territory, but much lighter, and scarier to ride. But i'll be happy to be proved wong...........

[web]

Whoa that is an amazing find... I guess there is material for many more fun threads 
Very cool and quirky bike that I didn't even know existed - the TC ofcourse.

Regularly running your battery that low, does wear out a lead acid battery fairly quickly. But you can always go lithium ion then, if this setup is going to stay in this frame. Less weight, more juice, and handles deep discharge well.

Sorry, gotta disagree...Lithium does Not like deep discharge. In fact, they are irreparably damaged by deep discharge and will not take a charge after discharged too low.

Gotcha. Should've been more precise there. Lead acid doesn't like deep discharge, where deep discharge is anything more than 50%. Lithium Ion has a wider range (up to at least ~80% discharge) but will eventually also get hurt. Normally some simple battery management will cut it off before that happens.The usable capacity is still MUCH more (especially by weight), but there are indeed limits.

Moot point though, now that the means are present to add an alternator to both motors.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks mate, all very useful information for my future use. I asked the question on another forum but never got an answer, how many miles (or Km, I read both languages) will I get out my new Motobatt 14AH battery, if used just for the points/coil ignition? Not having a big useless airbox taking up the space above my battery means I suppose I can put my Lithium battery jump start thingy in there, and hook it up if my battery dies on a ride? All responses are welcomed?

[Tintop]

If it was me Terry, I'd figure out a test route (1/2 hour / 1 hour?), check the battery voltage before leaving & on return.  That's assuming you make it , which is why I would also take the jump batt.   Should give you an idea of the rate of drain.  Given your use of the right wrist though, results may very.

[754]

Terry , ice racing i could run a few hours, on a stock battery in below freezing weather.
Small battery 6 amp around town an hour or more,  that is using brakelight, then disconnect it to get back. It will keep running for a while when battery gets down, high speed miss that gets lower and lower rpm as soon as I starts missing , time is running low. High revs may use it up faster.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. I've got a set of 33mm Mikuni smoothbores coming, so will rebuild the engine with a new welded, indexed and balanced crankshaft, (and an alternaotor and starter) Micks Cylinder block with the Moriwaki 1100cc cylinders and pistons, ported Z1 head, Web cams and those carbs with new pods, and it should be a much more enjoyable ride.

The 1428cc bike on the other hand, will just be a monster. I think I'll paint it black like this one, and not even try to put it over the pits for inspection, II'll just swap the plate over when I want to ride it.

Of course, then there's the TC bike, that'll be awesome too. Life is good.......... The wife went to the shops so I snuck out on the black Zed today, did a lap around the block, really need to sort the dragging clutch and rigid front end, but talk about go, FAAAARK! I got home and realised that my POS samsung phone had fallen out of my sweat pants pocket, so jumped in the car, and luckily found it a few houses up from my place. I want an excuse to buy a new iPhone, but didn't want to lose all my pics, that would have been annoying........  

[Terry in Australia]

Herre's some pics from yesterdays "Mad Max" show at Maryborough. Dunno if the CV has put people off, or just because it was cold and a little windy, but the numbers were right down, and I only stayed for a couple of hours.

Being me, I did have a chat with a couple of guys, one who was trying (not hard) to sell me his US import 1974 Z1 for $12K ($8K USD) which I thought was a fair price, maybe I should have bought it, but can't remember his name, and don't have his phone number. Oh well, he gave me a ride on it, and it felt pretty gutless compared to my black beastie. Still wouldn't mind it though, and unlike the CB750 "Sandcast" crowd, all the bikes were ridden to the event, not trailered in by fat old rivet counters with immaculately restored statues of bikes.

March Mad Max madness 14 Mar 2020 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

March Mad Max madness 14 Mar 2020 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

March Mad Max madness 14 Mar 2020 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

March Mad Max madness 14 Mar 2020 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

March Mad Max madness 14 Mar 2020 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

March Mad Max madness 14 Mar 2020 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Mad Max day 14 March 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Mad Max day 14 March 2020 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Mad Max day 14 March 2020 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr



 

[scottly]

Thanks mate, all very useful information for my future use. I asked the question on another forum but never got an answer, how many miles (or Km, I read both languages) will I get out my new Motobatt 14AH battery, if used just for the points/coil ignition?

Terry, it's more about the running time than the miles. Also, with a standard points type ignition, the average current goes down with higher RPMs. A Honda stock 750 setup draws about 2.5 amps at idle, which decreases to about 1.5 amps at 8K RPM, IIRC.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Scott, so a a bike running at around 4-6K RPM should be good for maybe 6 hours from a 14 AH battery?

[scottly]

With 5 ohm coils and a 14 AH lead acid battery you would probably make it for 6 hours.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks mate, good to know! I still couldn't have ridden my big black Zed to the event due to the rigid front forks (and I might refill the engine oil with with actual motorcycle oil, which may help with the clutch drag) but it does need a good run, so next weekend I'll test the system, using my "Jane Blonde" switch which only allows power to the coils, and fcuk everything else.

[scottly]

Just don't try it with a lithium battery, as they go completely dead all at once.

[754]

Ride with someone else , use same battery, keep swapping every 4 hrs.
 Don't use headlight , use the old .. didn't know will stop at nearest garage trick..

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, and no mandatory "lights on" laws here, so as long as I'm only out in daylight hours, I won't need it.

[PeWe]

Add bags with car batteries, one on each side.  Weight less than a passenger.
Std battery like 72Ah connected in parallel :-) No problem with head light then. Add a musical horn too
A powerful charger for refill where you can find an outlet.

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, thanks Per, personally I couldn't think of anything worse to ruin the beautiful lines of the big black Zed, but yeah, that would work, and maybe I could sew a flexible solar panel on y back to further assist?

Here in Oz the electric car bullsh1t is gaining momentum, I rode thru a tiny one horse town on my way to the Mad Max show and there was an "E" station, for recharging electric vehicles!

Of course we don't have no nukes here, so to run a "Clean" vehicle you gotta use coal fired (or diesel, we've got bugger-all solar or wind generators, unless you include our green and socialist left leaning politicians, who generate a lot of wind, without producing anything useful) and I've heard it takes quite a while to recharge an "E" vehicle, so wondered what some yuppy deadsh1t E vehicle driver would do to while away the hours recharging his or her toy car, in a town so small they didn't even have a regular gas station?

A couple of observations I made about my protective gear. My helmet is cheap, chinese rubbish, even though it looks nice, it's too big for my shrunken head, and constantly tries to jump ship as I'm riding along, taking my glasses with it, so at highly illegal speeds I need to take my hand off the left handlebar and open my visor, push my helmet back down, and re-adjust my multi-focal glasses, so I can re-focus on the road.

My Ma gave me a big cheque (check in the US) for my 60th birthday last week, so I've invested in another Nolan flip front N44. I like Nolans, they're made in Italy, and are good quality, for not too much money, $465, or around $300 USD.

I've had Shoei's, Arai's and Bells, (plus some el-cheapo's like my current Chinese flower pot, to be) but for my skinny head, the Nolan wins out, I love being able to flip the front up so I can have a drink or a smoke on the side of the road, or walk into a gas station, ride thru security at the barracks, or simply blow my nose, without having to remove my "lid" like the main stream full face helmet wearing riders do.

I'm taking part in the 3000 Km (2000 mile) "Long Ride" to raise money for Prostate Cancer research in October, and scored a free level 2 bike training course on the 29th, (paid for by the Army) so I hope my new Nolan has arrived by then, from previous rider training courses I've attended, my riding gear (especially my helmet) was inspected by the instructiinal staff, and if your gear wasn't up to spec, you had to sit on the bench and just watch everyone else. Fcuk that.

I'm chatting to another guy on FB who might have some parts for the old Zeds that I can buy, and yesterday the cylinder blocks that Mick in Darwin sent me for my birthday (Thanks Mick, you're tops mate!) Arrived, so I put them straight into my ultrasonic cleaner to remove some of the fluffy white corrosion. I love the ultrasonic cleaner, if you check out my youtube channel, you'll see that I've been having a ball with it, nothing cleans carbs like tthe UC @ 50 deg C, with just some laundry powder detergent, followed by drying out, and hitting with WD40.

Speaking of my youtube channel, I did a quick walk thru of my patio "workshop" last night, drunk as a skunk on home made ginger beer, so you'll notice I've made a couple of errors, but thats ok, once one of my sons teaches me how to edit my vids, they'll look a tad more professional.

Hopefully more Zed bits will arrive t his week, or else I'm gonna have to strip and assemble my black 1973 Harley Sportster, to replace it's wonky crankshaft. (Hopefully it's not seized......)

[youtube]https://youtu.be/iRhH0ITMIW0/youtube]

[PeWe]

Charging can get additional services so places like "Charge a Go- Go" will pop up everywhere. "Have a ride and relax while we charge your ride".

I bought a new helmet too. Last week a new Schuberth C3 Pro arrived from France that sold it with 26% discount.
Same model I already have but in a color matching my K2 better, Bronze.
My blue-white was their extra expensive model 2014 thanks to the graphic which is a perfect match for my K6

Also flip-up with built-in sun visor. This brand fits my head.
I added an extra visor as reserve when they cost less there. "Only" 49 euro, over 70 here. Horrible price for clear plastic worth max 25 euro.

Flip-up a must when using glasses. Fine to get air at the gas station without taking it off.

 

[mick7504]

Good to know that the cylinder blocks arrived Terry.
7 days from North to South across the country isn't too bad with Oz Post.
About 35 years ago, a few mates drove from Adelaide to Alice Springs and that took them 18 days.
That would be less than half the distance from Darwin to Melbourne.
Admittedly there were a few "Watering Holes" along the way that the boys just had to check out. 

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Guys, well today I hit the jackpot, a bit. Yesterday a guy was advertising some bike wheels on FB, one of which was a Henry Abe front wheel for a CB750. I asked how much, and he said $150? I said "sure, what else do you have?" he said he had a minty Z1000 front wheel and a few other bits, so I drove the hour over to his shop after work, and he pulled out the HA front wheel, (good nick) the Kawasaki wheel (really good nick) and two CB750 rear wheels. (good nick)

I asked him how much for everything, and he said, "How about 400 for the lot?" Woohoo! I could get more than that for either of the Henry Abe or the Kawasaki wheels, but I have Henry Abe rear wheels (1 x 16" and 1 x 18") here, so really wanted a pair, whereas I intend to put my Lesters  on the next Kawasaki build (as I've ordered some huge 6 piston calipers that won't clear the spokes on that spoked Kawa wheel) so I can sell the Kawa wheel and get my $400 back, and I'm up 3 wheels for free. Of course, I could sell the Kawa wheel for $400, and HA's to my friend in Japan for well over $1000 for the pair, and just put OEM spoked wheels back on my K1 and K2? Decisions, decisions..........

Terry's wheel haul 17 March 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[PeWe]

Good buy, Terry! Front wheel complete with axle and rotor stock style with little friction which last forever.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, last week was kind of quiet parts wise, and with just about ALL builds, the real time killer is waiting for parts to arrive. This week though, has been like Christmas, even though, right now, my credit card is getting so hot to handle I'm worried that the bank is gonna call me to see if someone's stolen my identity, again.............

Today, the Eagle has landed. Eagle crank that is, this old crank has had the full treatment by Eagle, many years ago, then sat on a bike shop shelf, greasy, but unused. It's been indexed, balanced, and welded, so can handle any amount of power that I'll be feeding into it, which won't be any more than it has now, the only reason for the crank change was to allow the fitment of an alternator and a starter clutch, so I can do long, trouble free rides, and if I stall it at the lights, can just press the button, and move on. I might still kick start it though, just for the exercise.........

Thursday Zed pleasure 19 Mar 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I'd also bought some Z1 front forks. I couldn't help myself, I bought a fork brace for one thinking it'd fit the Z1000 forks on my bike, only to discover that they are completely different. While they both sport 36mm tubes, and the triples are interchangeable (I have a mega expensive Z1 top triple on my Z1000 bottom triple so I could install Z1 idiot lights, etc) the Z1 alloy lowers are fatter, shorter, and have different caliper mounts, so I'll need to make new brackets for the Brembo calipers, or the 6 piston GSXR1000 calipers I'm installing on the 1428cc bike. Yes, I'll be putting Z1 forks on it too............

Thursday Zed pleasure 19 Mar 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The 33mm Mikuni smooth bore carbs arrived too. I have a soft spot for these carbs, II had them on my old GS1000 based drag bike, and they worked so well, with pod filters, which I'll feel more comfortable with than the GSXR carbs, as good as they are, and much lighter than the Miks too. OH well, it's a road bike again now, so a little extra fat won't hurt too much, especially after I reduced my own weight by 150 pounds. 

Terry's Mikuni 33mm smoothbores 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Off topic sort of, but I was surprised at how light the Delkevic pipe is to the Moriwaki steel pipe that was on it, and will go back on the 1428 engine, only because it fits the GPZ1100 port shape better than the delkevic, and I'm fast running out of money, and I kind of like the shape of that pipe anyway.

I started to worry about new manifolds to match the 33mm carbs to the Z1 head that arrived a couple of weeks ago, but geez, I was looking at $260 plus shipping, ouch! Tonight I pulled the head out of the box and was pleasantly surprised to see that the manifolds on the head accepted the 33mm carbs, perfectly! Great! now to buy some El Cheapo pods just to get through the roadworthy inspection, and keep the rocks out. I'm just waiting for new copper head and base gaskets and the care package from my FB mate, Kevin, with the alternator, stator, regulator, starter clutch etc, and the transformation from ratty old drag bike to sweet road rocket will be complete, then I can move onto build #2.

Wednesday Z1 head joy 26 Feb 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Isn't building bikes from nothing fun? I wouldn't swap what I'm doing with anyone, not even big chief yellow face!

 

 

[PeWe]

Stock rods are fine too?

[Terry in Australia]

Stock rods are fine too?

Yeah mate, stock Kawasaki or Suzuki rods of the era made Honda CB750 rods look like wet pasta. My GS1000 based drag bike ran a balanced and welded crank, Yoshi 1100cc pistons and big cams, but stock rods. It was a "whatever it costs" build, but the builder said replacing the rods was unnecessary. Good enough for me, for street use.

The Eagle crank I bought for the 1428cc engine has the later "Hyvo" sprocket, and apparently shorter rods than the crank I received yesterday, but is supposed to work well with the Arias big block and pistons. Once I've rebuilt the 1100cc engine I'll mock up the 1428cc engine and see if I have everything I need to screw it together.  Just waiting on some copper gaskets for both engines, and another care package with the electrical gubbins.

[PeWe]

You can name one of your ongoing builds COVID-19 something?
The fast virus cops never will catch

[Terry in Australia]

You can name one of your ongoing builds COVID-19 something?
The fast virus cops never will catch

Ha ha, yeah mate, I'm still hoping to start "working from home" soon, so I can take "bike breaks" between work so I can get the second big Zed built quickly. I wonder how many cops are going down with the Corona virus, they can't really keep a safe distance from their criminal counterparts, so would be in the "high risk" category?

Well hopefully there won't be as many on my favorite roads when I take the big beasts out for rides, I have very poor will power when riding bikes capable of going really fast............