Topic: Terry's new Kawasaki Z1B build, the OCD special...........

[Terry in Australia]

Well I was gonna just continue this with the Mad Max build, but as I've also got a seperate thread for my Z1000 (KZ1000 in the US) "1428 Lockdown Special" build, I was getting a bit confused. Before the Z1 came into the picture I had the Mad Max special that I built out of an old drag bike, and as I'd collected lots of parts to build it, I had some leftovers, so decided to build the 1428 bike using another US sourced Kz 1000 frame, and whatever spares I had.

A little history to bring you all up to today, here's the drag bike I bought in 2018. It was based on a 1977 Z1000A that the PO had taken off the road 32 years ago and modified to race on the drag strip.

Terry's Z1000 4 November 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The PO had chopped lots of tabs and frame sections off and thrown them away, welded, balanced and lopped the end off the crankshaft so it's "kick only", added a GPZ1100 head with unknown cams, atop Moriwaki high comp pistons, fed by Suzuki GSXR carbs. No electrics obviously, apart from a dead loss ignition, an electronic tach, and a small battery.

I got lucky and found a guy in the US on a Kawasaki FB page who was super helpful, he had a good, but untitled frame and was happy to chop off all the pieces I needed to replace on my frame, plus he sold me some forks (the PO had chopped the fender mounts off the forks on it) and a rear brake disc and caliper. Another guy sold me a set of gauges and another front disc, and I found a Z1A tank going cheap on Ebay. I welded everything back on, and shot a coat of Rustoleum satin black, and it looked pretty good.

Zed bracket 9 Jan 2020 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Wemoto in Japan is to Kawasaki what Yamiya is to Honda and you can buy just about anything you need as far as really good quality repro parts go, the rumor being that a lot of the parts they sell come from the same companies that supplied the original parts to Kawasaki, which is good, because although it's not cheap, it all fits perfectly. I'd bought a Yamaha XS650 in pieces just before Christmas that came with 2 really nice 4 piston calipers that I decided were needed on the Kawasaki, so I made up some adapter plates, bought some cheap braided lines and a used Yamaha FJR1300 MC, and hooked it all up, and it was excellent. I bolted everything up, and was happy with the result.

Saturday Zed therapy 15 Feb 2020 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

That of course, is a very quick history, there was a lot more work involved, one ill-fated test ride where I melted some wiring but managed to get it home OK, took it for another couple of (very) short rides, and decided that it was too much for a skinny old 60 year old to have to kick start (13.5:1 Moriwaki pistons are a b1tch......) so I bought a NOS Eagle crank that once again was balanced and welded, but hadn't been lopped, so I could install a starter clutch and an alternator, which would make life a lot easier.

Eagle crank for 1428cc engine by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I was starting to form a plan to build a seperate engine using the 1428cc Arias block and pistons I'd bought awhile ago, so I found a ported Z1 head to put on this engine when I pulled it out to swap out the crank.

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

It came with a pair of big web cams and bigger valves, so should work pretty well. I also bought some Mikuni 33mm smoothbore carbs, I had the same ones on my old 140 BHP Suzuki GS1000 and they worked very well, and even though they were from a different seller, the carbs fitted straight into the rubber insulators. Bargain!

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

I couldn't find a frame for the 1428 bike in Oz (Kawasaki owners are worse hoarders than Honda 750 guys, probably because there are a lot less Z's than Honda 750's, so even though I got onto two guys with spare frames, neither one would part with them. Oh well, "Oink Johnson" on Ebay is a great resource for all things Kawasaki, and he was selling four frames for $180"buy it now" I don't remember how much I paid him, but I only wanted one, and he was happy to do just that, and a few weeks later I had a frame.

I'd bought not one, but two sets of Z1 forks, and decided to use the CB750/500 Lester wheels on the 1428 bike, so spent a bit of time MacGyvering them to fit the Kawasaki. I'd also scored some wicked 6 piston calipers off a Suzuki GSXR1000 and managed to make some brackets that allowed them to be fitted to the Z1 forks. Sweet.

1428 brake caliper bracket final 17 May 2020 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Once again, I bought another Yamaha FJR1300 MC and braided lines, just because they work so well.

Wednesday Omega Man Zedding by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr       

[Terry in Australia]

OK, so there I was, working on building the 1428 bike, when one night last week, trawling thru Ebay, I saw a 1975 Z1B frame. Perfect condition, expensive of course, but I thought, "what the hell" and put in a bid. I was the only bidder, but there were already lots of watchers, so I went to my bidnapper account and put in a stupidly large bid, and let it run it's course. I won, but as expected there had been a flurry of last minute bids, so it was very expensive. (about 20 times what I paid for the KZ1000 frame)

Terry's Z1 frame by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's Z1 frame 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Oh well, over here Z1's a re ridiculously expensive, if you can find one for sale, so no biggie. The good thing was that at the same time a seller in the US had a set of 1975 Z1B engine cases in excellent undamaged condition, for $499 USD "Buy it now". I bought it, and a couple of other parts I'll need. The shipping was horrendous, but what are you gonna do, it is, what it is.

Terry's Z1 engine cases by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's Z1 engine cases 9 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

So, the intent now, is that the black Mad max bike will now become the 1428 bike (once I put that engine together) and I'll build the Z1 engine using the guts out of the Mad Max bike, albeit with the Eagle crank, Z1 head, Webb cams, 33mm Mikuni's etc. Rather than go looking for another Z1 tank and sidecovers etc, I melted the plastic again, and bought a set of Wemoto painted bodywork in the correct 1975 Z1B color scheme. Once again, not cheap, but it'll save a ton of work, and probably won't be any more expensive than getting it professionally painted.

Terry's Z1B tins 19 May 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The seller contacted me a couple of days ago and offered to deliver the frame to Melbourne for me, which I thought was nice as I'd already paid him and wasn't really looking forward to driving the 400 mile round trip. (just outside my home town, coincidentally) he said he had a few other parts, including a really nice set of gauges, which I needed, so I bought them too.

Terry's Z1B gauges 19 May 2020 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

More than I would have liked to pay, but by the time I bought a repro set it would have cost me almost as much, and the bracket, dashboard and wiring is sold separately, so I was happy. Anyway, I've bought a pile of smaller parts which are (hopefully) heading this way, and I'm hoping that this will be a quick build. We'll see.    

 

[Stev-o]

Good to see you have a Z1B, Terry!  Welcome to the club.

Love those smoothbore carbs, I have actually been thinking of fitting some on my bike one day. 

Here's a pic of mine for inspiration...

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Steve, much appreciated mate, I've been admiring your Z1 ever since you got it, and while I'd really love to find a '73 Z1 eventually, I'm happy to have this one, because they're "Unobtainium" here.

I had to meet the seller in at the Alfred hospital yesterday to collect the frame and the gauges (which are immaculate too) and he was in a pretty sombre mood because he was visiting a friend who's dying, so didn't really get much info out of him except that he bought it as a roller with a Z1A engine, which is what he needed for his Z1A, so the frame and Z1B specific gauges were surplus to his requirements. He did say the gauges were original to that frame, which was nice to know.

Someone (probably the owner before him) had the frame blasted and powdercoated, and the powdercoat is immaculate, in the pic it looks scratched, but in fact the "scratches" are just gum residue from adhesive tape, so they'll clean off with wax and grease remover, so I don't need to do anything to the frame, it even has the cups for taper roller bearings installed in the steering head. I've bought new taper roller bearings for my Z1 triples, so if my bearings fit the cups, I'll just use them, if not, I'll pop them out and install mine. While I can't do much until the engine's ready to go in, I guess I can install the triples and rear shocks, just to give myself something to do. More later.

[spotty]

This is madness

Keep it up

And which one of these bikes will end up being called the Kovidsaki ?

[grcamna2]

I like your style of "melting the plastic" Terry    I love parts Man 

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, thanks guys, I really don't like the "Covid" thing, it pisses me off, so maybe "Working from home-asaki"? Anyway, the weather was pretty miserable today, I really wanted to take my Triumph Rocket III for a nice long ride but the storage place is only open from 10am to 2 pm on Sundays (I really have to get my bikes out of there) and I couldn't go yesterday as I had to wait for the call from the guy who brought the Z1 frame and gauges up to Melbourne, so bottom line is, no bike rides this weekend. Tuesday looks like a good day, I have to go to hospital to get my face checked out by the plastic surgeon after the surgery when I smashed my moosh in with that frisbee clutch plate in November, so I might take the opportunity to go for a ride, as the weather is supposed to be pretty good.

Anyhoo, as mentioned above, as keen as I am to put forks and wheels on it, I need to leave all that stuff off until I've laid the frame over the engine, just to make things easy. Still, there's things I can put on it, so I started with just the rubber dongers for the sidecover brackets, then the sidestand. I bought this repro Z1 sidestand for the Mad Max bike, but discovered that it was too long for the Z1000 frame, and was worried that it'd topple over. Shouldn't be a problem on this bike though, so I put it on.

Z1B build 24 May 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Then I thought about steering head bearings. The top and bottom triple are the same geometry etc as on the KZ1000, but the 1000 top triple won't allow the fitment of the (cooler looking) Z1 dashboard.gauge mount, so I spent a small fortune to buy a Z1 top triple for the black bike, and a stack more for a top and bottom triple that was freshly powdercoated for the 1428 build. The Z1 bottom triple has a hole cast in for a steering damper bolt, that the Z1000 bottom triple doesn't. I'm not sure why Kawasaki deemed a steering damper unnecessary on a Z1000, but regardless, the bottom triple doesn't have the hole cast in for the steering damper. I bought a set of tapered roller bearings, so used my beaut new hydraulic press to install the bottom bearing. Why I'd never bought a press before I'll never know, they're cheap, and do a great job.

Z1B Build 24 May 2020 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

As much as I'd love to brace this frame up so it goes around corners better than a stocker, one day someone will probably want to restore it to "as new", so I'll just do the best I can without any permanent mods. I've had this steering damper for years, I really can't remember where/why I bought it, but was happy to see that it went straight on, and I played with the damping adjustment, and it worked fine.

Z1B build 24 May 2020 3 by Terry
Prendergast, on Flickr

I'd intended to steal the Koni shocks off the Yammy 650 so bought some shiny new aftermarket shocks for the Yamaha, which are a perfect fit for a Z1, albeit 20mm shorter. I don't think this will matter, one of the issues with Z1's were that they had a fairly steep rake, so dropping the rear 3/4 of an inch won't hurt. Only problem now is I'm seriously thinking about buying some new repro Z1 shocks with the built in reflectors, just because they look cool. The Koni's will undoubtedly be better, but I might buy some anyway, and see how bad (or otherwise) they are. For the time being though, these ones will do to stop the tyre from hitting the fender.

Z1B build 24 May 2020 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

While I was ratting through my box of spares, I found the seat latch assembly. For some reason these things are hard to find and there doesn't appear to be an aftermarket item available, so I was happy to snipe this one months ago, only to find that it would require major surgery on my black bike's frame to make it work, so I gave up and put it in my used Kawasaki spares box, and forgot about it, until today.

Z1B build 24 May 2020 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

So that was about it for me today, surprisingly that little bit of work took almost 5 hours of my life, but that's OK, I could have been sitting in my favourite chair drinking and eating too much. I can't do a lot more until some more parts arrive, but that's OK, lots of other unfinished projects to attend to while I'm waiting, like putting the 1428 engine together. More later.

[grcamna2]

Hi Terry,
I always enjoy watching your builds.
I remember you saying in one of them recently that one of your relatives is a full time motorcycle tech?
                                                                                                   Bill

[Terry in Australia]

G'day Bill, thanks for that mate, all comments are appreciated, and sometimes give me the push I need to keep going. Yep, my cousin was a Suzuki dealer for several years, but did his small engines apprenticeship for the local Yamaha dealer. He's a natural "Bush mechanic" and can fix anything, because he has the rare ability to look at something, immediately understand how it works, and fix it. His dad was the same.

As good a mechanic as he was, he was a terrible businessman, so sold the Suzuki dealership and got a job maintaining turbines on oil rigs for Esso. That actually worked out very well for him and he retired last year at age 60.

He has a love for vintage cars as well as a fleet of old bikes, and he works one day a week for a European car specialist, who thinks the sun shines out of his arse because he can trouble shoot and fix cars without plugging in fancy diagnostic tools. I wish I had half his skills!

[grcamna2]

G'day Bill, thanks for that mate, all comments are appreciated, and sometimes give me the push I need to keep going. Yep, my cousin was a Suzuki dealer for several years, but did his small engines apprenticeship for the local Yamaha dealer. He's a natural "Bush mechanic" and can fix anything, because he has the rare ability to look at something, immediately understand how it works, and fix it. His dad was the same.

As good a mechanic as he was, he was a terrible businessman, so sold the Suzuki dealership and got a job maintaining turbines on oil rigs for Esso. That actually worked out very well for him and he retired last year at age 60.

He has a love for vintage cars as well as a fleet of old bikes, and he works one day a week for a European car specialist, who thinks the sun shines out of his arse because he can trouble shoot and fix cars without plugging in fancy diagnostic tools. I wish I had half his skills!

Terry, Did you and your cousin ever have a motorcycle build contest:a kind of 'Build-Off' to see who could come-up with the nicest build ?

[Terry in Australia]

Sadly no Bill, working on bikes for a living really pissed him off after awhile, so his vintage cars are his main interest now. He restored a 1928 Dodge "Fast Four" when he was only 15 years old, and still drives it regularly, and has a magnificent 1928 Erskine tourer, still in original paint and upholstery that is my favourite, I'd love to buy it, if I had a garage big enough to store it out of the weather. There's a great story behind it, but as I'm tapping this into my cell phone, I'll relay it later.

[spotty]

Is it possible to bodge the original looking reflector shock tops onto a pair of far more functional Koni/ikon bodies
Whilst original looking might be grand never forget that old saying

" Restoration... replicating yesterday's mistakes today "

When it's something that can kill you to death, function wins out over form everytime ( and that's me saying that......)

[Terry in Australia]

Very true words Spotty, I would much rather have a fast, functional bike than a pretty bike that handles pretty badly, and while I'm not going to take the welder to the frame to fix it properly, I can make it much better with good tyres and good suspension. The steering damper and fork brace I've got for it will help too, so yeah, I think the Koni's will go on, but I might buy some Z1 shocks to keep just in case one of my sons ever restores it when I'm a pile of ash in one corner of my garage.......

Well I felt bad not getting a ride in yesterday, so I took an early knockoff from "Working at home" and took my 2007 Triumph Rocket III out for it's first ride this year today. It's a wonderful mile eater that just idles along at 60 MPH @ 2000 RPM. I've owned this bike since I bought it from my brother (RIP) in 2009 with only 36 kilometers (20 miles) on the odometer and was thinking that I might need new tyres after 8000(+) miles, but when I stopped to fill it up after 80 miles I checked the pressures, and was ashamed to see that there was less than 20 psi in each. Not surprisingly, for the next 127 miles it felt much firmer when pushing thru fast sweepers.

Monday ride day 25 May 2020 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Monday ride day 25 May 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway, 100 mile or longer ride #8 for me I'm happy to say, I had a great day and put a couple of tankfulls (and half a bottle of Seafoam) through it, and it ran like a Mack truck. I got my time and space a little askew so had to get back home before the self storage place where I keep it closed, so cruised the last 100 miles home @ 100 MPH and just made it back in time before they locked the gates. I think I'll take the big blue Yamaha out next weekend.  

Monday ride day 25 May 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flick

[Tintop]

Just found your new thread Terry, looks like more fun.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Brian, welcome! Now while I wait for more Z1B parts to arrive, I needed to do a little more problem solving, as a result of my cross-migration of Lester wheels meant for a CB750 front and a CB500 rear. Honda hubs are slightly wider than Kawasaki Z1 hubs, so the space betwixt the hub and forks is only 30mm on the right side and less again on the left, where the original 35mm wide Kawasaki speedo drive usually lives.

Z1B Speedo drive 26 May 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Now when the speedo cable on my Harley sportster broke a month or so ago, I noticed that the Harley speedo drive is much narrower. (21mm, as it turns out) I'd bought a cable that was 2 inches too short for my bike, so had to bodge mine, and threw the new one in my spares box. I did an Ebay search for "Harley Sportster speedo drive" and was surprised that I could buy a shiny new chrome one for 50 bucks, so I did, and it arrived in 3 days. Sweet.......

Z1B Speedo drive a 26 May 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Beauty. So, the spacer betwixt the hub and the right hand side fork leg was 30 mm, and the hole through the speedo drive gearbox was 19mm, so I machined down the alloy spacer I made weeks ago, so it was a press fit over the spacer. (15mm inside diameter)

Z1B Speedo drive 26 May 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Z1B Speedo drive 26 May 2020 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I bolted it all up, and it looked fine.

Z1B Speedo drive 26 May 2020 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Z1B Speedo drive 26 May 2020 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The good thing is, there's plenty of room so the cable doesn't come into contact with the disc rotor, and the useless cable is just the right length for a pair of Z1 forks. I just have to fab a little "hook" from one of the rotor bolts that comes into contact with the speedo drive gearbox's arm, so it spins with the wheel. No biggie, I'm enjoying this ass-backwards engineering.

[grcamna2]

Will the speedo drive ratio be compatible with your speedo clock ?

[Terry in Australia]

Will the speedo drive ratio be compatible with your speedo clock ?

Good question mate, and I haven't done any research, apart from comparing the kawasaki one to the Harley one, without disassembling them, and their housings are the same outer diameter, they both run 19 inch front wheels, and they both run japanese speedo's, so I'm hoping.

The main reason I've done it though, is that I need to have a working speedo to pass a roadworthy inspection, so I've ticked that box, and I can use my iPhone to check it's accuracy when it's out on the road. If it all turns to mud, I'll buy a Lester wheel for a Z1 and use all the factory items, but no need to spend another 1000 bucks (with shipping) when I don't know if I'll need it yet. As impatient as I obviously am, I'll just force myself to wait.   

What was good today was the new clutch/throttle cables/front brake hose set that I bought for really cheap on Ebay here in Oz arrived today, and I was shocked to see that they were all genuine OEM NOS items, for cheaper than the price of a Chinese clutch cable. Bargain! I won't need the brake hose as I'm using braided lines, but I'll hang it up with all my other  spares and probably find a use for it down the track.

I've also won another pile of good used Z1 parts from Oink Johnson. He's a top bloke, I've explained that I'm still bidding on more of his parts and offered to pay for what I owe him so far, but he said, no, he'll just put them all in a box and wait until I tell him I've got all I need, and he'll send me an invoice with combined shipping. Unlike the FB turds in the US who've ripped me off for around $1500 this year for parts I paid for that never got sent, Brad (Oink) is a top guy, and has looked after me, which I really appreciate. It's great to deal with great guys.

[grcamna2]

OK Terry,got it. 

[754]

 Just run the Harley speedo, easy.,
 I used to not reveal my sources, but I got lots of great stuff from him. But I got screwed on a racing light weight  rotor.  I told him  the carrier and rotor was dished and he did nothing, said nothing, made me sorta pissed. They are so easy to check, so  easy to post a pic of a ruler against it.
 The really light racing rotors are easy to warp by  mounting the arm at an angle, happens a lot..
 But I bought more since, still worth it in the long run.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, he's been good to me Frank, everything I've bought from him has been in great condition, with no issues, I've bought more than I need, but it's good to have spares. I've just realised that once I've built the Z1 I'll have a spare KZ1000 frame, a set of engine cases, and a front wheel. Might be Kawasaki build #3...........

[754]

 I hope to hell your build will look like this..

[grcamna2]

Wow  Hey Frank,that's got Bling

[Terry in Australia]

I hope to hell your buold will look like this..

Thanks Frank, the Z1B, apart from having a worked 1100cc engine, the lesters and better brakes will look pretty stock, whereas the 1428 might have a few more interesting mods. This caught my eye on FB a couple of days ago, but I've been ripped off for over $1000 USD so far this year by FB shysters in the US, so I think I'll pass. Pity, I've got a spare KZ1000 frame doing nothing...........

Kawasaki Weapon by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[grcamna2]

Wow !  Old School drag bike that just needs a bit of freshening-up.

[Terry in Australia]

Wow !  Old School drag bike that just needs a bit of freshening-up.

Yeah mate, useless to me as I'm not into drag racing, but a blown big block Kawasaki with Hilborn mechanical injection etc in a road bike would be very cool. I bought an old Mercury four cylinder outboard magneto on Ebay a week or so ago, just for fun I might see if I can build my own magneto for the 1428, I've got a couple of ARD magneto's in my garage, but I'd like to build my own.