Topic: Maui Z1 1973

[MauiK3]

I’m getting some stuff tidied up before I put the exhaust back on. Does anyone know how piece 62 “overflow clamp” mounts. Gotta love the diagram, puts 62 off to the side, no real clear indication of where it goes. I assume it loops around the overflows and hangs on something.
Which end gathers the overflows, round or oblong.
Where does the other end hang?

[MauiK3]

Oops, 62 almost cut out of the photo
It has a round end and an oblong end, rubber like a small bungee.

[craz1]

It wraps around part 17(spacer with a notch) on the right side upper engine mount. Thread the round end through the oblong end after you wrap it around #17. The overflow hoses go through the round end(pointing down) and down behind the rear of the engine.

[MauiK3]

I installed the exhaust yesterday, went fairly well. Getting closer to a test run of the engine.
I realized I put the rear axle in backwards, nut on the left. Had to swap it since it interferes with the exhaust. Lesson learned, put the rubber bumpers on before the left side exhaust goes on, I managed to get them squeezed in but I think it would have been easier off the bike.

[Alan F.]

That's looking really good.

[MauiK3]

Thank you, the Dynamo cover was pretty beat up, I considered replacing it but decided to keep it, clean it up and use it so it has some of the patina of time.

[BenelliSEI]

Looking very nice!

[grcamna2]

Steve,will you be able to install new rear shocks with the exhaust in place ?

[MauiK3]

I thought about that and I should be able to by swinging them out a bit, if not, I have an extra set of gaskets. I'm moving ahead because I have no idea how long Hagon will take to get the shocks to me, they are working on them. These days everything takes longer than normal.
My original banged up tank is on Oahu for repair (maybe), I'm not certain it will be successful, it's a gamble. In light of that I'm considering getting a repop body set just in case. Turns out they are out of stock! I'm trying to find out when they might be back in stock. If I do the repop tank and body set I'll get it in root beer/orange since I asked the shop on Oahu to do that set in yellow/green. That way I can try each color. Things sure are weird these days.

[craz1]

The repo tank sets have been out of stock for the last 20 months. I had a put my name in at Z1enterprises for a 75 Red tank set there and also Z1parts. I was going to give up and have my painter try his hand at the 75 colors. I was going to bring them to him that weekend when out off the blue I get an email from Z1E saying they have a set. So I grabbed it. Then I started to think maybe It was a return and something was wrong with it. Came in with no issues. The Z1E set is from PMC and the ones from Z1parts are Doremi. Cant tell the difference. The tank sets are a pretty good deal and good quality. However its nice to have all the original especially for the 73. So far I have purchased a 73 set, 74 set and 2 75 sets with no issues.. My 73 and other 75 and my XS2650 were painted by Ralph at https://www.paintworkz.com You may be aware of him. He is no longer painting but supplies the correct paint for these bikes.

[MauiK3]

Ralph was kind enough to send paint instructions, great information, if my 73 tank gets fixed it will be painted using the information.
I’ll try to get on the lists.
Good to know the quality is good.

Ok, bonehead story of the week. I was checking my right hand side controls yesterday, the headlight off position didn’t seem to want to hold and it jumped on. I removed the screws and you know what comes next. I had the plugs out because I cranked it to circulate oil. One of the screws slipped and fell in the #4 plug hole! DOH! I could try 100 times to do that and I couldn’t get that to happen. I felt sick. Anyway, I could see it and messed around with tape sticky side out, no joy. The screw is stainless, forget a magnet. I remembered I have a little finger grabber thing,
it fit in the hole. I messed around for a few minutes and managed to grab the head of the screw!! Came right out.
Lucky.
Needless to say, plugs are loosely installed now.
Talk about rookie screw up and I don’t think I’m a rookie!
Got my rear fender on and realized I still need the rubber stuff to finish that piece. Tail light is on and works.
Oh, the light controls work now.

[Terry in Australia]

I'm glad I bought my Doremi bodywork for my Z1-B when I did, I need to start assembling it straight after Christmas so it's good to go for the "50 Years of the Z1" Anniversary celebrations in 2022.

Z1-B bodywork 4 Jun 2020 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Z1-B bodywork 4 Jun 2020 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[grcamna2]

Ralph was kind enough to send paint instructions, great information, if my 73 tank gets fixed it will be painted using the information.
I’ll try to get on the lists.
Good to know the quality is good.

Ok, bonehead story of the week. I was checking my right hand side controls yesterday, the headlight off position didn’t seem to want to hold and it jumped on. I removed the screws and you know what comes next. I had the plugs out because I cranked it to circulate oil. One of the screws slipped and fell in the #4 plug hole! DOH! I could try 100 times to do that and I couldn’t get that to happen. I felt sick. Anyway, I could see it and messed around with tape sticky side out, no joy. The screw is stainless, forget a magnet. I remembered I have a little finger grabber thing,
it fit in the hole. I messed around for a few minutes and managed to grab the head of the screw!! Came right out.
Lucky.
Needless to say, plugs are loosely installed now.
Talk about rookie screw up and I don’t think I’m a rookie!
Got my rear fender on and realized I still need the rubber stuff to finish that piece. Tail light is on and works.
Oh, the light controls work now.

I'm glad for you that you were able to extract that small handlebar control switch screw,even seeing where it landed!:those little things can be Very elusive once they get 'on a roll'. 

[MauiK3]

Tried a bit of test running yesterday only to find I've somehow got the starter clutch wrong, I'll spend some time looking at it between Christmas things.
It seems I have some sort of assembly error causing the damper rubber to get out of place. I thought I put it all back right but obviously Ive made an error.

[MauiK3]

Sorry for the poor description. I thought the rubber damper behind the starter clutch gear was giving trouble but I looked and it’s ok. This all happened late yesterday and I’ve learned that if it’s late and I run into an issue, quit and come back the next day with more rested eyes!
I think I’m chasing perhaps two issues. I think the 2-3 points were not working right, so I’m changing the points sets and the condensers. I had one old set, which was on it, and one new set. I also had two points plates (the larger one) and I discovered that only one fit the bore in the engine tightly enough to provide reliable timing adjustment.
The other issue may be the starter motor. It checked out ok with an ohm meter when I cleaned it up but it seems to be struggling some.
Im going to do a quick compression test, the previous machine work from 2009 says “resurface head and cylinder block”. I’m wondering what the compression ratio is now.
I turns over fine with the kick starter.

[seanbarney41]

Hi Maui
My kz1000 starting is in a similar situation.  When I got the bike, it was only set up for kickstart, with the gears, all the spacers/washers, and the starter clutch all had been removed.  I managed to round up all the missing parts eventually and had it working good enough that the electric start worked for first start up and a few starts after.  Now it seems to be working properly, but just does not have the torque to turn the engine.  Granted my engine is an 11ish to 1 1075 with a mild cam.  It is hard to kick.  Surprisingly, it would crank easier with a hotter cam as the lobe overlap would bleed off compression.  So, I have been kicking it for the first 1000 miles or so.  My starter motor looked to be in rough shape but it free spins fine with 12 volts applied.  I don't know if I have a weak starter motor, or too much compression for the stock motor, or something has gone wrong with the gears and clutch etc.  I have not messed with it out of dread of tangling with the charge wires again.  I am tired of kicking though, so will be curious what you end up finding with yours.

[Terry in Australia]

I'm building both of my Zed ("Zee" in the US) engines from parts, and as neither had an electric starter I did some research and all the FB guys were saying that Z1-KZ1000 starters were notoriously weak, and that Honda 750 starters were better than stock Kawasaki starter motors, so having a tub full of CB750 starters I thought "why not?" and installed one on each engine. Both are hotrods (1428cc KZ1000 and 1100cc Z1-B) so it'll be interesting to see how well (or otherwise) they work when I get to installing my engine in the next few days. I think Don was saying that he had a Hayabusa starter motor on one of his CB750 drag bikes, so I guess one of them would work well too? The good thing is that it doesn't detract from your "Originality" either, because it can't be seen.    

[seanbarney41]

Terry, what did you have to do to fit a cb750 starter motor?  Surely it does not just swap straight in?  And sure enough I have plenty spares hangin' around!

[Terry in Australia]

From memory Sean, it went straight in. I do remember messing around with the housing end caps on one starter (the drag bike builder had left the end caps in place but removed the guts of the starter) but I’m pretty sure I just stuffed a CB750 starter in both the Z1 engine and the GPZ1100 engine?

 This was all back in mid 2020, and I do remember vaguely a potential issue with the location of the power cable, but when I pull that engine out in the next couple of days I’ll double check.

[MauiK3]

So I did some more checking and I may have an issue.
After I got my points working I tried to start it. It fired for a monument, sounded ok, about 3 seconds, then stalled. Cranked very hard. I tried the kick starter, moved with difficulty. Hand jacked it over carefully with the 17mm nut on the points end of the crank, it loosened up. I did this twice and decided I need to start checking stuff. It’s as if something shifts and creates resistance and shifts back.
Pulled the pipes and pan looking for obvious things, nothing so far. I removed the oil pump, it looks good. I’m sure I didn’t leave out any bearing ring retainers but if I can’t find something I will need to take it apart to check.
One thing I thought of is something I found when I disassembled. The innermost two clutch discs (fiber) were broken, I’m wondering if this is related.
I will keep checking things.
I pulled the valve cover and I’ll recheck cam timing for the 4th time.
I’m sure glad I ran this before I took it apart, at least I know it’s a new problem.

[Terry in Australia]

That’s interesting Steve, take the cam cover off and pull the plugs, (Don’t crank on that nut with ghe plugs in) and see how the cam timing is looking. Not sure how you could have damaged your clutch plates (are they new?) unless you’ve assembled your clutch incorrectly. Let us know if your cam timing is still good ASAP.

[MauiK3]

The clutch plates I'm referring to are the old ones I removed, I'm going to look at everything between the engine and the clutch to see if I can find something.

[grcamna2]

The clutch plates I'm referring to are the old ones I removed, I'm going to look at everything between the engine and the clutch to see if I can find something.

Primary drive?

[MauiK3]

I’m thinking it’s clutch or primary, or something associated with the kick starter. Christmas Day kept me busy so I’ll start looking deeper tomorrow
I likely have to remove the engine to split the case, oh well, who’s in a hurry? I don’t have a fuel tank and won’t for some time.
I’ll go one layer at a time.

[grcamna2]

I’m thinking it’s clutch or primary, or something associated with the kick starter. Christmas Day kept me busy so I’ll start looking deeper tomorrow
I likely have to remove the engine to split the case, oh well, who’s in a hurry? I don’t have a fuel tank and won’t for some time.
I’ll go one layer at a time.

I wonder if it might be the clutch hub primary gear?