The bike - '1977 KZ1000 B1 Limited'.
My aim - make a usable tidy bike for high days and holidays.
Imported from California it has faired better than most UK bikes, surface rust in places, more spider nests than a few, but overall not bad at all.
Most parts were accounted for, original exhausts and mirrors were the only missing items, some non standard parts, cheapo side panels, ugly exhaust, coils, leads, indicators, etc...
It was a runner, of a fashion, I gave it a compression test - carb flush - took the plugs out and cranked it over and got oil pressure - added some fuel - first prod of the starter it sparked into life - settling to a nice tickover, wasn't keen on revving and made a startling mechanical rattling above 3k rpm.
I would suspect the bike hasn't seen action for many a good year - every joint was dry and caked in dry grease - I was surprised when I hooked up to a slave battery - most electrics worked - when running a charge was being put into the slave battery, sadly both master cylinders were shot and brake fluid had leaked out many years ago causing some interesting corrosion.
After tearing down the bike the culprit for the rattling soon appeared!
I've spent the last couple of weeks trawling forums gaining insight into who does what and where, which suppliers for which parts, so most of the parts have been sourced and even though expensive little parcels keep arriving - my wife still likes me!!
First to be done was the black stuff.
Frame jigged - all the black stuff went off for powder coat - now I could have gone for two pack - but - I'm fitted with two left hands - powder coat was the safe option.
How my usually tidy garage looked yesterday...
Thanks to the rather wet weather - the outdoor table came in handy..
On the ramp - work in progress.
Two engine bolts were missing, one on the cam cover - one on the starter motor - both previously broken off many years ago - 10 mins with a drill, some patience and some easy outs sorted the problem.
Close examination revealed the points housing and cover were both cracked - as the o/s frame down tube wasn't quite straight I suspect crash bars were once fitted and mostly did they're job!
I snapped off the boss on the head trying to undo the rev counter drive holder bolt - dammit! the worm drive sleeve was also corroded in place - plenty of patience was required to extract it without damaging the head.
I'll make up a top hat to replace the boss and bond it in - Z power do a replacement drive sleeve that'll get used in place of the somewhat 2nd had original. Then Mr Smethurst can work his magic..
Now if I can only find how and where it all goes
H
barrels are + 20 thou pistons + rings are very low mileage - I imagine the cam timing would have been a tad variable due to the broken slipper - any expert opinions?
