kawasaki kz1000 cafe racer build: 1979 kz1000 LTD

Morning ride to Yas Island

Back to some detail work

New Tank Emblem

Still needs some work, but getting closer

Out for ride, stopped at MB

Tank... down to metal and clear coated!

December 31, 2013Got the front brakes calipers back on

Got everything on the rear tire/swing arm ready to put together, greased and jumped right in. Once I got it all together there were two gaps on the axle on either side of the wheel. Needed a pair of spacers to fill the gaps, called up Maher and he machined two beautiful spacers for me, picked them up and went back to work... only to find out that I made a gross error in my measurements, and had to have maher make me another spacer. He did so and here are the results:

new spacers from Maher at Strokerz

carbs removed

finally, the air-box removed!

front turns removed

header and muffler removed, found out one header is welded to the muffler on the 2-into-1

November 13th 2013:
To do this weekend:
1) Ordering new top end gasket kit, either re-furbing the carb or getting a new one (flat-side) performance mikuni,
2) Replace all engine 'screws'; alternator cover, etc. Found a great shop in musaffah called
al shams, they have every kind of screw and bolts you can imagine!
3) Finish removing other headers and muffler
4) Remove headlight, handlebars, and figure out wiring, insha'allah

Nov 14th:
Ok, took off the headlight, the levers and controls, the speedo cluster and the handle bars. Put on a drag bar I had on my bonnie to get a feel, these bars are 1" and I need a 7/8" bar for the Kaw.

Took off the trany/chain cover... needs some cleaning!

After Cleaning:

November 18th 2013

Busy week with work and family, and I also had a nice long weekend ride with Mo (so we had 2/3's of the TG's) and Carlos a.k.a. Mr. Triumph. But I did find some time to do some removal and 'cutting' work early am!

with front fender

sans front fender

after a good scrubbing and cleaning, some fresh paint

cleaning each screw, washer, etc then a good douse of WD40

with rear seat/fender support bar

with front fender support bar

sans both front and rear bars

wooden seat mock-up

November 19 2013
Took out the ol grinder and started to remove tabs and brackets, got a lot done this early am, still need to do more and then get on the painting. Need to make a mock up seat design and send it off to the seat maker, hopefully this weekend insha'allah.

with seat lock and tabs

lock and side cover tabs removed

with rear turn signal and passenger bar bracket/tab

without bracket/tab

bike today

November 22 2013
spent yesterday working on the carb; cleaning all parts. Ordered a rebuild kit; gaskets, rings, needles, etc. Some pics of before and after

carb bowl/bottoms before

choke adjuster carb top

inside carb top

header pieces

almost fully cleaned, some more touch up cleaning today

springs cleaned and lubricated

choke lever cleaned, some touch up today.

battery bar cleaned, will weld on to this to create new battery base insha'allah

November 22 2013
Starting the mock-up design for the rear end/cowl of the bike. Will do some drawings to get it figured out, need to get this done so I can give the design to Luke the seat-man!

rear end

design #1: rear 'cowl'

wires and more wires!!!

sans wires

Finished ordering all of my final items: tail light, turn signals, and speedo. Started work on the rear cowl today. Since I am a woodworker by 'trade' I am going with what I know. Using the old oak boards from my GMC pickup, I cut and glued 4 square boards together, then cut out a rough shape and will now begin to sand it down to the invisioned shape, insha'allah.

squared and cut and ready!

rough cut out

rough cut out, still need to cut down seat side

rough cut out view

Started to cut out the shape of the cowl, have a rough shape now and will try to fine tune it today, then it has to be stained and then sealed. Here are a few pics of how it looks now.

was going to keep this and use it for tail light...

decided against it.

cleaner look

December 7 2013
Ok, been a week since I did any work on the bike, so today I tackled the swing arm, chain, and front sprocket. Removing the rear wheel and the brake caliper was easy enough. Then I went after the swing arm, the nut removed easily enough, but when it came to getting out the swing pivot shaft, well that was a test (as Kevin stated if that is a test, then putting it back on will be a thesis!). I went online to check out a few forums I follow and there was not much there except that it takes a lot of pounding! SO, I pounded away and finally it came loose and I worked it out. I had spent a day earlier in the week reading about the front sprocket and its removal, I only read horror stories about how hard the nut was to remove! Guys were using steel pipes over their wrenches just to get enough leverage to open the nut, and even that was proving difficult, the more I read the more I thought I would need a special tool to get the job done. I pounded back the washer (which is folded over up against the nut) and sprayed the nut with WD40. I went in to get my largest socket but it was too small, only a 25mm, need a 27mm. So, I thought I would use my hand wrench just to see how hard the nut was, I turned it and of course the whole sprocket turned! I had already removed the wheel and swing arm so there was no way to secure the sprocket to turn the nut! I decided against putting it all back on and hooked the chain around the muffler post, and thought to just push down hard on the nut to get an idea of how hard it was really on there... so I pushed down and the nut turned! I then just took it off with my hand, hahahaha. Here are some pics.

got rear tire off

looking over the swing arm and chain situation

finally got the pivot shaft out!!!

stock swing arm and stock chain

sans swing arm

got the front sprocket off

lots of caked in 'stuff'

how it looked before with the chain on...

nice and clean

Add caption

Rims were really dirty, especially behind the sprocket, most of it is cleaned up now

Now it is all about cleaning the engine until my parts arrive, I wish I could remove the engine! What I need is a bike lift and an engine hoist... in the near future!

Dec 12 2013
Parts have been arriving; carb kit, headlight, and now the swing arm.

Aluminum JMC swing arm from Hugh Williams in the UK

Frame painting first coat

Painting frame

finished with painting

bearings, dust cover and lots of grease!!!

swing arm attached (w/ old shock), it has a little play from side to side, need to check on that.

starting over with the rear cowl... last one was oak from the '66 GMC, and now I have some new merenda wood, not as heavy as the oak but has a really nice color.

Parts are arriving!!! Progressive shocks, air pod filters, head light, tail light, turn signals, chain breaker, signal relay, and handle bars.

Last few days have been very windy and thus 'dusty' so it is time to move the bike into the house!

Had some difficulty with the shocks, they were not aligning up properly and thought I needed to go with an eye to clevis shock instead. So, I went over to visit Maher at Strokerz for some expert advice, after consulting the 'master', I went home and tackled the project... Success!
Thanks Maher.

grinding the bushings to make room for adjustments

Drilled out the holes in the sheet metal brackets for the head light and speedo. Getting a sense of how they look, then will disassemble and get to some painting! After some looking over, I am pleased with the speedo bracket, but not as pleased with the head light bracket and may need to re-think things; thicker material? Different shape? Not sure.