1977 KZ1000 finally finished...

Finally finished my baby.

Bought in october '08 as a rough runner. Came with some goodies such as a 1075 kit, Andrews 2x cams, 34mm Mikuni Rs carbs, Kerker pipe. $1100.

Rode it for a bit, a disintegrated cam chain idler gear mashed the valves on a 9k RPM upshift in october '09. Took it apart over the winter and gave it an overhaul.

Took it down to the crank, replaced all gaskets, seals, etc, checked over all bearings. Bottom end was completely sound. Buttoned the bottom end back up with APE studs, needle bearing clutch pusher and heavier clutch springs.

Cleaned up the cylinders with a light hone, cleaned the pistons, all looked good there.

Bought a core head on ebay for next to nothing. Exhaust valve seats were way recessed and intake valve seats and guides were trashed. Installed and sized new Kibblewhite AMPCO-45 valve guides myself. Had a local shop (Ladd's Porting) bore out and install new valve seats all the way around. They did the 3-angle valve job and milled the head back to flatness (took off .005"). Blended the valve seats to the ports, and opened up the bowls a tiny bit on the intake side. I matched the intake ports to the manifolds and left the exhaust ports well alone.

Clearanced the lifter bores and valve cover for some Kenny Harmon "L1" cams (.400" lift, measured 256 degrees duration at .050" according to my degree wheel). Degreed the cams in at 105 lobe centers.

Kibblewhite stainless valves (stock sizes, backcut a smidge), APE heavy duty springs, and Kibblewhite titanium retainers.

Mikuni RS34 carbs got a light clean and some new K&N filters (120 mains, 17.5 pilots).

New chrome Kerker 4-1 ($$$$).

Dyna S ignition and coils. Modified advance unit with stiffer springs to delay full advance till about 3500 to avoid pinging in town when leaving the lights on a hot day. Dyna rev limiter set to 10k, new one-piece regulator-rectifier, and a Centech fuse panel to replace the rotted original. Autometer 10k Pro-Cycle tach and a Vapor "trailtech" enduro speedometer/dashboard to replace the wobbly, trashed, and dented original instruments.

Got a polished Calfab swingarm from a person I met at the dragstrip for a song ($200). Ohlins piggyback shocks out back. The forks have been treated to Race Tech emulators, springs, and ultra-slick oil. Tarozzi fork brace. Stainless steel brake lines made by a friend (The Nickwackett Garage).

Made a custom bracket for the taillight - a random item I picked up at a swap meet that just happens to fit the KZ tail perfectly.

Rust-Oleum blue metallic spray paint and some automotive lacquer rubbed out to a high gloss with some good old turtle wax polishing compound.

Avon Roadrider tires on LTD rims.

Whew. More in a minute.

and this view...

and this...

Runs great! Currently leaking from the base gasket and head gasket, gonna pull down top end again and redo with OEM gaskets not %$@!#@$!# Vesrah junk.

Nice around town, lumpy idle around 1200 RPM. Nice smooth, manageable power up to 4500. A little blubbery from there to 5500, then a nice big swell of power to redline, getting particularly urgent at 7500. Wonderful sounds as she comes on cam at 5500.

Getting it dynoed in a week or two. Hope to see 100hp, but it doesn't really matter, she's plenty fast.

Handles LIKE A ROCK. Super solid and stable going down the highway, very steady in the corners. As long as you set up right, you can fly through the bends at angles unbecoming for such a machine. Nothing touches down on either side and I'm about to run off the edge of my tires (about 1/4" of "chicken strip" on the edges).

Back end wanders a bit under HARD acceleration between 105 and 115, but never develops or even feels like it will develop into a wobble.

Many thanks to all who have given me help on this forum - OMR's cam degreeing guide is the BOMB, and tons of great advice from OMR, Plummen, and Larry C, just to mention a few.

I'm used to small bore machines (little Yamaha XS360 "Streettracker") and vintage BMWs (I work on 'em for a living). This thing rocks my world, and I just love it. It is so raw and unrefined, like nothing else I've ever ridden or owned. Just makes me feel like a million bucks screaming through the countryside (that Kerker with the 2" comp. baffle is LOUD!)

I'll have more/better pictures soon, a dyno chart and some video/sounds also.

Thanks guys!

nice,looks like somebodys ready to hit the track

Looks GREAT, job to be proud of.

Mark

Way cool. Nice score on the cal fab swingarm. Be sure to post some daytime pics.

Daytime images are a must...
So we can pick it apart and criticize all the Uh-Oh's... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Sorry to hear the gasket is leaking... but you have the right thought process, have to get her right....

And by all means... avi clip would be sweet!!!! :woohoo:

OMR

Some daytime pics...

this...

and this...

and this...