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Kawickrice wrote: Sorry to hear that Joe, glad you made it home safe. Sometimes a clutch cable will act strange just before snapping, put your new on on to evaluate if it is indeed the clutch.

Were we doing 80 plus today?

The stethoscope will help pinpoint the engine noise to give you an idea of where the noise is coming from

Like was said earlier check the runout on your rims, they are spokes so it could need a little tweaking

That bearing squeal is not good news considering the miles you clocked today

Yeah Cary, I sure hope you are right about it being just the clutch cable. With all these things I'm getting worried about bike fest next week. Assuming I can fix the clutch, I was thinking the bearings may hold until after Leesburg. No highway miles, 60 mph tops and only 60 mi. round trip. Wobble is not factor for those speeds. But I pushed the bike around a bit to reposition it against the wall and the squealing may be from the chain. And I can hear the chain hanging a bit on the sprocket. Anyhow, considering I was up until 4:00 a.m. with only four hours of sleep, I did't even want to think about looking at it today. Man, no wonder I looked so old and tired in the picutres, LOL.

my old bike would get a scarry wobble at about 80 my back spokes were loose. bad rear wheel bearing can cause the same thing found the problem sitting on the bike and wshiimmying my but back and forth and the whole backe wheel shook

Glad to here u r up and running.
Congrats.

the 15 wieght oil will not cause this, but not enough oil , or un-equal amounts, could. did u have to push the springs down a bit to get the bolts into the fork tops? just wondering if there is any play in the springs?
def check the rim runout. Swingarm bushings too.also check the tire psi.

where do u think this squeal is? if its the wheel bearing, that may have something to do with the wobble.

Nice, clean bike Joe

Yup, sharp looking bike you got there.

If you decide to try to turn the Spoke lugs ,spray them with something like PB blaster a day or to in advance and then do it again.

And don't use too much force trying to turn them,35 year old rusty spokes can break.
I know this from experience.

If your bearings are making noise it's only going to get louder and they may freeze up on you, be careful Joe.

JD

LarryC wrote: Nice, clean bike Joe

Thanks for the kind words Larry. But you know, digital pictures always seem to hide a lot of the imperfections. Thanks again.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I haven't had a chance to look at the problems in detail. Only got to move the bike a few feet and inspect the chain. The good news is, all the noise was coming from the chain, none from the wheel bearings. The bad news is the chain is shot and so is my bran new 275 mile rear sprocket. Not horrible news, cause it was the chain that came from the barn and only had two notches of adjustment left. Yes, should have replaced it without even thinking, but didn't want to plow more money in a bike I had only rode for 1/2 a mile. As I had mentioned, I had replaced the rear sprocket. In stalled it, lubed the chain and started riding. Now the new sprocket is toast after only about 275+ miles or so. Had it adjusted to 3/4" slack now its at about 2" or more. That was part of the symptom taking off from first gear. What could cause a chain to stretch so fast. Anyhow, I'm taking the sledge hammer approach this time. This should take into account everybody's suggestions and I had intentions of replacing these parts anyways but the relay deadline got in the way. Don't want to go back in to fix twice. So I decided to do a 530 chain conversion and ordered the following:

1. front sprocket.
2. rear sprocket.
3. spacers for conversion and chain link.
4. RK 530 110 link x ring chain.
5. front wheel bearings.
6. rear wheel bearings.
7. valve cover gasket (hopefully tapping noise will be resolved with adjustemnet)
8. valve shim tool.

I have to decide this morning on whether to purchase the swing arm bushings and sleeves. They also sell a kit (pricey) that has pin bearings instead. Anybody have any opinions on these? JD, Marc, Ramtough, Ed and everyone else, thanks for the help.

Well, its been awhile since I posted anything on this thread. But as some know, I haven't been idle. Since posting my prior post above I have:

1. Completed my 630 to 530 chain conversion. So new front and rear sprockets as part of the conversion.




2. Replaced rear bearings.



3. Cleaned rear brake assembly and installed new shoes.
4. Installed new polished chain cover and lubed the push rod and worm gear at the same time.
5. Measured and adjusted valve clearance. Had to re-shim two intake valves.


6. Replaced valve cover with a polished aluminum cover.
7. Touched up the frame a bit on the back. Looks much better for now.
8. Fixed front brake/tail light problem. Bypassed the blue wire all the way to the back stop light.



9. Replaced speedometer bulbs. Sucks not knowing how fast you are traveling at night.
10. Started carburetor balancing job. Man, out of balance big time. Kinda like wireman's Quagmire picture.



Will edit in the other part of the balancing procedure once I get her done.

I did all these things last couple of weeks in anticipation of riding this past Saturday with a riding group I joined a couple of months ago. Well, once again, couldn't get it done in time. So this is like the third time something like this happened to me.

It looks like she's idling at about 1500 rpm. Synchronizing the carbs may enable you to turn the idle speed down some as it generally has a significant impact on how smooth the engine idles. Ed

Thanks, Ed. Yes, I just finished the synchronization today and I'm now able to idle lower. Still at 1100, but need to play with the air screws a little. Was running smoother after the sync, but with a bit of power loss over all. Went 1/4 in on the air screws and it made a world of difference.

Below is my synchronization demo. I had searched and searched on the net and YouTube for a demo specific to KZ's. But no luck. So I decided to one myself and share with others. I think the synchronizing screw on the Z1's are on the outside of each carburetor. Not sure if the KZ1000's are the same as my KZ900. And if they are, don't know until what year.





Went for a ride this evening with all the settings completed. Oooh Mamma! Took a local road with some twisties. Got lost along the way but didn't care. Ended up at a dead end at one point. Was bit timid at first, but then the old tingle down the leg thing started coming back, lol. After all these years. Today was the first time this bike felt whole. Hard braking along with engine brake, quick shifting, giving her some nice throttle out of the curves. Its all starting to come together. Need to learn more about its limits before I push (trust) her more (tire grip and so forth). But I'm not a speed daemon anymore anyhow. The only complaint, if any, is that second is a bit clunky going in sometimes. So the next part of the project will be to inspect the clutch assembly. I also still have to install a set of sealed wheel bearings for the front. But its getting close to 100% done. And pretty much feels like it as well.

Ride it like you stole it Joe. Did you get a pic of the big ol grin on your face?

Kawickrice wrote: Ride it like you stole it Joe. Did you get a pic of the big ol grin on your face?

Thanks Cary, I sure did have grin. Hooped and howled a couple of times as well. I am getting closer to bringing her down to Tampa for a day. I will give a call to see if we can get together. Maybe we can do a ride across campus, lol. Do they allow that? Anyhow, we can do lunch for sure. Will let you know in the coming week or so if you are up to it.