Why a Kz before another motorcycle?

As you can see by the last picture, I've been through a couple cans of turd polish.  Moose1800 says it comes in 5 gallon buckets I'll have to look into that.  I've already got the empty wallet to buff it with.  

Scotty

Hahaha. It looks ok. As long as it’s mechanically safe and sound, ride it.

sf4t7 wrote:

blipco - here are some pictures

Like I said earlier - I got my patina the old fashioned way:  I let it sit in a damp garage!

Scotty


 

What happens is that people send the aluminum to be chrome plated, that ends up damaging the piece, accelerating corrosion.

In my case, I exchanged the covers for a "chrome kit" in the late 1970's (that was a common "upgrade" in those days - what were we thinking? )  As part of its revival I have  replaced most of the chrome pieces with plain aluminum ones.  I have not installed the plain alternator cover yet.  I think most of the chrome damage came from the 6 or 7 years it spent in a friend's damp garage.  The block, cylinders and head will have some quality time with nylon brush, fine steel wool, and WD40 in the future.  Got to get it safe and running well first.

Scotty

My uncle did the chrome cover thing back then but the bike has lived indoors and the covers have held up fairly well.

My chrome clutch cover is still in nice shape (maybe because it's vertical) so I'll keep it on.

Scotty

Scotty, I don't know how old you are or what your plans are for the bike but you've got a lot of work ahead of you with the condition the bike is in. That 74 Z1 is worthy of a complete tear down and restore but it won't be cheap and will take many hours of your time and dedication.

A few questions for you, Do you have an unlimited budget, do you have an inside work area with plenty of tools? Your gonna need a good size air compressor and a small sandblaster just for starters. Depending on how far your wanting to take it to make it look nice your looking at 1-2 years at least. Good luck ! it's very rewarding when you finish bringing one of these bikes back to life and ride it for the first time.

I'm almost 66 years old I don't think I could take on a project that would need a complete tear down and rebuild. My Turd took 7 months and a few thousand dollars in parts before I was able to ride it for the first time.

 

Hi Moose - 
That's good advice.
My plan is to "revive" not restore the bike.  You are correct, at 68 I probably have the skills but I don't have the funds or ambition to take this bike to the level you did with your "turd" (btw I still chuckle every time I see the title of your build thread) A full restoration may have to be a project for the next owner (most likely my nephew). 

For now it will be general maintenance items: cables, master cyl, braided lines, caliper, rear brake shoes; chain and sprockets; replace seat; replace both fenders with good used ones; rebuild petcock, clean and rebuild carbs (one of the smarter things I've done was to drain the tank and carbs before I put it away).  New clutch plates, steels, and springs; new handlebar controls and grips; spark plugs, wires and coils, upgrade to electronic ignition; add "wookie" relay for coils; new oil and filter (now, and again after start up); delkevic 4 into 1; tires and tubes, etc.  The only place I'm using the turd polish is on the wheels, tank, side covers and tail piece. 
Almost all of the parts I need have been bought and waiting, I hate to stop a project while waiting for parts.  I'll buy the tires and exhaust once I have it running.  Internally the motor should be ok, it ran fine when I put it away.  (I know I know - famous last words, but you only say that when you're selling it - haha).  As you may know I have already reset the valve clearances to .004 and .006 (along with the dilemma I created doing that job, at least now I know the cams are timed correctly).
I've got about 2200 into the project so far with just the tires and exhaust left to buy.  (After 46 years as a mechanic and draftsman I had to keep track - haha) I figure I'll have a little under 3000 in it and be at the point of a decent "rider" later this summer.  That's probably less than it would cost to buy a 10 year old used bike just to ride, and a Z1 is much cooler.  (at least that's how I'm justifying putting some money and a bunch of effort into my Z1 )
I have way more tools than I'll ever need (according to the wife) and have access to a large well equipped garage / shop for this project (it's being done alongside my buddy's 55 ford pickup restomod project).The picture of my bike in the shop was taken a couple weeks ago, so I'm making progress. 
Over the years I've restored two muscle cars and built two hotrods (I still have my 47 Ford and drive it a couple times a week) so I know how fast you can go down a rabbit hole of way more money and time than you anticipated.

Scotty   

 

 Here's an update to my posts on this thread from May of 2023.
It's been about a year of working on the Z1 a little at a time on most Sunday afternoons over at my buddy's shop.  The "revived" project is just about done, I took some test rides last week and yesterday (quite a few of them yesterday!).  It runs well,  carbs and jetting are close to where they should be, plugs look good.  And it still goes like a rocketship. Next step is to get the registration renewed and take some longer (legal) rides to put some more miles on it then do some more fiddling and maybe another carb sync to get it close to perfect. Then as SWest says, ride the piss out of it.
  Just out of curiosity I kept track of the parts spending so far and I'm at about $3300 at this point.  Cleaned up a lot of the patina as I worked on it but wanted to leave some of it there.  See below for some before and after pics.

 

Great work Scotty, she looks real nice now 

A well done budget Z1!  What was the make of the rear tire pre-upgrade?  It has a strange groove down the middle.  

Well done Scotty !! 
I'm sure your proud as a peacock as I was when I finished the Turd, I ended up with over $4500 in parts not counting what I paid for the bike, I doubt I'll get my money back and I know my labor is out the window. You did a great job and I wish you well.

By the way I would love to have that Kubota tractor........well done sir !