New Member from the Hoosier State

Hey everybody! I've actually been a member for a couple of months just lurking in the shadows doing some research on KZ's. I was in the process of getting a bike from a friend when I came across this KICK @$$ SITE. I still can't get over the amount of knowledge that the members have & share on here! Proud to say I'm a new owner of an old 1980 KZ1000 LTD. The previous owner had this bike since 86' and let it sit since 91'. The story I got was that he took it to the gas station in 91', spilt gas on the outside of the tank, freaked out over what it was going to do to the finish and parked it till he could repaint it. (my friend is notorious for his cleanliness almost to the point of OCD) Well that's how i found it 20yrs. later with primered tank, side covers and rear fender. He did change some things back in the day though. It has K&N Super Bars(clubmans), V&H 4into1, Accell coils & wires and some smaller turn lights. The real kicker here is that it only has 9021 original miles on it! Hopefully these pics work.

Welcome MilesZ11! Have you attempted to start the bike yet? Did the bike come with a Kawasaki shop manual?

Picked up a new battery last night and cleaned the tank out last week. Luckily my buddy took the tank off and drained it as soon as he parked it so it was in great shape inside. I really think some gas, new inline filters and a battery and should here it run later today. As for a manual I'd really like to get one just wondering if it's better to track down a factory shop manual or just pick up a Hayes or Chilton. I'm extremely green on these bikes but pretty mechanical otherwise.

Some will disagree, but IMO the Kawasaki manuals are the finest...colossal amounts of information. The source is eBay...have patience and the following will appear:

Base manual Kawasaki part number 99924-1006-05
Supplemental manual 99963-0034-01

I believe the base manual has been reproduced by a seller out of New Zealand and is also available on eBay.

Prices are reasonable and you shouldn't pay more than US$35.00 for the base manual...watch sellers as some really attempt to gouge you on shipping costs.

Careful with those velocity stacks...you may want to consider pod filters. APE sells some reasonably nice ones.

welcome.

you have my favorite year of ltd,nice bike.

what are your plans for paint?

leon

Very nice project bike. Welcome. Get rid of the velocity stacks and install a set of EMGO Pod filters. This will greatly extend engine life. they are about $8/ea at "Z1 Enterprises".
www.z1enterprises.com/Air-Filter-pod-42m...idual--EMGO-220.aspx

Thanks for the welcome everybody!

Not sure what to do about the paint Leon. I have some silver automotive paint & clear laying around if I wanna cheap & quick job. Even thought about a factory style repaint. I believe it was originally blue but not 100% sure. I tried to get some info on the Kawasaki website but every time I entered the VIN it came up empty. I also have a friend that owns a bike shop locally that trying to talk me into giving the bodywork to his painter. I like his work just worried about the cost. By the way, really admire the work you do on these bikes. There are a lot of real cool builders here!

Those stacks are already gone otakar. Installed the pods last night hoping to fire it but ended up having a petcock problem. I overlooked the fact that it sat that long. It's a pingel dual line. The o-rings are shot so it started leaking as soon as gas hit it. Hope to have that problem fixed inma day or two.

we threw some paint ideas in this thread.

www.kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork...t-color-on-78-kz1000

being as how you have some silver.




i think that a silver base with black inserts in the stock style would look cool.
the reverse of the above pic.
kinda stock but never offered equals custom but stock enough to fool some folks.

i also saw an ltd painted with this scheme except blue where the above is black.blue and silver it was nice.

just some ideas,keep us posted.

leon