70's show bike refurbished; IT IS FINALLY DONE
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 3:56 pm
Back story. A guy in town bought a 1978 KZ1000 new in 78. Took it down to bare frame. Painted frame what is called Ice Blue. Painted the tins Black with some other colors and then later on Silver with some other colors. Also painted the engine black. Made some very minor mods to the engine. Won some trophy's at some near by car shows.
He passed away several years ago. His younger brother ended up with the bike. When he got it the entire bike was in boxes. Including the engine. It sat like that for over 20 years.
About 2 months ago he contacted me about completely redoing the bike. I set him up with my painter for the frame and the tins. I am doing the rest.
I completed the engine just today. Complete tear down, power washed, bead blasted, power washed again. Then reassembled replacing some transmission parts. That was all the bottom end needed. Honed the cylinders and put new rings on the pistons. (It doesn't have many miles on it as it was trailered most of the time.) He did want some light port work done to the head and some bigger, drop in, cams installed. The head also got a valve job and was surfaced.
I painted the engine with PJ1 high temp gloss paint. I hate painting engines but this came out pretty good. All the engine covers are still at the chrome shop. Along with the wheels, swing arm, front forks and a lot of other parts. You can see in the pics the four outside head nuts he had gold plated. That was just the way his brother did it and he wanted the same. There will be some other gold plated parts on the frame too.
The frame is finished at the painters but I can't do much with it until some of the chrome gets here.
This is one of those big time consuming jobs that I usually do in the winter but he wanted to get it in. (Remember he has had it in boxes for 20+ years
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I'll add to this as I get more complete. It will be some time though. And I have been doing other work too as it filters in. Three sets of GL carbs in the last three weeks and at least two more sets on the way that I know of.
Oh, there are no pics of the boxes of parts. He brought over just the engine parts first. I did help him go through stuff to decide what to paint, what to chrome, what to keep, and what needed replaced. It will get all new wiring harness, gauges, controls. A lot. He will easily have 5 figures in this. Worth that to him though.
He passed away several years ago. His younger brother ended up with the bike. When he got it the entire bike was in boxes. Including the engine. It sat like that for over 20 years.
About 2 months ago he contacted me about completely redoing the bike. I set him up with my painter for the frame and the tins. I am doing the rest.
I completed the engine just today. Complete tear down, power washed, bead blasted, power washed again. Then reassembled replacing some transmission parts. That was all the bottom end needed. Honed the cylinders and put new rings on the pistons. (It doesn't have many miles on it as it was trailered most of the time.) He did want some light port work done to the head and some bigger, drop in, cams installed. The head also got a valve job and was surfaced.
I painted the engine with PJ1 high temp gloss paint. I hate painting engines but this came out pretty good. All the engine covers are still at the chrome shop. Along with the wheels, swing arm, front forks and a lot of other parts. You can see in the pics the four outside head nuts he had gold plated. That was just the way his brother did it and he wanted the same. There will be some other gold plated parts on the frame too.
The frame is finished at the painters but I can't do much with it until some of the chrome gets here.
This is one of those big time consuming jobs that I usually do in the winter but he wanted to get it in. (Remember he has had it in boxes for 20+ years
}I'll add to this as I get more complete. It will be some time though. And I have been doing other work too as it filters in. Three sets of GL carbs in the last three weeks and at least two more sets on the way that I know of.
Oh, there are no pics of the boxes of parts. He brought over just the engine parts first. I did help him go through stuff to decide what to paint, what to chrome, what to keep, and what needed replaced. It will get all new wiring harness, gauges, controls. A lot. He will easily have 5 figures in this. Worth that to him though.
