What's going on in the garage?

[Mathh]

Next to my endurance racer I am also hobbying on other bikes. Here are some...
I am buiding a restomod for a friend of mine, it is almost finished. It is 1980 Kawasaki KZ1000 shaft drive. My friend wanted the engine rebuilt (done), modern front forks, wheels and brakes (ZRX1100 forks and front wheel, Brembo radial calipers for BMW GS1200 on KTM Superduke brake discs, all on one-off adapters, all done) and a chaindrive with a single sided swingarm (Z1 900 gearbox and output shaft, VFR800 swingarm with Triumph Triple Hub and rear wheel, done). Colour is changed to the MK2 colours but with heavier metallics (also done).







As the frame for the shaft drive bike is very wide almost every swingarm can be fitted, but because of the 6x17 rear wheel the front sprocket needs a whopping 30mm offset.



And because of that it also needs an outrigger bearing to support the output shaft on the outside. As Kosman no longer produces sets for these outrigger plates we wanted to make one ourselves.



But instead of that boring 10mm aluminum plate we opted to hide the second bearing within an engine cover of a Z1000J.

[Mathh]

So the round aluminum piece fits inside bearing#1 that fits inside the engine sprocket and inside bearing#2 that fits on the other end.



That 2^nd bearing now has to be fitted in a round construction that will be welded or bolted inside the engine cover (which, off course is not flat). …



Several extra mounting points added to spread the load....



Still to be done ...

[Mathh]

Last year I bought a 1984 Kawasaki ZG1300 DFI (fuel injected model) online in France, together with a spare engine. It had only compression on the outer 2 cylinders. It was not cheap but as the bike came equipped with special racing parts like brake discs and calipers, Öhlins shocks and billet parts for clutch and brake operation plus the stock parts I thought it was a good deal (and it was).
As the spare engine turned out to be a mismatch of carb and dfi model (which can not be combined) those parts could not be used for for the bike itself. So the engine in the bike had to come apart. Turned out the pistons were ok but the rings, valves, seats and guides were worn. Also one of the liners was rusted and had to be swapped.
Here is the bike..





Well…. I can’t deny that the Z1300 is a bit more complex to work on as the good old Eleven..





The rusted liner got swapped, The cylinder block cleaned inside from years of crap, the cylinders honed, the pistons were polished and new piston rings from Germany. All done in a professional work shop nearby..

[Mathh]

Rust in the liner because of a leaking head gasket



New NOS liner, after a long search



Cylinders freshly honed and deck shaved



Pistons polished and fresh new piston rings



The cylinder head was shaved and received 12 new NOS valve guides, valve seats were freshed up and a good used set of valves were lapped in. The result was a as new cylinder head. This bike also uses the same shims as our XS..

[Mathh]

Always a joy to look at after reconditioning ..





Back together now. Still needs a few small things and cleaning before start up and going for Dutch registration..

[Mathh]

Last summer I finished this one after making a couple of modifications.



I took it for several rides during the week and to some meetings. The bike has a superbike yoke with risers from ABM in Germany and the adjustable handlebar is from the euro 5K7 Sport.



Sadly my back and shoulders were not pleased with the seating position so I decided to make a pair of new risers which would add 6 to the already 4cms of height to a total of 10cms (4 inches). I just finished making them from a piece of billet.



Trying to get the shape the same as the clamps..



I had to let my neighbour do this… not easy with the tooling I have.. making the recess on the sides (a bit like the original ones) and fixing the hole for the handle bar.

[Mathh]

One bolt M12 goes in from the bottom and 2 M8 bolts going in on top to bolt everything to the top yoke..



Ready…so far... now paint them black and make some space in the workshop for the bike as it will need new brake and clutch lines…

[DEEBS11]

That is some great work Mathh. Love those old Kwackers!

[DEEBS11]

The 79/80 shaft drive and chain drive KZ1000's use different shift shafts. You just change the cover and use the appropriate boss. This one had a broken boss. I rigged it for welding back together.

[DEEBS11]

[LAB3]

Funny, there's a guy that's letting me crash out in back of his shop until my replacement tire arrives who has what's left one of those six cylinder Kaws in his junk pile, was just looking it over yesterday.

The header pipes on it aren't pristine but damn, they look awfully good considering their age. I'm betting they'd be worth a pretty penny to someone doing a restoration, a little elbow grease would make them look good as new! Not sure of the story behind it but even little pieces-parts are worth something to somebody.

[Mathh]

@Deebs11: Thanks for the compliment, I see you have been there as well. I like to work on these 4 cylinder Kwackers and have done a few in all those years. I modified one shafty into chain drive by just swapping the output shaft and all gears on the opposite shaft. I modified this one by swapping both complete shafts and leaving the complete shaft clutch in place as the shaft clutch is way bigger and more robust. I do think the XS Eleven can cope better with hard riding and more repairs than the Z1/900/1000. I prefer to work on the XS Eleven to all other bikes! The Z1300 is a different level, very complex and everything is cramped into tight places..

@Lab3: Those headers are indeed worth a pretty penny. Check if the collector boxes are still in good shape and connected because if the downpipes are complete with these boxes they bring more. Just watch out that the naked bikes have different setups compared to the ZN1300 Voyager (collector boxes and mufflers).

[DEEBS11]

Working on a Craftsman lawn tractor V twin. Big mouse nest. Common problem with the winter lay up. If you run your machine like this, it can overheat as no air can get to the cooling fins. You can usually smell it cooking.

[DEEBS11]

Working on a Lowes Cub Cadet Kohler. Motor was rapping like it had piston slap. Took off cover to reveal crankcase bolts had loosened and were hitting flywheel as it turned. Had to file the flats of the bolts to get a wrench on them. Never seen anything like it. Mouse chewed oil pressure wire (very common). Fixed it and it lives to fight another day.

[DEEBS11]

Yet another Kohler. Pumping oil into carb out of breather. Motor seems fine otherwise. Going to try the reed valve which seems to be a problem with these motors. Sometimes it's a blown head gasket but that seems fine.