The Story:

Every bike has one, a story of their own, whether it was owned by one fellow that polished it every day to the more typical one that had it sitting in the barn since the owner still had hair. Well since I originated this site I guess I will start it off with mine.

This is the story of my 1979 Kawasaki KZ1000 ST, also known as the KZ1000E1, a project bike that was purchased in November 2004 from in Southwest Indiana for $850.00. It had 24,000+ miles on it and did at least run somewhat with a little coaxing. I got to ride it a total of about a 1/4 mile, it was drooling gas a bit and looking very much so like the previous owner had done everything wrong that you possibly could to the bike. It needed a lot of work to make it into something you could ride safely much less proud to own. Since I already had other bikes to ride, I would start on this bike as soon as my other projects. In a decidely longer than expected delay it was the spring of 2007 before the "E1" finally got underway!

This project report has the progress of the bike and some technical advice mixed in for those who are looking to restore an old Kawasaki like this one. I will take you through the teardown and inspection/evaluation process of turning one of these bikes back into a fine, road-worthy machine. There are non-stock updates to the bike but for the most part it remained stock and can be reverted back to same as stock except for the paint and exhaust which were already changed when I got the bike. If you are a concours seeking rebuilder then this project will aid your quest but isn't meant to be a "how-to" for that level of restoration. Nothing against that kind of restoration, it's just that I'm not young enough to invest that much time waiting around for an NOS part to come around so I can complete and ride the bike.

You will find several useful links here to informative sites devoted to old bikes like this, plus there are several suppliers of parts to match replace your OEM part at a better price than Kawasaki dealers will sell it to you (if they will even give you the time of day actually, more on that later). I will be adding tips and tricks from several members of the KZRider web community as well as some other sites. Some of the best "wrenches" that I've had the pleasure of being associated with are on these sites. If you have a tip or trick to add to the Tech section of this site, please use the link to email your submission for consideration of being added to the section. Please be as detailed as possible and as always, photos or drawings are a plus to getting the idea across.

Look around and hopefully you will gain something from this site. Best Regards!

Ok, here is the photo of the bike in the ad, was told it was rougher than the photo showed it to be and when I got there I found they weren't exagerating.

The PO (previous owner) replaced the stock exhaust with a MAC 4 into 1 that showed all the signs of a lean running condition (see the bluing everwhere on the exhaust). There was no filter in the air box which is never good but the box was clean.

In an attempt to paint over any rust on the frame, most of the wiring had been painted black along with frame by the PO so now it was impossible to see what wire was what on the harness. The fuse box was melted and some splice in spade type fuses were now in their place though most of the rest of the wiring looked pretty ratty.

The tires were as hard as rocks but the rims were in fantastic shape. The brakes worked though not very aggressively. Minimal oil leaks present mostly in the common spots like the half-moons cam end caps and the tach drive.br

The tank and side covers didn't match the tail section and though the paint work wasn't of a bad quality job, the "fade" look wasn't something that hit my hot button.

Well since it was mostly complete and ran without any tranmission issue plus the brakes all were free and working I bought it. 

Next was the sitting to wait on the other projects in my shop to get finished before the E1 would find its way to wrench. That was all it was known by during that time, just "The E1". It sat from November 2004 until spring 2007 with the tank empty and fogged though there was already rust in it. Patiently waiting along side my 1984 KZ550F2 shaft drive.

The parts collecting had been going on for over a year now when this photo was taken and the mezzanine that is located just above and to the left of the bike was starting to get crowded with boxes. Like a volcano with too much stuf in it the time was at hand to let this stuff out and start the build!

The bike makes it onto the lift and that begins the tear-down to frame.

Taking off the side covers to inspect in more detail some of the bits and pieces reveals a total mess of a wiring harness requiring either a complete rework or the creation of a new one from scratch. The true sign of someone that should have their tools taken away from them is revealed in the condition of the flasher below.