Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Anyway that was Saturday, Sunday was a "rest day" (went out for the day with the better half.)

Monday being PHol was back into it - off with carbs, on with the aircleaner ass'y and back on with the carbs.
Sounds easy but it ain't - not for this little black duck anyway!
It's a real shit of a job - got to take off the airbox tube clamps and refit them after carbs are in place - not enough clearance
for carb inlet/airbox with clamps on - there's a risk of cutting/tearing/pinching airbox inlet tubes with sharp edges of the clamps.

If those carbs have to come off again it'll be a trip to Mr K&N for 4 filters and C'case filter as well as some bigger jets!!!

Anyway that was a cupla hours worth by the time everything was back together so turned attention to instruments
and got all the dampers, collars, nuts bolts etc laid out ready for install of the gauges, inst panel and headlight - probably tonight.

A photo of the quickly approaching final product for you.

Assembly complete!
After only 4 years and 9 months (and a bit) the Z1-R rebuild is now done.
Had a lot of fiddling and farting around with the headlamp, fairing, instruments as I couldn't get some of the dampers/grommets and had to make my own. Also after fitting/refitting fairing several times noticed that the fairing "wings" were fouling the mirror standoff mounts - probably because the switchblocks that carry the mirror mounts are not Z1-R and the bars may not be either. Anyway decided the easiest way to overcome this was to move the grips outward by 10 mm or so, and all was good. Just have to refit battery (on charge) and go for inspection and rego papers.
A pic taken just after "down tools" last night - will look a lot better after a good clean to get rid of accumulated dust, fingermarks etc and to brighten up the covers and paintwork etc.
Hopefully will get rego done tomorrow and be "on the road!"

Looks sen-fucking-sational!

(-8

Looks great Bill...well done you.

that looks really tidy - well done Bill still need a Z1R in the 4th ......one day.

Thanks for all the kind words guys!

I may have mentioned an ongoing overly-rich running at low throttle openings problem?

Well after much research and fiddling with carbs I finally got the shits and said "Ok that's it - you're going to the doctor!"
(I could be fucking around for weeks and still not get it sorted!)

Took the bike to the mechanic who put it on the dyno and he discovered that the fuel/air ratios that the carbs were providing were spot-on at all throttle settings and ignition timing/sparks were fine.
He reckons that the rich running is due to an inlet valve timing issue rather than a carb circuit problem - inlets are opening/closing at incorrect crank angle and as a result combustion chamber is getting overloaded with fuel mixture. Probably only one or two teeth out will do it he reckons.
I'll be calling him shortly to see how he's going - hopefully he'll have the valve timing re-adjusted and all testing done this arvo.

Sooooo - mechanic checked the valve timing and that shot that theory to the shithouse! (all timing was good)
Next thought was that the carbs "must" be the problem; luckily another z1000 was in for some surgery and we pulled the carbs off this bike and put them straight on mine and it ran fine!!!
So this got us thinking - gotta be carbs! Checked (again)- and the trained eye spotted that the needles are too skinny for these needle jets,
and this is allowing fuel to be drawn through the main jets when there should be none! This is my fault as I changed all the jets, float valves, o-rings, springs (and needles) when I overhauled
the carbs quite a while ago . I had no idea whether the internals of the carbs were correct/original (or whatever) so that was why I replaced everything with the overhaul kit items to start from scratch.
The kits were a universal o'haul type and not specifically for these carbs. Luckily I kept all the "original" bits and was able to give the needles to the mechanic. These have been fitted and boy what a difference! The bike is quite cold-blooded now (as they always were) and requires choke to start whereas before it didn't. No more black smoke and plugs are a good colour. Final dyno checks happening today with a test ride - so hope to have the bike back this arvo.
Cupla small issues to sort out - oil weeping from alternator grommet - will wash this out and load the holes with some suitable goop; neutral light has stopped working - possibly wire has come off or bulb is u/s or switch is not operating; speedo needle is catching on the inside of the meter glas so it'll have to be pulled apart (again) and seat the needle further on the spindle.
Havagud weekend!