My KZ1300 project thread (photo heavy)

Alright, maybe it's time I just started a project thread for my build.

A few months ago I purchased a '79 KZ1300 that had been sitting for well over a decade. Hooray.

The first thing I did was pull the carburetors and rebuild them. They're rebuilt and mostly assembled now.

I pulled off the valve cover to check valve tolerances but noticed when I went to turn the engine by hand it would only make it through part of a revolution, so I decided to get serious. I pulled off the cylinder head to find a spark plug thread cap in cylinder #5; it had clearly just been dropped down there and never run (and, being aluminum, wouldn't stick to my magnet).

While I had the head off I figured I'd go ahead and do some work. I pulled the valves and installed new valve seals, did a minor port to the head, and lapped the valves in and cleaned everything up.

Well, that wasn't enough. I figured since I had the head off and since I'd purchased a gasket set I may as well just go ahead and pull off the cylinder block and replace the base gasket.

I pulled off the cylinder block and found that #4 had water sitting in it. There was corrosion in the liner and the rings on piston #4 are stuck. I honed the cylinders but the pitting still existed, so I decided I'd just go ahead and get deep into this project.

Just today I managed to get the engine out; that was really annoying to do by myself, and required some crafty rigging. (I'm a rigger by trade and made a custom bridle to fit on a lever hoist attached to a rig point I made in the ceiling, all backed up by a ratchet strap.) I have a 1370 bigbore kit on the way. I'll pop the pistons off and, since I lack the capability to do precision bore work myself, will commission the cylinders to be bored to match.

The stock ignition coils are going in the trash. I have a couple sets of Honda coils that will be fitted when assembly time nears. I'm also planning on jettisoning the stock airbox in favor of pod filters. The electrics on this bike are pretty lousy with UV damage, so all of the Molex connectors are going away in favor of PowerPole connectors.

Meanwhile, since the engine is out, I'll media-blast and paint the frame. I will also ditch the stock headlight assembly and all instrumentation, as well as much of the tail section; I will chop the subframe just aft of the shock mounts. When the bike goes back together I will use a TrailTech digital dash mounted on a stainless plate. Below the instrumentation I envision an ignition toggle switch and small LED indicators (oil, water, fuel, and turn signals). For illumination I plan on going with HID projectors in favor of the UJM box headlamp. This is all way down the road, though; this bike won't even be near completion this year.

This is definitely a long-game project, but that's fine. Having something to build keeps me out of trouble. I finished my last build a couple years ago (well, there's always something to be done) and I enjoy riding it occasionally; I've only ever seen one other Honda CX500 Turbo on the road, and that one belongs to my stepfather-in-law (and the reason I built mine). The CX500T is a really cool old bike but I've kept it in original shape. The KZ1300 I bought to build and customize and make my own.

I'll throw in some photos of the work I've done so far.

Carburetors prior to disassembly:




Pulling the cylinder head:




Dirty valves prior to head work:

Carburetors after ultrasonic cleaning:




First cleaning of the valves:




Shiny! I replaced all the fasteners on the carburetors with modern socket-cap machine screws and new Phillips screws where applicable:

Working on the cylinder head and valves:




Lapping in the valve seat:




Cylinder block removed:

I sent this photo to my wife. She asked if she was looking at modern art:




Blurry, but you can sort of see the rigging I did to remove the engine (and three of my other bikes behind):




Frame and engine:

Another shot of the engine and frame: