1982 KZ1300 rescue and rebuild

biltonjim wrote: Well, you could buy it from Partzilla, .

$3.99 from Partzilla.

What I do (if I can) is wait until I (or my buddies and I) have a larger enough parts order to qualify for free shipping (to Point Roberts) or until one of their 'free shipping on all orders' deals comes up.

Just checked a couple of package receiving services at Point Roberts. I had no idea it's actually available and not bad in pricing! Great Bucko you mentioned it!
I wonder if eBay would ship to their addresses. I will have to check it, because many places don't accept PO Box if that's what the address would be.But it seems you can ship as you go, no need for box rentals. This would be awesome and solve a lot of my problems and save money.

Thinking ahead, I'm choosing tires for my KZ.
Just as a reminder, the stock sizes are Front: 110/90-18 and Rear: 130/90-17.
The front I had on my bike was 110/90-18, and rear 140/80-17. I remember Scotch mentioned having a 150/70-17 tire with no problem.

The tire size calculator:
www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=130-90r17-140-90r17

The 150/80-17 is close to the stock, except being a little wider.
The 150/70-17. The rotations go quite higher (769 vs. 798 per mile) and speed a bit slower. Definitely faster wear with time.
The 140/80-17 again, very close to 130, just a bit wider. Revolutions slightly only (769 vs. 781)
The 140/90-17 everything seem to become a bit bigger. Speed increases compared to what you see on speedo.

So far I am leaning towards these choices:
Front - I'm staying with 110/90-18.
Back - I'm torn between 140/80-17 and 150/80-17.

Then the brand. There are radial tires available for 110/90-18 front. I think there would be also some for the rear.
For ply tires I am leaning towrads Shinko. Peoople love them on other high powered and heavy bikes. I think they would be great.
Radials - not sure what's available out there.

What are your thoughts on this?

The seal you need for the fuel tank appears to be available still:

www.cmsnl.com/kawasaki-kz1300a4-1982-usa...931030/#.WjViC1Vl_IV

Or, do what I did and cut one flange off of an appropriate size $0.50 Grommet. !

And why someone can't slip the silly damned little thing in an envelope with normal stamp is always a mystery to me!

Yes, exactly. 40 Canadian dollars to post weightless piece smaller than my iris. Shipping a pound of bolts from Australia I was quoted 20.
If I remember correctly, I paid around $150 Canadian to ship a 55 pound piece of electronics to Iceland.

I'm posting these photos of assembly layout to have a reference and for whoever never took these apart would see what's going on. Much better than the black and white parts diagram.
Se here another gem. Just took apart the horns. I'm going to sand the painted pieces and paint. Some areas will expose bare metal, so I will first use etching primer.
The metal rings around the horns were corroded, I will just throw a layer of zinc rich paint on them. It will give a good protection and a nice silver look as well.