Hello Folks,
Time to say hello (form the UK), as I've started to explore the disturbing consequences of having bought a ratty-as-hell KZ13 A1.
The poor little thing was a badly butchered bobber-job, including elegant ape-hangers, velcro-attached single seat and a (harley?) rear guard only attached by the two shock mounts so you could swing it up'n'down like a giant duck-bill !
Rest of the bodywork naturally pretty ropey too, tank and side panels present but flakey, front guard chopped to death, short shocks, 6 into 1 collector partly crushed due to lowering, rear frame rails cut-off, all seat bracketry cut-off, grips / pegs all cheap aftermarket junk, oh and it's got an oil c-o-o-o-ler.
Aside from that, all perfectly 'factory' !!
Now begins the long painful and somewhat expensive task of getting it going..
Carbs glued shut all over the place, one pair of needles glued to jets, 4 mains glued shut, a quick mechanical clean of these got it to fire, rough as anything although no bad rattles, and doubtless due to glued-up idle circuits only ran above 1800-ish.
They're now resting in a relaxing bath of diesel, maybe the odd blast in the ultrasonic, time will tell.
Cylinder pressures desperate; 15 / 60 / 110 / 140 / 140 / 130 psi, so the proverbial 'left bank' seems to have gone home early.
Oil-in-bore test doubled #2 but no change on the others, so either head work due, or bad rings / bent rods, or all 3!
(middle carb was leaking so could be classic side-stand-tsunami..)
Question; what sort of cold cylinder pressures would you expect on a worn but otherwise OK jap engine of 1970s vintage?
The right-bank of cylinders are hovering around 130 / 140 psi, curious if this is OK for an old hack.
Then spotted one coil was unbolted (duh!) and resting on the head, so those cylinders can't have run but also suspect some PO ignition problems, guaranteed by me when I attempted to replace the HT leads by rotating... double-doh!! as I've subsequently learned they are not removable so I've certainly destroyed that coil... : )
Hey-ho, did the AW82-TR1 swap-out plus new leads and caps so that's ready to go and hopefully a stronger spark than OE anyway, may even have 6 cylinders this time, if they ever decide to squeeze some air.
Bought a hundred & one various bits'n'bobs to get the beastie back into some semblance of normality;
Front guard, rear plastic guard (shorty but OE), seat (lucky find) tail light NOS (last in the world? price suggests so), pegs, grips, Z9 high bars, OE shocks (old but cheap for the mo), clutch cable and 100s of little brackets & bespoke bits from the 3 or so main Z1300 web suppliers.
Shortened (back to OE) the comedy handlebar looms and front brake hose, still have forks - seals / general rebuild to do.
Got all the metal fab yet to do for the rear frame tubes and seat hardware and exhaust, not much cost there but no doubt hours of fit'n'fiddle.
That lot's taken me to the brink of financial ruin and I've only just started! : )
I'll keep you appraised of my spiral downwards into restoration-depression!