1978 z1R

"A Work in Progress"...

I don’t have to sell it. It doesn’t eat or drink. I was looking for an ELR when I just happened to run up on this one. I have owned it for around 12 or 15 years I guess. It just happened to pop up on craigslist and it was 10 miles away from me. I called and looked and took it home. The guy’s wife posted it for sale. She was tired of it leaking oil on her garage floor. She posted the bike while he was at work. He came home and she told him to get and sign the title as she wanted the bike gone from the garage. He wasn’t happy, but I knew who wore the pants in his house. We aired up the tires and as we pushed it onto my trailer she was sweeping the floor the whole way. It was sad! Anyway, the bike was pretty much complete, it had been in the garage most of its life. Anyway, I bought it and it sat for several years. It has been around 15 years now.

I have redone other old Kaw’s and decided to tear this one down. I didn’t know much history about the z1R. I took it all apart. Sent off the body parts to be painted. Dismantled the whole bike sent all the frame and black parts to be blasted and powder coated. I got my powdered parts back and started putting the bike together, one step at a time, as I was not in any hurry as I knew how hard it was to find parts anyway. No reason to hurry. If I need bolts etc. they were from Kawasaki. If I needed parts they were NOS Kawasaki. I don’t think any were repo? I am very picky! It has taken several years of searching and buying some of the parts that were in bad shape or broken. Like I said, no hurry.

All the brake calipers and cylinders have been dismantled, cleaned and had new plungers and seals installed. The motor was the same way. The kicker was taken out of the motor and replaced with an aluminum blank. I still have the factory parts and they go with the bike.

The ONLY part I fixed instead of replacing is the front master brake cylinder. I could not find one. It had a real small crack in the clear part of it and I put some clear epoxy over it and fixed the leak. It is somewhat noticeable if you get right up on it and look behind the front fairing.

Wiseco 1105 kit with MTC Teflon buttons, Avon Road Rider tires, Braided stainless brake lines, Aluminum steering stabilizer, Chrome carb filters, Chrome crankcase breather, Valve job and cam setup by Star Racing, Black superbike handlebars, Kerker ELR Black exhaust, APE cam chain adjuster, New stator, New clutches, NGK spark plug ends, Yuasa AGM high perf 720BH battery, Stainless socket head case cover screws, EK high comp drive chain, Yoshimura aluminum points cover, ???????? S1 aluminum rear sets, Cwise aluminum chain guard, Brake caliper decals, Powder coated wheels. KYB ELR late model shocks, Aluminum fork brace, New EK Pro chain, Mikuni 36RS carbs (130 mains, ¼ turns out, middle notch). New seat cover on powder coated pan. Original 28mm carbs, all additional parts, engine covers, shocks, rear sets, etc. “Even have factory exhaust in good shape.” Complete Earls oil cooler system.

The extra parts are from this bike 100%! A lot of NOS parts. A lot of waiting on Ebay for ELR/Z1R parts to become available. If you like the racy look, leave it the way it is, or, you can put back all the original parts.

If I happen to sell it? All parts go with bike, no parting out.