1980 KZ1300 - Hen's Teeth Do Exist

[Lucien Harpress]

Ah. Much better.





On the plus side, as you can see, the fairing is gone. And it looks like it should- a relatively "small" bike (compared to the ones today) with a giant brick of a motor plopped in the middle.

The downside? Now that I can see all the wiring in its molested glory, I see the uphill battle in front of me. Wires cut. Spliced in. Those blue wire splicers clipped on to wires WITH NO EXTRA WIRES SPLICED OFF OF THEM.

Also, I found MORE copper tubing! The reason I got this bike was because this fairing type used the stock blinkers and headlight/headlight bucket in the fairing. Well, looks like I have to replace the (hard to find) bucket anyway- the light mounting screw holes are broke, the rear end is punched out (by the PO), AND two holes were drilled in the top to (unnecessarily) screw it into the fairing headlight adjuster. With COPPER TUBING SPACERS! (I swear, I could scrap all the copper on this bike and get my money back). Thankfully there's a set of parts I need on Ebay, and, God willing, I can get what I need for relatively cheap. We shall see in a couple days.

Thankfully, all this is surmountable. I've got a service manual with a full wiring diagram, and most off the wiring seems to be "additions" rather than "deletions". We'll be okay, I just have to take a minute to wrap my head around what wire colors do what.

Somebody has MBS quite badly.

Who, me?

[Lucien Harpress]

You got a great bike. They work the best stripped naked with only a little "chest protector". Had a few running I the area sometime ago. Even saw one get hit parked along a local street. MMMmm, maybe I should do a little looking...might be able to find spares somethings??

RT2

If you can find spare KZ13 parts for cheap, let me know. Depending on what it is, some of those things go for big money.

With any luck I can get everything I need, but it never hurts to have another source.

[NCScooter]

I'd like to enter the lottery on the 3-way switch. Probably the radiator fan. Looks like great fun!!!!

[Lucien Harpress]

I've narrowed down what the 3-way switch does.

Position 1- starter "button" does nothing.
Position 2- starter tries to spin (battery dead).
Position 3- same and 2, but WITH the headlight on.

Of course, I forgot to mention another quirk of this bike, one that, surprisingly, is actually NOT a PO addition. The seat is hinged, and is locked with a, er... lock (hidden under a rotating section of the sidecover. Pretty slick, actually). In addition to "lock" and "unlock", there is also a "park" and "on". It needs to be rotated to "on" (and the key removed, so you can put it in the ACTUAL ignition switch) before the bike can be started.

Why?

You got me.

(Still no clue what "park" does. Maybe light up the taillight like my GL1000 does? Who knows?)

[Lucien Harpress]

SHE LIVES!

...sorta. I fixed the right controls and eliminated the 3 position switch of the sidecover, which allowed me to get the motor cranked over. She don't idle for crap, but (once warmed up a bit) it revs SCARY-fast over 2000 rpm.

I put some new gas and a can of seafoam into it. We'll let it sit in the carbs and see if that clears anything up. I really don't want to pull the carbs if I don't have to, but we shall see.

[wingrider]

Congrats! Always fun to breathe life back into projects that have sat.

[terry_208]

LH, the PO told me that the 3 position switch on the left side cover was for lights. I don't remember and didn't look but he said one way the switch turned extra lights, the middle I can't remember, and the other direction was for normal lights, IIRC.

I am glad I was of assistance. I did hear it run before picking it up but it wouldn't idle.

[Lucien Harpress]

Thanks again.

I managed to score a 160 mph speedometer on Ebay. It's not technically correct for my year, but they don't come up very often, because they were only a 1979 option. They may have come back later, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I paid a bit more than I wanted to for it, but then again I got it for less than they usually go for, so.... win?

Not counting the motor, I'm down to details now- nuts, bolts, grommets. I'd like to get a bunch of the metal parts (headlight ears, blinkers) powdercoated, and there's some repair work I need to do on the headlight bucket- broken screw holes, some extra holes on the back the PO drilled (for... whatever reason), but it's worth it- you can't find buckets, and when you can, they go for big money.

In any case, we shall see. Until then!

[Lucien Harpress]

I'm beginning to notice how unnecessary most of this motorcycle is, and not just the fact it has a straight-six. The ignition switch, for instance. It has TWO. Both with on, off, park, and lock (or unlock, depending). There's an entire page in the manual dedicated to showing what all the combinations do.

Then there's the air box. It's not just excessive. It's HUGE. Those black pieces just behind the carbs? That's a little less than HALF of it. In fact, that's not the air box at all. Those are just decorative covers for it. The actual filter isn't even in there it's in another, separate section behind it, under the seat. DESPITE that, there's still almost no room for the filter. To blank off one end of the filter (so the air doesn't bypass it completely), the design utilizes the easily lost and hard to find tool tray, LITERALLY plopped on top of it to prevent leaks. No seal around the rest of the air box, just the one on the filter. Not counting the side panels, it's a 4 or 5 piece assembly that's nearly twice the size of a GL1000 carb bank.

http://images.cmsnl.com/img/partslists/ ... 6_fad6.gif

That all being said, if it does the job, what's the problem? It's all part of the charm.

[desertrefugee]

Nice old dinosaur. Definitely a rarity - for a reason. It couldn't compete. Too heavy.

I always found four cylinders on a motorcycle to be plenty. I had two ZL900's. An amazing machine. Inherited the watercooling technology from the big KZ. I rode my first off the showroom floor. Only thing that ever beat it was the ZX900 Ninja and my buddy's VMax. (Many tried).

I'm pretty sure that the 6 cylinder cycle that would hang with the VMax hasn't been built.

One thing's for sure about the KZ13, it will draw a crowd anywhere it parks.

[calif wingnut]

How about a side shot of Mr. Max and the M on the dirt road.

[desertrefugee]

How about a side shot of Mr. Max and the M on the dirt road.

It wasn't dirt. I'm still crazy, but not that crazy.

And Lucian, I was digging through my old box of dragstrip photos. I thought I had a couple of a KZ13 a guy used to run at Shadyside. Problem was, the big Suzuki's came in and ate everybody's lunch.

Those were good days.

[Barney T Weasel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d16Z61IcM6s

got to 5 min in and turn up the sound. These are a magic bike. Had mine 28 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3FOOAMqMvM

[calif wingnut]

From stash of vintage mags back in the day.

[desertrefugee]

That exhaust note is magical. Ferrari'esqe.