[le skid]

A recent RZ350 experience was a bit of a let down but my compulsion for scanning classifieds has yet again turned-up a bit of a find. This was in my top 3 dream bikes back in the day. I actually bought the '86 Ninja 1000 as my first brand new bike. Afterward, I tried one of these and regretted my choice.

34 years later, I just redeemed myself and bought this '85 with 800kms on the clock. It still needs to go through another 2 tanks of gas before it's broken-in.

It's still rocking the 34 year old OEM tires lol.

It's not really much of a project, tires, hoses, lines, fluids a battery and I'll be tooling around in style. :cool

 

[8you4t]

Hell yeah ... nice one mate.

Though is that shine on the tyres ??

 

[le skid]

Yeah :facepalm


But they haven't seen the road in decades so it's just for show. Sad, clueless show.

 

[8you4t]

Hahaha ... it’s in the right hands now

 

[Just_Nick]

It's okay, you'll never ride it. Just leave the tire shine on it.

 

[BigLou85]

That's amazing shape for a bike of that vintage. Nice find! Care to share any of the bike's known history? Looks like it came from a museum.

 

[le skid]

It's okay, you'll never ride it. Just leave the tire shine on it.

Nah, as I just wrote to Rob from beyond the grave, I'm spiffing this bitch up and will just ride the shit out of it. I am perfectly fine unloading the V and my K6 to own and just ENJOY this museum quality piece of history.

That's amazing shape for a bike of that vintage. Nice find! Care to share any of the bike's known history? Looks like it came from a museum.

There isn't much history to it. Some old fart who is currently 73 bought it but never rode it. It recently was discovered by a contractor doing work on the old fart's home. That contractor called a buddy..... buddy bought it for a song and advertised it.

Same as with my car.... since I scan Canada wide for interesting finds, I immediately noticed the ad (only 7 hours away this time), and jumped on it.

End of story. Score!

 

[kevinc]

Time capsule...nice bike congrats :thumbup

 

[Carnage]

Wow...can't believe I missed this one. @le_skid, thanks for the link here. My dad had an 83 GPz750. He's a die hard Kawi guy to this day and still gives me shit for riding a Gixxer. :lol

Can't believe it only has 800kms. Gonna save those pics and text them to the pops now. We'll probably talk all morning about that bike since he has so many stories of being a badass in the 80s on his GPz. :lmao

 

[le skid]

lol my GPZ memories are all terrifying

1) I had an '84 550 so it had the 1/2 fairing and looked pretty badass but it wobbled like a bitch at 130-135 kms. Can't recall how many times I was wobbling my way through big sweepers with just one hand on the bars to help mitigate the wobble :facepalm (later in life, I'd almost kill myself on a 82 KZ550 with the same issue. I hope this turbo can exceed 80 mph without making me shit my pants)

2) And I actually got to try one of these turbos back in the day. A buddy at work bought one as his first bike and he was afraid of it so he asked me to show him what it could do. After some gentle tooling around in the turns, I hit it. The boost coming-on isn't subtle. Up went the front wheel while we were in a freakishly strong gust of cross-wind at the moment. That was the only time a bike ever 'twisted' on me while in a long wheelie. It took me 3 tries before I finally stuck the front wheel on the ground pointed in the right direction.

Good times.

 

[le skid]

Grabbed me one of these 'inspection cameras' so I can shove it into the oil filler hole and into the plugs to check out the condition of the cylinders. I don't mind having the tank professionally acid washed & coated but rust in the engine would blow the budget.

Hey you guys who build engines: If there was a bit of light rust in there, I assume the engine has to be 100% torn down, cleaned and rebuilt. Assuming all the actual internals are reusable after decontamination, what's the rough number of hours it would take someone who knows what they're doing to do such a thing?

I don't even know if that's a sleeved engine or not.



That camera is giving me some ideas..... :shifty

 

[cyberstig]

Nice score - let us know how the inspection camera work goes.

 

[Beairsto Racing]

If you pulled the valve cover, you could inspect the valve train etc., in addition to boreoscoping the cylinders.
I highly doubt you're going to see any corrosion, as there are no signs of oxidization elsewhere on the bike.
Yes, the cylinder bores are sleeves.

 

[le skid]

If you pulled the valve cover, you could inspect the valve train etc., in addition to boreoscoping the cylinders.
I highly doubt you're going to see any corrosion, as there are no signs of oxidization elsewhere on the bike.
Yes, the cylinder bores are sleeves.

There is rust in the tank though. The story is the bike sat for decades. The guy who picked it up got it running on an external fuel source.

He doesn't sound as technically skilled as I'm at ease with so I cannot discount the possibility he tried at first to drain the tank and put in fresh gas. He's owned it 2 years so I'm not taking anything for granted. Why did the guy have it two years and is selling it now? You see my concern.



3 scenarios:
1) the engine's clean. Bonus! (this is why I'm grabbing a trailer and going on a road trip this weekend)
2) I see light rusting in the cylinders and/or crankcase
3) it's rusted to shit

Is scenario 2 feasible for someone like you? I know someone like you here, hence my wondering if it's 10, 20, 150 hours of labor to rebuild the engine to high standards. I'll source every possible seal, o-ring, gasket, clutch pad etc... etc... etc... to make it NEW.

I definitely want this bike but I'm not rich and I don't want a pretty and expensive paperweight.

Thanks Scott :cheers
I forgot: I transferred him $500 to take the ad down and will pay cash in person on saturday. So far, I'm only out $500.

 

[le skid]

.... He's a die hard Kawi guy to this day and still gives me shit for riding a Gixxer. :lol

BTW your dad sounds awesome :lol

 

[Carnage]

BTW your dad sounds awesome :lol

He's another super gearhead just like us. I sent him pics of your GPz earlier and he went nuts! :frantic

Now that I think of it, if I sent him pics of your CTS-V he'd go crazy over that too!

Our daily arguments about cars and motorcycles are epic! :lol He's really into Kawi's latest retro bikes (900RS) because it brings him back to those days. All it takes it for him to see a new youtube review or motovlog on a bike or car and he's blowing my phone up to talk shit! Cool dude for sure. :cheers

 

[le skid]

This is a good sign. I'm going out tomorrow but in the meantime, the seller took a stab at taking a pic through the spark plug hole.

 

[ken65]

What a great score. If it was mine I'd get it in tip top running state and preserve it.
Half ya luck. I'm green with envy.

 

[le skid]

What a great score. If it was mine I'd get it in tip top running state and preserve it.
Half ya luck. I'm green with envy.

We have the same intention. I will bring it back to 101%. I don't care how much I spend. But by preserving it, I mean it will see a few good rides every year so in 10 years, it will be an almost no mileage 100% perfect bike that doesn't need every seal, o-ring, gasket, line etc... changed as she sits today. I'm pulling the motor to remove and rebuild the oil sump pump and the turbo as well. I've found someone who can do the turbo. Looks a little ratty inside the exhaust so I'll also have those re-packed, since the metal is 100%


Left at 3:00AM and drove out there to kick the tires. The guy used a syringe to pressurize the fuel system and... well check it out.

Anyway, just got back home so at least it's here now. First thing will be to bring it to a shop who does beautiful work acid-washing and restoring tanks.

 

[Carnage]

:drool