RESCUE THE 80s

[Lucasind]

.....I know ....can't help it



so I went to check out this 85 1100 shaft,what a great story bought new in 1985, ridden that summer to the fall, at which time cager pulls out in front of brand new bike, rider avoids crash w/cager, hits curb, bike flips, rider hurt seriously, bike is towed to owners home, insurance does thier thing, bike sits there since 85, I come along, acquire bike 4 two benji's...... this bike has 1988. miles on it .... Be a little patient with me guys..... I now have another project.....to keep you posted about. I got me another one here with stuck rings..... but the vertical ones are MUCH easier to break loose than the horizontal ones.... gravity works wonders :! more in a couple of days..........................................tony

[debron]

I think this bike would be more fun to ride if it had a seat!

[Tat2demon]

I bought an 81 Yamaha XJ750 last year. The guy rode it with no seat for two years however he had two that fit it. Said it rode better that way....

[Lucasind]

...when it looks like this ..OUTSIDE ..of the garage......



we do this ..INSIDE .. of the garage.Continuing work on the 1100 LTD shaft. The 30 year old grease around the steering stem was like PLAY-DOH Stayin bizy here in toledo , dyin to ride. Cabin fever has officially set in ! ..........tony

[96desertXII]

Will be doin 200 miles on Tuesday.......love the southwest!

[sir old dirt]

That van in the background looks pretty nice too.

[Lucasind]

That van in the background looks pretty nice too.

thanks for the compliment on the truck,SIR OLD DIRT,, It's the first vehicle I ever bought, was just about to turn 16, now I'm about to turn 54 ,,, where did all those years go :?:I recently updated it from old drum brakes to power disc brakes wow, what a difference when towing the camper ! ..... oh yeah, there 's a better pic of it on the "how to post a picture"thread...

[cushman eagle]

What do you have under the hood of that van? Looks good!

[Lucasind]

When I got it, it had the ol 225 slant six. of course being a teenager back then, I could'nt get her under the chain fall soon enough ! Out went the 225(that ran perfectly) and after fab-ing some motor mounts and such, in went a gas guzzling 440 big block. At that point it took two people to operate the truck.... one to steer ,and one to look for gas stations ........ over the decades she has been stripped and redone a few times ,the current gold finish I did in 2006, and installed a 340 small block and 4-speed, I can say with great certainty, that this is the way the truck will stay the rest of MY days, as the price of paints,primers ,thinners,sandpaper and all things HOT ROD,have gone through the ROOF ...............................cheers ! tony

[Lucasind]

....So .picking back up on this old post....this is what I have been doing since I got the "BEAST" back together nearly a month ago...... This bike was in need of EVERYTHING.......
my plans for this bike is to get it looking as good as possible and running GREAT !
Then.....memorial weekend 2015, I will load it up in the back of the panel truck and take it out to
put-in- bay island where the 1970's cb 125 Honda has been stranded now for a long time. and swap em out.
bring home the Honda and leave the newly re-furbished 1100 shaft for good ,so that Pam and I don't look like (as she puts it) "dumb and dumber".....with the 2 of us on a 125
here is some pictures of the progress.




This set of pipes ,are from a older 1100 shaft that I used to own, but I told a buddy that I would put my 85'pipes on his bike till I was ready to have em back.. cause his cross-over tube was rotted out... well..... looks like I'm not getting MY pipes back ! so I made these ones look as good as possible,for spending no $.







for a 85' that was totalled.....and sat outside of a barn,on the edge of a soy bean field from 1985 til 2012.....the ol' girl is looking like she has some new life ahead of it !



This is a big project that will keep me bizy for at least another month....cause when this one gets done ...I still have to get started on "little sweety"...............to quote my friend Gene Kap.
"a bizy man is a happy man". well.....I'm HAPPY ! ................tony

Put the covers on the truck , and bike ,cause of the amount of over-spray in the garage...yes...
still and always....winter sux

[ekap1200]

Looks like the 30 year old grease was like Play Doh from it looking like its about 50 degrees in the shop. You guys can keep all that white stuff. I'm dreaming about a Palm tree Christmas not a white Christmas
Stay busy my friend, Gene Kap.

[Lucasind]

.....So ,to pick back up on another episode of the 80's Rescue saga...
Work on THIS project has been progressing a bit more slowly than I had hoped !
As with all of these kind of projects.... you hope for the best...but expect the WORST !...and that is pretty much what has been happening here with this project !

The resurrection of the 30 year old carbs, turned out to be fruitless.... They were NOT a candidate for future use.....I've always been a "never give up" kinda guy......but,30 years solidified the pilot air screws so that they had become one,with the carb bodies .... ALL of the soaking ,and area heating ,and the patience of a saint(or a high school mechanics instructor) could I have my way with them !
This is the FIRST set of carbs in nearly 40 years of doing this ...that I gave up on !
So....a trip out to my buddy's M/C salvage yard,got me a VERY usable set of carbs......
by the way....I hung the ones that I could'nt rescue on the wall

Some of you may remember ,from a different thread.... that I swiped the stator off of this ZN 1100 to progress the CSR 1000 project, that is now sitting in one of my other garages , doing nothing !
So a new stator was purchased for very little $$ from of all places Amazon.com



This is one "crispy critter" burned out and as tested...shorted to ground

[Lucasind]

.....So moving forward....let's hear it RUN ! checking ALL of the engines "vital" signs...
all systems are GO !.........We have timed spark, fuel,and great compression ......
but then...I lost spark...straight across the board after doing my checks....the I C igniter decided
to retire.... I checked ebay for a used one, and as of a couple of weeks ago...there was not one to be had!....just for "grins and giggles" I checked availability of a new one(as if I would pay that anyway)
N/A................ remember... this bike is gonna be left on a small island,in the middle of lake Erie, and only rode (maybe) 4 times a year, I fabbed in a IC igniter from a KZ 550....and re-gained spark.
Of course... this was only for testing purposes, and I did not try to start the bike like this ,cause they are NOT compatible creatures.
So off to my many cabinets of M/C parts ....I decided to play around with the idea of a hybrid ignition system.....



After testing ,and exhausting all possibilities....it is apparent that the "triggering" function of my IC igniter decided to retire ........So.... in keeping with the "let's spend no money " theme of this project...... I am triggering the spark with old school points and condenser ,from a Z-1

......popping a nice bright blue spark ,and all is good in "sparksville USA" Some of you may be wondering how I got a Z-1 timing advance unit to adapt to the end of a 1100 crank... and how that all went together,after removing the pulse coils and hogging out the un-needed stuff (aluminum stock) that lied within,,,,,but thats a whole nother post

[Lucasind]

.......A touch of the starter button is NOW bringing this 30 year "sleeping beauty " to life
BUT.... that did not happen without addressing a BUNCH of other issues ! remember... this bike was totalled by a insurance company ,back in 85' when it was new.
I have in my possession a 80' KAW KZ 650 (imagine that) that I decided should be a "donor bike" to further this project's progression Yes... this is really a "lets have fun building a FRANKENBIKE"
kinda fun project ! So... now the bent handlebars are replaced, and all things on them are adapted to this ZN 1100, all of the wiring connectors are different, and each thing had to be addressed
to make the 650 gauges(speedo and tach) work... oil pressure light, neutral light,etc...etc...
as along with MOST things on this bike ...everything was smashed when the bike did a 180 degree end over ! The rider hit the curb so hard , that the rear rim was bent (one second before his collar bones and ribs were broke) here is a look at that :




I patiently waited ,to find a rear wheel on ebay (for a price I could live with).... One showed up for 50 bucks ,or offer....so I offered 15 bucks ,and got it NOW....pay 35 bucks to get it to me......done deal ....the tire on it was a baldy waldy, so I broke em down ,and switched em out...after all ,the project bike's tires have only 1988 miles on them, and as AMAZING as it may seem... not a dry rot crack on either one of them .

[Lucasind]

....The brakes ....... Yes...as you may have guessed.....Need alot of work.... and I'm not talkin about the thickness of the brake pads !
A year ago, I got a front end off of ebay for a 1100 LTD..... as listed.... as it turned out it was off of a
KAW "Spectre" same mounting specs,to the frame... but the brake caliper mounting specs were different, but as amazing as it may seem... the 650 caliper is a direct match.... but the rotor diameter is too great ! .........So as you may have guessed, .... to the lathe she goes for a "nip and tuck"
here is a look at that :




These are things I don't normally do... but under the circumstances, I know this bike is going to a island, where the top speed is 35 mph. I can handle this beast

[Lucasind]

As you can see here ,I have the 650 handlebars and gauges on the 1100 LTD,and all lights and turn signals and break lights now working normally,




the seat was missing the day I got the bike ,and I even asked the guy I got the bike from ,if I could have a search thru the barn to locate it,cause he said that was the last place he saw it NO luck......but the 650 had a good seat on it that (of course )
did not come close to fitting a Zn 1100..... until I gutted it out and altered the structure of the seat pan
to make it conform to the 1100 frame ( keeping with the "spend no money"theme )then reassembled it and have a decent usable seat.




When my son Brad's buddy .dropped the 1100 ZRX into the forklift and did front end damage some time ago... the front turn signals from the ZRX are now facing backwards and have orange bulbs in them to replace the smashed stock 1100 ltd turn signals(again...spend no money)
So at this time... I think I have a ga=jillion hours of labor...and $600. bucks into this project, and as soon as the Toledo weather improves... I'm gonna take her down off of the air lift,and for the FIRST
ride she's been on... since that fatefull day ...30 years ago...................tony

[trikebldr]

Tony, aren't you getting some of this 60 degree heat wave that is wafting over us here in KC? We've had three days of it now and expect two more.

I wanna hear more about how the beast rides! Especially how it does starting out in second gear.

[Lucasind]

...Hello Bruce ...can't say our temps got up to equal yours...(I wish) we were in the mid 40's on sat. but back in the 30's the next day,and forcasted to stay in the upper 20's to mid 30's for the next week here. NOT exactly m/c riding weather !
We gotta just be patient another 6 weeks till things turn around, actually I think this winter is going pretty quick ! .................tony

[alta drifter]

this is a very interesting story and I can't wait to see how it turns out. however I can't help but feel sorry for the guy who buys this bike in 10 years and goes looking to find parts for it

[Lucasind]

..... YES ! I looked at the date of this thread's start Feb of 2014 ! I worked on this bike over the weekend,had very un-seasonably warm weather here.Had only one service call to go take care of this morning...home by noon.....and back out to the shop !
I took this bike for a ride TODAY after it has not been on the road for 30 years ! ! !
WOW ! was so pleased to ride this 85" 1100 LTD today ! Was very happy to feel her shift "as "smooth as butter" A "touch of the button" and she is purrrrring like a kitten !
I gave $200. for it when I saw this bike on craigslist years ago....took a long rode trip to get her,....shoved it into one of the "out buildings" ,till I had time to get started on her ,and have been putting time and $ money into it ever since ! ...... Really not too bad on the money end....around $700. bucks total (including purchase price) ........BUT.....a ga-jillion dollars in labor....
That's o.k. , what else are ya gonna do when there is a foot of snow on the ground anyway ? I call this bike " RAT BIKE " ....cause this is a "mish mosh" of parts that come from many sources ! After this bike sat on the outside of a barn,on the edge of a soy bean field for 3 decades (waiting for ME ) ....I found out after a trip to the local gas station today...that the fuel tank has a pin hole rusted thru ....leaking fuel down the R.H. side oh ..oh. ! better get her home and address that situation !.......When I have time ...I will reflect back and list the parts...and where they came from (if possible ) and to the best of my ability !....... I am going to take this bike out to "put-in-bay" island ,and leave it there .....the 81' 650 that I have on the island ,will come home and be sold ,cause there is a young man,that hangs around here that want's to buy it and learn on it for his first bike ever ! These old Kawasaki's will just keep going and going !....Tony



Here is a picture of the "moldy oldy" after I got back from a short ride on her .
Gotta find the proper seat for her ! I spent a bunch of time ,looking thru the guys barn the day I bought her trying to find the seat for it ! The guy first told me the seat was "somewhere in the barn" but I think he knew it wasn't in there ....but allowed me to waste a bunch of time looking for it !