Bike of the Month Sept 2011.
Jerry Wallace AKA hx35w Georgetown, Texas, USA
Eleven months ago I managed to drag home a Kawasaki that back in the 80s we used to refer to as the green machine. I hadn't seen one in years. I knew the bike was there about a year prior to bringing it home. I was in the middle of a restoration ( 73 Z900) and didn't really have any interest in it at the time. After the first restoration I started looking for another project. That ELR in the back of the barn was starting to get real interesting to me.
Poor thing looked like it had been rode hard and put away wet. Pretty nasty looking because it had sat so long.
Two months prior to this we had a fourteen inch downpour of rain from a hurricane which flooded the barn and put many bikes under about two feet of water,
including the ELR. The engine that was on the bike was from a 82 GPZ1100 B2. The original engine was on an engine stand above the water.
There was something bothering me about the bike. The side cover badge shows 1100r not the 1000r I always
knew and heard of. So doing a little research I found that the 1100R was European and Canadian sales only.
That raised the question, how did it get to the U.S.
The next time I went to the ole boy's house I made him an offer on the bike.
At the same time I wanted to get the history. He was the original owner of the bike. From 1983 to 86 He went to England for his work. During that time he purchased the bike in London. When it was time to come home he tore it down and sent it home in peaces. Once home he reassembled it. He never rode it much after that. Around 95 he removed the original engine and put it on a engine stand and installed a B2 engine with the intention of building up the z1100 engine.
He got as far as welding the crank, new racing cams,boring it to 1260cc and porting.
He was working on the external oil feed and then he quit, never finished it.
Well, my plumbing venture is Finley finished. I managed to incorporate a home grown oil distribution manifold to the original oil cooler feed block. A little persistence, a hacksaw, table saw,file,sand paper and a drill press not to mention a few man hours can go a long way. All the oil lines are -4 AN Russell components I built to fit. I did discover that the compression couplings had a I/D of .160 and the banjo fittings had a I/D of .140 A #21 drill bit solved that problem. I made the banjo bolts on the head, no restrictions there. I did re bore the banjo bolts on the distribution manifold. There I/D was only about .135
referbished wheels
frame needs some love
frame repainted
before
rebuild carbs
getting there
fifteen years later, I saved it from being scrap.
Jerry.
We will be featuring a different bike each month on kz1000r.com
that we feel is deserving of the title "Bike of The Month."
Check back often to see what our pick is.
To nominate or submit your own bike for "Bike of The Month."
Send some info on yourself your bike and loads of pic's bigger the better.
PLEASE SEND IN YOUR INFO IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO OWN ONE OF THESE BIKES!
I really want to bring THIS Registry up to date so accurate number's left in circulation can be made available,
this will intern help us get a true market value for insurance purposes.
Please include the chassis number and the month of production printed on the headstock of your bike.
Your name and location. and most importantly a picture's of your bike.
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