ACK! Its been a great year. Not a perfect year but a great year.
In June or July I drove my Dodge Dakota truck to a small town in the
next county to buy a 1987 ZX600 Kawasaki Ninja. It didn't have a title
but it had a good engine. The Kawasaki ZL600 I already have (and
rebuilt last winter) uses the same engine as the ZX600. For $400 I
drove home with this:
1 1987 Kawasaki ZX600 Ninja in very bad shape
It wasn't pretty. The gas tank was SO bad, it went right in the trash
when I got home. I spent a few weeks trying to ensure that the engine I
had purchased would do what I wanted it to do....however, I noticed, a
silver frame that would take powder coating VERY well...Hmmmmm there
might be more to this than meets the eye. Could I do it again? Could I
rebuild something in SUCH bad shape? First things first. I tried to
find a title for the frame I had. The best I found out was that the bike
was a California specification and the last time it was titled was in
Pennsylvania. The previous owner told me when he went back to get the
title from the people he purchased it from, they guy tried to stick him
for more money....and I couldn't blame him for not paying another dime.
Well THAT was a dead end...... I then wrote a guy I purchased a few
parts from who lived in Myrtle Beach. I first ask him if he had a frame
with a title for a ZL600....(I knew he had a ZL600 frame with out a
working engine) He told me he had a frame for a zl600 but no
title....well DARN, he then told me he had a 1986 ZX600 frame with a
clear title. As first I turned him down flat. Riding a ZL600 is like
riding a Tennessee walking horse. A very smooth ride for a 30 year old
motorcycle. After thinking about it I decided a ZX600 might not be a
bad idea, and here's why:
1. I already had the factory repair manual as you need a ZX600 manual
to work on a ZL600 because they have so many parts in common
2. I had a good understanding of how the parts fit together because I
had rebuilt my ZL600 the previous winter and the ZX600 uses the same
parts just mounted differently on the frame.
3. The zx600 was made from 1985 until 1997 and parts are SO much more available as it was such a popular bike.
The bad part of it all:
1. I had never seen a ZX600 with all its parts and in running
condition. There just aren't dozens of 1986 motorcycles still in running
condition.
2. A ZL600 has a drive shaft, the ZX600 uses a chain. I'm not crazy
about a motorcycle with a chain. It takes a "certain" touch to ride a
chain driven motorcycle smoothly and I seem not to be blessed with that
"certain" touch....
Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. I drove to Myrtle Beach and
picked up the 1986 ZX600 frame. I picked the coldest weekend of the year
to drive to Myrtle Beach. It was just plain NASTY, rainy and
overcast. When I got to the guy's farm, we talked and the frame I
was purchasing had parts that I was missing so THIS was a good thing.
The money changed hands and we loaded it in the back of my truck.
There were 5 or 6 outdoor cats at this guy's farm and while loading
the frame in my truck I stepped right in one of the "kitty gifts" some
cat left in the yard. Oh joy! The smell we had to live with all the way
back from Myrtle Beach with the heat on was "icky"
a 1986 ZX600 Kawasaki Ninja frame with a title
Well, it wasn't winning any beauty contest but it did have a title.....
When you look up the parts manual of ZX600 on the Kawasaki.com, the
three years from 85, 86, & 87 are always together. The engine and
running gear from 88, 89, through 97 was very similar and shared lots of
common parts with the 86....I ASSUMED this would be simple...strip the
87 of parts, repair the frame and bearings on the 86 and then put it all
back together, purchase what was missing or broken. Simple,
right?.....WRONG.
The 86 and 87 Ninja are VERY close but there are certain parts that
are a TINY bit different and I seemed to find out those differences at
the worst moment.
I also forgot that the 87 I had once lived in a rainy part of the country and rust was on everything (and I do mean everything!)
For as much as the 87 was about 80% there, the rust made it harder to
disassemble that motorcycle....trust me on this...broken parts suck.
The rust caused me to break off a exhaust/head stud and I had to
figure out how to fix that...TADA! J.B. Weld and a new stud to the
rescue...(I have since learned there are "left handed" (no, that doesn't
mean they smoke pot) drill bits and using a left handed drill bill will
back the broken stud out 98% of the time! The rust in that engine
caused me cut the upper coolant pipe because I couldn't remove it
because the part in the engine was rusted just enough to prevent them
being pulled out of the engine. Once I cut the part, I pulled and
twisted and the rusty parts came right out. Ebay supplied the new part,
a coat of paint and a few sealing o-rings later, the parts were back on
the engine looking good as new.
I was ask what goes through my mind while working on a
motorcycle...and the true answer to that question is a bit boring.
Sometimes putting a motorcycle together is a bit like a jig saw puzzle.
Parts have to go back on in a certain order or they don't fit together
correctly. I usually have two or three things on my mental agenda so
when I get to a place I have to stop on one sub assembly because of lack
of parts, a problem removing a part or whatever the problem, I can grab
another sub assembly and continue to make progress. If I'm not
thinking of how to put something back together I'm looking for tools,
for I will admit I have the organizational capabilities of a GNAT. My
organization gene got left out when I came along. I sometimes wish I
was better put together on the organizational front.......as Popeye says
"I yam what I yam" and I yam unorganized in a big way! Or as Hannah
Horne (news anchor for WIS TV) would say "I'm a hot mess".
For as much as I felt familiar with rebuilding a motorcycle and the
parts as they went back together, I've also had challenges I didn't have
the last time around.
The horn on the ZL600 is on the bottom triple tree right under the
headlight....easy as cake, er pie. The ZX600 has two horns and they are
frame mounted behind the exhaust header, radiator and the oil cooler...I
can't seem to fit my hands in there to put the wires back on the horns.
I haven't figured out how to get that task done yet but I haven't given
up yet either.
Other than the brakes and chain, from a mechanical standpoint my
zx600 is darn near together. I would like to hear it RUN before I
continue on. After this, the big repairs are to the body, lights and
paint. I've never painted a darn thing in my life...(yes, I have
painted a house before but I can't say I'm good at it) I must decide on a
paint and body shop to paint the plastic body parts and the tank.
The paint style I'm going with.
no red seat for me....
Right now, I have that motorcycle farther together than it was when I
purchased it. I'm in uncharted territory and I'm having to dig in the
factory parts and repair manuals to figure out just how to move along
going forward.
Wish me luck!
J.
