Massive yokes and swing arm, beefy shocks, GSX-R forks and 17 inch wheels will transform the handling
Acewell speedo packs tons of info into a small space. There’s even a fuel gauge
Replica Z900 switchgear is a trusty standby, though the horn button earths through the bars so if they’re coated (like these Renthals) you need a separate earth wire
The grotty underbelly of rewiring: sorting out the starter, charging and neutral/oil cables
This is the immobiliser controller with its glowing red LED. With a custom spacer it fits in the hole in the rear engine bracket
Jon’s Kawasaki Z1000J special
Jon had already brought along his Lawson rep a few years back. This time it was a Z1000J, highly modified to drag the ride and handling into the 21st century.
The bodywork was away being painted metalflake blue, so it seemed a good time to sort the electrics out. As with his Eddie Lawson Z1100, Jon wanted an immobiliser. You can see it on the wiring diagram, but I’ve disguised the wire colours and identifiers (obvs). Only Jon has a diagram that actually shows what’s what. It operates as an extra security feature: turn on the ignition, briefly touch the thingy on the controller, and away you go. No touchy, no engine.
The rest of the bike is electrically straightforward. As usual I bypassed the skinny ignition switch wires with a relay, and ran everything through blade fuses. Also as usual the bike runs Dyna ignition. Nothing wrong with that – except for the awkward way the mounting spacers get in the way of the terminal screws. They’ve been making the coils like that for decades, so I don’t suppose they’ll change.
The bike fired up willingly, and all the inky-blink bits did their thing on cue. Thus another old Zed crawls out of its cave into the summer sunlight. It’s good fun being in the recycling business.
Dyna coils and Z900 switchgear fit inside the frame cage
Right side with rear brake switch, LED flasher unit, main relay and Motobatt battery
Left side: ignition switch, immobiliser and solenoid. On the original Z1000 this bit is full of connector blocks
What you might call a badass rear end
