Just thinking ahead a bit here. I bought my J from what I believe was a respected Z specialist. It came with a refurbished head, so I thought I’d check the valve clearances after a few hundred miles to allow for bed-in etc. Most clearances were tight and needed re-shimming. My concern now is that al...

Depends how much you want to spend, but after years of poor starting I've just fitted a Shido lithium iron battery to my J and it's been brilliant all winter. It's got much greater cranking power than normal lead acid batteries, but they ain't cheap !

I had one of these a few years ago, loved it !
I like the exhausts. Think they give it more of an aggressive stance, and a bit of attitude it lacked as standard.
But then I've always been a fan of stubby pipes !

OK, so having looked under the bike I can see the spigots now (presumably held the original exhaust in place?). My Delkevic doesn't leave enough clearance for a one inch tube, so I've ordered some flat steel bar 50mm x 10mm which should be thin enough to squeeze through and sit nicely on my axle sta...

Brilliant, thanks guys.
I'll have to check whether my exhaust allows this. It's a Delkevic, which is good for access to the oil filter, but I'll need to line things up when I get a chance.

Thanks Mark (needaz) great info.
From what you're saying it seems that all of the variations on the J model framed versions should be ok for what I need. I'm guessing the gpz Unitrak versions will be different though, so will need to check that.
Cheers
Rick

I used to do something similar on my old TL1000S Suzuki (great bike, but now sold to a mate). No centre stand at all, but had a tubular spindle on the swing arm pivot that I would push a steel bar through and then support on axle stands. I can't quite visualise how this would work on the J in the wa...

Thanks Philippe.
In reality I only want it for use in the workshop. I'll take it off for riding, so the spring arrangement is not that important as long as the bolt holes line up with the frame and the thing supports the bike securely.

I'm after a reasonably priced centre stand for my J.
There is one on fleabay in Germany, plus one for a Z1000R from the same seller but half the price.
They look very similar, but does anyone know whether the R one will fit the J ?

Great advice, thanks Al.

Holy thread revival :cantb Thought I'd start a new thread until I saw this one, which has some relevant info already. I have a (mostly) hot starting problem too. This is a standard 1000j, dynatek ignition, new HT leads, new lithium battery with big CCA, Delkevic exhaust, valve clearances checked and...

Very impressed with how those cams turned out
Initially I'd have taken them for scrap !

Not jealous at all !!

Looks like a good piece of kit... although not sure of some of the translation in the instructions !

"Note!: When fixing a locknut, please fix a locknut while fixing as a(2) adjuster never visits attendants by a minus driver."

Thanks for that. I'm only asking because when I bought the bike (directly from Kipkawa) they said that they re-built the engine to standard capacity with standard pistons (NOS ?). However, a standard battery really struggles to turn it over and I've had to invest in a lithium iron one with much bigg...