I've been after a Z1R-TC for quite sometime as I've always liked the oddball stuff, and the fact that it seemed very unlikely I'd ever get my mitts on one was just made it even more attractive!
In July last year I was cruising Ebay in the small hours as you do and something made me think of searching for Z1R-TC. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw a Black Molly near Washington DC looking for a new owner! A few conversations with the owner followed and after a long wait until the end of the auction several days later (at 3am!), sweaty palms and an unhealthily increasing pulse I'd won it... for some reason which I still can't believe I was the only bidder! The bike was picked up by the transport company and driven to Texas where it caught a boat for Felixstowe, and nearly 3 months later it was in the back of my van trundling down the M4!
Considering the TC 34 years old, it's history is quite short...
Bought by the original owner in '78, he had the crank welded and pinned and the sump baffled by the local Kawasaki dealer at a cost of $1k in 1979. He then rode it for 6k miles before his wife made him park it (apparently) and having pulled the battery, removed the petcock, drained the fuel, and put oil in the cylinders that's where it stayed until 2001. Cue the second owner who bought it and also just stored it as part of his collection before coming to conclusion he was never going to do anything with the bike, so put it on Ebay last year, which is where I step in!
For me the best bit about the bike is that it's so completely original and considering it's 34 years old, it's in pretty good condition - and came with the original keys, locks, TC handbook, tools and even the kick start under the seat still... not sure about the oil cooler tho! Does anyone know??? The only damage as far as I can see is a broken front right indicator and instrument cowl - if anyone has either for sale please get in touch.
Because of its originality I personally think it would be wrong to go to town and do a nut n' bolt resto, so the plan for the bike is simple; strip it down and replace all the service items and consumables such as hoses, cables, chain, sprockets, tyres, fork stanchions, rear shocks, fluids etc. etc etc... and make it reliable whilst retaining its originality.
The top is off the motor now and the cams etc all look extremely good - it turns over fine, so we need to decide how far to go with that. The turbo and fuel pump are also off and need to be sent off for checking and rebuild if necessary. If anyone can recommendation the best people to do this, please let me know.
I'm really looking forward to finding out more about the bike - and TCs in general as we go, but in the meantime here are a few pix before the stripdown started . . .
Pix of the breakdown to come soon!
