The "Florida" 1979 Kawasaki KZ1300 Project

A motorcycle of legendary complexity and sophistication, this liquid-cooled KZ1300 give us a good run for our money. This motorcycle was owned by one person from new, and it was loved, but it also sat at the door of its owner's garage in south Florida untouched for many years, and the salt air was devastating to every finish on every part. This '79 model also had many parts unique to that year, including an unobtanium ignition module that we needed. We ended up building our own ignition out of GM ignition components! Parts acquisition was a huge part of the challenge of this project, and we were lucky to have our excellent customer on the team with us, scouring Ebay and the forums and messages boards of the KZ world for the rare and unobtanium. We ended up sourcing parts from four continents before we were finished, including the super hard-to-find deep sump parts that every owner of every 79 KZ1300 wishes he had. Our customer made the trip from Florida to drive the bike home, and the look on his face when he saw (and rode) his former pride and joy restored to her glory made it all worthwhile.