Why do I bring you to this page first?  

So you'll read the warning on the Z1300 Cam Chain Tensioner or 'CCT' problem at the link that's posted at the bottom of this page.  If you're not already aware of the issue with the tensioner on the 1300's, then you need to be before you crank your motor again.  There's a good Tech Article posted below on the CCT that shows your options for replacing or modifying it. In our opinion, this HAS TO BE DONE if you expect your motor to continue running. This is the #1 killer for this engine.

Next... BOOKMARK THIS PAGE (add to your Favorites) in your browser, so you can come directly to this page each time you visit our site.  This way you can retain a link on your computer which will bring you directly to this page.  This page will have 'text' links, instead of the new graphical links that will eventually be on all the other pages on the site.  This is the only page that will remain with text links, instead of the 'Star Trek' link bar that you see on most all of the other pages now.  It will have the most important links, and it will have the most updated links, even if some of the other links on other pages are wrong.

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One example of a semi-restored mostly original 7000 mile 1979 Kawasaki (first year) KZ1300 inline six-cylinder motorcycle.

What is a KZ1300?

The Kawasaki Z1300's are very unique high performance 6-cylinder motorcycles that were manufactured between 1979 to 1989.  There were 4 different models made over the years referred to as a Z1300, KZ1300, ZG1300 and ZN1300.  The one thing they have in common, is that they all share basically the same water-cooled inline 6-cylinder motor.  You can see the differences in the various year models in my tech article below named 'model comparison', but also by reading this site and looking at the various pictures I have posted.

Personally, the last Z1300 I rode regularly was a 1984' ZN1300 Voyager because I prefer the later full dress fuel injection model over a base KZ1300.  The 6cyl Voyager has a 4" lower seat height than the KZ1300, F/R dual adjustable air suspension with an onboard air pump, DFI fuel injection, digital dash, AM/FM Radio / Cassette / CB / Intercom combo, full fairing that blocks wind as good as any new bike on the market today, large detachable bags and trunk, and other state of the art features for its day and time.  It will also keep up with pretty much any new touring bike made these days and still gets 42 mpg on average when it's in proper tune.  I had mine to 125 mph once and it was still pulling strong, so there's no telling how fast it will go if you stay in the throttle.

The 6cyl Voyager was discontinued in 1986, even though they were still officially being assembled by Kawasaki and sold in dealerships through all the way up through 1989.  They were replaced with an inline 4-cylinder ZG1200cc Voyager that started as a 1986 year model.  The newer 4cyl Voyager looks similar to the style of the ZN1300, but these are entirely different bikes with almost no parts that interchange.  The 4cyl Voyager was discontinued in 2003 as I understand, and the new 2010 Voyager uses a 1700cc V-Twin which no doubt, really doesn't interest the diehard 6cyl lovers.  It's that unique sound of the six cylinder for one thing, and/or the physical size, stability, power and speed of the Z1300 that others love.

However, in light of the fact that BMW now sells an inline 6cyl full dress motorcycle with up to date technology, I see little reason to continue putting much time and money into our now 32 year old Z1300 technology.  It's funny that it only took 30 years after our 1300's were last made for a motorcycle company to start making something to compete with it!  It seems to me that these older Z1300's will end up in the hands of collectors pretty soon mainly because the replacement parts situation will keep a lot of them off the road.  Not that you can't get the parts you need to keep it running, but the prices on a lot of items, expecially NOS parts, can make repairs very expensive related to the cost of repairing newer bikes.  However, as a testament to their quality, there are still 1000's of these Z1300's still on the road and in everyday use, out of a total production of approx 35,000 over an 8 year production span.  Just judging by the people I talk with, I'd say there are probably 3000 or so Z1300's out there in running condition worldwide.  No doubt there's a lot more sitting around in peoples garages that just need some money invested in them to get back on the road.

And that's not all!  If you prefer the 'naked' bike look, have you seen the Horex VR6 supercharged motorcycle slated for production in 2011?  Here's their website - http://www.horex.com. The Horex VR6 is a modern super-naked featuring a staggered six-cylinder engine with forced induction via a belt-drive supercharger.  They say the quick-revving motor will develop up to 200 hp!  The engine is a 6-cylinder 1218cc with an exceptionally narrow 15-degree V layout to keep the engine fairly compact horizontally (at just 42.9cm wide = 16.89 inches) and even more compact than the typical 4-cylinder engine longitudinally. Valves are operated by three overhead cams, taking advantage of the staggered cylinder configuration, and the cylinders are force-fed by a belt-driven Rotrex C-series compressor.  Horex has stated it will begin delivering bikes in 2011 through Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and this will extend to the rest of Europe and beyond over the next few years. 

No price has been stated just yet, but still, this is what should of been built a long time ago as an answer to the Z1300.  Everyone complained about the width of the Z1300 motor.  Did it really take that long to improve the design?  In theory, I like the design of Honda's opposed 6cyl and it's been a big seller for them.  But it's huge and heavy for one thing.  In retrospect, maybe it's considered to be a great long distance touring engine.  But for the weight, I wouldn't say it's an improvement over Kawasaki's inline six from way back in 1979!  And had it been available in 1979 as a naked bike competing with the KZ1300 when it came out, I doubt many Z1300 lovers would of preferred it over the Kawasaki.  I think there's been a 6cyl market out there for many years now that's simply been ignored.  The great thing is that now after 32 years we have options.  Suzuki has also built an inline 6cyl prototype.  Possibly that motor will end up in a bike and be marketed.

This is the last 1300 I owned. A 'House Of Colors - Passion Pearl' 1984 ZN1300 that I eventually sold to a member in Cameroon, Africa of all places.

So I sold the ZN and switched to a much smaller and lighter Kawasaki 650cc Versys parellel twin after riding 1300's for 30 years!

These days, 95% of my riding is just running fairly short errands going into town and back.  The Versys saves me a lot of gas when I can use it.  This bike gets 50-55 mpg depending on how hard you ride it.  Meaning I'm usually only getting around 50 out of it!  It's fuel injected, handles great, it's easy to maintain, durable, parts are cheap, etc.  At my age I'm not able to utilize even half of it's ability to fly around curves.  But it's nice to know that it will make it around just fine even if you enter a curve way too hot.  Which I've done on a few occasions and would of run off and crashed had I been on my 1300.  It's extremely curvy around the Ozark mountains where I live now.  Not the best type of roads for the old monster 1300.

You can pick up these 650cc Versys bikes used with 5000 - 10,000 miles on them for sometimes half of what they cost new.  Which is currently only about $7400 or so at the Dealers.  A few months ago, there was even a brand new 08' model on ebay from a Dealer for only $4000!  If I hadn't of found this one locally with very low miles, I would of bought the new one.  Seat height is really too high in my opinion for anyone under 6' tall.  It's a great short hop bike for running errands.  And even though I'm not really fond of twins in particular, the Versys model uses the Ninja motor in it, meaning the powerband is 5000 - 10,000 rpm.  So it satisfies my need for speed with the bonus of sportbike handling and good mileage all in one package!  The following is a short video walkaround of my Versys that I posted on youtube -

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UPDATE 2011... I've quit riding 1300's altogether, sold all my 1300 parts, and switched to the 650 Versys I show above.  If you have any questions about Z1300's you should direct them to one of the 2 discussion groups I have listed in the links just below.  There are 100's of 1300 owners in those groups that can help with technical questions that are not already answered on this site.  I monitor the discussion groups, so if there are any questions that go unanswered I'll post an answer if I have something to add.  Best thing to do is to look over my FAQ page, check the Links page, and read the Tech articles posted on this site and start with that.  Probably 98% of the people that write me directly with repair or parts questions, I end up pointing them to their answer which is already posted on the FAQ page, Tech articles, Links page, or the Z1300 Discussion Groups.

If you have a carb bike which is the 79' to 83' Z1300 or KZ1300 models, then the Z1300 discussion Group would be best for you.  If you have an 83' to 89' fuel injected ZN1300 Voyager then the Voyager 1300 discussion Group would be the place to go.  For a ZG1300, either group might be helpful depending on your problem since a ZG is like our KZ1300, but has a fuel injection system similar to what was installed on our ZN1300.  ZG1300's were never imported to the USA and I've never heard of anyone here bringing one into the US.  So if you have one of these 84' to 89' ZG models, you might have to go to one of the other clubs overseas for answers.  I have a list of all the Z1300 clubs on my Links page.   Links Page | FAQ Page  (Scroll down for the Tech articles section)

I just bought one of these Z1300's, so how do I get it running correctly?

I want to cover this up front because it's by far the most asked question I get.  It seems like many people assume they can get parts for these bikes no problem, even though they're 30+ years old now.  That's rarely the case.  There are still quite a few parts available from a number of sources new and used.  Ebay is a good source of used parts, the discussion groups are are good place to ask about parts, and I have all other parts resources I know of listed on my links page, plus a few things on my parts page.  But be prepared to spend time looking for them, and keep in mind, some online OEM parts sites will sell you OEM parts they already know they can't obtain from Kawasaki, but they'll sell them to you anyway.

Think about it.  Your money is tied up in THEIR bank account for a couple of weeks maybe more while they're 'processing' your order.  They earn interest on other peoples money that's just sitting in their account (the float).  And you're just one of 100's or maybe 1000's of bikers whose money they have tied up.  Good day job if you can get it.  They must of learned that from Wall Street!  They know that some or all of the parts you're ordering are not available anymore, and never will be.  So why do they take your money for the same part that 100's of other people before you have tried to buy from them, only to find out maybe weeks later, it wasn't available from Kawasaki anymore?  Is it because they make interest off the 100's of 1000's of dollars of unsuspecting bikers money floating in their account on a daily basis?  You tell me.  There is at least one OEM parts site that shows the availability of each part # listed, so there's little excuse for other sites not to do the same.  Especially after 3 or 4 people have placed orders for the same part, and it's been determined that it's not available.

And just because it's shown on my site somewhere doesn't mean it's still available.  But no doubt it was the day I listed it.  When people notify me they don't have a specific part anymore, I try to update my site, but most times they just don't notify me.  Barring the parts situation, the first thing people need to know is how to get their bike running, and make it as reliable as possible.  And what common problems there are with these bikes that they need to look at first before they make a big mistake.  This is a question I get asked daily, so I feel it's pertinent to cover this right up front.

One thing you shouldn't do is buy a 30 year old bike like this thinking you're going to take it to Kawasaki for repairs!  They usually won't touch it, or much anything else over 10 - 15 years old because of the lack of parts availability, and sometimes maybe from the lack of experience their mechanics have on older bikes.  Many independent shops don't want to work on it either, or if they agree to repair it, they may want to charge a premium fee.  Nobody wants to spend a lot of time learning the mechanical or electrical systems on a bike they've never seen, and probably never will see again.  And they don't want to spend much time searching for parts for it either!  I have a few Z1300 friendly shops listed on the links page, but it's a short list!

If you buy an old bike, be sure you can repair it yourself or at least be willing to work on it, or have a friend that can work on it for you.  Otherwise, it can be very expensive proposition to keep it in good working order.  And expect to pay high prices for Z1300 parts compared to a KZ900 for example.  They probably made more than 100 times as many KZ900's, KZ1000's, and KZ1100's as they did Z1300's.  There's a lot of aftermarket parts still around for those bikes, but pretty much nothing at all for ours in comparison.  There are some good deals on used parts many times if you buy off of ebay.com.  Craigslist can also be a good place to shop.  There's more than one search engine available that searches all Craigslist sites at once.  That's what I use.

So, there's only a few things generally that you have to do to these bikes to make them run right when you get one.  If you'll look at these mod's as preventive medicine, then we can concentrate on answering the more unusual problems that may crop up.  It should go without saying that the info on this site is relevant for the Z1300, ZG1300, KZ1300 or ZN1300 though there are some major differences between the bikes.  In general on this site when I refer to KZ1300 parts, this is more similar to Z1300 parts not ZG1300 parts or ZN1300 parts which are totally different bikes in most aspects.  

The Z1300 and ZG1300 were never imported into the USA.  So even though they are very similar in most respects to our KZ1300 or ZN1300, they are not identical and we don't specialize in technical help or parts specifically for those 2 models.  The ZG1300 is most like our KZ1300 in appearance but it has a fuel injection system similar, but not identical to our ZN1300.  What parts interchange with either bike I can only speculate, since I've never actually seen a Z1300 or ZG1300 first hand.  I know that most parts interchange with some differences in parts from year to year.  

If I bought a Kawasaki Z1300 to ride, here's what I would do first -

#1 - Get a new or used service manual(s).  (Used manuals are available on ebay.com almost any day you'd care to look for one and can be purchased for a good price.  New manuals are still available from repairmanual.net)

#2 - I do have a Paid Member DVD with scanned repair manuals and some other special tech manuals which are especially helpful for the ZN owners, but keep in mind that you don't really want to flip through a 300+ page manual in a pdf file on your PC.  The base service manuals you want in a hardcopy for sure.  I go into extreme detail about the differences in the manuals on the links page.

#3 - Read the manual and familiarize yourself with the bike and its various parts so you know the terminology we use for various parts of the bike.  The manuals are OK, but in some cases, they don't tell you everything you really need to know.

#4 - Replace or modify the Cam Chain Tensioner 'CCT' as shown before you even try to start the motor.  This is so it can't back off and throw slack in your cam chain and bend your valves.  This damage will most likely happen, THE FIRST TIME YOU TRY TO START THE MOTOR, especially if it's been sitting a long time.  Check the 'Tech Articles' page below for detailed info.  Ignore this to your peril.

#5 - Replace the stock '32 year old' ignition coils with new 'Nology', 'Dyna' or other high performance ignition coils of the correct 2.7 - 3.0 ohm rating.  Huge issue on this bike if you want it to run properly and get good mileage!  Check the 'Tech Articles' page for detailed info.  Neither of these are direct bolt on coils, but they will fit in the original locations.  A lot of people have the older style 'large' Dyna coils on their bike, but Nology coils are smaller and easier to mount.  However, as of 2010, Dyna has come out with a small 'mini' coil similar to the Nology. (THIS IS A MUST DO ITEM!)

#6 - While you've got the tank off doing the coils, I'd check a number of things like pull apart all the electrical connections and check them for corrosion.  Especially the electrical junction box on a ZN which needs to be pulled off the bike, opened up and inspected.  Check all the rubber hoses for cracks, (especially brake hoses if you still have the 30 year old originals), vacuum lines, and fuel lines for leaks, etc. (highly recommended)

#7 - Throw the fuel solenoid away if it's still mounted on your bike because it causes a fuel flow restriction.  Replace the stock fuel valve petcock with a new 'Pingel' petcock.  Reroute the fuel line as shown on the carb pictures page, clean the tank vent, clean the carbs, and add an inline fuel filter.  I've put an insulation called "radiant barrier" over the fuel line to keep the heat off it when I felt it was necessary for vapor lock issues.  It should be available at your local hardware; looks like bubble pack with tin foil on both sides and it's sold for insulating water heaters.  There's a better type that's very thin and perforated that I prefer for fuel lines.  It may be harder to find though.  You can also use that black accordion material you see under the hood of your car that they run your electrical wiring through.  It comes in different sizes. (elective).

#8 - Personally, I take some radiant barrier type insulation as mentioned above, and insulate the bottom of the gas tank.  You need to do this if your bike doesn't have the factory insulation on the bottom because of the possible vapor lock or fuel boiling problems Paul mentions elsewhere.  You can cut it and glue it to the bottom of the gas tank with some automotive weather-strip adhesive.  This is a lot better than looking inside your tank when you go to fill it at a gas stop and you see fuel boiling in the bottom of the gas tank!  No Smoking! (recommended)

#9 - Insulate the lower radiator hose by wrapping it with the radiant barrier and tie wraps to keep the radiant heat off of it.  This isn't important with the stock double-wall exhaust, but it's a must do if you put an aftermarket single-wall exhaust on like the DG pipe, because those pipes can (read that - will) radiate a lot more heat than the stock double-wall pipes.  The added radiant heat from the pipe can weaken and burst the lower hose because of it's close proximity.  Think of anti-freeze kind of like gas when it spews out on the exhaust and catches on fire.  Trust me, I experienced this first hand. (recommended)

#10 - Add a manual radiator fan switch or better yet, change to an 84' and up ZN1300 temperature sensor as mentioned on the FAQ so the radiator cooling fan cuts on at a lower temperature - before the motor gets too hot. (highly recommended)

#11 - Solder all the wires (you can) from the voltage regulator(s) and that goes for all models, even the Voyagers (or 82'/83' KZ1300's which have 2 regulators) to prevent the stator and/or voltage regulator from being overloaded due to a inadequate connection at the plug.  We're not always talking about a corroded connection here, but more like the connection at the plug appears that it was never able to carry the current.  Known issue from day one. (highly recommended)

#12 - Service the steering stem and check the swing-arm and all the wheel bearings.  If you wait until you have play in the steering stem to service it, it's too late.  You'll get the play out of it, but the repair probably won't last very long.  Same thing goes with the rear spline on the driveshaft.  You should grease it every time, or at least every other time you change rear tires, but most people don't.  Instead they let it go until it destroys the coupling.  Then they cry about the fact that you can't get that part from Kawasaki anymore, and you can't find a good used one either.  Guess why!  It only takes a few extra minutes to service it when you're changing tires! Check for play in the wheel bearings. (highly recommended)

#13 - Replace OEM style air filter with K&N or similar washable unit to save money and get better airflow. (elective).

#14 - Open up the front and rear master cylinders, clean the old fluid out, and pump new fluid through the brake system.  Check for leaks.  Change suspect brake lines.  These are OLD and do blow out occasionally or give a soft feel on your brake, or suddenly the brake will almost not work at all!  I think the issue is the rubber peels off on the inside and blocks the pressure.  Steel braided lines are available from Klasmo or HEL among other vendors if you like the way those feel.  You can also have these made up locally at an Aeroquip dealer (who makes custom hydraulic hoses) if you have one in your city. (highly recommended)

#15 - Coat you gas tank with POR-15 sealer.  Our gas tanks are old and usually have some surface rust in them that can get into the carb's.  Sometimes the tanks have been coated with an inferior product and it's pealing off.  You can put the POR-15 coating on yourself and it will last the life of your bike and then some.  They also make paint that is very good for painting everything from small motorcycle parts to bike frames or what have you.  They claim it's more durable than powder-coating, though it's not necessarily cheaper since the paint can be quite pricey.  On the positive side, it cures at room temperature so you can paint everything yourself including aluminum parts if you follow the instructions carefully. (highly recommended)

#16 - Centrifugal Timing Advancer will stick on the 79'/80' models at some point, and needs to be properly serviced.

DON'T break the nylon timing gear on the backside of the advancer when you go to service it! (highly recommended)

Continued on the Tech Tips page...

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