Kawasaki-Z-Classik.com

I just joined your forum to get an answer to the question(s) below. But I have to say that I have enjoyed reading through the website and downloading all those priceless manuals. I also learned a little more about the Z1B. I was not able to answer my main question by reading the posts on your site, so I am still looking for answers. Visiting your site has also raised a new question about my dilemma. So here is my problem:
I recently got scammed on a 1975 Z1B on eBay for 10 large US$. I know I have a 1976 frame on the 1975 Z1B that has had the original 1976 VIN replaced with a 1975 VIN. The area under the seat has been heavily modified to re-locate the battery and airbox. The year of the frame is identified by the seat lock location, the frame cross bar under the seat and the reflector tabs on the front of the frame. The stamped VIN on my bike runs from top to bottom of the steering tube; the plastic VIN sticker is missing from the steering tube. I have a couple of photos of VINs from a 1975 Z1B that show the stamped VIN running from bottom to top. But when the state trooper was at my house investigating, he called the National Crime Insurance Bureau and they told him that they had pictures from the manufacturer Kawasaki and they showed the metal stamped VIN number running from top to bottom. I just do not believe that the incredibly amateurish VIN stamping on my bike is legitimate. The font/script on my number does not match the examples. Help me out please. The eBay vehicle purchase protection insurance is not going to pay for the fraudulent sale no matter what I prove. But for future litigation I need some more photos from a 1975 Kawasaki Z1B of the metal stamping of the VIN number that clearly show the direction of the VIN number. You can hide the last 2 digits in the photo if you are worried about identification. The NCIB told me that their photo of a Kawasaki 900 Z1B VIN stamping is confidential and cannot be disseminated to the public.
Also, does anyone know of the technique of recovering removed stamped VIN numbers from metal? Is it some type of xray, or a chemical process? I know they use it to recover stamping numbers on firearms.
I bought a new 1975 Z1B in 1975, and kept it for 14 years. It was the best thing I ever bought, reliability-wise and for the excitement it generated. But this latest purchase has turned out to be the worst thing I have ever purchased. It is sort of like getting re-married to your ex-wife.
So, from looking at the production numbers for 1975 Kawasaki 900 Z1Bs in tables on your site, I have the additional question of: “Was the Z1B manufactured both in Japan and in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, and if so would the VIN frame stamp in the steering tube be different between the 2 plants?”
Any help you guys can provide, I would appreciate. I will probably discard, in some manner, the entire bike. It is a shiny POS with no intrinsic value.
Z1F-071726
Z1E-071861

Sorry to hear you were scammed. I think I saw that bike on ebay when it was up for sale. I wondered about it at the time because the S/N was close to one of mine.

The Z1B was manufactured in Japan only. On mine the S/N runs from bottom to top. I have a couple. Here are photos of the Fram VIN's. The lower numbered bike was powdercoated but the frame area was left untouched. The bike with a number close to yours is original paint as far as I know but I'm about the 4th owner.

Oh, and I just realized I put the frame sticker on upside down compared to the original! :oops:

Bummer about the scam! We detest thieves.

It might be a warranty replacement frame. But that last digit is really sloppy.

AFAIK, Z1's '73 - '75 were only manufactured in Japan. '76 KZ900 production was in both Japan and Lincoln, NE. See info in the link below:
http://www.zedder.com/Info/76%20KZ900-A4.htm

Your frame # definitely is in '75 Z1-B territory:
http://www.zedder.com/Info/75%20Z1-B%20900.htm

The frame #'s on all of our Z1's run bottom to top.

The NICB might not have VIN's going back that far.

Wish we had more encouraging news...

slmjim & Z1BEBE

Hi
Hello from Germany.
I'm sorry that you fell for it.....

Unfortunately, such oldtimer are bought, without a good advice from a professional or a connoisseur of such motorcycles.
Unfortunately, the buyers first register in a specialist forum, when the child has fallen in the fountain.


I have saved this ebay offer.

These are my data.

Z1B ........... 01/75 ........... Z1F 71726 ............ Z1E 055938 ... Z1B (9/74) Engine
the original engine was: Z1E - 055938 .
it was a replacement engine .

Thanks hardrockminer. The photographs of the 1975 Z1B VIN Stampings were exactly what I needed. Ditto on the Z1B manufacturing location. My appeal to Kawasaki USA for verification of matching Engine & Frame(VIN) numbers was not what I wanted. They only said that "the serial number is within the range for the 1975 Z1-B model". My inquiry was whether production data could reveal which engine was placed in which frame.

But again thanks for the aid.

Thanks for the info slmjim & Z1BEBE. The 1976 VIN frame stamping number split between Japan & the USA may be useful if I decide to try and raise the VIN number on my frame with Fry's reagent.

Hello Berlin. I am glad your English is so good. It has been decades since my "der, die, das" days.
Thank you for responding with such useful data.

Maybe it is something being lost in the translation, but I feel you are being seduced by photographs of a quality bike in the same manner I was.
In the 16 photographs in the eBay listing, there are no detailed photographs of the VIN stamping or the plastic label. Only in the listing is the Frame VIN number mentioned. And that, says eBay and the insurance company, is all that matters. As long as the seller delivers a motorcycle with that frame VIN number of the same year, make, and model, then the seller has fulfilled his obligation. It is as if the photographs have no relevance, and the photographs are what I based my decision to buy on. By their definition of fulfillment, the seller could have just dumped the frame with VIN Z1F-071726 and nothing else attached(no engine, no wheels, no body work, etc.) in my yard, and the sale would be valid and without fraud. The bike he delivered is not the same as the one pictured in the 16 photographs. Comparing the bike I received to the bike in the 16 photographs, I can list 28 differences between the 2 bikes. Plus the bike he delivered has some really bad shade-tree mechanical work performed on it.

So, are where are you getting your assignment of Engine Serial # 055938 to Frame VIN Z1F-071726? Is that data readily available from a reliable source or are you combining written information from
the eBay listing with the photographs from the listing. I notice you do have the manufacture date of "01/75" for the bike. Where does that come from?

I must say that your photograph with the magnified inset of the engine serial number is simply amazing. I can't believe you retrieved all the digits. When I was looking over the photographs last week all I could recover were the digits "55" using Photoshop and some filters.

Again, thank you again for all the info and pictures. It is somewhat comforting to know that there is such a group of dedicated enthusiasts such as those in your forum. If only I can get a bike so I can join.

My bike S/N 72068 is a January/75 build date, so yours, being so close in number would also be a Jan/75 build date.

You mentioned heavy mods on the battery box and air intake. Z1 battery was just under the seat, with the air intake sitting in front of it. KZ900 was lower down in the frame with the air intake sitting over top of it. If your battery is low in the frame it may not be heavy mods, but rather simply a normal location on a KZ900.

The Z1 seat latch is attached to the frame. The seat portion latch is a circular shape and is mounted to the seat with a single bolt on the end of the circular part. The KZ latch is a U shaped piece of metal bolted in two points to the seat. Where is yours?

What are the date codes on your wheels? Do the carb tops have two screws or three?

It would be useful to see some photos of the bike.

Hey hardrockminer.

My research agrees with everything you say. I will attach the Example photos and the Kawasaki drawings I edited. The bike I bought is the Candy Blue model. You can tell that since I have a 1976 KZ frame and 1975 Z1B sidecovers, the seat lock keyhole of the sidecover does not line up with the lock. And the air box is jammed in to fit; it is so tight that they even didn't bother putting in an air filter.

And to make matters worse the mechanic installed 26mm carburetors instead of the stock 28mm carbs.

The rims are not stock, either. I believe they are D.I.D. rims. There are no tire locks on the rear wheel.

It is pretty pathetic.

Thanks for the descriptions.

The carbs you got are not the same ones shown on the bike in Achim's photo. Yours are 26 and Achim's photo shows 28's. The frame is definitely 76 (or newer perhaps.) The seat latch is not Z1 style. the left side cover should have a hole in it for chain oil reservoir filling. This was left on in 1975 although the oil pump was no longer installed. The hole disappeared in 1976.

I am amazed that ebay would allow this sale as a '75 Z1B.