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Test of the Kawasaki Z 1000 EFI

Reprint from MOTORRAD 9/1980

Content of

The Kawasaki Z 1000 EFI broke new ground with its petrol injection. In an article in issue 9/1980, MOTORRAD illuminated the new technology. And we add an assessment from today’s perspective.

The 5-page test of the Kawasaki Z 1000 Fuel Injection from MOTORRAD 9/1980, you can see and read in the picture gallery. Simply click on the first page and enlarge it.

Test of the Kawasaki Z 1000 EFI

Reprint from MOTORRAD 9/1980

The Kawasaki Z 1000 Fuel Injection from today’s perspective

Explorers, visionaries and inventors often share the same fate: At first they are ridiculed, not taken seriously, they are not given the respect or even the fame they deserve. The Kawasaki Z 1000 Fuel Injection also somehow belongs to this species of geniuses that were initially misunderstood. Although it caused quite a stir among technology enthusiasts and the consistent implementation of injection technology in a motorcycle earned cautious applause, in 1980 there was still not a broader understanding of the benefits and necessity of injection. Especially since with a nominal 97 hp it was exactly on the level of its card-driven sister Z 1000 ST and also had no really serious advantages to offer compared to the carburetor versions ST and (the chain-driven) MK II in terms of performance.

Just a gimmick for technology connoisseurs? Not at all. Only gradually did we all realize how important the first step was, which was to lead to the injected GPZ 1100 B1 in the following year and from 1982 with the B2 to the further developed models with DFI (Digital Fuel Injection). Reducing consumption, but above all, as we know today, reducing pollutant levels in exhaust gas should be the issues of the future, and that is where FI dared to take the first decisive step. The homologation of a new vehicle with carburettors? Practically unthinkable today. Almost every new 125 today throws the carburetor overboard in favor of injection.

And I admit, I also devoured the test of the Z 1000 FI as a teenager, was enthusiastic about the design and dreamed of being able to drive such a bullet one day. But I was also a little puzzled that the Fuel Injection did not do much better and did not work that much better than a carburetor MK II. Today I not only take my hat off to the pioneering work of the developers, but also consider the one that is now due to push a not inconsiderable sum over the counter in box one of the rare copies of the Fuel Injection should be offered for sale. Alone to show her the respect it deserves, a good 35 years late.

The technique of injection

What is right for the automotive sector should be cheap for the motorcycle sector. This is what Kawasaki thought at the end of the 1970s and finally presented the first production motorcycle with fuel injection for the 1980 model year. The technical basis for this is provided by a license from Japan Electronic Control System Co. Ltd. (JECS) manufactured Bosch L-Jetronic. The advantages and goals were a much smoother, rounder engine running from low engine speeds and more spontaneous reaction to gas commands, better exhaust gas values, more uniform, overall higher power output and lower consumption.

This is made possible by the basic advantages of injection compared to the carburettor, i.e. the separation of air and fuel flow and the more varied options for taking into account the operating state of the engine. Five pieces of information, some of which are recorded by sensors, are processed by the control unit, which Kawa also mockingly calls “the lunch box”: cylinder head temperature, air volume, throttle valve position, engine speed and intake air temperature. The amount of fuel and the duration of the injection are calculated from this data. A fuel pump supplies the fuel pressure required for this. Due to the large amount of space required by the many components – the voluminous air flow meter already takes up a lot of space – the control unit had to make way: for the European version under the rear bumper, for the American version under the seat.

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