Josh Elvander's KZ650 D2
Unfortunately, as I started working on the bike, I found that the previous owner had really butchered the electrical system, even up to the instrument cluster. The speedo seems to work, but it might not be the original one, so the low mileage of 19k might be wrong. Much of the work so far has been replacing and insulating bullet connectors in the wiring harness. It appears that the electrical problem occurred in the low fuel warning light system, as that switch was melted. The sensor in the tank had broken off of its bracket, but it doesn't appear that it could be the source of the problem, since the shell is grounded anyway. Even though the connector between the stator and Reg/Rec was melted, both items appeared to test OK with a meter and diode checker. I am currently awaiting a new ignition switch, so I can hook a battery up to this thing and see what works.
Holiday week, 2000 Well, the carbs were a mess. Some of the main jets were completely plugged. #2 was the worst, some dark green gunk lining the bowl. Soaking it wouldn't even take it off. I wound up mounting a nylon brush in the Dremel and buzzing the stuff out. Fixed up the rest of the electrical connections, and figured out what the PO did with the gage console. I think I have it nearly straightened out. Also opened up the valve cover and checked the clearances, and of course they are all tight. Shim-under-bucket, too, but the shims weren't too hard to get at. I'd still rather have screw adjust like on the 'zuki!
Also painted the frame a bit, started on the body parts, and got the real fuse box installed. Pulled off the swingarm, and want to mutilate the person that worked on this bike! When I pulled out the pivot bolt, I was happy that it was covered with grease. When I greased the linkage on my KLR, some of the bolts were rusty and hard to get out, so I greased them for protection. I thought the previous owner had done the same here. No such luck. When I tried to slide the bearing sleeve out, it was frozen! The moron had greased the bolt to use it as a pivot! I can't even figure out where this swingarm is from. The D model is supposed to have needle bearings, and the others had bushings. This one has bushings, but the sleeve (actually came out easily with some torch heat and a hammer) has wear on it that looks like bearings. Maybe he was too cheap to buy new bearings, but he didn't even grease this thing. There wasn't a drop of grease in the housing between the bushings. There's even a zerk on there to make greasing easy. I'm just going to try to salvage the sleeve for now to keep costs down. If we see stability problems, I'll fix it proper. Also tore apart the rear brake. Originally, I just wanted to drain the rear master cylinder so I wouldn't spill brake fluid when I pulled it off to paint the frame. I hooked up the mityvac to the bleed screw, and couldn't get anything out unless I also worked the pedal. I wound up pulling the cylinder off the bike and taking it apart. When I did, a big slug of goop came out! Sheesh. I think I got everything cleaned out. Also took the rear caliper apart, and the corrosion in the cylinders is pretty bad. I'm going to replace the piston seals, and hopefully that will do it. Hopefully, the front brakes won't be this bad; the cap on the rear master is broken, so it probably let gobs of moisture into the fluid. The front system still looks airtight. Jan/Feb 2001: Well, got the rear brake back together, and it works like a champ. Got a lot done in this time period. Carbs are back on with new K&N air pods, new chain/sprockets, gas tank is painted/decaled/clearcoated, front fender is painted, and I started working on brackets for the tailpiece. I flushed out the forks and filled with 15W oil, also installed the gaiters and aluminum overtubes (to cover rust on the upper part of the tubes). Looks great. Installed all the gages, made a sano aluminum bracket for the ignition switch, and reinstalled the headlight. The only switch I could find didn't have the extra wire for the lights, so I hooked up a relay to the appropriate circuits, and mounted it on the battery box. Hooked up a battery, and lo and behold, it all worked!!! Well, not everything worked at once. At first, the running lights, and the tach and speedo backlighting was out (but the voltmeter backlight worked...). I was going to sort through it, but after turning it on a few more times, everything started working fully. Even the turn signals and hazard switch. The only thing that didn't work was the horn button, which draws its ground through the handlebar. I suspected that the black coating on the new handlebar was preventing conduction, so I ran a ground wire to the housing, and all is well. The switches will start to work better once they are used a bit more. Sano ignition bracket Only showstopper at the moment is the front brakes. I cleaned out the calipers, which were in much better shape than the rear, and replaced the piston seals. Once I put them back on, I couldn't get full pressure with the lever, although it does seem to put some force on the pads. I suspect two things: 1) The slider bolts developed a groove from corrosion while they sat, and the O-ring grease seals are hanging up there, preventing the calipers from riding as close to the brake as required. I don't recall seeing anything like this on the bolts, but will pull one or two to check them. 2) It looks like one or two pads is hitting the disc at an angle, which may also be causing it to spring back when the lever is released. The calipers do wiggle a bit when the brake is applied. This should be curable by riding the bike (carefully!!!) and using the front brakes a lot to set the pads in. Last resort would be a new master cylinder with a bigger piston to pump more fluid. The one on the bike is not the original one, and may be for a single disc system. On the plus side, the pressure switch for the brake light does work, and the "brake light out" warning lamp works, too. It comes on when the brake light comes on (is it supposed to do that?), and also flashes continuously if the brake light is out. Snazzy. I hope I can find parts to get the low fuel warning functioning, too.
Next on the agenda is the bodywork. It looks like I can get that KZ400 rear fender to work, with a little modification. I also found some sidecovers on e-bay that I'm going to paint up. I tried the Maier covers, but the left side one had the fastener pads in the wrong place. The right one would've fit with some trimming, but since they are bolt-on (rather than "plug-in"), I didn't want to have two different types on the bike, so I returned them. March 2001: Well, a lot has happened. I managed to "adjust" the KZ400 rear fender, paint it flat black, and fit it to the frame. Also mounted the taillight and bracket to it, so we've got brake light. Polished up the paint on the tank a bit, as well as on the tail piece and front fender, and mounted all. Looks great! I'm going to let Josh do the final polishing, though. Got the side pieces finished and mounted too, although the bottom mounting post on the left cover was pretty far from the grommet hole, so I had to fab up a relocation bracket. Put the aluminum covers on the upper fork tubes (between upper and lower triple clamps) and the boots as well. Mechanically, I got the bike running for a while, checked timing, balanced the carbs, etc. Also changed the oil and filter after warming it up. Freshened up the final drive with a new chain and sprockets. Found the proper brake/clutch levers, too, after bringing the old ones to Temple City Kawi so they could compare the pivot ends to what they had in stock. (The clutch perch and master cylinder are not the originals.) Also installed new throttle cables. Bought the correct battery, so I can finally close the seat, and took her for a run down the street! The brakes actually work pretty well, but the engine has no opening power. I suspect the accelerator pump tubes just need to fill up with repeated usage, but there may be some other carb problems as well. I hope it's not the compression, as I don't want to do a ring job. As soon as I get a gage and warm up the bike again, I'm going to test that. But, the kickstarter gives decent resistance, so at least it's got some compression. Feels like the clutch might be slipping, too, but I'm not used to a small-displacement straight four. Also painted the exhaust black, looks sweet. Electrical tests seem to indicate that the charging system is working, which is surprising, given that the bike suffered a short. The tach still doesn't work right, but I have yet another from a batch of old parts. Works, but bigger than the other one, and the back cover is all rusted out. But I'd like to hook it up, so I'll see what I can do with it. Looks like the main remaining items are the seat cover and tires, plus a couple of mirrors. Josh is working on getting the registration and insurance worked out, so I can actually get this baby on the road and burn it in. April 2001: Mounted a set of Barracuda tires, and a seat cover, and we're all set! Well, except for the exhaust bracket. Unfortunately, the front right caliper started dripping fluid, too. The back I would understand, but the front? They were in pretty good shape when I took them apart. Guess I'll have to dive back into that one. Here's the final look: Resurrection and text by Chris Krok Resources:
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This is a 1979 Kawasaki KZ650 D2 that I'm trying to
ressurect for my friend Josh (below). We got it from his neighbor, who had let it sit for
quite a while after a little electrical fire. Since we could get it for cheap, I thought
I'd take a whack at turning it into something nice. It was actually worked over
previously, so could be a nice little performer. It already has a 4:1 exhaust, individual
carb air filters, and aftermarket coils. Hopefully, they also rejetted to account for this
stuff, but I'll find that out when I rebuild the carbs. I found out during my research
that the D series was some sort of unique version, referred to as the "650 SR."
("Speed Racer?") If anyone knows what that means, I'd love to hear it!
17 December 2000 I
got tired of waiting for the switch to arrive, so I just hooked a rocker switch into the
circuit used for the ignition and starter. The starter sounded good, and I pulled all of
the spark plugs and checked for spark on each line. All good. So, I drained out the carbs
(there was actually liquid in a couple of them, one bright yellow, one green!) and hooked
up a temporary reservoir. First time I tried to start it, it coughed a few times, but
wouldn't catch. "Starter fluid!" I thought. Got the starter fluid, hit the
carbs, and it would start, but just run long enough to burn off the fluid. After about
four tries, I was a little discouraged. I was going to pull the bike back into the garage
and pull the carbs, but I thought, "Oh, just one more try." So, I sprayed it
really well, fired it up, and it just kept on going! Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke,
I killed the ignition, and tried starting it again. It fired right up! Several times,
even. Unfortunately, the #1 exhaust pipe wasn't heating up much, so that carb must be well
gunked. (All of the pipes got hot with the starter fluid, so the spark is still good.) So,
off we go to the carb rebuild! 
Dirty
carbs, clean carbs... 
Note rust on fork
tubes. Yellow and green wires are for temporary ignition switch. 