- Carbs rebuild
- Fork fluids changed
- hand controls cleaned
- wiring harness cleaned
- all bearings checked
- engine rebuilt
- cylinder block replaced
- pistons replaced
- new gaskets all around
- Valve clearances
- brake reservoirs cleaned and refilled
This motorcycle is a work for hire project. The customer wants a cafe style bike. The platform is not ideal for it but there are worse. The biggest challenge however is the tight budget which is only USD 1200. I will have to reuse/rebuild most/all parts which little to no option for any custom parts.
This is how I got the bike. At first glance it looked decent. All electrical components worked. Airbox was completely missing. Instead, pantyhoses were put on the boots. Engine was seized.
Cleaning the carburetor... Jets were wrong, even had different sizes. A complete rebuild kit was used to restore this carburetor bank. All is now set to specs. Here some before and after pics.
Engine was seized. Turns out cylinder #1 was pretty much welded to the wall, most likely due to oil starvation and over heating. I had to drill the piston out and replace the entire cylinder block. Also, the open carburetor allowed some water to get into the engine which did not help.
Starting the cleanup process... I pulled the wiring harness, checked for kinks and break and cleaned the connectors. Wiring harness is in good shape, complete and had no signs of big wear.
Next was cleaning the brake reservoirs, hand controls and the overall bike. The engine must have leaked oil on the left side, frame was covered in old oil. This would also explain the seized engine, most likely due to oil starvation (plus possible overheating from running too lean with no airbox and the wrong carb settings).
Starting the transformation beginning with a quick mockup to get an idea where I want this bike to be. Customer wants it low. I experimented with a drag bar but decided to go with clipons and therefore replaced the original top triple tree with a "flat" one off an old FZR 600. It also needs a different tank, seat and have the gauges dropped. Tank is off an 1976 KZ750 and will need some minor modifications to bolt on.
Putting it all back together...
