77 KZ 650 C1 My first second bike ! ! ! !

Found and purchased, delivered this next Wednesday 25th.

77 KZ 650 from second owner. 12,200 miles on the odometer, languishing in a shed under a tarp not run for 18 months.
3 inch stack of receipts & meticulous notes (original owner is an architect, with that weird squarish all caps script handwriting.) this guy took notes on everything, I will post an example later, it is somewhat comedic
4 books and manuals including original owner's manual.
Original toolkit!
Box of parts switched off of bike; stock airbox, coils, original points plate, box of asst nuts & bolts, jets, etc.
The only thing that is missing is the original set of pipes. It is now wearing a chrome Kerker.

He wanted $1050. and I was going to offer 700 and call him back in a couple of weeks. (that is well over current market value, I knew he would not get 1050) Someone else had offered 750 and the guy was considering it, seeing that two perspective buyers had mentioned that he was asking too much. I asked, we came to an agreement.

Not the best deal for me considering that the carbs are prolly pretty fouled (he tried to start it for me with ancient gas in it), but I wanted another 77 C1 that I could make more stock, and here it was.

I cant wait to get it home and take it down to the frame.

I will post pics as soon as possible.
Here is the ad pic pulled off of Craigslist.

Note the LTD seat that was installed at the dealership according to the notes. It has since been recovered.
He also had the engine protecting bars added to the bike at the dealership, I have them here in the box.

unless you want to mod it, why take it down to the frame? That bike looks nice. I would ride the balls off of it...

nice deal.

Good deal. Why tear it down with less than 12,000 miles, clean the fuel system and ride it for a few years. A tear down costs money no matter how you do it.

Great find, it looks fantastic. I agree why a complete tear down?

Mark

Why tear it down?
It's winter now. Plenty of time to do the work/play.
I've already got another 77 C1.
I need to get some light condensation rust out of the tank.
Re pipe the fuel system.
Fix the inevitable valve cover seeping leak.
I am probably going to have to rebuild the carbs.
I am going to need to re-jet them as well as I plan to reinstall the stock air box. I have always wanted to have a C1 that was more "stock" looking.
My other bikes engine is painted black, I want this engine to be polished aluminium in all the right places.
Right now the head seems to be painted with an aluminum colored paint. (I noticed this when I tried to get the plug to fire against the head, the paint insulated) so I plan to strip it somehow. I figure out of the carriage would be better.
I want to get rid of the oil cooler.
Do the WG coil mod.
Check all the wiring.
Do my light mods (halogen, red brake leds in the rear turn signals)
Switch out the handlebars, and add the hand grip warmers.
clean out the spider webs.
Re-grease this and degrease that.
Re-paint the black on the wheels.
Detail the bejeezus out of it.
Get a friend who owns a auto body shop to assist me in polishing the paint on the tank.
Not to mention I have never torn a street bike down before and the landlord asked me if I wanted to use the empty single car garage to do the work.
But I will probably try to fire it up before I get to far just yet!!
my goal is by next spring to have a poor man's show bike that I can rub with a diaper, and another one that I can take in the mud and take off some sweet jumps.

Sweet find and for ~$1k...

If you're looking for the purest stock look keep in mind the original color of the KZ650C1 wheels was more of a gray color rather than black. I believe they changed the color in '78. Both colors look good to me. Ed

Ah!!
Thank you Ed, I can see from your profile pic that you are a man who cares about the C1, but damn you for setting me up for the mental anguish i.e indecision about which wheel color to go with. Before there were only two colors; black, or not painted, and I had motivation. Now I gotta choose paint:unsure: ... gray is a little more intriguing,... I would love to see some other pics of your bike, yours are he gray, right?

Found some minor issues while I was stripping the bike down.


Looks like some trauma hit down from 1:00 to 7:00 on the ignition cover, enough to break out the threads on both bolt holes.

There is prior repair evidence in the broken J-B Weld around the breaks.

I sure wish it was more convenient to add more photos.:lol:

I am planning to coat the bolts with vaseline or grease and build a dam around the break on the block and fill it in with JB Weld then file it down to shape and back out the greased bolt. But I could just drill and tap a mass of JB Weld... Still considering.

There seems to be some white, crusty build up on the aluminum on the inside of the area that houses the ignition. I am considering removing the electronic ignition parts to handle the condition of the chamber. It needs to be sanded or abraded and treated, along with the JB Weld.

The chain gaurd, and plastic rear wheel fender both have expoxy on cracks, the chain guard's epoxy is not holding.
Easy fix.

I found a really carbon burned exhaust port off of the head. It dropped a copper color gasket that does not seem to come off of the other port's apertures.

The left front turn signal has been pushed back, bending it's base and breaking the mounting piece with the grounding wire on it.

The front wheel had an eight inch of lateral play on the axle.

The black wire coming off of the Electronic Ignition external control box was attached to nothing but a broken attachment.

I don't know if I should keep the Oil Cooler as I have no port plugs for the engine block.

The wire bundle (save for the starter's clutch switch wire) are channeled down the handlebar tube. I am switching out the bars.

The rubber grommets for the handlebar mounting clamps are disintegrating.

There are Air Pressurefittings with a cross-over on my front shock towers.

I am going to strip the Aluminum color paint off of the engine too.

Here is that white stuff.

Whoo-Hoo!

Qdude wrote:

I would love to see some other pics of your bike, yours are he gray, right?

I'll post when I get home.

The chain gaurd, and plastic rear wheel fender both have expoxy on cracks, the chain guard's epoxy is not holding.
Easy fix.

eBay usually has these pieces in pretty good shape.

The left front turn signal has been pushed back, bending it's base and breaking the mounting piece with the grounding wire on it.

eBay should have this piece

The black wire coming off of the Electronic Ignition external control box was attached to nothing but a broken attachment.

Original had points, so it seems there's an aftermarket ignition.

I don't know if I should keep the Oil Cooler as I have no port plugs for the engine block.

I'd remove it unless you're in a extreme (hot) climate.

The wire bundle (save for the starter's clutch switch wire) are channeled down the handlebar tube. I am switching out the bars.

Original KZ650C1 wires (except clutch switch) came routed inside handlebars

The front wheel had an eight inch of lateral play on the axle.

The rubber grommets for the handlebar mounting clamps are disintegrating.

There are Air Pressurefittings with a cross-over on my front shock towers.

Sounds like the forks are from a different model. Originals had no air fitings and no rubber handlebar grommets. This may explain the lateral play on the axle if the front wheel is original and the forks are from something else. Ed

Thank you Ed, I'll get to E-baying...

The front forks were misadjusted at the axle accounting for the play. I will double check the receipts, but I seem to remember the addition of the air-caps and crossover mentioned as being done from the dealership. They are added to the stock towers.

It is an aftermarket ignition. According to the notes, it seems to have been done at the dealership as well. I still have the original points/condenser plate in the box o' parts that came with the bike purchase.

The addition of the LTD seat was done at the same time as the Air-caps & Aftermarket Ignition.