1978 kz650 with 1105cc

Just wanted to see if anyone here had any thoughts on this project. I am very familiar with Hondas, but this would be my first Kawasaki project. While looking for an early 70's Honda to help a friend of mine with his first project, I stumbled across a bike that sounds kind of odd. I haven't seen it in person, but the guy that has it says he will give it to me if I'm actually going to use it. I would feel bad taking the bike from the guy if I won't actually be able to use it, so was hoping I could tell you what I know and get some thoughts before I commit to this.

It's a 1978 KZ650 that was gutted at the dealer back in '78 and fitted with a 900cc Kawasaki engine that has a Yoshimura 1105cc kit. He tells me it blows oil through, has frozen front brake, needs some cosmetic work and has been non-running in indoor storage for the last several years. It sounds like it could be a nice staring point for a streetfighter/cafe build, or it could be someone's 30 year old disaster...

If you can post a picture of it we can tell you more. The large engine can be fitted to a KZ650 frame, but not without significant modifications to the frame. When done properly it can result in quite a bike. Here's one that's been pushed out to 1400cc! I don't know of any others done like this. Ed

Its doable. I have seen photos of a few kz650s with the 900/1000 engine in them. A member here had his KZ750 with a 1100 GPZ engine featured as BOTM a couple months ago.

Talk about burning rubber!

Yeah, forget about 5000 miles on a tire. :woohoo:
Oh, and welcome.
Steve

Contrary to what you hear that engine swap does not require a lot of frame mods. The engine does fit snugly and does require welding and fabbing skills. And also contrary to what you hear you can remove the cam cover, head and cylinders without removing the engine from the frame. If you have found a KZ650 that has already had the swap I would snap it up fast.
Here is my 82 GPz750 with a hopped up 82 Gpz1100 engine. The GPz750 frame and the KZ650 frame are almost identical.

That's really a nice bike! Ed