KZ650 cafe-racer

Thank you!

Hi gazzz, thank you for writing this post as I hadn't realized that these idler sprockets have a rubber damper, I really need to pay more attention!
I had a close look at mine and found the rubber to be rock hard and just possibly waiting to disintegrate when I build my new motor, not a chance I am willing to take.
I'm annoyed at myself because I just had these parts delivered from Liska racing and he too makes these billet sprockets and I could have had them included in the same package. Oh well!
Thanks for the heads up and keep up the good work,
Cheers, Mc Tavish.

Thank you! I'm glad that the info was helpful! And since you went so far, my recommendation is also to replace guide shafts. 2pcs of 12052-005 for those sprockets that are between cylinders and cylinder head and 1pc of 12052-003 for the wheel that is between crankcase and cylinders.

Cam chain tensioner systems of Kawasaki Z900, Z1 and early KZ650 with their three guide sprockets and two guide wheels are fascinating and have attractiveness of complicated mechanical toys. However, one who decided to pack his motorcycle with new improved cam chain idler sprockets and wheels will find that it ain’t no cheap. I worked on replacement of cam chain tension system parts gradually to reduce the impact of parts price on project budget. And at last my work is finished. My constant readers already noticed that I replaced the lower guide roller with a wheel from Liska Racing while two middle idler sprockets and tension wheel I replaced with PMC sprockets. Thus the only component that left non replaced was upper idler sprocket. It’s part number is 12053-1013. Here is how it looks:



Liska Racing provides its direct replacement, however, when it came to buying I became somewhat hesitant. The thing was that Liska sprockets are black and brackets have yellowish zinc plating while PMC provides sprockets and brackets of steel colour. It might sound slightly mad, but I wished to have all sprockets looking uniformly and close to OEM parts. And as you may guess, I already have a plan how to achieve my goal.

I assume many of early KZ650 motorcycles had at least one look at part scheme which is called “Cam Chain Teansioner “. Those who looked at that page might of noticed that upper guide rollers are of two styles: early separable and later non-separable in which sprocket axle pin is riveted. So for the first thing I ordered yet another PMC Z900-Z1 idler sprocket. I fetched it along with other goods to decrease mostly unbearable Webike delivery charges (they have only one extra expensive Fedex option for shipping in Ukraine at the moment).



Three of them together looked pretty funny to me:

I rummaged through the USA ebay and bought two parts there. One of them is a bracket with part number 12051-003.



Another one is collar with part number 92027-261:



I already have the bolt with part number and of style that exactly fits the old type of upper idler.

So I had only to put all parts together. And voila, behold old-type-new-upgraded-idler:





I also bought new guide roller shafts as using new sprockets and wheel on old shafts is not the best idea. There are three of them in Kawasaki KZ650:

Once these parts arrived, my upgrade setup for the timing chain and it’s tension system was completed. It looks completely as I wished: uniform. I do not put on display here new rubber dampers on canvas, but I have them too.

Gazzz, youre in Ukraine? I just moved to Georgia and have no idea where to shop for bike parts. I bought a few things before we left USA but cant seem to find an online retailer. The language barrier isnt helping either, lol. Most bikes Ive seen here are some 50cc mopeds.

Yep, I am in Ukraine. I know little about Georgia, but I bet they have some shops that sell expendables like oil, filters, batteries, tires, spark plugs and brake pads. However, even as there are a lot of such shops in Ukraine, I prefer to buy goods from Europe, USA and Japan to minimize the possibility of buying fakes and imitations.

To buy new OEM parts I use www.motorcyclespareparts.eu/en

To buy driving chains, sprockets, spark plugs, filters and etc I use www.wemoto.com/

They also could provide OEM parts and have some specter of aftermarket parts for many motorcycles.

Sure, I use European (mostly German) and USA ebay. If direct delivery from the USA is not possible or its price sky high I use intermediary company with warehouses in New Jersey. I also use this company to order parts from Partzilla.

my.meest.us/en/index

Some goods I buy from www.louis.eu/

And sure, japan.webike.net ships all over the World.

That intermediary company looks interesting. Great tips, thanks alot!

As long as the starter motor works, people rarely think about it. Especially if the starter motor is hidden under the fancy cover like that on Kawasaki KZ or SOHC Honda CB. I duno what position tops the list of most rarely serviced parts: electrical starter or swingarm bearings. Same happens with projects: one may build a fancy bike, but under starter cover still may lurk some oxidized hulk of steel and aluminium.

My first thought about the starter motor for our KZ650 cafe-racer project was simple: dismantle it, clean, grease, do paint housing. At first look the starter wasn’t looking THAT bad. However, what seemed to be simple dirt turned out to be oxidation and rust.





I started dismantling the starter motor for cleaning.

Here is a picture from a service manual that shows the build of the starter motor. As one may notice, there are three gaskets and none of them have part numbers. The same is the situation with most parts of Kawasaki KZ650 starter motor.



Sure, I have no chance to remove 40 years old gaskets completely intact. And for sure, I couldn’t but to notice that the yoke assembly could be easily disassembled, even as Service Manual states that it “is not meant to be disassembled”. The itch of curiosity and wish to know if it’s possible to restore such part to original condition won, and I dismantled yoke assembly.

Housing, even being cleaned, looked pretty ugly:



Therefore I’ve got it glass beads blasted and zinc re-plated. I chose yellow passivation: for one thing it provides better corrosion protection, for another, original passivation also was yellow.