Seeking first project advice.

Hi, I recently obtained a 78' KZ650-C2 and would like to get her running as a first project. The bike sat for about 15 years in the garage and has around 17k miles.

I know I'll have to replace the tires, battery, plugs, fluids and clean/rebuild the carbs.

I don't come from a big riding background, so I'd appreciate any recommendations on where to start and if there is anything to be cautious of with a bike that has sat dormant for this long.

Thanks for the help. I'll post some pics later.

scrub it from one end to other.tighten,check or replace anything in between;)

Plummen is right ... I always start any project with a thourough cleaning end to end .... making mental and actual notes of any potential flaws I find. I then break those flaws down into two lists ... 1st list would be the "I gotta fix it before I can ride it list" and the second list would be the "details" !!! Good luck !!!

Clean it up, lube it up, make sure it's not frozen, weep a little marvel mystery oil into the cylinders, overhaul the carbs, clean points and new plugs, new battery and see if she fires up. Next safety checks, tires, brakes, swingarm bushings and chain. Next riding gear..brainbucket, boots, jacket etc. Next enjoy and customize! Oh yeah ...name her!!

Dont forget the brakes man. take apart and clean and check the seals on all brake parts. Master cyl's.,calipers , and check lines for cracks.

My advice would be to start looking for your next one now! These old bikes are more addictive than crack.:laugh:

I've cut and pasted this directly off of the CycleCanadaMagazine.net website. Editor Costa Mouzouris wrote the article about a ZR550 he was rebuilding. The tips are very helpful. My apologies to Costa for the pirating, but the website is about to be revamped, and this would be a shame to lose.


Just Grand
by Costa Mouzouris


If you’re like me, unless your garage is completely cluttered, and every nook and cranny is stuffed with junk you think you need; you feel unfulfilled. However, it’s spring and you’ve been handed orders to clean out the garage. After getting rid of the rusty barbeque, countless boxes of National Geographic and the lawnmower you’d kept for parts (none of which fit the new mower), you realize some extra space is freed in the garage. What better way to fill that space (and feel whole again) than with something useful — like a new motorcycle.

The Deal
Not everyone has the means to buy a new bike on a whim, but there is a way to satisfy that new-bike urge without breaking the bank. I’ll go over some basics on how to look for a bike, then proceed to get it running reliably at minimal cost. I’ll use easily obtainable products, and use repair techniques that, although not factory approved, will get the bike running well.

When looking for a beater, you’ll have to scour the classified ads. Bikes sold through dealers are usually newer and have been verified and repaired, making them more expensive. Bikes in the thousand-dollar range might be decades old and probably won’t be running, or at least not running well. High mileage shouldn’t deter you from considering a bike, as it is an indication that it has been ridden regularly and some type of maintenance has been practiced over the years. Although bikes that have experienced lengthy storage are the ones most likely to cause problems, it’s the bikes that have been modified, rebuilt or crashed that you should be wary of. Years of changing hands will likely see a number of homemade fixes that might need to be undone. The best bikes are ones that are as close to stock as possible.

I was recently hit by the urge to buy a new bike. The urge was triggered by the fact that I found myself without a personal street bike after changes in local law saw my street-legal Honda XR650R put to pasture. Following a brief search, I found a 1992 Kawasaki ZR550 Zephyr through online classifieds. It had 25,000 km, and the ad said the fuel tank needed reconditioning. The asking price was $1,299. I had no particular penchant for this bike, other than the appealing price. I set up a meeting with the seller and went to inspect the machine.

Upon first glance I noticed it was completely stock, aside from the added engine guards. Even the exhaust was original and intact. The stock exhaust is one item that often finds its way into the trash bin, either because it was replaced for a louder system, or has simply rotted out over time, so this was a bonus. The bike had gone down on both sides, though damage was limited to a lightly scraped muffler and a broken clutch lever and left footpeg. It wasn’t running, as the owner had put it away two years earlier without taking the proper measures for a long-term sleep. The carburetors and petcock were leaking profusely and the bike reeked of stale fuel from metres away. Looking under the bike, I noticed a rubber plug where the oil drain plug should be. Stripped threads are an all-too-common occurrence on older bikes, and proof that even a cheap torque wrench is better than none. For me, these problems were good signs; they could be used as bargaining chips and are easy fixes. What is important is that there is a spark, because finding an electrical fault could be time-consuming and expensive. I turned the key, punched the starter, and surprisingly, the bike burbled on the choke for about two seconds before shutting down. That’s all I needed to tell me this thing was still alive.

The seller told me he intended to take the bike out of storage and use it, making several attempts to start it. After failing, he brought it to a dealer, who quoted $500 just to repair the carburetors. Finding this a bit steep, he decided to give it one more try on his own and bought a new battery, sparkplugs, oil and an oil filter, though before even installing the new parts, he gave in. “To tell you the truth, I just gave up on it,” he confessed.

When buying a bike in the bargain-basement price range, it’s actually preferable that the seller leaves the bike in an unkempt state. A freshly washed bike may be to the seller’s advantage when time comes to negotiate, but things like oil leaks may be undetectable to the buyer. Don’t forget to verify all the lights and the horn. If a seller neglects to make sure the bike isn’t in good running order, it is to your advantage. This bike seemed oil-tight, yet considering the repairs it did need, I made him a counter offer of $1,000, to which he agreed.

The first thing to do when you get home with your new acquisition is to give it a thorough wash. You will be disassembling things, and dirt only hampers the process. Check the battery, brake pads, chain and sprockets and other items and make a list of items you’ll need to get it on the road. The trick to saving a lot of money is to be self-sufficient, so get on the internet and start your search for the parts you’ll need. The first item on your list should be a service manual. I logged on to amazon.ca and ordered a Haynes ZR550 service manual. It arrived at my door three days later at a cost of $33. All major Canadian aftermarket distributors have websites with online catalogues, including part numbers and retail prices. Distributors don’t sell direct, but the info will be used by the dealer where you’ll buy the parts and will save you time. You’ll also know in advance what the repairs will cost.

Proper flow
A $1,000 bike will probably be at least a dozen years old, so there are several things that will require attention for a trouble-free riding season. In my case the incontinent fuel system needed immediate attention. I needed to get this bike running to determine if other things needed work, like the charging system.

The interior of the fuel tank was a mess with rust covering the entire visible surface and some light flaking. To remove the rust, I used CLR, a product that removes calcium, lime and rust. I emptied a bottle into the empty tank and sloshed it around. I did this while servicing the carburetors, so the CLR had time to work. After a few hours, I drained the CLR and washed the inside of the fuel tank with dish soap and water. After thoroughly rinsing the tank with water and draining, I added a bottle of fuel-line antifreeze. This alcohol-based product will effectively remove all the remaining water from the tank. After draining this, I let the fuel tank sit for a few hours with the gas cap open for it to dry. Since I wasn’t yet ready to fill the tank with fuel, I then coated the interior with WD40 to prevent further rust from developing, which it will do quickly on bare metal.

The petcock, a vacuum-operated type, was leaking from the diaphragm vent, an indication that the diaphragm was torn. The seller of the bike provided me with an invoice for petcock parts that were ordered by the dealer he’d brought the bike to. The parts ordered weren’t expensive, totaling about $10, but none of these OEM O-rings were the ones needed for the actual repair. A search of Motovan’s online catalogue produced petcock repair kit P/N 16-2763 for the ZR550 retailing for $31.99. This kit included everything needed to repair the existing petcock, including new mounting screws. Aside from needing new rubber components, the petcock’s in-tank screen was torn. This isn’t always available for replacement, so an easy fix was to simply cut the screen off and install an external, inline fuel filter at a cost of $3.99. With the petcock repaired, the fuel tank was now ready.

The carburetors needed much more attention. The stale fuel not only plugged jets and jammed float needles in their bores; it also corroded the float needle seats. Screw-in float needle seats are replaceable, but on the ZR’s Keihin CV carburetors they are pressed in and not available. Being resourceful helps in these matters, as locating a set of ZR550 carburetors would probably prove more difficult than finding the entire bike. To repair the seats I used individual ball bearings, which were dropped into the needle seats and then using a small hammer and punch, I lightly tapped onto the balls, thus reforming the seats. There is no rule as to the size of the ball bearings used (bicycle wheel bearings will do), though they should be small enough to fit into the tapered part of the seat. This worked well enough to allow me to reuse the original float needles, though they did spend some time in a cleaning solution.

I placed all of the components that could be disassembled from the carburetors into a container, and using aerosol choke cleaner bought in an auto parts store, I sprayed it into the container until all the parts were immersed. Several hours later, the parts emerged like new. The pilot jets needed extra attention, as the small holes didn’t get sufficiently cleaned, so using a couple of strands pulled from electrical wire and twisted together, I made a makeshift chimney sweep. The copper strands effectively removed the caked-on crud without damaging the jet bore. On multi-cylinder bikes take note of jet placement; the ZR550 had 108 main jets in the outboard carburetors and 110s in the inboard carbs.

A bigger problem you may incur with aging CV carburetors is damaged vacuum-piston diaphragms. I was lucky not to have this problem with the ZR, but a previous beater bike I bought for my girlfriend, a 1983 VT500 Ascot, had one of its carburetors rendered useless by a torn diaphragm. Some aftermarket distributors offer replacement vacuum pistons, though none were available for the Ascot. Resourcefulness prevailed again after I found a bank of four CV carburetors at a recycler that had similar vacuum pistons. The pistons were nearly identical but could not be used, as they were longer, though the rubber diaphragms were intact. Using generous amounts of silicone lubricant, one diaphragm was manipulated off its original piston and relocated to the Ascot’s. Care should be taken not to stretch the rubber too much, risking a tear (and the rubber will need to be stretched). The bank of carburetors cost $50 and provided spare diaphragms, among other useful parts.

After the float levels are adjusted and the carburetors are reassembled, fill them with fuel before installing them on the bike to make sure they don’t leak. After this is done, you can synchronize them before installing them. You won’t need elaborate synchronizing equipment to do this, just a single drill bit.

Use either the idle screw or something else to hold the throttle slightly open. Use the drill bit as a gauge by inserting it between the throttle plate and the throttle bore. Turn the carburetor synchronizing screws to adjust the throttle plates evenly. Note that the smaller the drill bit, the more accurate the adjustment will be. A number 55 drill bit did the job for me. This will synchronize the carburetors well enough to not need further attention.

After installing the rejuvenated fuel mixers, I hit the starter and the bike fired instantly. After warming the engine, a compression test revealed approximately 160 psi across the four cylinders, which was within the specified 128-198 psi range. It was now time to move on to other items.

Directing electrons
If the bike starts and it has an electronic ignition, no further attention will be needed for spark control. However, all electrical plugs and connections should be inspected for corrosion, cleaned and reconnected using dielectric grease, available in most auto parts outlets. This will prevent further corrosion, while providing protection against humidity-induced electrical problems, especially with the ignition system.

After verifying and adjusting the electrolyte level and charging the battery, place a voltmeter across the battery terminals. A nominal reading of at least 12.5 volts means the battery should be good enough to last the season. Start the bike and observe the voltmeter. If voltage doesn’t increase with revs, decreases, or rises above 15 volts, there is a problem with the charging system. If voltage rises to between 13.5 and 14.8 volts with the engine running on fast idle, everything is fine. A weak battery can give a false reading, so it’s important to make sure the battery is fully charged for the test. This test can be done when inspecting the bike for purchase, if the bike is a runner. Any faults found with either the ignition, charging or lighting system can be diagnosed using the service manual.

Unbinding the binders
Even if you pull the brake lever and the bike stops, the brakes will need servicing. Few people replace brake fluid regularly, and this can cause numerous problems. DOT 3 and DOT 4 brake fluid absorb moisture with time, and this can corrode brake components. There are ways to service brakes without a complete overhaul, though sometimes, it may be unavoidable.

Working with one caliper at a time, remove it and inspect the brake pads. Carefully pump the front brake lever to push the caliper pistons about halfway out of their bores. Make sure you have enough fluid in the master cylinder to do this without introducing air into the system.

Once the pistons are protruding, use contact cleaner and a shop rag to thoroughly clean the exposed part of the pistons and the caliper surrounding them. Caliper pistons are plated, so if you see flaking or corrosion, you’ll need to replace the pistons and seals. If they are clean, as the ones in the ZR550 were, you can carefully press them back into their bores until they bottom. The master cylinder cap should be loose and a rag placed around the reservoir to catch any excess fluid that might leak out. By servicing one side at a time, you can push the pistons back in without affecting the other caliper. If the bike is equipped with floating calipers (identifiable by a separate, sliding brake pad plate), now is also the time to clean and lubricate the mounting pins. Use brake pin lubricant, not grease, as grease will harden from heat and cause the pins to seize. If the rubber dust boots are cut, get new ones. I massaged some silicone spray into the ones on the ZR to make them supple again. After servicing the calipers, replace the brake fluid and thoroughly bleed the system. You now have a trouble-free brake system.

Tracking right
Now that the items that make the bike go and stop have been attended to, it’s time to focus on the chassis. Although this part can be overlooked, and you can hop on and go for a ride at this point, some basic checks and repairs here will make the difference between a sweet riding bike and a junk heap. Fork oil degradation, or loose or worn steering neck and swingarm bearings can severely hamper handling. The time it takes to replace fork oil is worth the improvement in ride quality, and visually inspecting the neck bearings will reveal if the bike will be a weaver or not. I disassembled the front end on the ZR550, repacked the steering bearings, replaced the fork oil and checked the front wheel bearings in less than five hours. Disassembly will also reveal bent components; with the wheel and fender removed, the fork tubes should turn freely in the tripleclamps with the pinch bolts loosened. Most OEM shocks cannot be rebuilt, so if the bike seems bouncy, an aftermarket set may be the only fix.

Wheel bearings are easily checked by inserting a finger into the centre and turning the bearing back and forth. Any crunching or ratcheting means new bearings are called for. All bearings have part numbers inscribed on them and you can buy good quality bearings from a bearing supplier at reduced cost. If the bearings feel good, you can carefully pry the dust seal off with a small screwdriver and add grease so they remain that way. Just press the seal back on with your finger when done.

There should be no side movement in the swingarm. If there is any, you’ll have to refer to the service manual for the adjustment procedure, or take it apart and check the bearings. The swingarm on the ZR550 seemed fine and it was equipped with a grease fitting, which made lubing it easy.

At first glance, the chain and sprockets seemed fine, but closer inspection revealed a chain with inconsistent free play and slightly worn sprocket teeth. $131 bought a new 520 EK O-ring chain and JT sprockets. I went with stock ratios, though you can deviate slightly from stock depending on your requirements.

Other costs included a new left footpeg at $59.33 and a Tommaselli handlebar to replace the slightly bent original item, which I could have lived with, but it would have constantly drawn my attention to it, and eventually driven me nuts. I splurged on a K&N air filter, spending $63.99 on that item alone.

One sweet ride
You can be assured that if you buy a bike for a grand, you’ll have some work to do, and probably some extra money to spend. The total cost for the ZR550 Zephyr, aside from taxes, insurance and registration fees was $1,371.24. I saved about $50 on items I would have bought that the seller gave me with the bike, including sparkplugs, oil and oil filter. The tires and brake pads were new from a couple of years ago, yet had no mileage.

I’ve put 300 km on the Zephyr and it runs like new. I haven’t gotten around to repairing the drain plug yet, but the rubber plug is doing a good job of keeping the oil off the pavement, though I will rectify it on the next oil change. The bike isn’t new and other problems might materialize with time, but by being thorough, I believe this is less likely to happen. I don’t recommend buying a bargain cheapie if you don’t have basic mechanical skills. I didn’t bother with valve adjustment because a selection of shims is needed to perform the job properly. It’s also a job that shouldn’t be tackled by a handyman on this type of bike, as the cams must be removed. Bringing a beater to a dealer or shop with a long list of repairs will add a disproportionate amount of money to the bill, but by reserving the strict minimum for the pros (like valve adjustment), the job won’t cost a fortune. Do the rest yourself and not only will you save, you’ll experience the gratification that only accompanies a job well done. CC


Parts list:


Servicemanual $33
Fuel filter $3.99
Petcock repair kit $31.99
K&N air filter $63.99
Tommaselli handlebar $29.99
EK 520x110L O-ring chain $70.99
Rear sprocket 41t $38.99
C/S sprocket 16t $20.99
Footpeg $59.33
Fork Oil $9.99
Brake fluid $7.99
Cleaning products approx. $50
Freebie value approx. $50
























Sources:

Full Bore
fullboremarketing.ca

Importations Thibault
importationsthibault.com

Kimpex
kpx-kimpex.com

Motovan
motovan.com

Parts Canada
partscanada.ca

Steen Hansen’s
steenhansens.com

Service manual
amazon.ca

Just a cautionary note. Be very careful with the master brake cylinder, especially the front, as parts are getting very scarce. Avoid the temptation to remove the reservoir from the cylinder body as the O-ring seal is not available separately and I had a heck of a time getting one close enough in size to seal. Even then it seeped for a few weeks. The reservoir can be cleaned without separation.