1966 Kawasaki A1 Samurai restoration project

Spent some time carefully reading the transmission section of the repair manual tonight. It briefly describes what gears the shift forks move, so I think I will have no problems putting it back together now. This weekend (possibly longer) will be spent cleaning and polishing the cases. I think at this point, I am well into the project, and actually 100% complete with the tear-down process (as long as all gears, bearings, etc are within spec). In any case, I am far less intimidated by tearing down an engine now, and plan to do this with ALL future projects.

EDIT: Scratch that 100% complete with tear-down comment...I almost forgot about the CARBS! LOL!

i could not tell exactly (from the pic) where the shift drum is located in the cases in relation to the forks.

but,


you should be able to put the shift drum in neutral.

with the trans laying in the lower case you should be able to lower the upper case down while you are looking to see that the forks slide into the slots between the gears where they go and if everything is lined up it should slip together.

if you have studs that your sliding the case down over you should be "aware" of the drag on them and the other things that "fit" together and you can feel as the all line up usually.

leon

531blackbanshee wrote: i could not tell exactly (from the pic) where the shift drum is located in the cases in relation to the forks.

but,


you should be able to put the shift drum in neutral.

with the trans laying in the lower case you should be able to lower the upper case down while you are looking to see that the forks slide into the slots between the gears where they go and if everything is lined up it should slip together.

if you have studs that your sliding the case down over you should be "aware" of the drag on them and the other things that "fit" together and you can feel as the all line up usually.

leon

The shift drum is in the top case, so the forks actually hang from it. As I put the trans back together in the top case (the way the book says to), it looks like it should be pretty obvious how it lines up. When I get to that point, I will let you guys know if I have any issues

I spent a little time in the garage today cleaning up the crank cases. I picked a few spots on each to test-polish them. I'm not sure if I was just going too fast, but I didn't like the way it turned out on some of the spots. Also, I don't think I possess the patience, skill, or desire to get all the little nooks and crannies to do the polish job justice. I'm considering repainting the cases, cylinders, and heads with black case paint, and just polishing all of the covers. I think this method will be more within my skill and patience threshold, and will still look decent. I actually saw a pic of an A7 on the page with those sweet torque mufflers (that the guy is not selling right now ), that has the covers polished. It has the stock paint on the cases, so it doesn't look amazing, but I think black would really set it off. Here's the pic:

A7 polished covers

Little help...

clutch wrote:

531blackbanshee wrote: i could not tell exactly (from the pic) where the shift drum is located in the cases in relation to the forks.

but,


you should be able to put the shift drum in neutral.

with the trans laying in the lower case you should be able to lower the upper case down while you are looking to see that the forks slide into the slots between the gears where they go and if everything is lined up it should slip together.

if you have studs that your sliding the case down over you should be "aware" of the drag on them and the other things that "fit" together and you can feel as the all line up usually.

leon

The shift drum is in the top case, so the forks actually hang from it. As I put the trans back together in the top case (the way the book says to), it looks like it should be pretty obvious how it lines up. When I get to that point, I will let you guys know if I have any issues

you have to remember i have never even been next to a bike like yours.
so the advice i give you is just general advice from things i have learned building 2stroke twin yamahas.

go with the book every chance you get.

leon

How did you bench test the rectifier?
and was yours painted? Mine is orange...
And were you able to test the generator?
I am going to studying this page when I get around to rebuilding mine

Saiph wrote: How did you bench test the rectifier?
and was yours painted? Mine is orange...
And were you able to test the generator?
I am going to studying this page when I get around to rebuilding mine

Rectifier:
It's in my clymer repair manual. Do you have one? I will copy the testing if you need the info.
My rectifier is black...Looks a little shiny to me to be original, so I'm thinking it was a replacement at some point.

Generator test:
No bench test that I could find, though I did find some random posts on other sites when google-ing the thought and saw some people had taken their stators/generators to boat repair shops to check out. I will actually be reinstalling the generator and the rectifier I have to test them on the bike. I recalled that when I bought it, it ran ok, and the battery was toast...so I'm thinking maybe neither is bad (I probably flubbed the rectifier testing LOL).

It's a lot to read, and the actual project doesn't start until page 3 I think. I had the bike sitting in the garage for over 2 years before I really did anything with it. I hope you post a thread about your project here so I can check it out, and if you have anymore questions feel free to ask. I will offer any help I can.


EDIT: Just noticed the pic of yours. I'm jealous that yours has the knee pads and badges still. I've found some reproduction emblems, but can't find the knee pads anywhere! BTW...this site has a handful of parts you may end needing, and at decent prices: www.reproductiondecals.com/default_frame...ml?content.html~main

No I don't have a Clymer book but I got mine running and it running very well so I am quite sure that the Rec and the Gen are doing good.
However what would be nice to know, what is the spark plug gaps and how much trans oil dose it take?
The damn thing is QUICK!!!!!! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:
When I am going to restore it I will most defiantly post everything on here!
Seeing as the motor only has 5082 miles on it and runs pretty damn good I wont be tearing it down, but I am gonna repaint and polish everything pretty much take the engine out go from there.
What do you think about not rebuilding the engine?

.

KZ250LTD wrote:

Saiph wrote: However what would be nice to know, what is the spark plug gaps and how much trans oil dose it take?

Until you can get more specific figures a safe bet for spark plug gap is around 28thou. That was used as a pretty standard gap for many years/makes/models and should at least keep you running.

Seeing as the motor only has 5082 miles on it and runs pretty damn good I wont be tearing it down, but I am gonna repaint and polish everything pretty much take the engine out go from there.
What do you think about not rebuilding the engine?

If you can get compression figures I would check the comp and that should give you a fairly good idea of the condition of the motor. I thought my F11 was running pretty nicely and just broke the engine apart to pump up the power a bit. Turned out when we bored it that the cylinder was out of round and needed to be bored out anyway. If your compression is good I'd ride it till something breaks!

Spark Plug Gap: .024in (.6mm)
Transmission Oil: 1.27qt
Oil Tank: 2.4qt

Rectifier Bench test:

1. With an ohm meter, check for continuity between each yellow wire and the two red wires. Record the meter indications.

2. Reverse the ohm meter leads, and repeat the measurements of step 1.

3. If each pair of measurements was essentially infinite in one direction and low in the reverse, proceed with steps 4 and 5. If any pair of measurements showed either high or low resistance in both directions, replace the rectifier assembly.

4. Measure the resistance between the yellow leads and the two black leads. Record the meter indications.

5. Reverse the meter leads and repeat the measurements.

6. If any pair of measurements from steps 4 or 5 was either both high, or low, replace the rectifier.

Not very specific IMHO, but it's better than nothing. If the bike is running, and keeping the battery charged, and not going over 14v, I would say you are good to go. If you need to replace yours, I recommend getting a reg/rect combo. I'm not sure why these bikes did not come with regulators...maybe too low output on the generators to be a problem?

I got the case, cylinders and heads painted the other day. I have THE transmission back in the top half of the engine, and am proud to say it is in neutral, and shifts through all five gears (go me!). The repair manual is not very specific about how exactly to line up the kick starter lever, but I think I have it right. I need to take some measurements on the crankshaft before putting that back in the top case and closing the case back up (with fresh new gaskets).

Apparently I had damaged one of the small end needle bearings somehow, as that pin I had dropped into the engine case will not seat back in the bearing properly. Fortunately, I found an eBayer selling NOS needle bearings, for reasonable price (50 cents more than listed price on the fiche I look at), so I order two of those tonight, and it says I should have them by the weekend.

Once I have the case sealed back up, that will be going back in the bike before I reinstall anything else (I'll stuff rags in the crank when reinstalling the pistons). Hopefully it won't take long for me to polish up the engine covers and get it all back together. Once the engine is done, I will be cleaning up the carbs, then moving on to the rewire. With a little luck, I may be starting this bike back up before Christmas. (I do still need to paint the side covers and tank, and figure out what I'm doing with the fenders though...)