A 50 dollar bike...

haha, i posted an add on CL about buying crappy bikes. Basically, if somebody wanted a rust bucket out of their garage for cheap, to give me a call. This guy called with a 78' KZ750. I said i could only spend 300 on me and my dad's first project like this. He said, "hell you can just have it for 50 bucks". Cant go wrong for a COMPLETE KZ750 for 50 bucks. I got it from Beresford, SD. the guy was pretty damn cool too. Only thing i didnt like about it was he had started working on it already and it was kinda dis-assembled. Ahh well, only one of the carbs was taken off and a few other little misc. things from the frame. I could probably run as is but i dont wanna completely kill it. there is alot of rust in the combustion chambers.

Well, i went downstairs a little while ago and got the slides un-stuck from the carb bodies. The varnish is so thick in those carbs it looks like pancake syrup. they look good though and i couldn't find any tears in the diaphragms. Sorry guys, my camera just died too, i was gonna take pictures of the carbs all re-assembled and functional. Ill charge it up and post some later tonight.

Does anybody know of a good way to clean out a rusty gas tank? I was thinking of doing that electrolytic process where you have an anode and a battery charger but im not sure. Maybe diluted acid?

Lots of folks have had good success with Evaporust. You may want to start a new thread with that as the title and ask who has used it on tanks. I believe it will not hurt paint and can be re-used. Ed

There have been several threads on this, and all I came away with is that everybody has their own favorite way to do it.

yea my dad said the best way was to take a battery charger and an anode to do it. He says it removes little to no metal in the process and gets into all the little areas too. Ill do that i think. I do have Evaporust but ill try the other process on a really nasty tank and tell you guys what happens. I have to clean up the basement a little bit and then the motor will be coming out. Ill take pictures along the way you guys.

Well, We cleaned the basement and i get paid on Thursday. The motor will probably be coming out tomorrow or the next day. Cant wait to see what the inside of that motor looks like. I have heavily considered honing the cylinders myself (which is what i think im gonna do) but a local machine shop right up the street from me would do it for 16 bucks. Its 8 bucks a cylinder and i could probably go pick it up in an hour or two.. Im thinking everything but the cylinders/pistons is going to look great. The crankcase seems to be completely rust free. What defines a bad piston? Im thinking grooves on the sides would make it a bad piston but im not sure. I do know that this motor was seized from sitting with water in it. Do you guys think im gonna need pistons?

Well i did some work on the 750 today. Found that the cylinders were at a damn near mirror finish..... NEXT TO ALL THE DAMN SURFACE RUST what kind of an ass can leave a bike out in the rain without sparkplugs in it? its just aweful. Anyways i got the head and cylinders off tonight. The cams show absolutely no wear. Looks like the bike was ran yesterday honestly minus the cylinders. Also on cylinder 1 (the cylinder with the buggered up spark plug hole) looks like it may need some machining on the valves. Seems like theres dirt? Might be why i had such terrible compression was the valves werent closing all the way. Anyways, ill be going to the machine shop tomorrow to get a quote on the head. I already have the money for the work too. I think ill wait a wee bit on the KZ1000 rebuild. Rode it today and yesterday with no problems except for the clutch cable which ill be replacing tomorrow as well. Ill post pics of the head and cylinders all tore off the engine tomorrow. Gotta let the camera charge. Depending on the quote, ill let you know Brian if i need the head and cylinders probably tomorrow night.

well, im still waiting on a call from the machine shop. In the mean time i have tore into the carbs. The PO said they were seized up. All i can say is it looked like somebody dumped pancake syrup on them at some point in time carbs are moving healthily and are clean. Also removed the wiring harness and bar controls. Only downside so far (not to mention to 250-300 dollars im blowing) is the kill switch was broke. Remember you guys, this motor is going into What will be, ONE MEAN ASS GOCART!! Thinking i will make a buggy style frame. The back will conform to the gastank off of the bike. Gonna make sure i have one hell of a rollcage too. Also, on the treasure i found in my garage... i found a racing harness from my uncles old racecar that should work awesome for this project. Also found the seat out of the race car in the basement. all is going pretty well. Sorry about not posting any pictures. Ill try to get some up soon.