1978 D1 winter rebuild

Hey everybody,

I've been around the forum for a while since I picked this bike up at the end of July (2011). It's my first bike, I knew I needed one after riding for the first time on a 125cc of all things a couple years back! My roommate and I set out on getting bikes and I stumbled across this one in a friend's backyard, apparently the guy who lived there before him had moved away and left it. I got in contact with the PO and set up a little exchange: $100 bucks for the registration and bill of sale. I had no idea what condition it was in, but I wanted to learn the mechanics as well as having a machine to ride, and I couldn't really pass up the price. Here it is near the end of November:



From July until shortly before this picture was taken, all my work was spent on just getting it to run. With the help of people on this site, books, and my roommate (who has worked on cars -1970 montecarlo- but never motorcycles, around the same time he bought a 1982 yamaha maxim 550), I redid pretty much all of the wiring, put new springs and rollers in the starter motor clutch (wound up still needing a kickstart when it's cold - I guess the rod it grabs must be worn out too?), removed the rear wheel that was sticking and replaced it with all of the parts in the right order, replaced the battery, did a serious carb overhaul, and various other tasks large and small that were keeping the bike from running. In the end I wound up spending lots more on repairs than the initial purchase price, but hey, it works!

Here are a few more shots 360 around the bike. As you can see it's been neglected outside for a while, the PO tried to black it out with rattle cans while the parts were still on the bike, and between the weather and gasoline spills (many of which were admittedly my fault) his weak paint job has started to dissolve.


and the blacked out parts have overspray onto chrome/the brake disks etc

sad seat

the trek in the background is the baby i'm rocking now. not nearly as fun


Luckily, winter (if you can call this winter) came late to Providence (RI), so I kept the bike on the road through the beginning of January and got a few fun months out of it. Now that we know it works, my roommate and I have moved the bikes into our basement and are planning complete rebuilds. Time to make them sexy again! We're taking everything apart down to the frame, repainting and then rebuilding in time for spring (or at least that's the plan). This bike should look as good as it runs

I have pics of disassembled parts that I'll put up as soon as I get them off my phone.

Thanks for reading! I look forward to showing off progress as the weeks go by!
-Alejandro

love the D series 650's i have 2, 1 is completed into my current ride, and i love it to death, something about the stepped tank grabs my attention more than the round ones off the other 650's.

good luck!

and from my experience just save up and do it right the first time...i just finished my build and i wish i had done things in powdercoat rather than paint

Nice project you have. Keep us posted. Roy

Hi Alejandro,

Love the bike, that was a great find! Considering you started from scratch experience wise, you have done a great job. The only thing I would suggest if you are doing everything in the basement like painting or use of other chemicals, is to invest in a good respiratory filter good for chemicals (you can by one for about 15 bucks and Harbor Freight). Looking forward to seeing your build. Well done!

thanks for the enthusiasm guys!

I love the look of the angled tank too. I'm trying to do as much as I can on my own for experience's sake, so powdercoating's kind of off the table, but rest assured I'm doing the research and prep work to do the best job I can

We actually have exactly those respirators, and we've set up a paint room with ventilation and plastic on the walls. I'll throw up pics at some point

Moving on!

I'm currently working on two main areas at once. First, I'm stripping the main body parts for repainting:

tank


fenders


frame


and swingarm, kickstands, etc. already primed




At the same time, I'm continuing taking apart the components to clean and rebuild them, starting with the front end. I have the front suspension, triple tree, and gauges all off and I'm taking them apart. I stripped the rattle can black paint from the lower part of the forks (it was only one one side because they were sprayed on the bike), and I pumped out the old fork oil. I was going to disassemble the forks but it seems like more trouble than it's worth so I think I'm just going to replace the oil and dust cover and then polish up the bottom part.

I've been having a bit of trouble with the bearings and the steering stem. I got the balls out, and I pounded out the upper rake in the steering column. The plan is to replace the bearings with the new self contained unit style rather than the rakes and loose balls. The trouble is with the lower rakes. I'm going to try heat, but the internal rake is stuck in the frame still, and the other rake seems to be welded to the bottom part of the triple tree on the steering stem. Grind it off?

I'm going to repaint the triple tree black once i've removed the rust and old paint.


The gauges are in the process of disassembly, and I'm still deciding whether to replace the covers or just repaint them. One has a dent.


And here is the most troubling prospect for the future... the wiring harness

Luckily, I already did TONS of work on this thing so I know how it works very well. The PO really did a number on it cutting willy nilly and twisting wires together by hands and stuff.

Anyway, that's the current status. I'm going to paint the battery box and headlight case today and I'll have pics up tomorrow.

Back to the dungeon!

I've got some more pics of progress on parts.

The top of the triple tree stripped


and reprimed



Here are the aforementioned forks stripped down

with the calipers, which I'm not sure whether I want to get into dissasembling for repainting. I kind of want to do them red as accent pieces to match an accent I want to do on the tank.

the headlight bucket is also in progress

the plan with it is to go black for the rear and leave chrome on the front.

Last night I helped my roommate finish cleaning and then prime his frame, and tonight in exchange he is going to help me with mine. Still have to figure out how to get out that lower steering race...

oops... forks:

bin there done that
KEEP THE BIKES IN RUNNING ORDER
ride the shit out of them
DONT!! take them apart if you dont know what youre doing
ride just ride
enjoy and repeat

Hey,

Still working! I just removed the side cover to check my points and found this! :woohoo: :woohoo:

electronic ignition! has anyone seen this type before, I have no idea what I'm looking at! I looked up kz electronic ignition online and it only showed dyna which looks different. It does look like this was put in quite a while ago though. I guess it's a good thing, less maintenance!

on an unrelated note, I just got a chance to pick up a 1979 kz750, probably to use as a parts bike/ or... another project...
does anyone know about the scope of compatibility of parts between these two bikes? They look pretty similar from pics online, except it looks like the 750 is some type of inline twin?!?! :ohmy:

1978 KZ650 D1 oem ignition was points.

Ignition pictured looks like a later oem electronic ignition.

Perhaps the original 1978 points ignition was replaced with a later Kawasaki electronic ignition.

Or perhaps the original 1978 engine was replaced with a later year engine.




Good Fortune!

The twin and I4 wont have a TON of compatible parts but a few might work for you, that looks exactly like a 750 electronic ignition i have about 4 laying in my parts bins...i swapped my ignition to a dyna last year and love it