1979 KZ650D Old School Cafe

Hey guys,

So I am building another bike. I have a cop bike project on here that isnt done that you may have seen. When I got that bike, I also got this bike. It is good and bad.

Some good things:

Bike is very clean, it is obvious that the previous owner was in the middle of building it. The motor has been taken apart (rebuilt?) and painted. ALL the electronics in the motor are brand new.

Tank and carbs were drained before the start, so there is no bad gas anywhere and the tank is in great shape inside. Also, no dents. One chipped area with a little rust.

Some bad things:

The bike sat outside for at least 2 years. Part of that time, laying on its side. Not cool. The ignition cover is a real nice glossy black, well, was, until it layed on its side and got corroaded.

Because it was a build previously, it is missing a bunch of stuff. No footpegs at all, no shifter, no chain, no sprocket cover, no cntrols at all, it has bars, but they are totally bare. No from brakes.



I only have this one picture of it right now. I have the seat and side covers, but they are off the bike.

So my plan is to make a cafe bike out of it. I have two focuses, I want to make it classic in look and parts, as much as possible. I want to use as many old parts, or at least parts that have an old look. I want it to actually be fast tho, so I will use modern tires and stuff. I probably wont run gauges, I want the front end to be VERY slim. I might stick another digital dash somewhere, but it would have to be REAL small, cause I dont want it to take away from the old look. I really want to make it look like it is right out of 1979.

So that aside, here is what I have done so far.

I pulled the carbs. Anybody want a stock air box?

I pulled the carbs apart. They are beautiful inside. Well, except the one on the bottom when it was laying down. It had some white powder in it (coke smuggler?). It obviously got in there in a liquid form than dried, leaving the powder. So I cleaned that out. The slide was frozen in there too. I layed the carb on the ground and pointed a heat gun at it. After about 15 minutes I was able to get it loose. I cleaned the slides and carbs with 1500 grit sand paper and then polished all slides and carbs with mothers. they are butter smooth now. I cleaned off all the old gasket and now they are ready to go back together.

I filled the bike with oil, it was real clean in the fill hole. I kicked over the kick starter and it is real smooth. I took the spark plugs out and put a small amount of marvel mystery oil in each one before kicking it, to lube the rings.

So that is where I am at right now. I will keep this updated and it goes.

Suggestions/comments are welcome, of course.

Also, it is 18" rear and 19" front wheel. Can you get performance tires for those sizes? And I mean, serious performance, like, knee dragging performance. Or would I need 17" rims?

sweetbro wrote: Also, it is 18" rear and 19" front wheel. Can you get performance tires for those sizes? And I mean, serious performance, like, knee dragging performance. Or would I need 17" rims?

If is a 79D, shouldn't it have a 16" rear wheel?

Looks like a 79 C3. It would have come with 18" rear mag like it has.

Well, the vin is a 79D, but when I got the bike, I also got another frame, I dont know exactly what model it is, I have not looked at the vin. It is just frame and motor and random bits. Its quite possible the guy put different parts on the frame of the bike I am building now. Who knows. The house/yard of the place I bought it was LITTERED with bike crap. Every brand and make and type imaginable.

But either way, can I get good tires for this? Or should I maybe build some spoked wheels in 17? Might not be correct, but its the best way I can think to keep an old look and also improve performance.

I suspect the frame is a B/C as the duck tail won't fit the D frame, at least not without a lot of modification.

You'll be fine with tires as 18" rear and 19" fronts are not that uncommon. I know that Dunlop has had paired sets in those sizes.

If you buy some V rated tires you will have plenty of stick for knee dragging performance.

Also, hold onto the airbox in case you want to go back to it one day.
Otherwise someone else could probably use it, one day.

Ok, cool. Im sure there are good tires. I just dont know, I only know new bikes. All my bikes have been less than 10 years old before these two so I just dont know what is out there.

Obviously there are people who shred these bikes, so there are obviously sticky tires.

Anyway, I am getting my carb gaskets today, so I may try to turn the bike over this weekend. Also, I will be mounting up some of the bar controls. I will take some better pictures too. I got some new brakes too, I will show those when I get them mounted up.

This post has some info on what others are using for tires.

forums.kz650.info/index.php?topic=1913.0

I will check that out for tires, thanks.

I guesss I have more important things to worry about now tho. So I have not looked to hard at the motor til today. Fist pic is of the white powder that was in the carb and head of cylinder 1. next 4 are down each intake runner. Obviously water got down into the number one intake runner.











So if that is the only damage, can I remove the head, remove the valves, replace damaged parts, clean and put back together with a new headgasket? What do you guys think? The odometer claims 10000 miles, so I dont know if it is really that, or 110000.

Also, What is this thing? Is it oil pressure> The screw the arrow points to is loose. What is the screw for?



I looked close at the vin, it starts "KZ650D" So I dont know what to say about that.

Nice to meet you and welcome. I can see the pics you posted so I can not speak to that. I have a 77kz1000a wig 19" front 18" rear I did not have any issue finding tires that are paired and work well. Motor cycle super store has a lot of great tire for a good price. If you have mags now and aren't going to use them let me know I want them. I don't like running tubes, I have spokes stock wheels.