DNel's '78 KZ650 Fighter Project

Picked up a '78 KZ650 for $750 a couple weeks ago not running. All she needed was a battery and some TLC. All stock as far as I can tell except for a Dyna S ignition,coils, pods, and a 4-1 header. Plan on modifying it pretty extensively.

Day I brought her home.


Initial tear down.


As she sits! 1/29/14

Nice goal, that bike looks great. I'm going in roughly the same direction, but with a solo seat and too much chrome.

The bike in your inspiration pic looks just like my bike! I don't have the cool inverted forks, but the rest is spot on! And I love it!

Ordered a set of Driven Racing bars today, and made a seat pan. Hope to get it all on early next week

Cleaned the bike up a lot today, and painted the exhaust black. I have bars, turn signals, mirrors, tail light, gauge, seat, and jets on order. She ran pretty rich so I raised the clip on the needle 1 position, but now she leans out on top. I'm guessing whoever put on the pods & header didn't re-jet the bike. Many more updates to come this week

I have that same pic on my desktop, It is my inspiration, for my 78 650.

Oops, seems I cut the rear end of my bike off
All my parts should be here Wednesday, so I'll have a big update.

Well it's been a busy weekend with the bike. Got all my parts in and installed!

Here she is with the tail shortened and my seat pan on.


Renthal aluminum drop bars, Acewell 2853 gauge, DRC LED flasher and tail light.



I love the Acewell gauge, cleaned up the bike a lot.



I also got 17.5 pilot & 112.5 main jets installed. Just needs a bit of tuning and she should run great. Next step is zx-6r fork swap and wheels, stay tuned!

Well I got my seat back, and did a bit more tuning. Seems to be running great. I've put 300 miles on her this weekend without a hiccup.

This is how she sits as of now with exception to a new round mirror.

Well I was riding on Saturday, and the bike just dropped 2 cylinders. The bike has had numerous electrical problems, so I've decided to rewire the entire bike. I'll be out of town for work with countless hours in a hotel room, so nothing better to do than sit and duplicate the harness. Can't wait for the bike to be dependable lol.

I feel as if I'm talking to myself here, but for the sake of others knowledge/ideas I'll continue to post. I ordered an '06 zx636 front end today complete with triples, forks, brakes, wheel, and fender for $250, so I couldn't pass it up. Once the pieces get in I'll measure for a custom steering stem and drop trees. I have yet to receive any of my wiring orders, so the new harness is a bit delayed. I'm also contemplating a battery-less system. Stay tuned.

how much are those acewell gauges. I'm thinking i like that. a lot.