Peavylotus' Rebuild of the KZ Cafe

After my low budget build I rode the bike as a daily driver until I made my rookie mistake. Got to low on oil.

So after letting the bike be a piece of furniture in the parking garage. I have decided to revive her from the grave.

Here is where I am at so far:

Before




Ordered some parts


And Sandblasted.

Glad to see you bringing it back!
Wayne

Its a nice look, especially if you were to clean up the seat.

peavylotus wrote:

Attachment IMG_20130615_193742_826.jpg not found

fairly sure you're in seattle... i live in the northend.

I am in Seattle, I love this city. Thank god I'm moving though haha, moving to a suburb of Seattle this October. Been in this vary apartment attached to the balcony pictured since November 2010, which is when I moved to Seattle. Time to switch up my life.

Now about that seat, I threw it out already haha, I am redoing it as well as making the bike a simple monoshock using the swingarm that's on the bike. I have a shop space now with a welder (professional retired welder) which I am stoked for. I am not making the bike crazy or anything but there will be some cutting, more simplifying and an ungodly amount of CLEANING

All I am doing to the engine is replacing pistons to the 1030cc, replacing the cam chain components and cam bearings, maybe the cam shafts. But all OEM nothing unreliable since every damn part for these bikes cost's a first born child.

Like I said, Mostly cleaning though still staying close to the café style. I want it to look like its 5 years old rather than 33 years, cleanliness wise.

Yeah....Seattle is a cool place. Where you moving to? Who will you have bore out the cylinders to 1030? I have always liked what you did with your bike so keep the pics and info coming man. Good luck

peavylotus wrote: All I am doing to the engine is replacing pistons to the 1030cc, replacing the cam chain components and cam bearings, maybe the cam shafts. But all OEM nothing unreliable since every damn part for these bikes cost's a first born child.

There is nothing wrong with OEM, but from a manufacturing point of view, OEM tends to be of lower quality compared to aftermarket items. It is an effort by kawi to keep the original sale price down and meet regulations. For example, the OEM top idler assembly gear has got rubber on it to reduce noise, after 30+ years they are shot on most bikes. You can get billet ones From APE for much less, and they wont deteriorate, and will give you more accurate timing. jus sayin... maybe compare quality and price before you hop on the OEM boat.

btw i did the apartment thing in seattle for a while but i ended up moving to the burbs so i could have a real studio/garage, so i feel ya there.

Another option is a 900 block bored to your 1015 pistons. I had thought about monoing my stock arm but many hear felt it would need to be braced up. I went with a GPZ arm which can be had cheap enough. Lots od choices and stock will be as much if not more work to mono than others in my opinion.
Wayne

Thanks Bluz and this post won't let you down since I got my pistons today. I was thinking Action Machine since they seem easy to work with.

Well I assume your right Doctor, When it comes to buying all the valvetrain stuff I will consult with the forum because I have a hard time figuring out what parts are worth buying aftermarket because they cost so much from what I've searched. like 50 dollars for a manual cam chain tensioner and I think the cam idler your speaking of is 150. Maybe i'll just have to bite the bullet and just spend the money so I have a cool bike that I don't have to fiddle with for a while.

As far as moving, were going to hire a realtor and have them find us a place within our range, showing us the options. We want Beacon Hill or Northgate close to UW where I plan on transferring to in the coming years. Every time we go to move; the house we want gets taken or there is no response. And all the effort and money to moving, to do it with practically sight unseen is to unnerving especially when you are to pay roughly $16,000 dollars a year on rent alone. That's not chump change for us average people. In affect we keep resigning the lease in our apartment (me and the girlfriend). This place is a goddamn money pit.

I digress...I got the pistons in! I even did an unboxing video because I was so excited haha

They are one size over 70.5mm so 1030cc and cast aluminum. The compression ratio is 10.25/1

took down video

ill be curious to see if action machining comes through. i have had good experiences with them with car stuff. when i called them to see if they would bore out the jugs for the KZ they said they didnt do bikes. at the time i thought that was BS but i let it go.

BTW top idler assembly is $99 from APE and OEM is $149

well I bought some more stuff today, took your advice Docto, and I went with the billet tensioner. I am not replacing any of the sprockets. I think they are all in good shape. still have a few more parts to get but she will be going back together when I get the cylinders back from being Bored a size up to 1045.

Some things I could use advice on:
When switching to pods, should I change the jetting for the inside two cylinders
Does anyone know what size to look for when searching for a banjo bolt that can hold two brake lines so I can delete the bulky splitter?
Also, when looking for a after market master cylinder, what size am I looking for.

A couple of things I am doing with the electronics, I wrote a little program to turn my Arduino into a blinker switch and attempting to turn it into an ignition with some solid state relays as well. But on the ignition I am all bark and no bite cause i have to learn how still.