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Picked up a winter project a few weeks ago. Plan to make it a cafe type bike. Nothing too crazy, fix all the cheap lights that were put on it, figure out the over flowing carb and add some new paint. Needs new tires and other general maint. Only has about 19k miles.

Welcome to our space on the web. Looks like a solid candidate for your plans. Please keep us informed of your progress with pic. We love lots of pics.

Check the tank for rust and make sure the float valves are clear! I keep running into problems where my float needle is getting stuck open due to rust from in the tank sneaking through my fuel filter.

Looks nice!

dpivas7 wrote: Check the tank for rust and make sure the float valves are clear! I keep running into problems where my float needle is getting stuck open due to rust from in the tank sneaking through my fuel filter.

Looks nice!

I've got 4 carb kits coming and will make sure to do a fuel filter change as well. I'm assuming it is just some crap in the fuel system as it seemed to go away when I was running it yesterday. I'm planning on cleaning the tank out well and coating the inside with some tank liner

Did an awesome job of not doing much to the bike this winter, but the last few weeks have been a flurry of activity.
1) Fixed all the electrical gremlins in the lights
2) Fixed the fuel leakage issue and put kits in all the carbs
3) Changed the (original) tires and added some balance beads
4) New brake pads all around
5) Did some minor stuff like new rear lighting, grips, horn, AGM battery


Runs great, maybe someday soon after the next snowstorm I can try it out.

Have a new seat on order from Texivana
New MAC exhaust coming to replace the stock (patched) stuff
Some mirrors on the way
Plan on getting the pinstripes stripped off the tank and figure out some sort of trim/emblem to cover up where the Kawasaki logos used to be
Still need to find or make a battery hold down - was missing from the bike when I got it

Good work!
Looking forward to follow your progress

Pulled the exhaust off during lunchtime in preparation for the new stuff showing up. Still need to get the studs out, there was one broken one and I ordered a full new set of stainless that should be here in a few days. Was surprised and how easily 38 year old exhaust came off, mostly in good shape. Looks like there was a patch with some exhaust goo on one of the pipes at some point.

New toys. Just realized that they did not come with new gaskets so I ordered a set that should be here next week.

Got the exhaust on tonight, doesn't sound any louder than stock to me. Put the manifold nuts on a 5 ft lbs, which seems awfully loose.

Oldjeep wrote: Got the exhaust on tonight, doesn't sound any louder than stock to me. Put the manifold nuts on a 5 ft lbs, which seems awfully loose.

It may seem loose, but 5 ft lbs is good. The manual calls for 4.5 - 6.5 ft lbs for 6mm coarse threads. I normally stay near the light side of torque specs to avoid stripping threads. Ed

When using a torque wrench on those nuts, it's probably best to use an INCH-lbs torque wrench. I can't get a torque wrench on all of the nuts, so I tighten some of them by feel using a small wrench & use only a couple of fingers to push the wrench. Then re-tighten after riding the motorcycle.


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martin_csr wrote: When using a torque wrench on those nuts, it's probably best to use an INCH-lbs torque wrench. I can't get a torque wrench on all of the nuts, so I tighten some of them by feel using a small wrench & use only a couple of fingers to push the wrench. Then re-tighten after riding the motorcycle.


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I used an inch/lb wrench. Doubt that any of my other ft/lb wrenches even go down to 5 ft lbs. No issue getting the torque wrench on any of them. The torque wrench is a 1/4, so with a short extension and a deep socket you can hit them all head on. I thought the 5 ft lbs was funny since I can get tighter than that with a nut driver.
Will definitely be keeping an eye on them.