Rolling Engine Test Stand...

While I await the arrival of some valve shims for the ol' 550a:


I got to thinking back about all the import bikes over the years - argh... just realized 'years' and 'decades' could be interchanged now :dry:

At any rate, I remembered I have an old '78 kz650 sitting in the shop, completely dismantled down to the bare engine still in the frame and that's about it.. I got this old beast at an auction up in OK a few years (argh ... again) ago for just $10 because it was near the end of the day and no one else was bidding. Well, that and it is an ugly bike due to sitting outside for a while:



I know this '650 was ridden hard and put to bed wet many times in it's previous life because the sprockets all look like circling shark fins, the chain adjusters are out of room and so forth. All signs of a hard life in the fast lane. It has less than 35k on the odo and while it wasn't ever wrecked by the PO it wasn't ever taken care of either.

So I ultimately, stripped it down to the bare bones:



Then... well, life happened and I forgot about it. It's sitting in the shop still (several hours away) and pretty much covered in blankets and plastic. The plan was always to rebuild it in a custom resto-mod; I'm thinkin' like a silver frame and black tank and skins. I started rebuilding the carbs way back when:


Even picked up some new parts for it, like suspension stuff and the missing cam chain tensioner...

So the question... What is the bare minimum needed to fire-up and run the engine in the stripped down frame?
I'm talking back-woods engineering here.
Like I wanna fire that engine up with the absolute minimum of needed parts.
As it is, the entire wire loom was removed and most of the engine parts that weren't permanently rusted on:



So what would I need?
Rigged ignition switch...check.
Coil packs...check.
Exhaust...check.
Fuel, gas can, atomizer bottle...

Anyone ever tried this before? I'd like to know how it went....

Well, I've run an engine on a homade engine stand. Prretty basic stuff. Ignition, oil, (don't forget the oil!), carbs. I didn't run it long enough to use a fuel tank, I just let the bowls fill and ran it out. I used a car battery to power the ignition and starter (no charging system). No header or exhaust... loud as hell.

Ive got a few old 900/1000 engine cradles from old chopped up frames,Ive thought about making a test stand out of one before.
Maybe Ill get one built this year. :laugh:

Where in CenTex are you ?
I'm in north Austin be cool to get together with other KZ rider's as they're not a lot of us here.
Also have a good running 650 motor just need's a reseal I'd let go cheap
if you need one.

Hey Dave!
Depending on the day of the week or time of the day, I can be found in Austin or Waco. Lately more time in Waco. I appreciate the offer for the '650 engine but as you know I have one already, it's just waiting for me to pay some attention to it. LOL