Turned down rebuild at local shop

Yea, I had a local shop tell me several years ago to quit wasting my money on those "dinasours". The fact is KZ's are still very popular drag racing engines and parts are not that hard to find. There are many drag racing shops more than willing/capable of doing any work you need. I have found that it's now necessary to ship many items to have the work done (valve jobs, porting, etc...) because the local shops only work on the newer bikes, but it can be done. Regarding the value of the bike...who cares as long as it makes you happy! I would never get all of the money out of mine but I don't plan on selling it either. Buy stocks and bonds if you want a return on your investment!

Snakebyte wrote:

What you should do is, after you get your bike done you should bring it buy his shop and do a 11,500 rpm burn out. :evil:
Dont forget about the one finger salute.

Ditto. I think this response by "bike shops" is really common, had that experience myself with what I have always considered the best independent shop in town. Once I found the KZ drag racing market (Jay's fine company for example, who rebuild a buncha KZs and GSs engines a day) and the vintage enthusiast market (Z1 Enterprises, Sudco, etc.), everything became easy.

Don't be afraid to ship your head or jugs somewhere to get the job right - I was absolutely amazed to find it was cheaper (sometimes MUCH) and easier than dealing with local shops in some situations.

Post edited by: elseed, at: 2006/01/18 13:31

I was wondering, couldn't you just buy a couple of kz650s for well under 3 grand, or maybe just one with really low miles? I'm guessing you have a lot of sentimental value with the kz650s you currently own, just as I do with my bike. Maybe you can sell your current bikes for parts and use that towards a kz650 with low miles. Just an alternative I thought I'd throw out there if money is a factor. Good luck on your quest.

Post edited by: sakiguy, at: 2006/01/18 18:19

I am going to rebuild my 650 soon, been gathering parts fo a bot off of ebay and such, I would think you could do it for a lot less than 3k, been looking for a machine shop around here, the biggest on so far is the rings, not going to be cheap but well worth it.
do you know how many miles on the engines, may not need as much work as you think

I agree with APE Jay. Everything you need is readily available. What's the big deal? Do you need a valve job? Any machine shop can do that. Most of the work except for the boring you can do yourself easily. That includes installing new springs, cams, valve guides, valves, etc. Of course, do you WANT to put $1500-2000 into this motor? That's up to you. If you like the bike and want to have something unique--and fast--then why not? Otherwise, spend $6300 on the new Kawi ER-6n 650 or get an SV650. I think you ran into a mechanic who was having a bad day. Or else he only wants to work on new stuff.

a lot of them mechanics are parts changers theyre just interested in easy stuff they can bolt on a new sportbike and make a lot of money for little effort in my experience!get your self a decent shop manual and you should be able to do most of it yourself other than machine work,if you cant build a healthy motor for under a grand theres something seriously wrong!$3000.00 for a hundred horse 900?:blink: ive built complete bikes that flatout haul ass for half of that!maybe see if you can pickup another complete 650 motor to rebuild then you can keep your bike together till your ready to swap it out!goodluck,happy wrenching!:whistle:

I agree with APE Jay. Everything you need is readily available. What's the big deal? Do you need a valve job? Any machine shop can do that. Most of the work except for the boring you can do yourself easily. That includes installing new springs, cams, valve guides, valves, etc. Of course, do you WANT to put $1500-2000 into this motor? That's up to you. If you like the bike and want to have something unique--and fast--then why not? Otherwise, spend $6300 on the new Kawi ER-6n 650 or get an SV650. I think you ran into a mechanic who was having a bad day. Or else he only wants to work on new stuff.

I agree with APE Jay. Everything you need is readily available. What's the big deal? Do you need a valve job? Any machine shop can do that. Most of the work except for the boring you can do yourself easily. That includes installing new springs, cams, valve guides, valves, etc. Of course, do you WANT to put $1500-2000 into this motor? That's up to you. If you like the bike and want to have something unique--and fast--then why not? Otherwise, spend $6300 on the new Kawi ER-6n 650 or get an SV650. I think you ran into a mechanic who was having a bad day. Or else he only wants to work on new stuff.

I cant say how pumped I am to get all of the incouragement, holy crap. Anyway, I mistated my intentions i guess. I dont care too much about the money, my goal is to take a bike that was previously running that I got for free(full bike) and a bike I got for 300 bucks with an engine and rolling chasis and do most of the work myself(hopefully through guidance from you guys). I am very mechanical and have a sweet shop and tools. I am getting a parts washer bin tomorrow(drool) and possibly an air compressor. Heres what she will get:

Textured grey powdered case, textured black(flat) top end with polished fins, all clear coated with powder. Chromed battery tray(so I can punt the side panels) an axle mounted rear license plate, shaved rear fender and fiberglass cowl, dual disced spoked wheels with drilled rotors, and a wicked digital LCD speedo/tach combo. I have my one engine semi dissasembled and have boxed and labelled every frickin nut and bolt, I have three sets of tachs and speedos, and may or may not rebuild one set. It has a 4 into one header with ok looking pipe, but I am not sure of what to do with the top end. ie the valves. It looks fairly simple, I sure wish I lived by someone else who loved these bikes as much as I do.

John

also please excuse my spelling, its just bad. I will post a pic of the valve cover I polished and then wrinkle coated and then razor bladed off the fins and the DOHC, and then three layers of clear, it looks pretty cool.

Check your private messages xstream.

ill even throw in a hye tech utilities shirt for you to wear when you do the burnout infront of the service managers desk!:woohoo: