KZ650C Where to Start?

So I recently acquired a 1977 KZ650C for free from a guy on Craigslist. It doesnt run and looks like it needs pretty much everything electrical rewired. I have a daigram and this is the first thing I'm going to do.

After that I was wondering where I should start in getting this thing running, it ha sat for quite a long time. I planned on putting in new plugs, putting a fuel filter on, cleaning the gas tank, doing an oil change and see if I could get it running and hopefully tuned enough to get an idea if anything else needs work.

Any suggestions on what I should do?

First of all welcome to the forum. There are a lot of us here that own KZ650's (Bad Kaw being the exception). You will find them to be great all around bikes.

I re-hab these old relics constantly and I've pretty much developed a standard routine. I normally start with an oil and filter change, then do a compression test, then test the coil voltage, since this is normally low in a bike this age I typically do the Wired George coil repowering mod. Put in a fresh set of plugs and see that I have spark. I have a test tank for gas that I got from a lawnmower attached to a coat hanger with a few zip ties, it has a long fuel hose with a shutoff valve also from a lawn mower. I normally will add some seafoam to the gas and fill the carbs up let them sit with this mix for a day or two then drain all the bowls and see what comes out. Usually you are looking at pulling the carbs off and having to go through them but every now and then you get lucky and you won't have to. I either use a jump battery and cables or rob a battery from one of my other bikes to see where I am with all the electrics.

After doing all this I cross my fingers and see if I can get it to run. I generally don't bother cleaning the tank out till last after I have it running well on the test tank. You already mentioned an inline fuel filter which is always a good thing.

Once it runs well start looking at chassis stuff, brakes, tires, fork seals, chain and sprockets, steering head bearings etc.

How many miles are on your bike and where are you located?
There may be someone here close willing to lend a hand.

BTW nice score, free bikes are always a good thing.

There you go. Great advice from a renownd KZ restorer.

Welcome to KZR.

Give us some pix of your ride when you can.
We love pix.

The Gringo wrote:

First of all welcome to the forum. There are a lot of us here that own KZ650's (Bad Kaw being the exception).

You're mean!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

As far as the rest of the post goes, I agree 100%, and I do it the exact same way.

Compression is the most important thing, if it's low and it jumps up a bunch with a little oil in the cylinders, then it becomes at least a parts motor, and depending on the condition of the rest of the bike, maybe a parts bike. Rings alone are a minimum $250 expense, if it needs bored then you're talking $700-$800.

Unless you're like me and spend three years scanning eBay daily for super deals on NOS and used parts. If I could, I'd probably change my member name to "Cheapskate"

Got parts if you run into needing something,