Full engine rebuilder suggestions

I'm interested in  full engine rebuild on my '78 KZ650.  I bought it off Cycl Trader, and It starts and runs like an old bike.  It smokes a lot when cold, and smokes a little when riding around. I want to restore engine internals so it's not burning so much oil.
I live in Atlanta, but I often drive to California and have a bike carrier,  so any service provider anywhere would be considered as I can deliver and pick up the bike without any trouble.
Also, what would be a reasonable cost to rebuilder the engine properly?
I greatly appreciate everyone's knowledge and experience. 
Thank you. 

You don't want to tackle it yourself?

Aside from few special tools, basic hand tools will complete the job. More than likely, you can reuse most of the engine stuff, aside from wear parts like rings and clutches. And even do some upgrade like starter clutch. Saves you lots of $$$ and use it for parts and other stuff. Unless of course, you trying to build a race engine.

Kawasaki engines from this era are amazingly robust and unless you screw it up big time (and even at that, not sure how as long as you follow the service manual from Kawasaki or PDF files from this site), engine will fire up. If it doesn't, you can always ask questions here and more than likely, there's a member within your area who will be more than happy to lend their hands.

Try it. It's a fun bike. Well, at least for me.

Hey, thank you for the reply.
In response, my plan is to pay to have a very good shop do the work. I don't have the time to do it myself.
Is anyone on this forum familiar with any shops that do this work and have a good reputation for high quality work?
 

V&H, APE are in Cali, if you have $$$ they will talk to you.

Just talked to a guy recently looking to get air cooled cylinder head work done, and he called V&H, they did not hang up the phone.

V&H...? Do you mean Vance and Hines, the exhaust manufacturer?
If Vance and Hines does cylinder head work, it's not something they make known. And, I'd still be looking for the shop that does the mechanic work, not just the machining.

APE?  No full.spelling or a city???

Anyone know the name of any shop that rebuilds bike engines!?!?!?!?!??!
 

APE
Then there's these guys  Atlanta Motorcycle Works .  I do my own work, so I've never used them but know people who have. 
Then there is a place by me (Lake Lanier) that does that work but I'll have to get the info and report back. 

I just sent a PM with contact info for Ray Rains (rapidray) in California.  He's a long time GS Resources member that builds race engines.  He's not cheap, but trustworthy.  

BTW, how many miles are on the engine?  If it's high mileage, new pistons are going to be needed.  IMD makes a .5mm oversize set that looks pretty nice.  Or, go Wiseco big bore kit, for more money, and power.

wrote:

V&H...? Do you mean Vance and Hines, the exhaust manufacturer?
If Vance and Hines does cylinder head work, it's not something they make known. And, I'd still be looking for the shop that does the mechanic work, not just the machining.

APE?  No full.spelling or a city???

Anyone know the name of any shop that rebuilds bike engines!?!?!?!?!??!






 

Yes!

Hines started out working on Z1/GS 2V engines as a basis of what the company is today.

Just search APE race parts... go into KZ zone

They all employ technicians that could build your engine in the dark.




 

You might give these guys a call.  www.atlantamotorcycleworks.com/index.php/headers .          I believe APE, ( American Performance Engineering ) is still in Rosamond C.A., in the high desert off I-14.   Good luck ...

There's also  Livengood Motorsports  in Lawrenceville. I have never used them but know people who have.
And one more, L&S Performance 4635 Church Rd Suite 300 Cumming, GA. 678.677.6960

wrote:

I'm interested in  full engine rebuild on my '78 KZ650.  I bought it off Cycl Trader, and It starts and runs like an old bike.  It smokes a lot when cold, and smokes a little when riding around. I want to restore engine internals so it's not burning so much oil.
I live in Atlanta, but I often drive to California and have a bike carrier,  so any service provider anywhere would be considered as I can deliver and pick up the bike without any trouble.
Also, what would be a reasonable cost to rebuilder the engine properly?
I greatly appreciate everyone's knowledge and experience. 
Thank you. 




 

Getting back to your original question, you said you often drive to California so I thought you may want to deal with someone out there. Since this is a Kawasaki specific forum I thought everybody would know who APE was as well as V&H.

A lot of motorcycle repair shops would only deal in fixing cylinder heads and bore/hone cylinder barrels, not too many want to spend the time to rebuild a complete motor as there are a lot of parts to deal with and possible replacement costs unseen. There is no money to be made in that type of work (according to my local motor guy) and there is always a chance something could be missing once the final build is done (unsatisfied customer if not done right) so  they generally shy away from doing it.

Anything these days in the automotive related world seems to be $100/HR so figure on a shop charging $400 to put your top end together (not including the repair/parts costs) a complete case split rebuild would be double.

I believe most people on here would send out there top end pieces to get repaired (head/barrel) then do the rebuild on there own. If your not splitting the motor cases apart this is very easy to do. The most important item to buy before contemplating a rebuild is the correct FSM (Kawasaki factory service manual) its all in there, every procedure from rebuilding to tuning.

I just did a 45 second Google search on "motorcycle rebuilders" in your area and there seems to be at least a half a dozen choices, Hate City Cycles seems to specialize in vintage Japanese bikes.

Many thanks for those who have taken the time to reply to my original request (names of engine builders).

As for the references provided...
- Livengood Motorsports won't work on a bike more than 10 years old
- APE is a machine shop that makes and sells some components but they don't do engine builds
- L & S Performance and Atlanta Cycle Works both agreed to evaluate the bike in order to come up with a plan... anything beyond that is billed time & materials, which I said would be ok as there's no way to know what it might need. I'm going to follow up with these shops again very soon.
- V & H is an exhaust builder for Harley Davidson bikes. I'm sure  they have talented employees, but as a business, they only make exhausts now.
- Hate City Bikes in Atlanta appears to be a restoration shop, and not a machine shop, mechanic or engine builder. I may visit their shop to learn more about what they can do.
- If anyone has contact info for Ray Rains (rapidray), then please let me know. He sounds like a great reference. 
- I don't know the miles on the bike. All I know is it smokes outta one side exhaust and lacks compression.

Thanks again for the replies.  Any good old Kawi engine builder, anywhere in the country, is a valid suggestion.  Much appreciated.