$400 - 79' KZ650 Restoration and adding a Hack...

For the moment I am in Sanford but plan on moving over to Leesburg in a few weeks.. Looking forward to it even if I will have to commute to work..

I have family in Leesburg. I lived in Umatilla for about 10 years, 10 years ago.

We have a place just north of Lake Yale, moving out pretty soon and plan on using the KZ as a commuter rig. Love it out there, not nearly the crime as here in the old part of Sanford.

Im very familiar with those parts. I have a friend that lives behind Marsh Park on the south end of Lake Yale. I still go up that way frequently. I have an Ex wife up there to.:laugh:

Well, a very busy day today. I did not get around to working on the bike until after 8:30pm so not much got done..

Got to break out my toy.. $10 of stuff from Ace, I went all out and put a real valve on it.

Used some of that 15w fork oil I have sitting about, nasty stuff that...

Hooked up my home made sync device to #2 and #1. It worked just as planned..

Moved onto #3 and used #2 as a reference.. Started to have issues. #2 seems to be pulling much harder than 3 to the point I can throttle #3 up and hear the engines rpms increase and still #2 has more pull.

I am wondering if this means #3 has float bowl level issues? Or would the problem be with the actual cylinder and should I try and do a compression check? At the moment I a leaning toward float/carb adjustment since #3 was the carb that was in the #4 spot and running dry for a bit.


Any suggestions?


In other news, did not get to talk to my subframe welding guy today.. Am a bit worried and waiting for a call back. I will give him a few days and then find another welding shop.

Bought a orange 3" dome marker light for $2 at the local auto zone, fits the sidecars round headlamp perfectly. I am debating if I should make my lamps on the tub dual purpose running lights and turn signals by using a relay. I leaning towards separate though turn signals as I have a set of LED markers I can rig up.

Can't wait to get this project done, getting a bit long in the tooth with the carbs but I guess that should be expected....

Sync discussion here: =====>linky

Sync issues are now resolved and thing are back on track. What a sucker of my time though.

Got a new tail light for the hack and have it installed as well as the running lights. Have the wiring harness half installed and will complete that soon.

Next week I will be getting the Subframe made and hack attached.. OOOOhhhhhhh, can't wait...

Well, I got the bike back from the welder today..

He built me quite a nice subframe and upon getting off work today I attached the hack...

Pictures in the next day or so...


Took the rig for a run around the block, I really need to rebuild my rear brake, it was weak before and now it it pretty much non functional.

So, a few issues remain to be ironed out.

Carbs (#3 and #4) still puking gas
Rear brake not working well
Exhaust pipe needs to be reattached

I will be pulling the carbs tomorrow and working on the floats on the bench. Hopefully I can get that sorted. I will have to do some research into float adjustment me thinks.

As the exhaust was set up it could not be reattached to the bike with enough clearance. I will be bringing the machine back to the muffler shop and having them bend a pipe from the choke on the 4 to 1 over to the left side and hang the muffler on the left. To facilitate this I removed the center stand and side stand from the bike today.

Ordered new rear brake pads, I do have some grooving/wear on the rear disc and am wondering if I should replace it. I will have to research what the proper thickness should be.


Any input on these things would be helpful.

And now some pictures..

The business end....

The best picture of my bracket.. I took it to a local family owned shop and must say I am very happy with the results. Very well done. My other pictures of the bracket did not turn out..

Nice job with the hack. What kind of rig is that ? Was it hard to do? I would like to do that, can the hacks be picked up for a reasonable price?

Its a CJ sidecar, bought it from this site... www.cjsidecar.com/ .. Ordered it in December for $900 and $400 shipping. It arrived in April up in Jacksonville,FL, the closest point of arrival for bulk shipping. I had to pay an additional $150 or so to get it out of hock.

I would buy from the guy again.
The hack is all Iron and heavy, with leaf sping suspension so it can be a bit bouncy.

It is hard to find a car of this quality for under $2k so I think I made out.

A bit on the subframe.

I had to obtain the frame bosses and brackets separately. Bosses can be had at a site like "Dauntless" for a reasonable price. Their bracket kits can get pricey. I bought the angle braces (turnbuckles) on ebay for $20 per.

I opted to get a welder that knew what he was doing and is a motorcycle guy to do up the sub frame. He did a exceptional job with the tubing and bosses I supplied.

4 Bosses- $40 from a local Ural shop
1.25 DOM tubing $32 from local salvage yard
Welding- $260
Braces- $40 on ebay from China
Nuts and bolts, wire harness and new lights for the hack $40

So at this time I have about as much money into the car as the bike excluding the $1500 to get the car itself. I imagine I have about $2800 sunk into the entire rig so far.

Well, I have been running the rig a little bit the past few weeks. A few issues have cropped up.

The petcock leaks due to faulty chinese gasket material, called the supplier and he sent a new gasket but now its leaking again. Gotta love ethanol mixed fuels...
I blame the overreaching government more than the petcock manufacturer.

My #2 carb needle valve is not seating, gotta pull the carb pack and clean it up with some emery cloth. This in combination with my leaky petcock causes a consistent puking of fuel from the vent line... :dry:

Had a stress/vibration fracture of the rear exhaust pipe hanging strap. The bike tends to be buzzy and the strap was fairly thin and welded on both ends. I will be replacing it with a strap the incorporates a rubber gromit of some nature to help with fatigue.

I have a slow electrical drain on the battery. I just have to isolate the bad circuit and fix it. It will hold a charge for about 3 days of sitting before you have to kick start instead of using the ES.

The gasket under the cam chain tensioner is leaking oil. The previous owner used form-a-gasket and its not holding up. Also the Tac gasket on the front of the engine is worn out and needs replacement. I will be ordering these from Z1.

Last tank I got 50mpg, not bad for towing a tub. The bike seems to run out of steam at about 65mph in 5th gear but I can kick it back to 4th and rev higher and it will give me a pretty good cruise at 70mph until I come up to a hill.. Then it is back to between 65 and 55.

I need to bleed the rear brake some more, still a bit squishy. I have to go buy some more fluid. If my next bleeding does not get it done the I will probably need to rebuild the rear master cylinder.

Lori (my wife) loves the hack, I have also taken one of the dogs (Jack) for a ride with his doggles on. He thinks its great but tends to lower himself down into the seat at about 65+, guess the wind gets to him.