1979 kz650sr

Not so much a full scale project, but more exploratory surgery to see what it will take to get it running. This bike has not run in 10+ years. It was just parked with no proper storage measures taken. My '78 1000 needs to have first priority if a full scale project is launched but for $400 on CL I couldn't pass it up. I have a 16 year old that will end up on the street (rides dirt now) so this may be a good project for him. Law states in CO that he has to ride with someone(close proximity) that has a cycle license for one year before he can be turned loose on his own. I figure I might as well show him what's kept me in one piece.Knock on wood. Just realized...what is the project here, getting the bike running or drivers ed for the kid?

Opps. Still tring to figure out how to add more then one pic in a post.

Pulled the plugs. 1/2 didn't look too bad with 2 being the best. Not too impressed with 3/4 though. Black and sooty but dry, should be able to work with this.

Carbs were a real workout getting them off. Air cleaner boots are about as hard and stiff as they could be. They will need to be replaced with new or go to pods. In the past I have also made my own with off the shelf plumbing supplies.

As expected the carbs are pretty gunked up. Better get carb cleaner by the case.

$400??? Was this transaction conducted at 1:00 in the morning with a guy wearing a mask? That is a GREAT deal on a really pretty bike!!!

"Air cleaner boots are about as hard and stiff as they could be. They will need to be replaced with new or go to pods."

Do yourself a favor and go with your first option - new boots. If you go with pods you'll spend far too many hours trying to make the carbs happy and you may still end up with unsatisfactory results. I'm not saying it's impossible, but from the MANY postings on this and other sites it appears that it is difficult to fine tune everything with pods so there are no performance flat spots.

Good luck with your "new" bike and take plenty of time teaching the youngun safety. Ed

While cleaning carbs today, everthing came apart without to much problem except the slides. One broke free right away and a second after spraying it with cleaner and letting it soak for a while. The last two were a no go but are soaking tonight with PB Blaster.

Here in Denver it is typically pretty dry, but this past week there has been tornado warnings on a daily basis and hail more days then not. Here was today's cheap entertainment.

Dude! $400, that's a major score. Nice looking bike.

Allow me to echo what Ed said and get new inlet boots. They're actually quite reasonable from www.z1enterprises.com and your son will thank you for it as he'll have a bike with an electric motor type of power band--smooth and broad with no flat spots. The SR in stock form will have plenty of power for he needs it but it doesn't have surprises lurking in the power band and it is a very ridable and predictable bike.

Thanks men, I had a '79 sr back in the mid 80's and had a blast on it and drove it into the ground.

I was checking out the boots the other day on Z1. Good price so I will probably place an order before to long. See what else I might need first to help save on shipping.
Got the last two slides to brake loose tonight thanks to OMR's advice.

Well got the carbs all cleaned up, new plugs, oil and gas. Points didn't look to bad so I thought I'd take a chance on them. After about a minute of cranking it over, it came back to life. Took for quick spin and gears and brakes worked well, clutch was a little sticky though.

Next I will have to decide on the air box. I know a lot of you guys have given up on pods, but let me throw this out there. I live in Denver at about 5300 ft above sea level. The air is thinner up here and you would think a guy could use pods to make up for the lack of air up here. Any thoughts??? Also, I took off the emissions stuff and plugged the holes, are there any other adjustments I should make to compensate?

Thanks for any input you might have or have already given.

Shoot, if this bike is for your sons first bike, I say throw some Seafoam in the tank and enjoy it. The bike looks great. Seafoam is my secret weapon. lol

Got the bike started and running so-so a couple of weeks ago and have been waiting for points and a few other things from partsnmore.com. Great prices, cheap shipping but they req. a min. purchase and only ship twice a week. In the meatime I managed to get the old carb hoses back on. (should buy new but I'm a cheap bast**d)

Points went in today and the bike is running good, idles nice and didn't want much choke to start. When riding though at a consistant throttle or on deceleration I'm getting random pops coming from the left exhaust. After some research sounds like the pipes might be sucking in air at the exhaust manifold or purhaps those old hose are biting me in the ass. Am I on the right track here or should I be looking at something else?

Thanks,
SB