KZ650 cafe-racer

I love the attention to detail. In my opinion, that is what makes the difference between a nice build and a great build.

Thank you!

Let's continue. Finally the day came when I finished polishing the last few parts.

Honda CBX550 wheels’ and brake’ components polishing give me a hell of work. Even counting that CBX550 wheels are one of key points of my Kawasaki KZ650 cafe-racer project, they took tremendous amount of working time. However, it was worth it. Here are photos of assembled hubs.

Front:

And rear:

The distinctive feature of every our project is preassembling photo that shows all parts, units and components of project placed on some background. We started this tradition of ours in 2014 when such “Exploded view” photos of motorcycles were scarce.

Honda CBX550 wheels worth to be regarded as project on their own. No need to count man-hours I spent on wheels modification, adaptation to chassis, comstar-to-spoke conversion, components cleaning and polishing to prove this my statement. Better take a look at the photo below:

I can´t find any words to discribe this "Art of metal working skills".:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

I am amazed that parts off a 1990's 750 will work on a 70's 650 engine, so you can use the oil cooler too right?
They probably have a better clutch actuator too.
Nice to know about the Honda cables matching up, that's thinking out side of the box!
Interesting build , I will be looking forward to more surprises.
JD

Wow!

Thanks!

I am amazed that parts off a 1990's 750 will work on a 70's 650 engine, so you can use the oil cooler too right?
They probably have a better clutch actuator too.
Nice to know about the Honda cables matching up, that's thinking out side of the box!
Interesting build , I will be looking forward to more surprises.
JD

Zephyr 750 engine is further development of KZ750/650 engines, so there is no wonder in compatibility. And yes, clutch cover from Zephyr 750 may be installed on KZs. It has clutch actuator of "modern" type, but unfortunately it has no port for kick starter.

There are a lot of things you have to buy when you build project having only frame and engine for start. However, in my opinion, it's a bright side of business.

It's hard to push all purchases even in few posts, so here is so to say an excerpt.

For exhaust I chose stainless steel downpipes for Kawasaki Zephyr 750, made in UK by Black Widow Exhaust LTD. They perfectly fit KZ650 engine, are light weighted and have better throughput than OEM Zephyr 750 downpipes. It would be good addition to KZ750 cylinder head. I have used same downpipes on my own Zephyr 750 (with Wiseco 810 ecm forged piston kit) before I got 4ini4 exhaust and I was very pleased with them, moreover they easily gave my Zephyr additional 8Hp. But Dyno chart will be better illustration than words:



Thus, when it came to KZ650 project I ordered these downpipes without hesitation: perfect combination of classic look and performance worth every penny spent on it.







But sure, exhaust isn’t complete without mufflers. I like mufflers I used in the previous project, Honda CB815 very much. They were New Old Stock, made in Japan by MC back in 1970s. I wished for this my project something as special as those mufflers and after some search I found exactly what I looked for, yet one blast from the past. Back in 1960s-1970s there was a company in USA called Anderson-Kittelson Distributors, Inc. They have traded all kind of motorcycle and snowmobile parts, stuff and gear for long years, or may be for decades, but I suppose they disappeared from the market in the end of 1970s or in beginning of the 1980s.
Still some parts with Anderson-Kittelson logo on packaging may be found on ebay, and that’s where I found a pair of NOS Anderson-Kittelson Upsweep Cocktail Shaker mufflers. It was love at first sight so I bought them mostly immediately. We’ve already received parcel with mufflers, so here is a set of photos:









And yet another little feature: mufflers perfectly fit downpipes via OEM Zephyr 750 exhaust gaskets:

How many OEM parts one could need when working on project like my Kawasaki KZ650 cafe-racer? The answer is: as much as one can put hands on. The quantity of OEM parts quite increased since I shot this photo...



It's all kinds of stuff: rubbers, from seals and O-rings to dumpers plus plugs for cylinders drain holes, hardware from exhaust studs to cylinder head nuts and so on and so forth, including carburetor clamps, clutch lever and fuel tap.

Unfortunately, turned out that NOS cylinder base gasket crumbles. Looks like I have to use aftermarket gasket instead.

Sure, for project based on 1978 Kawasaki KZ650 I wished to use some vintage-looking master cylinder. However I am used to perfect working brakes, thus master cylinder should only look vintage but work like modern. Thus I did some search and fished out this very great device. It’s brand new, made by Nissin/Daytona, its design perfectly fit clip-ons and its 5/8″ piston is ideal for work with two Honda CBX550 front calipers.





Usually I prefer to replace brake calipers with fresh, removed from the bikes with low mileage. However, in case of CBX550 calipers this exchange is impossible, as its calipers are quite specific and aren’t interchangeable with calipers from new models. This means that I have to rebuild original calipers. For this purpose I bought some parts. First of them is a set of stainless steel pistons for two front and one rear caliper.





Next lot is a set of seals and dust seals for calipers. To get predictable positive result I chose OEM seals.



I chose sintered brake pads to increase bike braking performance. Not a lot of manufacturers make sintered pads for Honda CBX550 and other bikes with same calipers and I was glad to find Vesrah among those of them who do.