Resurrecting a 1979 KZ650 B3 aka "Two Guns"

This was a one owner bike. He was a sheriff whose nickname was 'Two Guns". That name shall be passed on to this bike (of course!)He rode the bike until 2008 when he was in his 70s. He passed about a year ago and the family decided to take the bike off the back patio and put it up for sale. I just picked it up last week. It seems pretty complete, and apparently 'ran fine when it was parked'. We shall see. Seat, bar, bags, cowl and tank have been removed. Front blinkers and headlight removed, ignition switch was pulled to get code and a new set of keys were just cut. That made a huge difference in ignition fitment. The old worn key would work with a lot of jiggling, the new one slides in and turns like butter!

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the restoration. The pipes look very good and they're one of the hardest things to find, stock pipes. I'm just a few hundred miles north of you, at the headwaters of the Columbia River.

The petcock needs work. The insides are shiny and not pitted, and the gaskets are probably reusable, though I know a rebuild kit is cheap. There are 2 other issues- the fuel outlet piece has separated, and the screen on the standpipe is brittle and broken. I can probably press in a new brass outlet fitting, but can not find just a new pickup screen anywhere. I went ahead and bought a cheapo eBay 44mm petcock for now. I will try to put the new screen on the old petcock down the road when I rebuild it. My goal right now is to get the bike running to address any issues, then go back and make it ride-able and purty.

Howdy. You might be able to clean up the old nipple & re-install w Seal-All or Permatex liquid metal. Some hardware stores carry seal-all. I used the permatex stuff. It comes in a tube & no mixing per se >> apply a small amount to the outside of the nipple & press it in place. This repair was done more than 5 years ago. I also used the stuff to seal a leaky fuel level switch >> they tend to seep around the red plastic piece which is riveted in place.

Whether or not you are able to locate a tank fuel filter I highly recommend you install an inline fuel filter. The best one I found for my KZ650 is the Golan Mini Filter. They are not cheap, but one will last a lifetime; I got mine from ronayers.com but other vendors carry them too. They use a stainless steel filter element that can be cleaned. They filter out very small 10 micron particles but still pass fuel at a rate of 6 gallons per minutes – MORE than enough for any bike. They are very small so they fit well under the tank. Also, I used a 5/16” stainless steel elbow to make the bend from the tank to the cabs so there is zero chance of the fuel line pinching. I got it at a place that specializes in propane supplies.

For fuel hose I use Goodyear 5/16" Fuel Hose SAE 30R7 (required 8") Part # 65123. For clamping the hoses I use 5/16” spring clamps. They are a million times easier and quicker to use than the screw type. Some auto stores sell them or they can be easily found on eBay.

One word of warning – having tried numerous fuel delivery setups over the past 43 years the absolute worst product I found is Gates Barricade fuel line. Do not waste your time and money on it as it has an inner sleeve that rolls up like a loose sock and clogs the line when you install it.

golanproducts.com/product-category/filters/#filters-mini

www.goodyearrubberproducts.com/2012pdfs/...wnloads/page0031.pdf

Ed, that is a very elegant solution for a universal problem

Also for Motnut....I have two full 650 petcocks in pretty good shape if you need either, let me know.

I got my fuel strainers at Mikes XS.
Steve
www.mikesxs.net/yamaha-xs650-petcock-fue...ters-pk-2-70-77.html

All I can say is WOW! You guys are amazing! Thanks a million for all the responses. This is one of the BEST forums I've ever been on! I spent a bunch of time searching through the 11,000 hits when I typed in 'petcock' but your responses here just gave me all the info I need. Pretty sure I have a tube of Seals All around here.... We've moved twice in the last couple years so a lot of stuff is still in boxes....

Just a quick check in to let you all know the bike resurrection has slowed down due to titling issues. I have the title but it's in the previous owner's name, and he died in 2017. He had signed it and dated it in 2016, and donated it to his church. I bought it from the Pastor of that church, but he never did anything with it. He was going to get it going and sell it but never did. My DMV is treating the title like it was altered since the date is wrong, then the Pastor crossed it out, and now they won't accept it. Now that the owner is dead, his 80+ YO widow will have to get a new title changed into her name and sign it off to me. The Pastor seems like a nice guy and says he'll help her do it, but that hasn't happened, now we have the virus lockdown and everything can only be done by mail. Plus the widow and Pastor are 100+ miles away. I know there are other avenues like filing for a chattel title or mechanic's lean, just waiting to see if the folks can get me something. Can't believe how much the old 'Alabama' title route costs these days. More than I paid for the bike!
I have the carbs off, they're intact and look OK so I'm just going to clean out the bowls and get them functional, go through the ignition and points to make sure all's well, change oil and do a test fire. I just don't have the motivation to spend time and money on it right now until a title is in my name, ya know!
I'm also bummed 'cause I can't even take my Moto Guzzi out for a ride..Sigh.
I'll just spend more time drooling over the eye candy on this forum!

I've used the vermont bill of sale technique before (for a car though, 75 honda civic) and can say it works. I haven't transferred the registration to Indiana yet though so I can't give any experience with registering it in your home state.

PO's died, didn't sign title. Kids inherited it. Gave it to some guy for doing work for them (or so I was told). The guy gave me a bill of sale and I sent that with some paperwork to a Vermont DMV and a few weeks later I got a plate and a registration. I was able to verify that both PO's (husband and wife were on the title) had died and was able to find death certificates, but thats about all of the sleuthing I was able to do.