1978 KZ1000-A2 "Barn find"

cb900f wrote: That seat tho...... :evil:

I can't wait to get rid of that thing. I think it was taken from a '76 or '77 as the pan doesn't have the hook for the seat catch.

The one in my 78 was like and sounded like sitting on a bag of potato chips it was a real Kawakup

Amazing, the bike needs work but seems like a great project. Can't believe the other two people weren't interested at this price.

Rick H. wrote: You could break those brackets by simply walking into them by accident, or trying to use them to muscle the bike around in the garage. I am glad you decided to try to bring this bike back to life. No doubt it will cost you some money and time, but in the end it will be well worth the effort I think and the personal satisfaction will no doubt be enormous. Besides, $500 for this bike would have been robbery.
Rick H.

For sure it's going to cost me money. Browsing for parts online I keep thinking "oh that's not too bad" until I remember that's in USD and the Canadian dollar is garbage right now.

Kofla wrote: Amazing, the bike needs work but seems like a great project. Can't believe the other two people weren't interested at this price.

They were certainly interested. Just didn't want to deal with the wrath of their wives if they brought home *another* bike.

You may be right about their wives, but I would be kicking myself severely for letting your bike slip through my fingers for a mere $500.00!

Rick H.

May I make a suggestion. Get the bike running first. Make sure there is nothing major wrong before fixing turn signals. It’s not a bad thing though while your sorting out the major components I.e. engine and brakes, to go over the bike and make a list of items that need to be addressed. One thing I’d suggest is checking the combustion chambers and confirm the are clear of criter stuff, nuts, nest, and such. Once that is confirmed, pull the plugs and start adding small amounts of oils every few days to start knocking out the rust before you attemp to kick it over. Make sure you do your due diligence to thwart off new critters. Keep the intake, exhaust, and plug openings sealed up in between oil baths.

Keep in mind your starting with a really complete bike that beyond sentimental cost you have very little cost upfront. I have seen this bike sell for 6-8 k. It’s worth the sweat equity and cost to revive it.

Mikaw wrote: May I make a suggestion. Get the bike running first. Make sure there is nothing major wrong before fixing turn signals. It’s not a bad thing though while your sorting out the major components I.e. engine and brakes, to go over the bike and make a list of items that need to be addressed. One thing I’d suggest is checking the combustion chambers and confirm the are clear of criter stuff, nuts, nest, and such. Once that is confirmed, pull the plugs and start adding small amounts of oils every few days to start knocking out the rust before you attemp to kick it over. Make sure you do your due diligence to thwart off new critters. Keep the intake, exhaust, and plug openings sealed up in between oil baths.

Keep in mind your starting with a really complete bike that beyond sentimental cost you have very little cost upfront. I have seen this bike sell for 6-8 k. It’s worth the sweat equity and cost to revive it.

I'm not ordering a single part until I can get this thing running. Just tinkering and making a list right now. We are pretty confident she'll fire up. I started to pull the exhaust the other day so I could take a peek and make sure they were clear, but the nuts needed another soak first.

Put a little oil in each cylinder before you try to kick it over. Cost me $500+ due to dry starts.
Steve

Ive found the electrical connectors can get to be brittle and corroded, Diablo Cycle was a great help

Good course of direction. Be careful when removing the side covers. The grommets might be hard. Try to reach to the back of the mounting tabs and push them out instead of pulling on the covers. Also keep all factory parts, even if you plan to upgrade. Example would be the air box... they are expensive to replace and even harder to find...

I went back and looked at the “washed” bike. Cleaned up really well. What did you use? Looks to have removed most of the corrosion and crud.

Mikaw wrote: Good course of direction. Be careful when removing the side covers. The grommets might be hard. Try to reach to the back of the mounting tabs and push them out instead of pulling on the covers. Also keep all factory parts, even if you plan to upgrade. Example would be the air box... they are expensive to replace and even harder to find...

I went back and looked at the “washed” bike. Cleaned up really well. What did you use? Looks to have removed most of the corrosion and crud.

Unfortunately the side grommets are all toast. My brother apparently rolled it out a few years back to see if it would start, and wasn't exactly gentle.

Plan is to keep everything as stock as possible. Was originally going to do pods until we found the air box silencer on the other end of the farm yard. $300 on eBay?!?!

I just sprayed the bike down with super clean degreaser, let it sit for a couple minutes, then rinsed it off with a weak pressure washer.