'78 KZ650 Garage find- Where to start?

Good afternoon folks,

Was fortunate enough to find this bike at an estate where the owner passed away. I want to eventually fully restore this bad boy, where should I start? I can tell from the throttle sticking that the carbs are gummed out. The brake lines are visibly decayed. Just ordered a battery to check the electrical components. I am open to any and all suggestions on where I should begin. I am completely new to this game, but I thought it would be awesome to pick up in my grandfathers footsteps. He was an old moto mechanic back in the day and used to have a shop in Riverside, CA. Unfortunately I never got to learn from his skillset so I am reaching out to the pros who are familiar with this beautiful machine. Uploading photos.

That is one sweet bike to start with. She cleaned up really nice. I'd go through a full tune up (valve clearance, points, oil and filter change) air cleaner change and housing cleaning. Hows the inside of the tank? New fuel line and filter. You have a new battery so why not give her a start? No riding until tires and tubes are changed and brakes pads and shoes replaced and system gone through.

A full teardown and rebuild of the carbs is in order. The link below should help. Don't purchase "carb kits" other than maybe an O-ring kit from cycleorings.com. You need to fully ungang the carbs, soak each body in carb dip for several hours, followed by rinsing and blowing out the passages with compressed air. Z1 Enterprises is a good place for gaskets for the float bowl and top as needed.

members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/i.../vm_carb_rebuild.pdf

Second, do a conventional tune up including points check/gap/possible replacement, new plugs, and I'd do new plug wires and caps while you are there.

Needless to say a new battery and tires/tubes will be needed. New fresh OEM cables are a thing of beauty as well.

Clean out the gas tank of old gas and derust as necessary.

Pop out the caliper pistons, clean out, and inspect things like the pistons for pitting. New OEM caliper seals and pistons as needed. New brakes lines upon reassembly.

There are other tasks but that will keep you going for a while. Personally, I don't even bother trying to start an old bike like that until all the maintenance tasks are up to date. It's a futile effort since the maintenance needs to be done anyway.

Great find, my favorite model.

Oh, and please click "insert all" before posting your photos so they show up in full size, instead of tiny thumbnails.

Great find, amazing what soap and water can do. In full disclosure I’m extremely partial to that particular bike. I owned one in the early ‘80’s. First thing I’d do is mount the right front caliper before someone grabs the front brake and pops the piston out of the caliper. Then get a factory manual, pull the plugs and squirt oil down the cylinders and let it soak. Check the tank for rust. Get the brakes working. Looks like the kick start is in an unusual position. Hopefully you haven’t tried to turn it over yet. Give the carbs a good cleaning, maybe an auxiliary tank and fresh fuel. After a few soaks of oil in the cylinders try to get it to turn over. I’d shoot for hearing the engine run first to see what your starting with.

Step 1 - Buy a Kawasaki Service Manual!

Get one that covers the exact year and model of your bike because there were a number of important changes from year to year on the KZ650. The pictures you posted show a 1978 KZ650-C2, so be sure that the manual you buy covers that model. EBay usually is a good place to find the manual, but be SURE to get one produced by Kawasaki rather than Clymer or some other non-Kawasaki publisher.

The Kawasaki manual covers in great detail everything you need to know starting with regular maintenance schedules all the way to disassembling and checking every component of the bike. I would urge you to perform all the regular maintenance stuff before you ride.

I am the original owner of a 1977 KZ650 and it is a great bike! Ed

VERY good advice.

Great article Nessism. Thanks for posting.

azman857 wrote: That is one sweet bike to start with. She cleaned up really nice. I'd go through a full tune up (valve clearance, points, oil and filter change) air cleaner change and housing cleaning. Hows the inside of the tank? New fuel line and filter. You have a new battery so why not give her a start? No riding until tires and tubes are changed and brakes pads and shoes replaced and system gone through.

The fuel tank is in good shape, there was fuel inside which makes me concerned about the petcock and fuel assembly.

Thank you for the advice and compliment! Really excited to get this thing road worthy and restore it to it's former glory.

Great information! I appreciate it, I will make sure to use that carb rebuild guide, as far as the tank goes, it surprisingly has zero rust issues. I'll be sure to insert photos on upcoming posts.

650ed wrote: Step 1 - Buy a Kawasaki Service Manual!

Get one that covers the exact year and model of your bike because there were a number of important changes from year to year on the KZ650. The pictures you posted show a 1978 KZ650-C2, so be sure that the manual you buy covers that model. EBay usually is a good place to find the manual, but be SURE to get one produced by Kawasaki rather than Clymer or some other non-Kawasaki publisher.

The Kawasaki manual covers in great detail everything you need to know starting with regular maintenance schedules all the way to disassembling and checking every component of the bike. I would urge you to perform all the regular maintenance stuff before you ride.

I am the original owner of a 1977 KZ650 and it is a great bike! Ed

Great information thank you! Also thank you for clarifying which was my exact model, I was close to figuring that out, but the C is where I was stumped.