[Bwild]

Well, not really, more of a shack find. Well, not really a "find" at all considering it was my shack.
Bike has been in the family since brand new. My older brother bought it in Smithers BC, then I rode it for 10 years (without a motorcycle license) then I passed it on to my younger brother whom crashed it. It then sat in a chicken barn in Saskatchewan for 7-10 years, found most of the parts and then sat in my shack for about 15 years maybe longer. It is pretty much ruined but I am going to make an attempt to restore it to at least good enough to be a daily driver during the season.

Got my work cut out for me.

 

[Ropp]

You certainly have, but surprising what a good clean can do, new seat ,tank cleaned out ,new chain, airbox and carbs back on , then the rest is cosmetic, but a worthy resurrection , keep the pictures coming

 

[WFO-KZ]

Welcome to the forum Bwild.

Most barn finds come with little or no history, but in this case you have the entire history and that's a big plus not only for your personal satisfaction but it adds value to the bike when it comes time to part with it.
Keep us posted on the progress.

 

[Bwild]

Welcome to the forum Bwild.

Most barn finds come with little or no history, but in this case you have the entire history and that's a big plus not only for your personal satisfaction but it adds value to the bike when it comes time to part with it.
Keep us posted on the progress.

Right now I am still at a critical junction to decide to go forward or not. I need to know that the engine and frame are both salvagable. The engine has been taken apart and the intial assessment is that some parts need to be replaced, as expected, but the main challenge is a gap between the engine cases.

Back in '76-'77 my brother owned the bike at the time and for some reason decided that the engine needed to be taken apart. He lived in an apartment that had a very small crawl space and an access hole a bit smaller than the engine -why am I telling you this right? Well the problem is that we were working on our knees (with our heads crouched down) with only a couple flashlights. We got all the bolts out and still couldn't split the cases. We screwed around for hours and finally decided that the cases were just stuck and needed some force. Klink. ****.

Turns out we missed a bolt on the right hand side and ended up breaking off a chunk of the lower case. The case got repaired and never had any problems with oil leaking etc., for all the years after, which was 10's of thousands of miles.

The tech that has it now has informed me that there is a considerable gap between the cases at that location. He suggests that it may have happened when the welding was done. I don't understand considering I never had any leaks and neither did my younger brother when he had it. So right now we are trying to figure out the best way to address this, if even feasible.

This is the outside of the engine, light source from inside showing through in two places
For orientation, this is the right (points cover) side, exhaust port is above

 

[WFO-KZ]

Hard to imagine that it did not leak oil, but what may have happened is that over time the welding stresses caused some movement. Or whoever filed it flat, did not get it flat. I expect if you apply a little extra Kawasaki bond in this area when you reassemble, you will be fine.