Kawasaki Motorcycle Forums banner

My 1981 KZ650H CSR Project 1st Bike ever!

3K views 18 replies 5 participants last post by  gitit20 
#1 · (Edited)
So here I am, I found an old bike laying around & ended up getting it for $300 it is in overall ok condition considering the age and the fact it sat in a barn for 14 years give or take a couple. My uncle had one just like this when I was a kid and I loved getting rides on it and this is the reason I picked it up.

This is a 1981 KZ-650-H1 it has roughly 13k miles on it and defiantly needs some TLC but so far so good, I have replaced the clutch cable, that was the first obvious broken thing. $17.99 on eBay. Next, I bout 4 carb kits and have them rebuilt. NOS from a dealer in Canada $50 I have ordered an accelerator pump diaphragm and a petcock rebuild kit NOS from eBay from Japan $29 I bought 4 start plunger caps from a dealer here in town $20 I have 2 front shock seals and 2 dust caps $19.99 eBay, Not yet installed (that frightens me). I also bought a new battery for $49.99.

Things I know I need to do is clean brake system. replace the rear sprocket and maybe chain. adjust the rear brake, and change the Oil Sparkplugs lube any bearings that need it.

Things I have done so far is rebuilt the carbs and cleaned out good, replaced the clutch cable and adjusted as per service manual, checked over all electrical functions (all works) I lubed and cleaned all switches and connectors removed and lubed both Tac and speedo cables. removed spark plugs and lubed cylinders with oil and let sit for 3 days I then cranked the engine for a min or so to make sure it turns over freely ( it does)

The biggest problem I have found so far is the carb intake boots going from the airbox to the carbs pretty much cracked up and are so hard they just crack apart when I try to flex them in. I need to fashion some intake boots from the airbox to the carbs (and ideas would help).

Let me know if you guys or ladies have any suggestions for some stuff I need to do before I fire it up for the first time. I am new to this & this is the first bike I have owned/fixed up.

I will update this thread as I make progress or screw something up.
 

Attachments

See less See more
4
#2 · (Edited)
Howdy. I have the same motorcycle. There is an 81 KZ650 pdf FSM available. For the airbox ducts, probably the best solution is to get the 82-83 650-CSR ducts, then fabricate donuts from radiator hose to make up the difference. You'll probably need 2 different sizes of radiator hose to make 2 donuts per carb. A helpful auto parts store guy would be handy. You will also need to get some ss band clamps. The 82-83 ducts are available at Z1Enterprises.com & they are the same as the 750-4 airbox ducts. note: the 81-83 650-CSRs have a 750 airbox. mine is embossed with KZ750E/H or something like that.

Forks. What brand of fork oil seals did you get? Hopefully, they're made in Japan. The fork caps & bottom allen bolts can be stuck. I applied heat with a propane torch. For the bottom allen bolts, use a good hardened 8mm allen socket or brake caliper socket (a cheap chinese tool can twist & damage the bolt). The fork caps are 22mm --- I used a big crescent wrench. For a less messy job, remove the caps first, then dump out the old oil without dumping the innards, then pour in some solvent (lacquer thinner or whatever), re-install the caps & invert a few times, dump that, repeat, then proceed with the job. It's a dirty messy job, but rinsing seems to help. If you haven't loosened the bottom allen bolts before doing the rinse, re-install the fork caps so that there will be spring pressure on the inner cylinder. an extra spacer for more pressure wouldn't hurt (1" pvc for example).

Ignition. Clean & lubricate the timing advancer. be sure to separate the rotor from the advancer body & fill the groove with grease. Redo the spark plug connections at all points. The ignition coils & spark plug caps have spiral spikes, so just untwist the spark plug wires. There's usually crusty white oxidation on the wire, so nip off the ends a tad. but not too much. Or go ahead & install new spark plug wires.

Battery. I got a Scorpion AGM battery from batterystuff.com. If the price is now much more than $60 or so, I would consider something else. I also have a Ctek US 0.8 smart charger & VC97 digital multimeter.
....
 
#4 ·
Thank you so much for the advice. I did get it running today god the carbs mounted and just mounted a small lawnmower tank to the carbs for gas and it fired right up.

I have not checked the timing advance yet but it seemed to be ok and fired right up and revved fast too. before I installed the air filter it seemed to hesitate but after that was installed it didn't at all.

But I will take your advice and check and lube it as you suggested.

So on the to forks now :)
 
#6 ·
're rubber boots:
You can use a heat gun carefully to heat rubber and make flexible.this then is flexible long enough to put on .
Without doubt the quickest method.

Another method I used was to soak in a chemical called xylene overnight. Makes them like new but again they do become hard again .

Do check timing!! Along with other tuning.

Forks- take pics.

Well done for getting it going though. A massive step forward.
 
#9 ·
The EB parts are a SunStar 530 chain w 16-38 sprockets. 16-41 would be similar to stock which is 630 13-33.
I think that SunStar ratio will be fine, as that setup will lower the rpms some & improve the fuel economy a little.
I would assume the SunStar quality is good, but I really don't know. D.I.D., RK & JT Sprockets seem to be recommended the most often.





.....
 
#10 ·
Z1Enterprises.com sells carb holders. That should be your first priority because if the old ones are cracked you can easily hole a piston running the bike. Next, the carb kits you bought on eBay that come from Japan are sold by a Japanese seller and are not made in Japan.... somewhere else in the 3rd world and not great quality; in fact poor quality.
 
#11 ·
Thank you for the heads up I did check mine and they are all in good shape I checked them over really good. I do have an extra set just in case.


Z1Enterprises.com sells carb holders. That should be your first priority because if the old ones are cracked you can easily hole a piston running the bike. Next, the carb kits you bought on eBay that come from Japan are sold by a Japanese seller and are not made in Japan.... somewhere else in the 3rd world and not great quality; in fact, poor quality.
 
#13 ·
Good news! I found carb boots A dealer in Kansas City had them NOS brand spanking new and perfect condition got them installed bike is running. I am waiting to get the fork seals done been busy with work and all but should be done this week sometime or next. I got them off and what not. but not together yet. I also got the new master cylinder all installed and put together.

She is coming together slowly but making progress.
 
#16 ·
Thanks, and it was Freedom Cycles they had 5 in stock and I bought them all :mrgreen:

I need to get new tires but they are costly :( I Installed a new clutch mine was glazed from sitting for so long. It was easy to replace not hard at all, (messy but not hard) I used an old Mattress someone tossed out and lade it on the side so I would not have to drain all the oil (I saw that trick in a youtube video) the oil only had 150 miles on it and it was 45 bucks so didn't want to waste it.

I am going to start doing all the cosmetic stuff now.
 
#19 ·
Thank you so much I feel the same about the older bikes like this, it rides really well and is pretty **** peppy as well. Now that I've got all the mechanics of it working well I am going to really start polishing all the chrome and engine parts and repaint some parts they have a little rust on them.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top