New project?

After my Zephyr was returned to original and upgraded, I spent a couple of weeks to cleaning up my garage, wiping dust from shelves, reshuffling parts and tools and so on. It is a good time between projects when your hands are busy and muddy, but mind is clean and ready for new thoughts.

And one of the thoughts was: remember that old Kawasaki KZ650 you bought some five years ago? It still rests in boxes on one of the shelves, partly disassembled, so how about another one project?

Yep, there is plenty of work in case of CB750 Seven Fifty, but thought about old Kwaka engine with kick starter in my mind was just like a worm in an apple. So you should do something with it or it eats you away.

As far as I could remember, I bought KZ650 engine with carburetors and wiring in 2011 occasionally, just in case its rarity in Ukraine. In that olden times I had the only corner in garage to repair motorcycles but I also had general idea about I want to build bikes in my own fashion, so I have been buying different rare or interesting parts when I could.

img_8757 img_8753Then I have some thoughts about to squeezing this engine into XJ400 frame (in the beginning of the Eight Ball project), but before doing that I decided to disassemble engine and inspect its condition.

IMG_7688 engine_kz_650_001But soon after I found XJ600 51J engine and the Eight Ball project began to gather momentum, so in result I oiled all parts and with maximum accuracy put them to boxes so no one washer was lost. After I moved to my current garage all those boxes were put on one of the shelves and lay there for a few years. Now I put KZ engine on my work bench again, temporally installed cylinders, cylinder head and all covers in purpose of modelling potential bike appearance.

IMG_7125I also found KZ650 frame in cellar of my garage.

IMG_7224So, the 1978 KZ650 engine and frame – aren’t they a good start for the new project?

 

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