'77 KZ650 Build Thread

[JKN4]

My pops used to have this bike, the last time he rode it was in 1986. It's been sitting dormant back in my barn ever since. Me and my dad towed it out a couple weeks ago and got down to work. This is how she looked when we pulled her out

It took us no time at all to start it, after cleaning out the carbs, clearing out the old oil, and getting the rust out of the tank. We rode it for a good 45 minutes with no problems at all besides a little trouble switching out of neutral (which worked itself out after a while)

We started chopping her down, took the paint off of the tank, painted the exhaust, threw some clubmans on, got new tires, painted the wheels, and did countless other things. This is what it looked like a couple days ago.

And then I heat wrapped the exhaust

And heres the picture when I got done working on her just a couple hours ago.

Theres only a couple more things to do like shortening the back end, and either buying a new seat or making one ourselves. (suggestions?) And moving the ignition switch. Also we have to find a gas cap (suggestions?) Anyways, I hope you guys like my kz, and feel free to critique the hell out of it, I'm an art student, I can handle it.

 

[Mad Ratter]

Nice one, I think that is a very cool transformation, customising in the real world! You could cut the original seat down or scallop it out to make a kind of cafe seat. But yeah, looks good, you could prob find a "universal" gas cap that will fit.

 

[JKN4]

Here's some more photos, I wish I would've started this thread earlier so I could've documented more of the ins-and-outs of the build, but hopefully from the photos you can see some of the stuff I've done.

Theres a few things I'm still trying to figure out----
If I should put a tach on,
Where I should put the ignition (either running it through the back of the headlight, or putting it below the bars in front of the tank kind of where the reflectors are..)

Also, I haven'd decided whether to strip the foam from the stock seat and cutting it down, or making a fiberglass seat on my own. I'm going to run a flat seat instead of putting the hump on the back. We got the gas cap issue worked out.

 

[JKN4]

But the biggest problem I'm having is how to wire the cables on the throttle, Should I drill the bars and run them through, or should I run them on the outside of the bars? If I run them through, should I try and get them around that tricky corner in the clubmans or should I run them straight out towards the headlight? Help is greatly appreciated!!