KH500 refurbishment - Brakes

The most recent repair/refurbishment has been on the brakes.

KH500 Refurbishment - Engine re-assembly

I began re-assembly of the KH500 engine recently.

KH500 Refurbishment - Carburetors

Before and after...

KH500 refurbishment - fuel petcock

Before and after...

KH500 refurbishment - May Update

The KH500 cylinder boring is done!  The cylinders arrived, along with the new pistons.  The center cylinder was scrap, so a replacement was found and bored to the same size.

KH 500 engine update...

I had the spare set of cylinders for the KH500 bead-blasted, and shipped them off for repairs.  They needed an overbore to remove the gouges.  Turns out the center cylinder was damaged beyond repair.

KH500 Refurbishment - fixing and replacing odds and ends

I worked on a couple of items on the bike this past day off.  It's not like I had a ton of time to tinker, but I did what I could.

KH500 Refurbishment - Christmas came early

I placed a rather large order with Diablo Cycle a few days ago.  The first package arrived yesterday, and it was better than Christmas.  For a change, I got what I really wanted ;)

KH500 Refurbishment: Engine (part 3)

I decided to check out the spare set of cylinders I have on hand, to see what condition they are in.

KH500 Refurbishment: Engine (part 2)

OK, so I've been assessing the damaged engine situation.  It looks like I have some options available.

KH500 Refurbishment: Engine (part 1)

This is Part 1 of the KH500 engine story.  I can already tell this will need to be split into multiple posts, due to the damage I found this past week :(

KH500 Refurbishment - Clutch Cover, Oil Pump

I bought the KH from a guy who had crashed it and was afraid of it.  He told me that the clutch cover had gotten a hole in it during the crash, and that a friend of his had welded it to repair the hole.  It looks a little funny.

KH500 Refurbishment - Electrical

Long ago, when I was still a teenager, I wanted the KH500 to look like a racebike.  I bought a headlamp-mounted fairing and installed it.  It looked about like the one below, only white and with a clear windscreen.  I never had the money to get it painted to match the copper color of the bike.

KH500 Refurbishment - Controls, Instrumentation, Cosmetics

The KH500 has some dings from falling over, and some other road rash.  The aluminum I think can be smoothed with a file and then polished with a wheel.

KH500 Refurbishment - Fuel/Air System work

I've been taking apart the old 1976 KH500, a bike I've owned since high school, to get it ride-worthy again.  This is not a restoration, just a clean-up and replacement of worn-out stuff, hopefully mainly rubber and plastics.  I'm in the process of taking it apart and evaluating what must be done to get it a) Running and b) Safe to ride.

The old bike - Kawasaki KH500

As I mentioned previously, I have an old two-stroke Mach III motorcycle that I've had since high school.  While I was out puttering around in the shop this past weekend, I had a sudden impulse, and decided to clean it up.

15th and 16th vehicles - Other Kawasaki Triples

My 15th and 16th vehicles were bought on a whim.  They weren't very expensive, never got registered, and one of them was pretty much a basket case.

Seventh vehicle - 1976 Kawasaki KH 500

The seventh vehicle that I owned, and bought in 1980, I still have today - it has been my baby since shortly after high school.  That is the 1976 KH 500 (link is to a 1974). The engine in this bike is the notorious two-stroke Kawasaki Triple.  Wikipedia says this about it: