UTMC

My friend's bike (that fucking asshole) that has been gobbling up space in my garage for over a goddamned year now, finally runs. Barring transmission or other type of moving failure (god forbid) the fucking thing starts, runs, and idles with zero fuss, first push of the button.

And holy fuck does it put out some smoke. Not from the tailpipes, but from the several years worth of crap that's all over the engine and exhaust pipes, and I think from the paint on the frame, too.
It just oozes noxious smog into the atmosphere as if to advertise its true origins... Hell.

All that's left are the carb boots, and random bits like footpegs and mirrors.
After that, it's out of my life forever. I will see it on the road, but I will not see its insides EVER again.

Pics?

Oh god... Really? I'm afraid the thing might break my camera!

I'll see if I can snap some when I take it for its shakedown ride.

Is this the 750/4 you were working on before?

The very same, yes.
It's taken a fucking year to do a week or so worth of work (I'm talking hobby style, not shop style). It was either me not having the time, or her not having the money, or the damned thing just being stubborn as fuck. In the end, I loaned her the cash so I could get it finished.

The tally is...
One complete starter clutch assembly; bearing, gear, clutch housing, pins, rollers, springs... The works. (No biggy, unless you are doing it one part at a time because you're on a tight budget, with things like the tank residing 100 miles away at a radiator shop.)
Rebuilt carbs
Fork seals
Rebuilt master cylinder
both brakes flushed and bled
Wiring gremlins sorted
had to completely sand/de-rust/primer the tank because my friend had it etched and sealed, and then let it sit outside under a tarp, in the rain, sans paint. (Freshly etched metal, wet environment... D'oh!)
She also had the seat re-covered, coz it was TOTALLY shot. They did a damned good job, too, and it only cost her 60 or 70 bucks.

Here's a pic. Still no shakedown yet, though. Tomorrow, probably. Wish me very great and extensive luck that it works beautifully, and I need to fix absolutely nothing else on it.

Wonderful, wonderful!

Here's to many more years, many more miles!

Damned thing.

Finally got the chance to shake it down tonight.
(Life needs to stop being crazy, for fuck's sake! I can't get a goddamned thing done!!)

Tires, flat. The rear has a slow leak, the front was ok.
Squeeze the clutch, feels ok.
Hit the brake pedal, feels ok.
Hit the front brake lever. Feels like there's no brakes.
Like, none. As a matter of fact, I squeezed the lever to the bar, then moved the front wheel with my hand. No brakes.
Open it up, no brake fluid. Now that's odd, because I rebuilt the master cylinder, clearly remember filling and bleeding the brakes, and there is no evidence of leaking brake fluid anywhere on the lines, wheels, or brakes themselves. Total mystery.
Fill brake res, bleed brake, good to go.

Rolled it out, got it started, then the headlight died. Crap.
Back in the garage.
Tracked the gremlin to a bad headlight kill switch that was on the frame.
Fixed the switch, went to re-mount the switch, wiring to the switch breaks.
Throw the switch.
Bypass the switch.
Ok, lights. Good.
Put the switch back by default because it's attached to a little cover that was original on the frame.
Found an old 15mm socket sitting in the headlight bucket. Not really sure what it was doing there.
Fire up the bike, and for some reason the idle is now screaming to 6k rpm. Wasn't doing that before. Tried adjusting the idle screw, to no avail.
There is also a bikefire popping off into one of the carbs. One pilot air screw doesn't match because the owner purposely threw it away (facepalm) and nobody stocks it anymore. Not sure if that explains the backfire or not. Methinks probably not. Methinks timing or valve. Could be the pilot screw, though. Wouldn't surprise me.

Go to put the bike in gear. No go. It won't go down because it's smacking something on the frame. Probably the kickstand mount. Not sure because it was dark. Won't go up because I don't know why. The shifter moves, but no clunk.

I finally got it into gear to discover that the clutch won't engage. That's fine. It's a new clutch cable and needs to be properly adjusted.
Spin a bunch of tension out of the cable, get the bike into second, and roll away with my screaming idle. Good thing I fixed the brakes, because I had to ride them the whole time to stay under the speed limit.

The engine runs smoothly, and makes good power. Smokes like a piece of burnt toast, though. Not out of the tailpipes, just from everywhere else. Years of crust all over it; I'm sure I must have been a sight riding it down the street. It made so much smoke off the block that I decided to park it on the curb and sit with it a minute to make sure it didn't actually catch fire.

My last chance to deliver the goddamned thing is tomorrow or Saturday.

I want it out of my life forever.

This is your friend's bike, you say? Sounds as though it could do with some sorting yet...

This bike could use some thorough setting on fire.

Seriously, I keep telling her that it's no good, but she wants it.

I sat on it to ride it last night, and damn rear bottomed the rear shocks just rolling it out of the driveway.

Fucking electrical gremlins are popping up, and god knows what else needs to happen, because shit is just going to keep breaking as it's ridden.

I leave for the desert on Sunday, and with my school schedule, I just don't have the fucking TIME to wrench on the goddamned thing when I get back.

This bike is a fucking curse.
I wish to god that it would have set itself on fire last night after I went inside. Now it's got an oil leak from... Somewhere.

I have officially learned my lesson: Never take a job you don't think will be worthwhile in the end, no matter how worth it it seems to the owner.

This thing probably wasn't in that great of a shape LAST time it ran... 8 fucking years ago, before it was left to rot outside.

I was going to say, burn that fucker with fire. While it's satisfying and all that to fix shit, that bike doesn't sound worth it. Does she have money in it or something, or why is she opposed to blowing it up?

It was her first bike, way long ago. It's the only bike she feels really comfortable on in every sense. And she just wants *that* bike.

Yeah, you should probably set it on fire.

She just asked me what it would take to get it ready for a road trip.
My answer was "Six months of riding it without it breaking down."

Fuck that, just tell her to ride it on a road trip as is, it'll sort itself out.

I don't want her to die when the thing explodes on the freeway.

I almost hate to admit it, but Satan's KZ fucking SCOOTS.


I have no idea why the revs were so high last night. I ran it again today and couldn't get it to repeat the problem. Super weird, coz nothing I could do last night would make it stop.
Did a little tweekage on the carb to try and get the backfire to stop (which didn't work), then adjusted the clutch and took it out for a spin.

Surprisingly enough, the thing hauls ass.
Actually, it *really* surprisingly hauls as.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that, not only am I REALLY surprised that it will haul ANYTHING, but it hauls that thing it's hauling to a really surprising degree.

Anyway, I pulled the carbs apart and cleaned 'em. They're halfway back on the bike right now, but I didn't feel like ending my day with furious anger, so I decided to wait until tomorrow to put the airbox boots back on.

I really hope it was just that the thing is leaning out due to some varnish buildup in the carbs. It had a hanging idle, like it was running way lean. Hopefully it's not an air leak or out of spec valves. I don't have a shim tool, and I don't really have the time to get one. Nor do I have anything to fix an air leak with.

WeAintFoundShit wrote:I almost hate to admit it, but Satan's KZ fucking SCOOTS.

Is this your first experience with a KZ? As thirty year old bikes go, these go like fucking stink.

I don't have a shim tool, and I don't really have the time to get one.

There's no shim tool involved with this bike. It's shim under bucket, so just measure your clearances, pull the cams, replace shims where necessary.

Nor do I have anything to fix an air leak with.

It's probably the carb holders, a known issue with these bikes.



It might also be the airbox hoses.



You're looking at about $100 for the parts, plus shipping, but it only takes a few minutes to install, and then it's SO much easier to get the carbs and airbox together!

Why on earth would you buy a four pack of cockrings?


....ooooohhh... now it makes sense, they're for the bike.




why the fuck does the bike need cockrings??

Far from my first experience with a KZ. Just sold my KZ1000 a few weeks ago.

And yeah, I should have bought those damned new carb boots and tunnels ages ago.
Instead, I will go out and struggle with the old ones one more time.

The fucking thing is gone, and even with it being less than perfect, my friend is super stoked to have it.
I even called her again today and told her that she should sell it and get something else, but she just wants that bike, so she's keeping it, problems and all.

When I gave her the rundown of all the niggles and naggles, she filled me in that a lot of them were there before the bike even broke down, so she's already used to it.
Alrighty then.

I rode it for a half an hour today with only minimal problems, so at least there's that.

And it's not in my garage anymore!