More Cleaning and Missing Parts

Had about an hour to work on the project last night, nevertheless a little bit of progress. Didn’t get my shop manual yet, but I found this site with super duper expensive kz200 parts. I am talking about a front axle for $150. I just purchased the part on ebay for $14.00 with free shipping. The good thing about this site is that it has all the diagrams for the bike with OEM part names and serial numbers. I used some of those diagrams to look at the assembled front end that I have. I disassembled it, cleaned the front suspension with some soap water. Then proceeded to work over the fork with sand paper and managed to get almost all of the rust off. I finished it off with NeverDull wadding solution and now it's not quite like new, but in much better condition than before. I did the same to the steering stem and the washer-spring.

I took off all the controls from the handlebars, disconnected all the wiring and then stood there in silence scratching my head. Everything that I touch I notice has missing parts. Missing fork cover, missing axle (which I already ordered), missing bolts, missing washers, MISSING KEY?

Yes, missing key, which means that I am going to have to find a new ignition switch or see if I can get a key made for the old one. Anyway, that is for later. For now I must stick to the plan and get the wheels, suspension and handle bars assembled.

Yet, before all that I still have a lot of cleaning to do. Not to mention expanding my list of missing parts.



Will post new photos of the clean parts next time, for now here’s our new and improved garage. My wife and I spent 3 hours cleaning and rearranging. She also bought me a 260 piece Craftsman mechanic’s tool set, which is making my work on the project much easier.

Cleaning the frame

A very wise man, my father, once told me that only an idiot learns from his own mistakes. A smart man opens his eyes and ears and learns from mistakes of others. Following that theory, I hit the World Wide Web in search of previous projects on the KZ200. I found some, most in Indonesia, but some were more or less local by English speaking folks. Unfortunately there are a lot of photos of restored and rebuild motorcycles and not too much detailed information on the process of rebuilding the KZ200.


I have noticed that a great deal of experts in the field of motorcycle repair name one thing as the most important tool in fixing any motorcycle. That is a shop manual for the specific machine which is being worked on. So that was my next step. I found a shop manual for the 1978 KZ200 on line for just $10 plus $5 shipping. I will first use the manual to catalogue all the parts that I have and then figure out their assembly.

Meanwhile, the shop manual is in the mail and I spent a few hours last night to take the engine off the frame and clean the frame. Taking off the engine was not difficult. It took some time because I had to be careful with the bolts. Most of them are rusted so I had to make sure not to break any. The majority of the time was spent on cleaning the frame. I used automotive cleaner and a few rags. I need to go to a store and buy some brushes to get into some crevices on the frame that I couldn’t get to with a rag. Overall I think I did a nice job. Below is the picture of the frame. Compared to the photo of it that I posted yesterday, there is a big difference.

Today, I am going to an auto supply store and going to get some solutions and chemicals to start cleaning the engine and the rest of the mechanical parts.

How it all begins

So, there is this almost 32 year-old guy. Just a guy, who works hard, loves his family, has a load of responsibilities and always manages to find for himself more unneeded work, worries and drama. He enjoys all the finer things in life those, which he can and can’t afford. Life cannot be perfect, especially for him. He likes spending time with his wife, his friends and riding his motorcycle. An idea came to this man, to build his own motorcycle in his garage. To do the work on the weekends and for a few hours after work during the week, that is instead of sitting on a couch watching television. The problem with this idea is that he had never in his life held a proper mechanic’s tool, never changed an oil filter and does not really know how an engine works. This creates a challenge.
Well being that I am that guy and the abundance of information on line about the subject of motorcycle repair and restoration is vast; I am taking on this challenge. My birthday is coming up soon, so after telling my lovely wife my plan and getting a surprising word of approval from her (not that I need one, but we are a unit and should discuss these type of things), I went on line and found a taken apart 1978 Kawasaki KZ200 that I picked up last night for a whopping $25. The plan is to rebuild this motorcycle in no more than a year’s time.
All of my family and friends have been notified that if they are getting anything for me for my birthday this year it should be some sort of a tool. I have already purchased some metric tools in the past and plan to get many more.
From some of the research that I have conducted so far this is the mode of operation for this project:

Install the wheels
Suspension
Handle bars to get it up & rolling
Install the motor
Final drive
Start on the electrics
Move onto peripherals & sheet metal; fenders, tank, cables, controls, linkages etc...
Fluids, check spark & compression, set the points, introduce fuel & fire it off

But first I need to clean this baby part by part (it’s been sitting in someone’s garage for three years in parts and everything has an inch or two layer of dirt on it). Then I need to catalogue everything and figure out what is there, what needs fixing and what needs replacement. Only after that I will start the steps described above.

I am not planning to work on this every day, so I will not post on this blog every day, but I will try to go on after every session and talk about the things that I’ve done, my success, my errors and all that I learn in the process.

Below are some pictures of what I am starting with. The bike and I are both the same age, but I'd like to think that I am in abit of a better condition.