1971 Kawasaki H1

Tackled the forks:  

Stopped here because I need different seals than the ones that came in the rebuild kit.  This sort of thing happens a lot, since I think '71 was sort of an in between year so some stuff is wrong when it says it fits:  

Also changed out the front wheel bearing and tire- wow was that ancient bead and sidewall stiff:  

The rear is taken apart, but yet again, waiting on bits- this time it's the spokes I need to replace a few broken ones:  

Fork seals arrived! Installed those:  

Then I assembled the forks and put them on the bike- this feels like progress:  

New spokes for the rear wheel also arrived, spot the new ones:  

The wheel still seems to spin true with them snugged up, so hopefully I'll get away with just slapping a couple new spokes in.  The rear tire put up a serious fight, which I think was thanks to a combination of ever so slightly different wheel dimensions back in the 70s and 2 rim locks, which I have only seen on dirt bikes previously.  I tried to take pictures of the process but without sprouting an extra arm it was hard to find moments with a free hand:  

Success:

Now I have a rolling chassis, so soon I should be able to put the engine back in!  

Added fork oil- large veterinary syringes work great for this:  

Then, with a lot of help from Sara and a great deal of tilting, repositioning, and yanking, the engine found its' way back into the frame:  

It's a wide beast:  

Swapped fuel petcocks (old one leaked despite by best rebuild efforts):  

Temporarily installed tank so I could make new fuel lines:  

I took the tank back off again because I'm terrified on dinging it.  Installed foot controls:  

Chain and guard:  

The clutch cable on this thing is really difficult to install, I wish I hadn't put the chain in the way:  

And some slightly lower bars with new grips:  

Next, more plumbing and wiring!

Cables installed, the clutch feels heavy and the front brake feels disconcerting, which seems about right:  

Then it was time to bite the bullet and do this part:  

Luckily I have a new harness so it's not too bad.  All the wires at the front of the bike run into the headlight bucket, and most of them don't change color when they go through their connectors:  

With the light and gauges things are beginning to look serious:  

Next up was the ignition switch wiring- unfortunately, this bike didn't come with an ignition switch, and the real ones are like $300.  Instead it had this lousy push-pull switch, which was wired wrong and just dangling under the tank:  

The upside is that the remains of the original ignition switch harness are attached to it, so I stripped the ends, rewired it so it actually functions, and made a little bracket for it out of a piece of aluminum and a leftover clip nut from the Pegaso.  I'll replace this eventually but for now it's good enough and plugs into the main harness like it should: 

Installed, and also the coil and horn wiring:  

Then on to the back, where it was another game of "find the few wires that aren't the same color on both sides of the connector":  

Everything went pretty smoothly, although some connectors had to be reused from the old harness:  

The bike didn't come with any battery wires.  There's literally only one fuse on the entire wiring diagram, so:  

All hooked up:  

Moved the plunger on the silly ignition switch and:  

Success!  Even the brake light works:  

Does anyone know how to adjust the front brake switch?  Once I tightened the front brake cable it was stuck on, and the manual only gives an incredibly unhelpful "the front brake switch does not usually need to be adjusted" on that topic.  I'm not running the front brake cable loose just to have the switch work, that's stupid.

An injury and infection have teamed up to slow my progress way down, so I've only done little stuff like putting the right size hose clamps on the fuel lines and ordering bolts for the few spots where I don't have an original fastener.

I also messed with the front brake switch, which is totally non-adjustable:  

Basically, that copper ring slides between two prongs and closes the circuit.  The spring is way too weak, so I tried stretching it, but I must have hurt something on reassembly because the switch is now shorted out.  I disconnected it, the rear switch will work OK for an initial test ride.

I also did some more reassembly, because looking at the bike put together makes me happy:  

Nice work. I'd just abort the front brake light switch. Pay attention, and you're all good.

Plus one on Wheelsmithy's comment. When did you ever use just the front brake on the street?

In reply to TurnerX19 :

True, especially given that the front brake is a drum from nearly half a century ago!

TurnerX19 said:

Plus one on Wheelsmithy's comment. When did you ever use just the front brake on the street?

Ask any Harley rider. You should never use the front brake, you might lock up the wheel and crash.

ShawnG said:

TurnerX19 said:

Plus one on Wheelsmithy's comment. When did you ever use just the front brake on the street?

 

Ask any Harley rider. You should never use the front brake, you might lock up the wheel and crash.

Next thing your going say is, that if a harley rider leans in a turn the bike will fall over. Lol

How much longer to riding time? This think looks like a beast

In reply to bigfranks84 :

Should be soon, hopefully.  Potentially as soon as next weekend, assuming I have two working legs by then.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

In reply to TurnerX19 :

True, especially given that the front brake is a drum from nearly half a century ago!

Even better - a cable actuated brake. I don't even like cable actuated disc brakes on bicycles. I can only imagine what it feels like.

In reply to Ian F :

The lever feels completely linear and pretty heavy, and gives no feedback whatsoever when the shoes actually start engaging.  I'm used to braking with only one or two fingers, but I think this bike will require the "whole hand clampdown" approach.

Installed the last few little bits that should let the bike run, kicked it over a couple times, and... the kickstart lever stripped:  

I tried cutting the slot a little bigger so it could clamp harder:  

That didn't work and it spun again.  The proper kicker for these is $$$ so I ordered a $23 one for an early 80s Kawasaki dirtbike which appears to have the same spline count.  If I can't get that one to stay clamped I'm going to tack weld it to the shaft.

I know it would suck, but can you "sharpen" the splines with a file?

I guess you could do both the shaft and the lever.

In reply to Robbie :

It looks like the lever is made of soft stuff- the good news there is that the shaft is hopefully ok, but the lever's splines seem beyond saving.  Even if I sharpen them, the diameter they'd be centered on would be too big.

And, if the shaft is screwed up too, no harm putting a couple tacks on the end of it, right?  If I want it perfect in the future I'd have to replace it regardless at that point.

Cheap dirt bike kicker fits!

It's this one, for reference if anyone else runs into this problem.

It still skipped a spline or two when I kicked it really hard so I'm going to tack it before making real starting attempts.

Did it skip back a couple teeth after it slipped when kicking to align the pedal back to starting point? Are you sure it's skipping at the kicker? Maybe inside skipping? I'm not sure how that ones assembled on the inside.

In reply to wlkelley3 :

It's skipping on the splines for sure, I actually marked it because I had the same thought.

Can you grind the split larger a hair, to be able to clamp it tighter?

Wheeled it down to the main workbay since the welder is there, was cool to roll it outside for the first time:  

Zapped the kicker on:  

Then kicked it for a while and got... nothing.  Eventually discovered that the firing order is clocked by 120 degrees, rearranged the plug wires, reset the ignition timing, and:  

It lives!  I need to adjust the idle a bit, and figure out why the oil pump isn't doing its' thing (or give up and just always run premix) but it sounds good and the throttle is nice and responsive.

Then, after I shut it down, I noticed smoke coming from under the seat.  Then a whistling noise.  Investigating revealed the battery was smoking and expanding, whistling as gas came out through cracks in the casing 

I blasted it with an extinguisher and cut the positive wires at the terminal while hoping it wouldn't explode on me:  

It looks like the main positive and ground wires were touching each other and managed to short out before the fuse- I think this is either a case of "don't reuse the 1971 ground wire" or the voltage regulator was overcharging.  More investigation needed, but I pulled the battery and put it far away from anything important before cleaning the extinguisher powder off the bike:  

This is hopefully just a minor setback, and could have been much worse.  I think I'll pull the tank and seat to reroute some wiring while I'm at it.

It sounds glorious! Good catch on the battery. Scary.

Sounds great!! Love those old 2 strokes.

A running bike is a HUGE step forward. The battery seems minor, mostly because it didn't actially light on fire. 

It looks and sounds awesome. And sweet shop!