Posts
22
Joined
2/20/2018
Location
CA
Edited Date/Time
3/14/2018 10:57am
I have been bringing this old ‘71 kawi G4TR back to riding condition. I want to keep the cosmetic wear and tear intact as I like to think of that as part of the “history” of the bike.
I bought the bike for $150 last year and finally have got around to giving it some attention. I am guessing it has been sitting for at least 20 years without running by the looks of it. The gas tank is full of rust , tires are cracked and weather checked and everything was covered in a lot of dust when I got it. It did have a spark though which was a promising sign !
So I started out by doing a compression test and it came out at 115 psi. I pulled the carb and stripped it down for a full examination and cleaning , replaced the spark plug cap , checked the wiring , cleaned the air filter , changed out the oil in the oil injection reservoir , rigged up a “gas tank” with a plastic bottle hooked to the carb line , put some premixed fuel in the bottle and kicked it over...2nd kick and it fired right up !!
It smoked like a freight train but as I had to get it running first to verify if the oil injection pump was working properly I ran it on some 32:1 premix for initial start up to be safe. I later verified that the injection pump is working correctly so can safely put straight gas in it from now on.
Now that I had verified it started and ran I got busy tearing down the top end and pulled the piston. It’s still on the standard size piston , apart from some blow by it looked to be in good condition. The cylinder bore looks good as well. No noticeable play in the crank either. I’m not overly surprised to see that though as the bike only has 2092 miles on it but it’s still a lot nicer to have a good condition engine to work with than an engine that’s had a hard life!
I now have a bunch of parts as well as new tires on order and will hopefully have this little piece of moto history back up and running ASAP.
I bought the bike for $150 last year and finally have got around to giving it some attention. I am guessing it has been sitting for at least 20 years without running by the looks of it. The gas tank is full of rust , tires are cracked and weather checked and everything was covered in a lot of dust when I got it. It did have a spark though which was a promising sign !
So I started out by doing a compression test and it came out at 115 psi. I pulled the carb and stripped it down for a full examination and cleaning , replaced the spark plug cap , checked the wiring , cleaned the air filter , changed out the oil in the oil injection reservoir , rigged up a “gas tank” with a plastic bottle hooked to the carb line , put some premixed fuel in the bottle and kicked it over...2nd kick and it fired right up !!
It smoked like a freight train but as I had to get it running first to verify if the oil injection pump was working properly I ran it on some 32:1 premix for initial start up to be safe. I later verified that the injection pump is working correctly so can safely put straight gas in it from now on.
Now that I had verified it started and ran I got busy tearing down the top end and pulled the piston. It’s still on the standard size piston , apart from some blow by it looked to be in good condition. The cylinder bore looks good as well. No noticeable play in the crank either. I’m not overly surprised to see that though as the bike only has 2092 miles on it but it’s still a lot nicer to have a good condition engine to work with than an engine that’s had a hard life!
I now have a bunch of parts as well as new tires on order and will hopefully have this little piece of moto history back up and running ASAP.
https://www.facebook.com/147707445825248/videos/192986637963995/
The Shop
Cool old bike. Good luck with your build.
This thread has got me thinking I should be giving the wee rotary valved Kawi some love!
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