Taking it apart!

I want to mention first that I am motorcycle enthusiast, but I had only very basic knowledge of mechanics and motorcycle fixing before starting this project. As I write this post, I am far from finished, but maybe others with limited mechanics knowledge will be inspired to start and it is great fun (ok, when you spend 30 min on a single rusty bolt, it is not that fun, but most of the time it is!).

During the whole process, I was very lucky to be helped by fantastic individuals in the H2 community. In particular Philip from France provided invaluable help and still does! Without his help and guidance, this project would be going nowhere! Check out his great website:http://kawasaki750h2.free.fr/

In case anybody starts doing a similar restoration, let me summarize below what turned out to be the most useful:

-Full shop manual (with drawings, etc.)
-AN IMPACT DRIVER! (I broke quite a few nuts, bolts and screws before I bought an impact driver attachment for my drill. The project started going much faster after that)
-WD40 and a blow torch (heat helps a lot when things are really stuck)
-time and patience (my goal is 1.5 years to do this restoration and it may take longer...)
-Making a broad plan. In my case it was stripping the bike to the frame, get the frame inspected and powder coated, taking the engine apart, inspect and replace bearings and seals, get the engine case cleaned, the crankshaft rebuilt, the cylinder honed, new pistons, etc. and slowly putting things back together, possibly buying new if parts are too rusty (for instance, I decided to get new Doremi exhaust which are great replicas, new fork tubes, etc)


Below are a few pictures of the taking apart process:

First I took apart all the "little things", ie the lights, pegs, seat, etc. Then I took off all the covers, fuel tank, carbs, etc.

The engine is out. The carbs were so stuck it was a pain to take them apart. The engine had some snake skin between the cylinder jugs! A testament to the long time this bike has been parked!

Finally the frame is completely stripped! In the process, one of the bracket to attached the engine broke. Luckily my friend Matt introduced me to Rick, an expert welder. I first got the frame glass beat blasted (for reference in case anybody does that somewhere else, it was about 140$, great work by Myers sandblasting in Oakland http://myerssandblasting.com/)

 In order to weld (TIG) the bracket back and align it well, I put the engine case back on the frame (only the engine case, no crankshaft nor electric parts). The welding went well, we discovered another crack in the frame (which appeared to have been sort of fixed at some point), and Rick replaced that poor weld with a great new one. At this point, I brought the frame, the pegs, the swing arm, the lower part of the triple fork (basically all back parts that are not so visible, for the more visible parts, I will paint them black instead of powder coating). For 425$, Chris at Melrose painting did an outstanding job and now the frame looks like new:

Engine tear down

Before I start, one tool that turn out very useful for the engine teardown was a rubber mallet. It helps to get stuff out without damaging the metal.

After removing the carbs, I took the cylinder jugs apart first. That step could have been greatly helped with a mallet. Unfortunately I used heat and a crowbar and ended up breaking one fin:

The pistons will be replaced

The clutch side. The plates were stuck and will need to be replace.

 I was pleastly surprised to see that the transmission, the forks, etc. were in great shape with no sign of rused or breakage. I will still take them apart and clean the bearings or replace them. The crakshaft is at the moment with Dave who will replace the bearings and the seals.http://davestriples.com/

The beginning

My friend Jordan's father, Gary, had a 72 Kawasaki H2 750 in his yard. He used to ride it until the mid 80's but then parked it in his garden. Gary was very nice to give me this motorcycle as a project. I decided to call this 72 Kawasaki H2 750 (built in December 71) Gary.

Here below is how it looked like before we picked it up with my friend Dan who kindely offered his trucking services for the occasion: