TOPIC:

I've been thinking about the air suspension in the front forks and compared the old springs to some springs from an XS 650 I got. It has no air and a slightly smaller diameter coil but, stouter springing. The length is almost the same. I figure a washer to bring the diameter to about the same on top of the damper tube will stiffen the front up. I've also thought I better put the 16" mag wheel back into play as the 18" is taller and I may not have enough clearance if the rear shocks bottom out. Shinko 777 130/90 16 will get ordered soon. 

I've been busy on ebay buying Napoleon style bar end mirrors and 4 circuit fuse blocks.. On the maintenance side, I got the 3 bearings out of the rear wheel. They were frozen in there because of moisture and maybe because of the bearing spacer collar placement. It wouldn't allow a solid blow to the bearings. I'm going to replace the bearings and the grease seals.
I had another 4 place fuseholder, but it used Torx screws. When I saw the one with blade connectors I knew that was the way to go. And this new one had a clear plastic cover.

Bought new bearings and seal for the rear wheel. I will grease them up and instal so I can do the same for the front wheel. The bearing from the sprocket holder was froze up with hard 30 yr old grease. I did get the bearings from the hub to rotate but, I didn't trust them. One of the old seals crumbled it was so hard. 

Got new bearings after finally getting the old ones out. Removed a seal on the new bearing to check how much grease was in there. I was surprised to see so much. I put the seal back on and installed the new bearings remembering to use the spacer between them. That was some time ago and never got around to doing the front. I will in the future. For the past week I've been trying to clean the carbs. The bowls have the classic gas varnish on the bottom. The  choke end are dirty. Some are dirtier than others. I have 3 torn down. I've been able to remove 2 mixture screws. One is stuck and I've been using penetrating oil to loosen it. All of the main and needle jets and the pistons. Diaphrams seem good. Pilot jets are still in because I haven't found a screwdriver small enough.. Progress is slow but. going forward. I found on FB Marketplace a Dayna ignition with grey coils and the control box for an excellent price and bought it. 

Well, for a while life got in the way. My best little buddy, a 17 yo Chihuahua stopped eating and started breathing hard. He's been with the family since he was a pup and my little buddy the whole time. I had him put down Aug 1st. He was the 3rd family dog to die this year and it got to me. We got another dog 2 weeks later. She put me in a better mood and was back on track.
Back to KZ stuff. Have been working on the carb bank. #1 carb idle mixture screw is stuck. Cross threaded last rebuild? Dunno. Tried to drill/e-z out. Nope. Just kept  breaking. Took it to a friend for a 2nd opinion and he said "Run it as is."Passage is clear. ANYwayyyy. lost some parts in the meantime. Like  a few of those plastic plugs in the float chamber. Getting the petrified O-rings off was a chore. Triangle file until the stem shows.Really tiny plain screwdriver to break it off. Yeah I broke the bank down to individual carbs. Generally they were in OK shape. Welllll too many lost parts and the stuck mixture screw, it was time for another bank of carbs. Found a bank on ebay for $200 shipped to my door. They were from a Specture so they are black with plastic tops. I'm just going to clean them up, shoot carb cleaner in the passages. Check the diaframes and one sllder is stuck so that will be need freeing up. We will see.

I've not been idle since the last entry. Wheel bearings in the front wheel were changed. The original handlebar switches have frozen up. I have a set from an earlier KZ 650 but alas, the connectors to the wiring loom are very different. I might be able to change the molded plastics connectors of the switches to fit the front loom. I'll try to take some pics to show the difference. Basically on the Left switch set has 9 connectors. The  switch set I want to use has 6 and 2 loose wires. The right side has 4 connectors or 6. What I want to use is has 4. I've found the missing components that attach to the loom. Turn signal controller, reserve light controller and light checker. I won't use the stock speedo, so the distance signal won't be sending signals to the turn signal controller. 

Last night the Stock ignition was removed and the timing portion of the DAYNA installed. I still need to make the mounting of the coils. I've got some sheet aluminum to use as material. I'll be using the gray coils. I need to finalize the location and mounting method for the brainbox. Today the cam timing was checked and the cam cover installed and the cam chain tensioner installed.  

Sorry to read about your challenges but Good to see you are moving forward, back on with it and making progress.

Thank you Wookie. I've felt that our pets are family members. Maybe I'm a sentimental softy. 
Yesterday, is the one year mark I've had this bike. I thought I would have had this ride on the road by now. Well, it is what it is. Every turn of the wrench brings that time closer.
 

Indeed. Wrenches and dremel tools have been spinning. I cut some Aluminum for coil mounts. Well, with the post sideways and the plug wire posts also sideways. the plugposts hit the tank. I'm thinking of making new mounts with Angled aluminum and mount posts and plug wires posts vertical. I'm hoping the home stores have  3" angle Angle Aluminum. I have a plan "B" if not. I have some 2" angled aluminum and bolt or glue some wider sheet metal to a flange. in a plane. I'm using gray Dynatec coils. Ordered and received a GPS speedo. I'm going to use a chromed speedo housing to mount it in. It has a Tachometer too. I'm going to balance it with the same style housing on the other side with a Voltmeter and USB charging port.

Here is how I mounted my Dyna coils to my '81 KZ50.  I used some 1/8" thick steel angle and cut a notch to clear the coil.
 

I made coil brackets from 1-1/2 angled aluminum. pic is a rough prototype. holes offset for the coils.