‘79 Kz650B3 Resto-mod

I picked this bike up a couple years ago for $175 with a BoS.  It was complete minus an airbox, gas cap, and right driver footpeg.  It was rough but solid.  Took me 2yrs to finally get a title (rather long boring story).  So I’ve been working it on/offon it for those two years.  I do quite a bit of sidework to fund my projects but that doesn’t leave me much time for my own bikes.

Anyways, here it is the day I brought it home.





To be continued…

Later, Doug

My goal when I started was sort of a street-legal trackday bike.  I had collected a bunch of parts to do the same thing to a ‘76 Kz900 frame I had in storage but I don’t have a title for it so I decided the 650 would get the parts instead.

Some inspiration that I found:



To be continued…

Later, Doug

I have tons of pics from the last two years and put in a bunch of work, time, and custom touches.  It’s hard to capture all the mods but here is roughly how it sits in the mock-up phase.


If there is anything specific you have questions about, I’m sure I have pics and info about it. 

Later, Doug

Lovin it so far.My cousin back in the day was into the 650s and he built a few that were gorgeous. 

Interesting project. I do have a question regarding the machine as you brought it home. It appears to have already been altered from stock B3. None of the B models had a disk on the rear wheel, and it appears to my eyes that it has a 16 inch rear tire, again not stock on the B models.

I do like the look of your mock up, and it looks like it would be fun to ride. I look forward to following you on your build.

gd4now wrote:

It appears to have already been altered from stock B3. None of the B models had a disk on the rear wheel, and it appears to my eyes that it has a 16 inch rear tire, again not stock on the B models.

You are correct. The seller also had a 650 SR in the same shed. I didn’t take a close look but I think I remember seeing spoked wheels on it. Mine did have a booger welded rear M/C mount on it, but the VIN is Kz650B-xxxxxx.



Later, Doug

Blew the bike apart and placed the engine on my stand. I’m wanting to scrub the engine down some while it’s out of the frame. It actually pretty clean but has some dirt and grime in the hard to reach spots, of course.




To be cont’d.…

Later, Doug

 I finished cleaning up the frame where I de-tabbed it earlier and decided to remove the centerstand mounts while I could flip the bare frame around easier.


Then I turned up a tach drive plug. It doesn’t look super fancy and took me almost 1.5hrs but $0 spent. 





Later, Doug

Very fine engine stand, thanks for share the pics! ( So i have to do build me a similar  stand, looks really great and functional!)

MFP-Joe wrote:

Very fine engine stand

It’s a K&L stand I've had for 20+ years and used it maybe twice. I can’t remember what I paid for it but they’re $300+ now.

Later, Doug