Kawasaki H2 750

[GSX1000E]

Lady bugs are some of the few GOOD bugs. They eat the bad bugs. They purchase them by the thousands and release them in campgrounds out west to eat the mosquitoes.

[blowerbike]

they add a little extra crunch to my bologna samwiches too

[GSX1000E]

Back on topic AND to include a Suzuki GS model...







GSX400 that is certain to turn heads.

[Joe H]

I heat that garage up and those lady bugs come out! My garage door faces south- south west so in the fall its like a horror film with them and the box elder bugs! I nearly filled my small shop vac bag one year letting the kids suck them up!

That GS Kawi combo must have bee quite a build. Those big reed boxes can produce tons of power.

I look at some of the restores and builds here and on other sites and Im just stunned.
This H2 I'm building really is just a rat that will look good at 30mph or 30 ft. Up close there is some really nice workmanship and some not so nice! But I don't want to feel like it cannot go out to play because its dressed to nice!

[Rob S.]

This H2 I'm building...

Waiting to see more pics!

[Joe H]

Unfortunately its all wrapped up! Didn't want metal shavings all over it, once I'm done grinding-drilling I will unwrap, I cannot wait to get to work on it. All this grinding and drilling is taking longer than I thought. (life gets in the way!)

I did mange to slot one piston, but if you look at the left side you can see a bit of drill slip..
So I ordered up a set of center drills which will make this much easier.

[Joe H]

Got the pistons in, heads are mounted but only to seal it up for now they will come off again. I may be getting them welded to keep them from cracking, I haven't decided how important this is yet.
Here are a few pics.
I should really learn to use my wives Canon it would take much better pics than my cell phone… So here are a few pics. You can see the boost ports on the intake side of the cylinder. The name on the piston is my cousins written in 1996, I didn't wipe it off…. I just couldn't.. I'll let the combustion do it.
The head light and tail light are LED. I cut the stock head light and installed both an h4 bulb and an LED. The LED runs on the low beam and the h4 on the high beam. The blinkers are SUPER cheap but save a few watts too. The electrical system on these old bikes are limited so saving power can help.

[steve murdoch]

"No Officer, i don't know how fast i was going because i don't need no stinkin' speedometer"
Very tidy dash.

[Joe H]

"No Officer, i don't know how fast i was going because i don't need no stinkin' speedometer"
Very tidy dash.

All those numbers confuse me anyway!!! All I wanta' know is when she's gonna' to blow!

Seriously though I'm sure you noted the bike speedo which should work fine. My other thought is a mount (which I have on my GS) for my phone with a speedo app that works really well. I use it on my GS and like having the GPS also.

[Joe H]

Getting more done on this project and looking forward to spring.
Did a leak down test, fought intake leaks like MAD, WOW, but in the end conquered them.
Needed to hold 6 lb's for 6 min both vacuum and pressure.


Also got the Zeelrtonic ignition set up. I am having a bit of a brain fart trying to understand some of the workings of the unit but I have assured myself it will become evident once I time it with a strobe when its running.
You set all the pickups as advanced as you can by moving the plate and the pickups as far as they will go. Then you measure the static angle of the crank with a dial gauge (they provide a excel spread sheet that does the math thankfully) and set the unit up initially. Once it is running you strobe each cylinder and set the final settings. I marked the ignition rotor from 0 deg TDC to 30 deg BTDC so when I strobe it I will be able to see how far advanced it will be. This has to be done CAREFULLY. The Zeel unit will retard to any point, you have 12 points for the ignition curve. So for example it would start at 15 deg at 1000 rpm and slowly advance to 23 to 27 deg advance before the pipe hits around 5000 rpm depending on the pipe and then retard down to 15 deg by 9000 rpm. I have a few good starting curves from guys who have worked with these units. Alleviates detonation which these bikes have been know for! It also has a shift light I hooked to the stop lamp on the tach and a soft rev limiter you can set. Theres a bunch more options too that I won't use. Its a neat unit. I ordered it with the controller to program it you can also program it with a PC. Its right below the carbs in the pic.

I set the marks on the rotor at 5 deg increments. They are as close as I can get and they were all repeatable several times. I believe they are at least a constant maybe not perfect but a good controlled measuring point.

[Nessism]

Super cool project here. I'm enjoying the thread. Keep going...

[Joe H]

Super cool project here. I'm enjoying the thread. Keep going...

Thanks, I will, Im soooooo close to running, hoping to be able to post a video soon on its first start, if it starts and if I can figure how to post video!

Thats quite a KZ project your doing! And I must say a real stand up thing to take the full hit on the head return, Very stand up!

[Joe H]

ITS ALIVE!!
Started on the third kick! took it slowly around around the block went thru the gears. It still needs MUCH tuning and will require some work with the foot controls, they are not good…. The all up shift pattern of these bikes is going to throw me for a loop for sure. Need some mods on the sprocket cover and a few other things as well. I have some custom color '72 graphics on the way, but all in all looks good!
When it started both me and my son JUMPED, it was fantastic!
Big Noisy Smoky politically incorrect Beauty!!! WOW!
Video kinda sucks.You have to click the small pic for the video (sorry if that is obvious Im not that bright when it comes to posting and computers) And the background scenery leaves a bit to be desired.

[steve murdoch]

Video works fine. You just need to add the smell-o-vision.
What a great racket.
Kickstart? With that driveway i would be bump starting it.

[dorkburger]

Too cool! I dig the orange also. Congrats on the milestone of firing it up.