How it Happened

What is a KZ305 CSR? Well, it's a rare, small, motorcycle. I have come into possession of one of these nice little bikes. This is the first real motorcycle I have ever owned. I've been building, repairing, maintaining, and riding Go-Ped scooters and pocket bikes for about 10 years now, but this is my first "real" bike.

I got a rather good deal on the bike. A couple months ago I traded my 2 12" MTX subwoofers and 1000watt Kenwood amp to a friend for a great condition Xbox 360 Elite with games and accessories. I had my fun with the Xbox, but now that it is getting into the nice weather season, I don't want to be stuck inside playing video games. I started looking for anyone who wanted to trade my Xbox setup for a good Go-Ped or mini-bike. I got a bunch of trash offers... more work than worth machines.

Then, I get an email from a seemingly nice fellow saying that he has an actual motorcycle and he would be interested in trading it for my Xbox. I ask for the details of the bike and I get this response:

1982 Kawasaki KZ305 CSR
~6,000 miles
Clean title, no DMV back fees
Super clean and runs great!

I thought wow! This is a deal I cannot pass up. I call the guy and talk business. We finalized the deal and agreed I would be at his house in 2 days to pick up the bike. I started browsing the internet for information on the bike, and I became very thrilled with the fact that I was going to own this bike.

The next day I get a very sad phone call... The person who has the bike attempted a "tune-up/rebuild" and got it done for the most part except for a couple key mistakes. First thing that happened was he "finished" the tune-up and forgot to refill the bike with oil when he was done. He took it for ~1/2 mile ride and when he got back to his house it was "squeaking." I wanted to cry. I went and looked at the bike anyway. When I got there, first I noticed it was ~26,xxx miles... but the bike was in really nice shape for a 27 year old machine. The bike started, ran, and was ridable even though it was making a horrible "clacking noise" similar to a really bad "lifter tap" on a car. I decided this thing would make a decent project so I went through with the trade anyway.

After getting the bike home I noticed a couple more left out details. Such as the fact that old gaskets were re-used on the top end, and the guy used cork gasket material on the left side crand case cover. It leaks oil from every possible place on the top end and the left side case, which tells me torque specs were ignored in combination with bad gaskets. Now that I know the previous owner was inexperienced, I picked up a parts motor from an unknown GPZ305 sport bike for $100.

I have only just begun on this project, so I want to create this blog for a couple reasons. 1) To compile my collected data on this rare bike. 2) To document the build and 3) to make my collected information known to anyone in need. I do posses the repair manual on the '79-'82 Z250 and KZ305, so if you need info or diagrams feel free to email me and I will help as much as I can.

Stay tuned for updates!