Killer Kaw from 1976 in My Garage!

[gregness]

Hold on to your butts! I scored this fine example of 70's cycling today from an KE 175.jpg antique/junk/whatever place up the road a few miles near Curlew WA.
It's a 175 KE enduro. Has not run in 8 years but has only 400 original miles and turns over easily with decent compression. Tires hold air. Will see how hard it is to get it running, so I can smoke on into town and irritate green types with two-stroke crudeness...

[reidmct]

Such a basic machine should be easy to get into good running condition. Even if all the hoses and wires are bad, there just aren't very many of them. With those intact fenders and turn signals, you know it wasn't abused. Great find!

[spedxprt]

Awesome find! I had the straight up dirt bike version, same year! Good times!

[NotDeadYet]

400 original miles - how does that even happen?

[tbolt]

That is sweet!!

[CHARLIE]

Very cool. Great find, 400 miles on the clock, unbelievable.
That thing looks mint.

[YYCZED]

[jimmymac]

Hella Jelly.

[gregness]

Yesterday I pulled the tank and inspected a few things. As expected the fuel line snapped (it used to be rubber, now is some type of brittle ABS!) when I tried to pull it. Poured the disgusting substance formerly known as gasoline out and rinsed it with fresh non-ethanol premium a couple times. Then I checked the spark- looking good, even without a battery! I looked on line and a replacement Yuasa mini-6 volt is under $20! So next up is a trip to get some proper two-stroke oil for the oil injection tank and a few feet of new fuel line, order a new battery and then back to the ranch weekend after this one and a quick carb cleaning- and she should be good to go. (fingers crossed, knock on wood, say three hail Mary's and hope the crank seals are good...)

G

[BIG O]

Yesterday I pulled the tank and inspected a few things. As expected the fuel line snapped (it used to be rubber, now is some type of brittle ABS!) when I tried to pull it. Poured the disgusting substance formerly known as gasoline out and rinsed it with fresh non-ethanol premium a couple times. Then I checked the spark- looking good, even without a battery! I looked on line and a replacement Yuasa mini-6 volt is under $20! So next up is a trip to get some proper two-stroke oil for the oil injection tank and a few feet of new fuel line, order a new battery and then back to the ranch weekend after this one and a quick carb cleaning- and she should be good to go. (fingers crossed, knock on wood, say three hail Mary's and hope the crank seals are good...)

G

Sorry to hear that Charlie.

BTW

I think you posted this in the wrong thread

[BIG O]

Great find Greg!

Doesn't look like there is even a tear in the seat.

Now paint that tank Kawi green and let her eat

[ramblin66]

Very nice!

I need a bigger garage. Jealous. x2

[bctrout]

My 1st bike was a similar Suzuki TS185. Your little beast will be perfect for running around your Repub area.
That steep drop off at your place would be fun to hill climb. I wanta turn - please please, next please!
Use your tooth brush to clean off the fuel screen straw in the outlet opening of the tank.

[gregness]

It lives... Well kind of. I need advice!

Today I pulled the carb off and cleaned it. The float bowl had crud in it, the slide was gooey with old fuel varnish and the needle and main jet were in need of a good cleaning too. That all done it went back together nicely, no gaskets or seal were torn in the disassembly process. Slide was sticky before cleaning but now it works perfectly. I put a new fuel line and an in-line filter in place, threw some fresh gas in the already-rinsed out tank and gave her a kick. She fired right up on full choke and idled nicely.

Thing is, it will not run off-choke. I let it warm up quite a while but no dice. Take it off choke and/or try to apply any throttle and it dies. And if it sits a minute, when you start it on full choke it will rev up, but then quickly comes back to just basically idling only. Thinking I had a fuel starvation issue, I pulled the petcock assembly and tore it down (yes it has the vacuum diaphragm controlled petcock) I checked everything out and fuel flows right through. I pulled the float bowl drain and put the petcock on prime and fuel streamed right through the system.

So I am flummoxed. I have not worked on an old two stroke dirt bike in decades and never on a rotary valve two stroke, if that makes a difference. The only possible items I can think of are:

1. There is an o-ring on the main jet where it fits into a fixture on the bottom of the float bowl. Needless to say it is old and hard. Could this make a difference?
2. This bike take a small 6 volt battery. I bought a new one but have not yet installed it (needs electrolyte and a charge). It threw a fat spark without a battery, so I assumed it would run with out one. Does it need a battery in order to rev? This does not seem to fit the problem I have but WTF I am throwing every thing at the wall to see if it sticks!

Hoping one of you will laugh and say "You idiot, just do this!"

G

[gregness]

PS, Gordo the fuel screen straw (main) was perfect. The reserve one was cracked and fell apart when I tried to remove it. So I put the in-line filter on.
And you can be next to climb the hill whenever you visit!