The first thing I wanted to check on Zed was whether the oil was contaminated or if the wet sump Kawasaki engine was full of rainwater from sitting outside. This was not such an easy job as the previous owner had used a chainsaw to tighten the drain bolt. The head of the bolt was mangled into a tapered affair that resisted all vise-grip attempts to get a purchase. Finally I managed to grip the o-ring flange area and got the sad thing out of the oil pan.
Luckily for me the oil came out black, pure and dirty. I priced a drain bolt and while it was a reasonable 15 bucks for a new one I decided that there was plenty of good meat remaining on the old bolt. Using 7 dollars worth of cutting blades on my 4-inch grinder I cut a 14mm hex head into the wreckage and then smoothed the saw cuts with a 9-dollar flap wheel. After I had the bolt looking respectable I ran down to Home Depot (using 1 gallon of gas @ $2.67) and bought some $6.99 silver spray paint. The paint really made the bolt look sweet and I had the satisfaction of saving money to boot!
I have no idea what originally stopped the Zed from running but by the look of the wiring harness it was electrical. The harness is melted in several places and severed in several others. It’s like someone thought they could cut the bike back to health. Cutting is a sign of deeper psychological problems and the fact that the ignition system was in a cardboard box showed how desperate things had become.
Silicone sealant slathered on the weather cracked rubber intake manifolds was less likely to stop the bike. I have found 4 new manifolds on ebay for $50 and they are on the way. Removing the carbs and air box runners was a straightforward operation.
Until this screw broke off, it’s always worse when a screw breaks on the way out. You’ll never have as good a connection as you did when the part was one piece. I am soaking it with PB Blaster, there’s no rush. At least I can get a straight shot at the piece stuck in the head.
I removed the sparkplugs for a quick, finger-in-the-plug-hole compression test and Zed has compression on all four cylinders. The actual PSI number is not too important at this time. I was more worried about a bad valve or holed piston. The sparkplugs were fluffy-sooty and so is the piston (what I can see of it through the plug hole). The bike was running rich or maybe as the ignition died combustion became less of a sure thing.
I’ve got enough apart to have confidence Zed’s engine will run. Hopefully the gearbox will be ok and the stator will charge the battery. In Part 3 we will clean, clean, clean!