Topic: Terry's new new redneck K0 "Special"..........

[Terry in Australia]

Okay, so I currently have 3(?) ongoing build threads, namely my Kawasaki 1428, Z1 and Honda CB750F2 builds/restifications, and, well.......... I've done it again. Ooops.

Last week I was trawling thru my FB groups, and someone was looking for the rear sections of a K7(?) frame to replace the sections chopped out by a "Cafe Racer Fabricator" (half arsed hacker) and another member said he had a K0 frame, that he'd be willing to chop up? WTF? I jumped on him like a fat kid on a tray of donuts, and we did a deal for a K0 frame, swingarm, forks, and rear wheel. Woohoo!

K0 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 9j by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Why was I so excited? Well over the last 11 years I've had a 1969 K0 engine (in bits) 1010XXX and I've been looking for a frame to put it in. Now when I say I've got an engine, well, that's an exaggeration. Well, that sounds like I'm full of sh1t (which of course, I am) so let me explain.

I bought 2 Henry Abe wheels from a great guy in Canberra called Ken on Ebay, and when I collected them (a 14 hour drive) I noticed a nice looking, crashed K2. Turns out Ken had built a "Special" with K2 frame, K0 swingarm, Yamaha FZR1000 forks in specially machined billet trees, nickle plated everything, etc. Ken, an Engineering Instructor at the Defence Academy in Canberra, was a professional engineer who'd built race bikes, land speed record attempt bikes, etc, and had built a great K2 special, that he unfortunately crashed 10 minutes into it's first outing, tearing off both of his kneecaps in the process. He'd only just come off his crutches a week or two before I arrived on the scene. Here's Ken, posing on the remains of his bike.

TerrysCanberratrip13Mar20101 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

TerrysCanberratrip13Mar20102 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

We discussed buying his bike, and he had some spares he was happy to sell me while I was there, including the K0 cases. Turns out he had an early diecast K0, but not knowing much about them, threw the frame and forks etc, in the local dump. I made him an offer for the top and bottom cases and he happily accepted, so I had a top and bottom case.   

I eventually bought his bike too, and rebuilt it into "Goldie", the 2010 (?) BOTM bike, with lots of new parts to replace the damaged parts, and was often reminded of my own mortality when I found pieces of Ken's knees when I was replacing various parts of the bike.

Terryswinterride14-6-101 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

But I digress. I sold the "Goldie" bike soon afterwards, but kept the K0 cases. Over the years I found a crank, gearbox innards, a cylinder block, head, cam, cam cover etc. Last year (or maybe the year before, I forget) I had all the cases aqua blasted, so all it needs now is some bearing shells, a gasket set, and some of my time to make it whole again.

I've had a couple of false starts, including buying another K0 a few years ago, but selling it when I was short on cash. No idea if it's been finished yet.

Anyhoo, further discussions with the owner of the frame yesterday revealed that he had a wrinkle tank, K0 oil tank, OEM sidecovers with badges, and a better airbox bottom. He sent me some pics, I made another offer, which he accepted straight away.

Terry's New K0 Project 5 Oct 2020 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's New K0 Project 5 Oct 2020 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's New K0 Project 5 Oct 2020 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's New K0 Project 5 Oct 2020 9c by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's New K0 Project 5 Oct 2020 9g by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's New K0 Project 5 Oct 2020 9a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

OK, so surely that's enough, no? Well I was trawling through Ebay for K0 parts today, and I found a set of minty reconditioned K0 carbs, for the "Sofa King Low" price of only $1000 USD! I thought about it, put my phone away, went to physio to enjoy the magic hands of Alice the magnificent performing a "Remedial Massage", paid for by the good ol' VA, which somehow loosened my poor old muscles up to the point where I wobbled outside and hit the "Buy it now" button........... Bugger you Alice, you magnificent thing!

Terry's K0 carbs 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's K0 carbs 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Oh well, I'll need to rejig some of my current projects, but until the frame and stuff actually arrives (being collected from Brisbane tomorrow) there's no rush. Will be nice to do another CB750 project, as much as I'm learning lots about big Kawasaki's, I can strip and rebuild a CB750 with both eyes closed. Sometimes, they even run afterwards..........

[Tintop]

Subscribed Terry, looks like another interesting project.

[754]

Nice KO stuff, side covers are great .. original paint ? Are they white on the inside ?
 Serial no on frame approx ? 2 hole hub ?

[PeWe]

You work really hard, Terry!
Projects all over the place

Getting a restored K0 on the street with you on top of it is an old dream, right?

You'll have an entire fleet of CB750s when all are up and running.
The Kawasaki's another most guys dreams of the 70s-80's

[MauiK3]

If I found a K0 I’d do it too. My K3 is great but I’d do a K0.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Terry,

No idle hands in your part of the bush! You are prolific, sir!!

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to starting it, but I have to keep in mind that my garage is becoming more and more over-loaded, so I might even do the unthinkable and sell a couple of project bikes just to make some room, and throw some bucks towards the K0.

No idea what the frame number is Frank, someone's made an attempt to remove it, but I'm hoping I can read it. Looking at the "shorty" chain guard, it may be a very early one as the last of the K0's had a longer chainguard, and no wrinkle tank. (I've got a late K0 "no-wrinkle"tank on my K2 bitsa) Not the original paint, and the right sidecover needs a repair, but that's OK, he had NOS sidecovers and badges for sale as well, but I declined, I'm happy to repair the sidecover and have another "patina" bike, and use that money to buy other much needed bits.

As you can see it only has a K0 speedo and a K1 tach, but as luck would have it, I have a good K0 tach here, so I'll send them both off to Marcel for him to work his magic on, and make them like new. It's hard to see in the pics what the switchblocks are like, but once again, if they're fixable, I'll use them, to try to keep the repro stuff to a minimum. I have some other K0 parts here so when the frame arrives (it was picked up this morning) I'll sort out the best parts and keep them, then sell off my spares, because I don't intend to do another one. The "Rhino Horn" top triple clamp looks OK, and I'm hoping the rear wheel is a K0 item, but if not, I have a K0 hub here that I can lace a good DID "rolled" rim to.

I bought this front wheel a few months ago, the seller  in the US (a bike wrecker I've also bought a Z1 wheel from) had it advertised as a K6, so I was delighted to find a near mint K0 front wheel complete with the unique axle and disc, for under $100 USD, plus about the same for shipping and taxes etc.

K0 front wheel by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

Anyway, not much else to do for the moment than wait for the truck to arrive with the frame, and a big box with the fuel and oil tanks, sidecovers and airbox bottom, then the carbs etc. I still need to line and paint the F2 tank and put new tyres on it, install the 1428 engine, finish assembling the Z1-B engine and build a bike around it, and so the K0 might be a little further down the track, but the good thing about working from home is I can pop outside for an hour here and there and do little bits to move all these projects along. Should be fun.

[BPellerine]

you got some hard to find parts there terry!bill

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill, I was pretty excited to see that all the parts that I assumed would be extra were included in the price, so the second purchase (wrinkle tank, oil tank etc) was the icing on the cake. I could have probably found some cheaper carbs, but I’ve had problems with cable carbs in CB750 before, so hopefully these won’t need messing with.

[PeWe]

You are worth a prize, Terry.
"Biggest Project Guy Of The Year'!!!
Or decade.....

[Terry in Australia]

Woohoo! What do I win Per? My boss just offered me his mint US import 1978 Kawasaki KZ750 (twin) for my BMW K100RS. They weren’t great bikes, but are becoming collectable now, so I might take his bike, and a little cash for my K0.....

[PeWe]

Terry, you have a good flow now!
The Kawasaki has the good look as they released with the Z1-900!

https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/kawasaki/kawasaki_z750%2077.htm

You had turbo plans for that BMW?

[spotty]

here we go again.....

by the way i should be moving back to civilisation around 24/10, so lockdowns allowing we can do a couple of runs to your storage place and you can ferry the start of your storage bikes to my garage of hidden ( from mrs terry ) delights, theres loads of elec connections in there so you should be able to cycle them through the trickle chargers as needed

not sure how many will fit at one time but a while ago i had 4 bikesand a valiant in there so maybe one valiant equals 5 or 6 bikes and i've only got 2 of my own now, one of which is usually up on the bike lift. basic tools are obviously on site as well as a beer ( ginger or otherwise ) fridge

as added security there will be two quite large dogs present most of the time

anyway shall be following the K0

did you consider selling the seeker of K7 frame bits my entire frame and keeping the rest for future projects which will save you the shame of being any more closely associated with the dreaded 7

also to be thought about is me heading to your place to perfrom the shed erection ceremony, will you still need it after moving some of the fleet to my place ?

[Terry in Australia]

Terry, you have a good flow now!
The Kawasaki has the good look as they released with the Z1-900!

https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/kawasaki/kawasaki_z750%2077.htm

You had turbo plans for that BMW?

Thanks Per, I bought the turbo kit from a member here who thought it was complete, but sadly it's missing some important parts (inlet manifold, for instance) so might be sold on to someone else to find the requisite parts to make their K100 "Luft", ha ha! I also know of another K100RS nearby going (very) cheap, so I might buy it, who knows? The Kawasaki is mint, US import, 8000 original miles, and ready to go. I was never a huge fan, but it does look nice.........

Terry's KZ750 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Spotty, thanks for that mate, your garage sounds very inviting, indeed! My plans for the K7 is a frame "Hoop", Pseudo crocodile skin ironing board seat, K2 tank and other accoutrements to make it the ideal Hipster "Transport of desire" Street Scrambler. I've got another set of rebuilt carbs, a high front fender and maybe a set of K7 forks so I can keep those beaut CB900F(?) forks and sweet front brake caliper for a future build.

That should make at least enough money to buy some K0 bits from Yamiya. It's already got those sweet knobby tyres and dirt bike bars you put on it, so this weekend I might install the carbs, fire it up, and do a very quick "Hipster build". If there are any K7 fans here you'll need to understand that the K7 in question has less original parts attached than my K0, so it's not like I'm desecrating a minty K7. (if there's such a thing.....)  

[Terry in Australia]

Well fcuk me swinging, I just received a phone call from the delivery driver to tell me that the K0 frame is being delivered tomorrow! Tomorrow will truly be a red letter day, the K0 frame is delivered, along with the GPZ1100 engine I bought overnight. Hmmnnn, I wonder how a GPZ1100 engine would go in a K0 frame? Just kidding! (sort of...........)

[PeWe]

Terry, you need a secretary that upgrades all project threads you have ongoing!!

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, yep, I almost forgot that I have that little CL90 to collect once the lockdown is over, until the seat cover I ordered arrived today! Well I think I'll strip the K0 frame and get it blasted then do some repairs and etch prime it, and it can sit until I'm ready to start the engine rebuild. Luckily I had the engine cases, cylinder block, head etc all vapor blasted a couple of years ago, so the engine will look like new.

[bear]

Well fcuk me swinging, I just received a phone call from the delivery driver to tell me that the K0 frame is being delivered tomorrow! Tomorrow will truly be a red letter day, the K0 frame is delivered, along with the GPZ1100 engine I bought overnight. Hmmnnn, I wonder how a GPZ1100 engine would go in a K0 frame? Just kidding! (sort of...........)
[/quote

Well fcuk me, I need to take logistics lessons from Uncle Tez. I can't organise a fcuk in a brothel.
It looks like I'll be waiting another three weeks for mine to turn up.
You'll have another two bikes on the road by then Uncle Tez.

[PeWe]

Well fcuk me swinging, I just received a phone call from the delivery driver to tell me that the K0 frame is being delivered tomorrow! Tomorrow will truly be a red letter day, the K0 frame is delivered, along with the GPZ1100 engine I bought overnight. Hmmnnn, I wonder how a GPZ1100 engine would go in a K0 frame? Just kidding! (sort of...........)
[/quote

Well fcuk me, I need to take logistics lessons from Uncle Tez. I can't organise a fcuk in a brothel.

It's easy, just point or mention the number(s) of your interest to the mama-san!!

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, well, all brothel jokes aside, the K0 project is moving along at a cracking pace! The frame was delivered today, and I had to laugh when the driver asked me why in the world would I pay money for something that looks like it should have been taken to the dump, not transported 1000 miles at my expense? When I explained to him that a good restored K0 was worth more than the other 6 bikes he had in his truck and trailer (including a Harley and a Ducati) he clearly thought I was mad, but was nice enough not to say as much. No matter, I was happy to have it in my hot little hands.

Terry's Redneck K0 rebuild 8 Oct 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

My hands were the only thing that was hot, we've gone back to winter this week, so I had to break it down into a bare frame and swingarm as quickly as possible, to take it to the blaster's next week to get the old paint and rust stripped off. With the help of some WD-40 penetrating fluid and my little dewalt rattle gun, I managed to remove every nut and bolt without damage. Along the way I confirmed that it has the correct rear wheel:

Terry's Redneck K0 rebuild 8 Oct 2020 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Correct Forks and swingarm:

Terry's Redneck K0 rebuild 8 Oct 2020 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And of course a good shorty chainguard, a not too bad airbox, a good, unbroken rhino top triple, etc etc. An added bonus was the very early Koni shocks which appear to be in pretty good condition, so I may even restore them and put them back on. OEM shocks are fine, the repro's aren't bad either, but it won't be a perfect showroom example, so the Koni's will be fine.

Terry's Redneck K0 rebuild 8 Oct 2020 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyhoo, after an hour or so of fast paced bike stripping I felt like a motorcycle Piranha, I'd stripped it down to it's bare bones, and after I degrease the underneath of the frame (at least one owner used a sh1tload of chainlube) it'll be ready for sandblasting and priming. I also have a nice tub full of K0 "Unobtainium" and it was interesting, as I was stripping the bike to note the differences from what I'm used to seeing on K1-6 bikes. (plus K7's and F2's recently)

The seller has found even more parts to tempt me, including parts that I already have, but some I don't, so we're negotiating yet another pile of parts. Oh well, it's only money..........

Terry's Redneck K0 rebuild 8 Oct 2020 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[RAFster122s]

The fork tubes look a lot like what I found on my '74 CB550 hiding beneath the fork ears. After cleaning them up I went to reinstall to discover the fork tubes were bent. Just looking at the bike prior I had no clue they were bent.
Terry, how close are you to finishing the Z1? I saw where you were indicating your 1428 was nearly complete.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks David, I'll check them for straightness and if I can clean the rust off the uppers and there's no dangerous pitting, I'll probably re-use them, rather than repops. One of the lugs on the bottom triple is snapped off, so I'll use another K0 lower triple Eric sent me many years ago.

The Z1 is just a bare powdercoated frame and an engine that's almost complete. I want to lower the frame over the engine then bolt everything on afterwards, rather than risk scratching/chipping the powdercoat. I think I have everything to put it together though, so it shouldn't take long. Famous last words? Possibly.........

[Terry in Australia]

Well I've been negotiating my arse off all week for yet more K0 treasures from the seller. There are boxes heading my way with the wrinkle tank, K0 oil tank, OEM sidecovers, single cut front fender, front brake caliper, battery box, "Big 8" bolts, etc etc. Then last night he sent me pics of the engine cases, and I realised that they're a lot closer to what the frame number will be after the frame number-ectomy that I'll be conducting later this week, so even though I won't be able to use my 1969 engine cases, at least both the engine and frame will be from an early 1970 build.

Yesterday I decided to clean 50 years of chain grease under the rear of the frame and swingarm off, before I take it to be blasted tomorrow. It was quite the contrast, quite deeply rusted on top, and greasy as Michael Cohen underneath. I've discovered the easiest way to move that crusty old grease is with a blowtorch and wire brush, and then some turpentine on a rag to remove any traces of melted grease. While I was checking everything out, I found the remains of some sort of non-standard bracket, maybe for a steering damper?

K0 F2 GPZ Sun 11 Oct 2020 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Regardless, it wasn't supposed to be there, so needed to come off. With the careful application of a "flappy disc" sander attachment on my 4" Makita angle grinder that I've owned since the 1980's, and my new el-cheapo "Ozito" finger sander, I removed the offending scrap metal. I then noticed a small crack left by the old bracket, but I'll teach myself how to use my new TIG welder this week, then fill that crack before I conduct some other cosmetic surgery.

K0 F2 GPZ Sun 11 Oct 2020 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And the good thing is, my welds don't need to be perfect, obviously the Honda guys were still learning to weld when they made the K0:

K0 F2 GPZ Sun 11 Oct 2020 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The cases are apparently undamaged, but have 20+ years of corrosion inside and outside, so as I can't drive over to have them vapor blasted, I'll clean them up as best I'm able and paint them before filling it with mechanical bits and installing the bare vapor blasted cylinder block, head and engine covers I had blasted back in 2018. My intent is to get it up and running ASAP, so it'll be another "Patina bike", albeit with a few shiny bits. Luckily I bought a lot of stuff in anticipation of the K1 build, so have a lot of new Yamiya stuff ready to go in.

Would it be outrageously naive to assume I might have it up and running by Christmas? We'll see........

K0 F2 GPZ Sun 11 Oct 2020 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

[PeWe]

The day that K0 is up and running with you on it is Christmas, a better one.
We celebrate the rebirth of a CB750!!

[754]

 Terry you should maybe start talking less to certain folks. The delivery guy might be a good source for more bikes or parts, except you juiced the value up to the point of where he may think it's all gold...if he finds anything in his travels..
 But hey.l whatever works. . Is the swingarm useable ?