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Post by Bob on Jul 10, 2009 5:11:07 GMT -5
Picked this 1978 Kawasaki Police bike up at a reasonable price. Needs a little work but I hear these bikes are rare and in running condition can resale at a decent price..... Anyone know much about these bikes? Are they worth anything in good condition? Thanks, Bob.
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Post by xsyamahadg on Jul 10, 2009 7:35:43 GMT -5
Shoe is the man you need, he just restored one. Did a nice job too. This is shoe and his cop bike:
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Post by shoe48 on Jul 10, 2009 8:33:28 GMT -5
I had a lot of time and money in mine , It was a 1990 , I broke even on the Bike ,, Your 78 has the wrong fairing and bags on it , But if you can run down the parts on ebay ,, the 1982 up are more desirable bike with the larger front fairing , the bike is almost the same as a stock bike , I will say that it was one of the best riding bikes I have ever had , with lots of power on hand ,,, Do a search there is a Kawasaki police Bike Group on Yahoo , They have a lot of info about the bike and where to get parts , also check KZriders.com
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Post by Bob on Jul 10, 2009 16:29:33 GMT -5
I had a lot of time and money in mine , It was a 1990 , I broke even on the Bike ,, Your 78 has the wrong fairing and bags on it , But if you can run down the parts on ebay ,, the 1982 up are more desirable bike with the larger front fairing , the bike is almost the same as a stock bike , I will say that it was one of the best riding bikes I have ever had , with lots of power on hand ,,, Do a search there is a Kawasaki police Bike Group on Yahoo , They have a lot of info about the bike and where to get parts , also check KZriders.com You're right Shoe....According to the guy I purchased it from, when the bike was sold by the police department they removed the fairing with the lights in it, don't know why. I crossed the bike serial # and motor #, both are 1978 police bike. Honestly I don't even know why I bought the bike, I guess because the price was right. I'm going to check out the sites and see what I can come up with. One thing I know for sure is that I need a cam chain idler sprocket w/bearing. I'll go from there after that to see what all I want to do with it. Thanks for the input.
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Post by shoe48 on Jul 10, 2009 18:50:07 GMT -5
The Cam chain runs on a guide that is made of a high heat plastic IT it a real job to replace it , You will be in deep enough for a engine rebuild , over haul the cyl head ,, How many miles are on it ? May I ask what you gave for it ?
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Post by shoe48 on Jul 10, 2009 18:54:17 GMT -5
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Post by shoe48 on Jul 10, 2009 18:54:55 GMT -5
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Post by shoe48 on Jul 10, 2009 18:56:27 GMT -5
I gave 500.00 for my bike but the engine was really worn out , ended up doing a lot to it , As you can see you will need to take the Cyl Head off to get at the Cam Chain Guides
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Post by Bob on Jul 11, 2009 6:10:24 GMT -5
I gave 500.00 for my bike but the engine was really worn out , ended up doing a lot to it , As you can see you will need to take the Cyl Head off to get at the Cam Chain Guides Shoe, I don't need to get to the chain tensioner's, only the top idler cam sprocket has a bad bearing, easy to get to. That is the only thing I intend to replace at this time. Once I replace the top sprocket and see if the motor will run then I'll decide what I need to do next, if anything. The original speedometer that has the pursuit lights on it has 49,000 miles on it, the replacement speedometer has 56,000 on it so it is somewhere in-between that range to the best of my knowledge. I gave $350 for the bike, got an extra motor, a 1979 KZ1000 and frame with wheels, fenders, tail lights etc. Like I said, not going to do much to it since I've never rebuilt a motor before. Just somewhat of a project bike to tinker with and hopefully get running to sell and maybe make a few bucks. What do you think?
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Post by shoe48 on Jul 11, 2009 7:42:31 GMT -5
ohhhhh someone will want it ,, and running you should do ok ,, might keep us posted always like a good project ..
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Post by xsyamahadg on Jul 11, 2009 7:42:36 GMT -5
I don't know what shoe will say, but I think you should keep it and tinker with it....project bikes are a lot of fun as long as you don't get carried away and spend your 401K on it. It's easy to spend way more money of a project bike than you will ever get back out of it. But...most of us have done it anyway ;D This is me and my old 1977 XS650D Yamaha that I sold two years ago, I made money on it if you take into consideration the riding time and show time I got out of it. It brought me a lot of pleasure.
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Post by Bob on Jul 11, 2009 7:47:46 GMT -5
Thanks to both of you. I will likely keep it for awhile and mess around with it, who knows, I may pull the motor and tear it down and do it right...Shoe, I may have some questions about that if I decide to get deeper into the motor.
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Post by shoe48 on Jul 11, 2009 8:11:39 GMT -5
Sure ,,, No problem
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Post by Bob on Jul 12, 2009 4:26:16 GMT -5
XS that is a beautiful bike, very nice job.
Thanks Shoe,we"ll chat at some point I'm sure.
Have a great day!
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renegadmonk
Junior Member
Seize the moment when it arrives.
Posts: 34
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Post by renegadmonk on Aug 26, 2009 17:12:27 GMT -5
I don't know what shoe will say, but I think you should keep it and tinker with it....project bikes are a lot of fun as long as you don't get carried away and spend your 401K on it. It's easy to spend way more money of a project bike than you will ever get back out of it. But...most of us have done it anyway ;D This is me and my old 1977 XS650D Yamaha that I sold two years ago, I made money on it if you take into consideration the riding time and show time I got out of it. It brought me a lot of pleasure. now that is a beautful bike.
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