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Manual Mill
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Manual Lathe
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Electronics Enclosure Design
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Circuit Design
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Welding (MIG)
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Mold Design
Le Petit Cauchmar - Kawasaki F7 Restomod
November 2020 - March April 2021
Truly, this wasn't supposed to be a project worthy of an appearance in my portfolio. When I bought this bike, in non-running condition, I figured it might be a $400 fix for a nice beater bike, with a bit of an emotional connection for me. But when the electrical gremlins in the igniter coil were revealed to be hidden behind a flywheel which had fused itself together with the crankshaft, I was forced to do the only sensible thing...and swap the whole engine.
It was simultaneously fortuitous and deeply unlucky that there was a running (ish) engine from the next generation of Kawasaki 2 strokes for sale not 2 hours from me. And as luck would have it, it was actually cheaper than buying a new flywheel.
The new engine (from a 1976 KE175) was very nearly a straight swap into the frame. But the exhaust changed direction between 1974 and 1976, and the new one demanded a route that was blocked by the original frame and the original oil tank. So the frame was cut, a new section bent up and welded, and an oil tank was plucked from a pile of spares and mounted in place, now on the opposite side of the bike. I've never been a good welder, and left the important bits (frame) to a qualified friend. But I did try my luck on some new mounting tabs and was glad for the practice. Its a valuable, if deeply involved, skill.
Wiring came next, with a few new problems. Most notably, the KE175 engine lacked a tachometer cable adapter, which meant, without splitting the bottom end, I'd be unable to use stock equipment. As a stopgap-solution, a universal, plug wire wraparound tach was fitted, and the bulk stock gauges removed. The cell-phone with a generic app was assigned speedometer duty. In the meantime, I began work on a completely custom gauge, using the same plug wire wrapround technique and an arduino-powered GPS unit.
A few bulbs were burnt out, unfortunately including the sealed-unit headlight, which is no longer made. Instead of a stock replacement, a plain 6V dual filament bulb was MacGuyver-ed into place using a dremel and JB weld (I did mention this wasn't supposed to be an engineering portfolio project). But, having gone this far, and noting that such replacements would only get more irritating with time, I also began sifting through a few sites in search of a 12V conversion. No luck was had on the 40+ year old aftermarket, so something custom was dreamed up and will be installed with the new gauges.
Lastly, I made sure to get some insurance for the now-ancient CDI in the form of a spark advance map, collected with a simple hall effect trigger wheel and a scope on the igniter coil. I hope to never have to utilize that map, but the option exists should ever I need it.
