$100.00 score

[barnett468]

What did you do for work before Kawasaki?

Was a newspaper boy for a few months in grade school.

Worked at a toy store in Huntington Beach part time when I was 16 after I got home from high school.

Worked at a car wash for a couple days then quit. Had long hair so I had to get a wig or they wouldn't hire me.

Worked at a gas station for maybe 2 days. Forgot to have the people sign the credit card receipts so the the owner got pissed off so I quit which I would have done anyway cuz I didn't really like it.

Worked graveyard as a dishwasher at a restaurant for a couple weeks and would go to the beach after I got off work in the morning then sleep on the sand for a while then go body surfing for a while then go home.

Worked at CBS, aka Fender Musical Instruments in Fullerton California for around a year running a machine with 6 cutting blades that cut the wood for the speaker cabinets. The occasionally had me make acoustic guitar parts in another department when they didn't need any more cabinets which wasn't often. Could hear the guitar tuners playing throughout the entire building which is the job I and most others there wanted but there was at least a 2 year long waiting list, lol.

Quit CBS to work at Norm Reeves Honda, Kawasaki, Bultaco, Triumph, and BSA shop. They had the longest name in the business and it was plastered on the side of the building. Worked in the parts dept and ended up being parts manager. Fun job, great people, had a friggen blast. A couple of used to race the new Z50's they were selling, on the slick concrete at a vacant business just across the street.

Quit Norm Reeves for nearly twice as much money being a manager at another motorcycle shop which also ended up as a dealer for the first Honda cars that came into the US so we got 2 of them and parked them out front next to the motorcycles.

Worked at a high end engine rebuilding shop running the cylinder head department.

Bought and sold an occasional car and motorcycle here and there the entire time.

When did you start racing pro?

I started racing at a very late age in life for a racer. It was around 1976 which was around 1 year after my very first race which was first day beginner in the 125 cc class at Escape Country in Trabuco Canyon where I eventually lived for several years. You could also rent a hang glider at Escape Country and they would teach you how to hang glide on a gradual slope they had there. That is also where Marty Smith had one of us first races which is on a video on youtube. I quickly switched to a 250 Bultaco after my first race as I just hated the 125 class and really wasn't very good at it. A very well known engine builder named Paul Nyland ported my Taco engine. His brother Phil Nyland whom worked with me at Norm Reeves then again years later at Kawasaki hooked me up with him. Paul was credited to be the first guy to go DOWN a hill climb hill at Saddleback named The Widomaker, which he did on a Hodaka 100. The guy was friggen nuts. Kept the 250 and added a big bore so I raced 2 classes for a while.

Ever race on that Greeves bike?

No, I just rode it at a track near what is now Six Flags Magic Mountain in So Cal when I was around 15 where I also tested some Kawis while I worked at Kawi including the mighty KDX200.


PREVIOUS KAWASAKI INTERNATIONAL R & D PROJECT ENGINEER AND ATV DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR AND THE ONLY PERSON ON 3WW WITHOUT AN EDIT BUTTON OR A STAR

[whipit]

That's cool. I have been working on a old Kawasaki that you probably tested a little bit too- a Bayou 185. It is actually a decent little machine. I remember seeing them new in the dealerships around 1985. Funny looking little beast. Just by coincidence I also have a Suzuki LT185 quad at the moment too. The suzuki 185 is a little more sporty, wheelies easily, etc. but the Kawasaki is a great light duty utility machine and has E-start, racks, trailer hitch, shaft drive, etc. It's a better machine

[El Camexican]

That is the same design as an old Greeves 250 Motocrosser had that I used to ride. It is referred to as a leading link.

I had around a bazillion hours of testing time on those KLT's, and I can tell you from first hand experience that they will in fact float.




PREVIOUS KAWASAKI INTERNATIONAL R & D PROJECT ENGINEER AND ATV DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR AND THE ONLY PERSON ON 3WW WITHOUT AN EDIT BUTTON OR A STAR

Always wondered where Kawasaki got the idea for those (cough, cough) sexy rear fender number plates.

[3 Wheel Drive]

Ok I got my reproduction grab bar from AtcHeaven .com, it’s actually very nice! I put it next to my original one off my other 73 atc & it’s a great piece. I didn’t realize those guys were from down under, that’s why it took 20 days to arrive.

My fiberglass tank should be ready early January!

[barnett468]

That's cool. I have been working on a old Kawasaki that you probably tested a little bit too- a Bayou 185. It is actually a decent little machine. I remember seeing them new in the dealerships around 1985. Funny looking little beast. Just by coincidence I also have a Suzuki LT185 quad at the moment too. The suzuki 185 is a little more sporty, wheelies easily, etc. but the Kawasaki is a great light duty utility machine and has E-start, racks, trailer hitch, shaft drive, etc. It's a better machine

Yup, I certanly did the testing on that also, however, we didn't do much since it wasn't intended to be a performance machine or heavy duty utility machine. We did do a boatload of testing on the 300 though which is an incredible machine. We even took the 300 all the way to the louisiana bayou along with a honda to do comparison testing. The rental trucks we had were governed to go only 55 mph so I disabled the governor and we drove 75 most of the time we were there.


PREVIOUS KAWASAKI INTERNATIONAL R & D PROJECT ENGINEER AND ATV DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR AND THE ONLY PERSON ON 3WW WITHOUT AN EDIT BUTTON OR A STAR

[3 Wheel Drive]

I looked at the engine that came with my 70 and it’s a ct70h model, so I bought an actual atc 70 engine for cheap. It’s missing all the guts from the starter. Where can I find the pulley that holds the rope? I found other parts online but not the pulleys.

Will an atc 90 pulley work in the 70 starter housing and cage?

[Toaster556]

I looked at the engine that came with my 70 and it’s a ct70h model, so I bought an actual atc 70 engine for cheap. It’s missing all the guts from the starter. Where can I find the pulley that holds the rope? I found other parts online but not the pulleys.

Will an atc 90 pulley work in the 70 starter housing and cage?

I'm not sure how different the TRX90 recoil/ side case is, but IIRC, I used the whole deal (TRX90 ignition, flywheel, cage, cover and recoil) on my pit quad while I was waiting on some parts for the TRX90 bottom end. This was on a chonda 110, so you may have different results with a 6v ATC70 with a spacer being required but I don't believe any trimming. It has been a while since I've had a 6v bottom end, and only briefly had a later ATC70 motor.

Pretty sweet project for $100, and that CT70H could be used for some nice Honda hop-up The 70H head is IMHO the best of the Honda 70 heads for flow, despite the god-awful tiny cam journals

[Toaster556]

Your reply vanished, but I'll answer your question the best I can. AFAIK, the 50/70 points stators came in 3 flavours, auto clutch, manual clutch Hitachi and manual clutch Mitsubishi. I've had dealings with the auto clutch Z50 stator and Hitachi, but not a lot with the Hitachi. I used parts that tested good from 3 stator plates and a NOS condenser to rebuild a working SL70 stator for a hot rod CT70 motor using a manual clutch crank The Hitachi stator has a centrifugal advance mechanism built into the flywheel, rather than the fixed advance of standard points set up, which helps with high RPM running. Do they match up with ATC70 stators? Not sure, but I don't see why you couldn't run the CT70H crank and ignition with an ATC70 recoil setup. Some of the 70 flat track guys might be able to answer that question. The source coils aren't interchangable as far as I remember.

The good early Honda head I referred to in my previous post was run on the CL70, XL70 and SL70, and I THINK on the CT70H KO/K1. It has slightly bigger ports but most importantly bigger valves! 25/22 opposed to 23/20, and if my notes are correct, a slightly smaller chamber (12.5 cc vs 13.1cc). It's also easily identified in the wild as it has an extra fin over the cam as seen below. Three fins to the left of the intake as opposed to two (Bottom). Beatrice Cycle sells a bare replacement head HERE that has the bigger valves and ports but lacks the extra fin.


I also used the cam from a S65 and a 22 mm pit bike carb. It revved to the moon, but I could never get the carb totally ironed out. It also ran great with a 110 mini quad carb with mystery jetting. I miss tooling around on that thing, but it's not a good commuter for a 60 mile round trip.