Kawi2strokes.com Forum

When you fellas do your incredible restorations, do you re-plate and reuse your old fasteners, find NOS, or buy new production fasteners somewhere?

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1969 H1, 1971 G3SSA, 1974 G5, 1973 H2A, 1975 S3A, 1975 H1F, 1973 Z1, 1988 HD FLTC, Captain America chopper, 2000 Excelsior Henderson, 1965 Bridgestone BS90

Thank you for asking this question. This is right up mraxl's alley as he has recently started a new project on identifying Kawasaki hardware and reconciling part numbers.

If you are after 100pt factory original the first order of business is to determine what is original to your machine and what is not and if there is damage (for example, JIC crosshead screws removed and replaced with SAE screwdrivers). Good hardware, screws, nuts, bolts, washers and spacers is usually sent out for new zinc plating. Used correct hardware is not too difficult to find, folks are selling small piles of it on the Internet all the time. Correct NOS period hardware is currently sold there too but it's often expensive and somewhat difficult to locate everything. Current new stock is available and inexpensive for a lot of part numbers but you will soon discover the numbers have been superseded a few times over the years and the parts you receive will not always exactly match the originals.

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Tried firing every stroke and every other stroke, every stroke is better.

3 H2's, all stock
Seats by Tony O'Connor, they're gorgeous
H2B, converted to H2C
75 Paint & Decals by Brian H
75 Euro Seat by Tony O'Connor
Eldorado Motorcycle Seats, Australia

How you go depends on how deep your pockets are and how original you want to be.
Cheapest, easiest thing I have found is to replace most hardware with stainless fasteners.
Another option is to replate what you have with a Caswell kit.
The most expensive option is to buy originals from ebay.
As stated, most/much hardware is available from Kaw, however many part numbers are now superceded with parts that are unlike originals. Most standard hex bolts have been replaced with recessed head (upset) bolts.
One thing to keep in mind is that a cleaned bolt will usually have the plating stripped during cleaning and will soon take on rust.

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Answers are here: http://kawatriple.com/

hahahahahah - yep I know (but I don't care)

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This is true. Where I grew up the hills were so steep and long, when your ball rolled down the hill you just said "screw it"...

Another thing to consider is that other brands (Suzuki) use alot of the same hardware and
if you know the length and size you can get just about everything new relatively cheap.
When I restored my '77 Water Buffalo, I was able to get about 90% of what I needed from Mother Suzuki.
Still in stock in the warehouses. Takes a couple of weeks to get, but most everything available.
Dillon Brothers is where I shopped. http://www.powersportspro.com/pages/OemParts
They do Kawasaki stuff too.
When I bought the hardware, I'd just buy a bag of 10 even if I only needed 2.
All that residual hardware is coming in really handy with the H2 project.
Kawasaki parts come with a higher price tag if you can find it.
The fact that it comes in a Kawasaki labelled bag (that I'm gonna throw out) really doesn't mean that much to me.

Don't you know, you're supposed to keep the bag to use in the photos of used crap to list on eBay! And call it "OEM", which will trigger people's mind to think "NOS".

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We don't need no stinkin' Cams!

I put my small rusty nasty things in a rock tumbler fot a day and they come out looking much better, good enough for a rider

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1975 S3 project bike
1974 H1 project bike
1972 Yamaha R5
1974 Yamaha RD350

Stainless steel fasteners are available at auto-parts stores, etc, and are cheap. File the markings off the head, and polish away. Not suitable for high-load areas like brakes, suspension, etc. Original plated bolts for show are available from vendors like Reproductiondecals, Mid-Atlantic Cycles, JessBikes, etc. High-Tensile gold-passivated zinc fasteners for out of the way areas are cheap and available anywhere......! I think that covers it!! (A rock-tumbler!!!! )

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"One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching." : anon.

Actually its a brass ammo casing cleaner (might soon be illegal here in the Peoples Republic of New York) , works good too

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1975 S3 project bike
1974 H1 project bike
1972 Yamaha R5
1974 Yamaha RD350

That sounds a lot better!

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"One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching." : anon.