Eddies Vintage

quote:
My frame is a 72'

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All the h1 engines are interchangable with the frames, although not all of the h1 engines are the same (the oiling and charging system is different on earlier h1s). So if you wanted to put a 72 h1 engine in a later frame you can. Also the mounts are the same for a 750 motor so if you wanted to put one of those in instead you can. 72 is kind of an odball year. The only h1 with points and not a cdi (you can swap to the later h1 cdi if you want). Also there were two different models for 72 the H1B and the H1C. The H1B is the only early style to come with a disc brake and the orange paint (BTW it is the same color as Mopar Hemi Orange). The H1C was a clearing house bike that kawasaki built to get rid of overstock parts from the earlier bikes. All H1Cs have a drum brake, some have cdi ignitions. H1C serial numbers are:
frame - KAE-43902-45902 and engine - KAF-48664-52100. The h1c is a very rare bike and if you have one I would suggest the restoration route. If you have an H1B then modify away.

The earlier h1 engines are much faster then the 73-76 h1 engines, 72 being the last of the unrestricted h1s. These bikes run hard enough for the frame not to keep up. The later bikes were more civil and better handeling but heavier. You could actually use a later h1 to commute and not just scare yourself. The later engines are also rubber mounted. Value wise the earlier h1s bring higher money in stock restored form, and parts are more expensive. With the later bikes the parts are slightly cheaper and the bikes themselves are cheaper as a hole. A 1972 h2 can trade for $2000-4500 where as a kh500 would be $800-$2000. Just something to think about.

I run my kh500 drag bike with a stock frame, the only real structural mod is a reinforced swingarm to handle the twist of the slick (which is gone now). Bike works great.

quote:
Hmm, I have a 72' engine that has been ported, but given your info (and thank you)I guess the other engine must be later and that's the one that came out of the frame (I bought a piece of crap because it had a good running stock engine in it which I was going to put into a sidecar outfit). I don't think it's a 76', though. Maybe I should look for a 76' frame and just lighten it, put a CDI in the 72' engine with big carbs on it, and go from there (?)

Dgy

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Because the 72 uses points it actually has the 73 and up right side engine and oil pump cover (At least the pics of I have of 72 h1's do). I am pretty sure you could get a 73-76 cdi setup and adapt it to the engine. You must get the whole cdi setup however and you cannot mix and match 73 cdi parts with any other h1 (73 was the only year the h1 used the h2's cdi unit, it won't interchange with any other h1 parts).

The Frame numbers should seill be stamped on your frame even if the headstock sticker is missing. The engine numbers are hit or miss, they are rarely ever within the frame number but if they are within a couple of hundred then you might have the original motor. Rick Brett the triple expert would be able to tell you more about this. As for the engine frame numbers, here is the kawasaki triples reference site (complete with free downloadable kawasaki service manuals!):

http://kawtriple.com/mraxl/

and the page for serial numbers:

http://kawtriple.com/mraxl/serialno.html

and here is a page were you can get a good look at all the h1 models:

http://kawtriple.com/mraxl/model/500pic/500.html

The easiest way to tell a later H1 frame is at the very end of the top frame rails there will be a mount for the tail section (this mount will also be there on h2 frames). The earlier frames the grab rail fit into the back of the open tubes like this::



The tank mounts are also different. The 72 and earlier tanks have a tab and bolt on below the tank (the tabs are below the top rails as you can see above just ahead of the reflector), the later tanks are slip fit like a honda.

As for the frame the lighest cody (that is his cafe racer in the earlier post) has been able to get is I think about 325 in street trim and he has done everything (even anodized excel aluminum rims). If you want to go even lighter you can modify an fzr400 to take the h1/h2 engine (the rear wheel is pretty close to the chain line on an h1 spot on for an h2) since that bike is pretty much all aluminum (only the subframe and lower rails are not).

John Aylor (JA Moo on the kawasaki board) has a 75 frame that was already braced for racing (with title) for sale if you are willing to pay the post from new mexico.

If you feel like spending big dosh, there is a firm in england reproducing the H1R/H2R frames but they are a couple of grand.

I alightened 76 frame might be the way to go, espically since you could probably get one for a lot cheaper than it would cost to modify something else.

here is the message board:

http://kawasakitriplesworldwide.com/phpBB2/index.php

Here is the general site (look through the gallery and drool over tomcats chambers):

http://www.kawasakitriplesworldwide.com/

and here is the post about the frame (the picture is different because it is an old post - the original picture showed a bare braced frame freshly painted in his driveway) Shoot him an e-mail for a pic and tell him I put you on the trail for it:

http://kawasakitriplesworldwide.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=17055&highlight=frame+1975+braced