Kawasaki Triples Club

I am quite new to the forum and restoring my ancient h1A. due to other commitments I haven't had time to mix at events etc, or socialise on the forum. Every now and then, well daily actually, I think IF ONLY I could see how that worked, or show someone the problem and ask. I am getting better at photos and questions on forums but no substitute for hands on

theres loads of members down surrey way I am sure they will chirp up

Where abouts in Surrey are you ???

Plenty of guys would be willing to help you out or at least point you in the right direction.

If you want to give me a call, I am Malcolm Wildeman, in South East London on 07861 793539

Don't worry about calling, we all help each other out

I live in West Sussex and I've got a couple of early H1's nearing completion. I also have a few H1A bits and pieces if you ever need some spares.

Whereabouts roughly in Surrey?

Thanks guys,

I shall take you up on the offers. I am in Epsom but struggling for time mid week
Paul

I am also in Surrey nr J6 M25 but often working in Kingston not far from you.
PM me if you need anything.
Clive

Hi Paul, I'm a couple of miles from Epsom, up at Tadworth.

Ade

Looking at that pic of your bike I see it has a "low" distributor/oil pump engine cover which is odd. What's the engine number?

I am overawed with all these offers - I shall get deffo get back to you all. FYI:
FRAME NO. KAF-23626
ENGINE NO. KAE-21876

Ok, based on that engine number that's the wrong distributor outer cover for your bike. Yours should have the high cover. It is however the correct one for my 1969 H1 (which incorrectly has the high cover on it) If you want to swap yours for mine let me know. It's NOS and has the correct rubber leads grommet. Apart from it being the wrong casing for your engine there's another good reason not to use the low cover if you have a standard ignition system, the HT leads coming out of it have to be routed under the carbs and high voltage wires running underneath a fuel spill area never was the best of ideas. Kawasaki changed from the low to high covers after producing the first few thousand bikes because a few of them caught fire. I've fitted a Powerdynamo to mine so the original Distributor and HT leads are defunct in any case. My live HT leads run off three small coils situated above the engine.

Good reply but you forgot to mention that the low cover is rarer than Rocking Horse shit but the higher cover which you have can be bought as a repo.

Thanks for your input Eric. Nothing on these bikes is easy to find. They're literally made of rare rocking horse shit. It took me 3 weeks of searching to find the high cover I have now (got it from Z1 Parts in the States) They told me it was NOS. Whether that's the case or not I don't know and I'm not really bothered to be honest. I've also installed a Powerdynamo and the new high cover looks a bit strange with no HT leads coming out of the rubber grommet. I could stick some false leads, protectors and sheath on it to make it "look right" but that's just daft really. A low cover would look more functional but like you say, they're hard to find.

Eric wrote:Good reply but you forgot to mention that the low cover is rarer than Rocking Horse shit but the higher cover which you have can be bought as a repo.

Well, well, well, the rocking horse must have shit in my garage
as I have a very nice low cover with no damage or scrapes
That's not being used

Yo kwakersken. Those bloody rocking horses. Just never got potty trained I guess. p.m. me if you're looking to unload it

OK who`s starting the bidding

do I get a say - or commission?
Thanks for the discussion - this is exactly what i have been missing - I have LBC, a noisy cat and next door's 7 year old talking Chelsea for company

Of course you get a say Me-Effin! Say you'll swap your low case for my high one Look at it this way. You'll get the part you need and I'll get the part I'd rather have, so we'll both be happy. I'm restoring two early H1's, a white '69 & a candy red '70. I've spent a fortune already on these bikes. A swap would be a better proposition for me. Then again, I suppose it all depends on whether you intend to make your bike as original as possible. If so it's going to have to be taken off and replaced with a high cover and will either end up being a spare part in your garage just like kwackersken's or you could pass it on to someone else who wants it for an early '69 H1 rebuild project. Whatever you do, don't use it with the standard CDI ignition system. If you end up fitting a Powerdynamo like I did you might want to use it then but the truth is it's not really for your bike, it's for an early one like mine.

My first post where I get to pretend I know what I am talking about

My bike is a UK model, bought it 25 odd years ago. So my understanding is that the points fitted would have been factory fitted due to the CDI GPO nonsense, does that get broad agreement?
If so, and well outside my knowledge, does the 'low' cover constitute "original"?
I am finding all sorts of anomalies as I start the restore. I am convinced the previous owner had a front end prang for non standard bits, he also changed the seat and fitted a later model tail piece, slinging away the grab rail in the process. Fortunately my son lives in the US and picks up the odd part for hand luggage, although US Customs had a field day with a rotor

euro points model you need the low cover

That's a new one on me. If it's an H1a it must be a 1971 model (originally blue). I've never seen one of those with a low cover. But I guess if it's a UK model and there's no distributor then it kind of makes sense.

I have a UK H1a which I have owned from new and yes you are correct the low cover is fitted to the points model. However UK h1a models had engine numbers starting with 5 but don`t know if earlier or European models were different. I`m sure if he Rick reads this and your posts he can enlighten you and I further.