I would be tempted to fix her up too, especially as it would not run for him but as soon as you got home it ran, shows its making the effort lol.

I was given an kawasaki er5 as it had not run for years and was in a right mess, my plan was to just strip it and sell the bits, but after a little love the engine fried up and sounded good and i ended up spending my time getting it back on the road and now i use it for the commute to work lol

 

As far as I can tell, it would need:
- totally broken down - the frame is 3 different colors, and looks like it was painted with a horse hair brush
- Carbs cleaned and tuned
- New tires
- New brakes
- Cluster of some kind
- Headlight/front turn signals
- Finish the F4i tail, either with a rear seat or abs cover/paint
- Undertail light/turn signal/LP holder combo
- New chain/rear sprocket
- Sand/paint tank
- Rad fan switch doesn't work - currently a toggle switch

This is all learned from probably looking at the bike for all of 1 hour. I haven't even touched it with a tool yet.
This won't be a easy/cheap job - I might just leave it...

 

Shame you don't live near me as i'd love the challenge lol .
You going to break it instead and keep all the bits you want?

 

I'm going to leave it be for now. I figure if I need a part - then I will break it down and use whatever. Maybe it will just be a piece-by-piece project, getting work when time/money allows.

 

Most of the stuff on your list is pretty easy. $200 and it will be back on the road...and heck the tail is already done...I'd go for it. Just duck the frying pans when they fly at your head.

Heck, look at me, I'm in so deep there is no turning back. Probably no way to make a profit, but what fun.

 

So a little update. I had a few hours with the bike yesterday. I cleaned the carbs to see if it would get the engine running on all 4. Took some pics too, just to document what a heap it is right now!














Clean the carbs too. It had brand new pilot jets in (38's) and older stock 108 mains. Looks like the PO used some sort of gasket material for the float bowls, which got all over the inside of the bowls, and made a real mess. Also, one of the diaphrams were pinched and torn from not being seated properly. Lucky I have that spare rack of carbs, which I pulled a good one from. Gave everything a good cleaning and buttoned it back up. But not the bike won't turn over... Power to all acc, but nothing when you hit the starter. The starter switch SEEMS to work, because when you hit the switch, the headlight turns off as it should. I didn't have the wiring diagram with me so I didn't know for sure. Maybe the solenoid, I dunno. The engine would turn over when I jumped the relay, so I know the starter is good.

Had to leave it at that for now, we will try again next weekend?

 

I hate when that stuff happens. When I rebuilt my carbs, got the bike running in the shed and it idled and throttled perfectly. It smoked up the shed so I moved it outside and couldn't get it going again. Wasn't getting fuel. Pump went south...so...I know the feeling. Is the starter engaging when you push the button or just a drain (headlight)? It turns when you jumper the solenoid so your probably right the solenoid went...but seems odd. I would check the wiring going back there, maybe you bumped something when working on the carbs. The switch wires going back would be my first guess but would need to look at the schematic to be sure.

 

No drain, no tick, no nothing when you hit the starter button. In that video I posted, you can see me having trouble with the starter not coming on a few times, but it eventually picked up. This time, we tried for about 20 minutes and not even a grunt from it.