1970 Kawasaki H1

[the Ferret]

I have ised Seafoam as a gas stabilizer for probably 10 years now in lawnmowers, weedwhackers, leaf blowers, chain saws and they sit for up to 6 months or more and start up and run cleanly just like normal. I also use it like flyn says, dump and couple ounces in my bikes a couple times a summer just to clean things up a bit. I buy it 1/2 gallon at a time.

[ride4now_imp]

Thanks guys. I’ve used Stabil for years with no issues... but I think I’ll try Seafoam because of its cleaning property’s.

[PowerDubs_imp]

I like Berrymans

[Razor]

The H1 & H2 have a special place in my past. The sound that comes from a three cylinder, two stroke machine is addictive.
I had chambers on them. The sound at idle and under load was pure music. The H1 was quick, but the H2 was wickedly fast (hence, the nickname “widow maker”).

Enjoy your new bike!
“smoke em if you got em”

[Nortoon_imp]

Two buddies and I traded in our British bikes and bought 1972 750cc H2 Mach 4s. They were jets. We had to learn how to ride all over again. The H2 did not down gear well, but had good brakes to slow down.

Light front end though. Bob destroyed his racing a muscle car over a bridge. When he crested the bridge and hit the westerly winds he lost it. He told us he rode it as a surf board until it dug in and pitched him.

After seeing the bike I believed him. It looked like somebody had taken a large grinder to one side of it.

[ride4now_imp]

I decided a few months ago to take the bike in to see why it is such a hard start when hot. The diagnosis... low compression and carbs way out of sync. One of the techs at the Kawasaki dealer in St Petersburg like working on the old bikes. The fix was basically new rings... he said the cylinders were in spec and in good shape. It took forever for him to get the jugs to break loose without causing any damage.

Here’s what it looked like on the bench torn down...







I also had turn signals installed, a brake light switch fixed, and
a few other minor things. I’ll update the post when I get it back.

[peterbaron]

nice and cool, thanks for sharing...

[ride4now_imp]

great looking 70. i've owned a bunch of triples (recently too). so i'll ask: did they do a leakdown test? if not, they need to. hard starting is usually crank seals. the inner ones are rubber and if they are original, they will lose bottom end and be hard to start. there are some really good people in your area that specialize in 2 strokes. one of the best in the country is Chuck Quenzler at team scream in clearwater. look him up, tell him mark h referred you if you still have any issues. nice to see a survivor with a scalloped tank out running around, and congrats!


below is a crank i rebuilt for my 73 S2. note the rubber inner seals.

Thanks Mark! I’ve heard that it would be a good idea to do the crank seals but didn’t know where to get it done. The guys at the Kawasaki dealer are great but when asked about that job, they kind of looked the other way. Do you have a phone number? And btw... what is a leak down test?

[Lord Popgun]

Wow, great info on those seals!!

Ride, if you don’t know what a leakdown test is, better call Mark’s guy

Seriously, if you Google leakdown test, you can see videos on how to do it. It isn’t hard, but you do need the leakdown tester and a compressor.

[the Ferret]

Wow, great info on those seals!!

Ride, if you don’t know what a leakdown test is, better call Mark’s guy

Seriously, if you Google leakdown test, you can see videos on how to do it. It isn’t hard, but you do need the leakdown tester and a compressor.

That was also an issue with the GT 750 Suzukis two stroke triples. One of my Water Buffalos had the inner crank seals go out.