1974 Kawasaki F7 175 Info Please...

What Jeff said. If you have the skills a period pipe from another bike could be modified or you can build one. I'm going to take the stock head pipe and weld it to a period high pipe myself . I'd post pics but apparently I'm not old enough on this site.

Well Fellers, We took delivery of the '74 F7 last night. It's got years of built-up oil and dirt on it. Tracy and I spent an hour or so cleaning it up. I'd say we're 15% done with the cleaning. We only concentrated on the engine area and front forks. It'll need fork seals. It appears to have the factory front fender, but someone took the "brace" off of it. If anyone has one they'd like to sell, I'm all ears. I also bought a tail light for it from Ebay. I wasn't wanting to pay $33 for a new lens and another $8 for a gasket. The 75 KZ400 tail light assembly from Ebay shares the part numbers with the original, and cost me $19.99 shipped. The Clymer's manual should be here in a few days. I'll keep you posted, Kelly.

I have a front fender with the brace- the fender is a little banged up but complete. Also have the stock tailight and rear fender and some other odds and ends.
I've been stripping one down and building up another. We'll have to compare notes

Hey F7 Gods, It appears as though there should be a hose starting at the top of the oil tank and.... That's the question. Where does it go from there?
Oh, and back to the battery. Will running the bike with a dead battery hurt anything? I say no, but would like your opinion. Thanks, Kelly.

P.S. Tracy's F7...

Yes, your ok without a battery. I think the headlight has direct power from the generator.

You will change the bike from mild to wild with an expansion chamber. Torgue Engineering, Whisperin' Smith. Also Hooker and Bassani made pipes for them.

The shocks are a major weak point, they like to kick hard . Spend as much as you can there.

Clutch is another weak point. Barnett sells a good kit. If yuo use an expansion chamber you will need this

If your in the forks anyways... Gold valves are worth it.

Keep the injection.

The tube attachment point at the top of the injection oil tank, just on the inside of the frame tube is a vent. On mine, and I don't know if it's routed properly, it just goes back and down to an area near the swingarm pivot like the other vent tubes.

On the battery question, I've read running without the battery will fry the ignition or something so I elected to not take that chance on mine.

Lynn

Thanks guys, I'm going by what I've read, and learning as I go. You fellas are invaluable as a resource. Thanks, Kelly.

The F7 lives! The nice temps (50ish) made us do it. I bought some fuel for the F7 and my TT600. When Tracy got home from work this afternoon she wanted to start HER bike. I put some gas in it, checked the air filter for rodent condos, and gave her the OK to try. About 6 kicks and we had smoke.
We also have a carb problem. I'm guessing needle and seat trouble. With the choke on it starts right up and goes to about 4k rpms. It runs for a few seconds and tries to die. If I shake the bike hither and yon it will rev back up to where it was. Then it repeats that behavior. I think we could do this all day long. You get the picture. What say you? Thanks for your continued support, Kelly.

My thoughts are to clean the carb, lube the throttle cable and check for air leaks. The rotary valve setup has a lot of potential air leaks- the side cover, theboot, and the cables going into the case. If it doesn't idle down the slide or the cable could be sticking.

The Wife (Tracy) pulled the carb yesterday and gave it a good going-over. It runs fine now. It was Tracy's first carb job. Photo proof...

Deer in the headlights
Buy her some of the blue nitrile gloves so the solvent and fuel doesn't wreck her skin. Women care about things like that. Glad to see it running.

I just got done ripping the engine apart on mine. Runs like a charm now. Glad none of the local shops would work on it, great learning experience. I do have a few probably simply questions. Is there anyway to make it less scary.. lol at high speeds it bounces and shakes way to much. Shocks? I know nothing. Help me!

I have a 71 f7 runs real good now, but I think I have a crank bearing going out. How hard of a job was it to tear into the motor, this will be a winter project for me. Thanks.

You both should buy a Clymer's manual for your 175's- lots of questions answered.
The forks are very flexy and a fork brace will help a lot. fresh ATF fluid in them will help but they are crappy forks none the less.
New rear shocks will help the ride a lot. Make sure your wheel bearings and swingarm bushings are in good shape. Shake the wheels from side to side- any play and you need new bearings. Grab the swingarmat the rear wheel and move side to side. If there is play you need new bushings.
Tearing into one of these motors is pretty easy. You will need a flywheel puller to get the flywheel off- other wise a crancase splitter is nice too. Depends on how tool friendly you are.

Caution if pulling the flywheel off. I used a pulley and threaded the bolts in to much and broke the coils. Not very easy to replace. I wish I could have found out how to rewind them though. O well. Like I said just be carefull .and if its like mine you may have to heat it up to get it off

Also I looked at those sites for expansion chambers and couldn't find any for my bike and ebays fresh out

I've got a manual for it, I've never opened one up before. bike runs good just thinking down the road in case it may need some work. Thanks.

Back when I had mine, I could run it at top speed (80 or so indicated) with no problems, so what you are experiencing is not normal. Shaking could be an out of balance or out of round tire. It's pretty easy to mount a tire so it's not seated evenly all the way around which will make it shake quite a bit. Or loose spokes, head bearings, or loose swing arm bearings could also play a part.

Yea I get it up to like 60 but don't wanna kill it I also weigh 250 and am 6'4" so that may be it

I have a great friend who rode one of these in the early 70's and had a neat low pipe on it called a "Whispering Smith" I remember the name clearly and also remember rearending him on a big hill and sending the entire pipe flying up the hill about 30ft ahead of him.