New rider, looking to rebuild bike

[jimmer]

Hi Everyone,

My name's jimmy. I was lucky enough to find a KDX 175 for free on the side of the road the other day. Therefore my natural instinct was to rescue it... I talked to the previous owner, he said it ran, but won't shift gears. It had a box of parts with it too.

Anyways, I have never even owned a motorcycle, but have a fair share of mechanical experience and I think this will be a good challenge for me to get it into running shape.

Nice to meet everyone here! I hope I can contribute and also get some knowledge from you all.

I just took off the exhaust tonight, in hopes to take the engine out to remedy the gear changer issue.

The known issues are as follows:

-gear changing rod has stripped external splines
-missing air cleaner cover
-carb was not hooked up (I am not sure how it goes back together, has some tubes coming off it, will need to be hooked up)
-one fork is weeping oil

Good news is it came with a whole extra crankcase and transmission. Like I said, this thing was free! I walked it home about 3 miles lol. It's currently in my apartment...yep, I don't have a garage.

Anyways, I am hoping to have the whole thing running by the end of this summer (hopefully sooner).

Here's a photo of the new baby. https://photos.app.goo.gl/jHFRfNBwZFKMJy1SA

[bufftester]

Welcome to the forums and good luck on the project. Parts will be tough to find, but the ol' 175 was a pretty resilient mount.

[KDXGarage]

Hi Everyone,

My name's jimmy. I was lucky enough to find a KDX 175 for free on the side of the road the other day.

You lucky bastard. WAIT! I meant, Welcome to kdxrider.net!

Therefore my natural instinct was to rescue it... I talked to the previous owner, he said it ran, but won't shift gears. It had a box of parts with it too.

Anyways, I have never even owned a motorcycle, but have a fair share of mechanical experience and I think this will be a good challenge for me to get it into running shape.

Nice to meet everyone here! I hope I can contribute and also get some knowledge from you all.

I just took off the exhaust tonight, in hopes to take the engine out to remedy the gear changer issue.

The known issues are as follows:

-gear changing rod has stripped external splines
-missing air cleaner cover
-carb was not hooked up (I am not sure how it goes back together, has some tubes coming off it, will need to be hooked up)
-one fork is weeping oil

Good news is it came with a whole extra crankcase and transmission. Like I said, this thing was free! I walked it home about 3 miles lol. It's currently in my apartment...yep, I don't have a garage.

Anyways, I am hoping to have the whole thing running by the end of this summer (hopefully sooner).

Here's a photo of the new baby. https://photos.app.goo.gl/jHFRfNBwZFKMJy1SA

Congratulations on the bike and the price! If you can, post a VIN and engine number. I can help determine which year it is. The first thing I would do after confirming the year is get on eBay and buy the correct owner/service manual for it. (yes, free stuff just ran out)

It was made from 1980 - 1982. I am thinking yours is 1980 with the white seat.

https://www.cyclepedia.com/kawasaki-kdx175/

jimmer.png (1.34 MiB) Viewed 3059 times

[jimmer]

Congratulations on the bike and the price! If you can, post a VIN and engine number. I can help determine which year it is. The first thing I would do after confirming the year is get on eBay and buy the correct owner/service manual for it. (yes, free stuff just ran out)

I did get the A3 owner manual of eBay (though I doubt it will be much help, I don't think it's a shop manual). I also found a KDX 200 pdf manual online.

I agree, parts seem hard to find already. Is there after market support for carburetors?

Engine #: DX175AE001374

I can't read the serial number on the forks.

I think it's at least a 1981, it has the schroeder valves on the fork (unless fork was swapped).

[KDXGarage]

Here's a video from me:



The engine number is 1980. The manual that came with the 1979 - 1987 models in the USA is a combined owner's and service manual.

Most things in that 1982 manual will be the same, though there might be a few differences.

The carburetor may be a standard Mikuni. 32 mm maybe?? I am not sure. VM32SS??

I think white letters on the seat is 1980, with green for 1981 and 1982. Somewhere in my hoard I have a parts bike 1981 and a half there 1982.

[jimmer]

Here's a video from me:



The engine number is 1980. The manual that came with the 1979 - 1987 models in the USA is a combined owner's and service manual.

Most things in that 1982 manual will be the same, though there might be a few differences.

The carburetor may be a standard Mikuni. 32 mm maybe?? I am not sure. VM32SS??

I think white letters on the seat is 1980, with green for 1981 and 1982. Somewhere in my hoard I have a parts bike 1981 and a half there 1982.

DUDE! Nice video. Has 19 views, but I could not find that information anywhere else LOL.

Mine's definitely a 1980. I can make out the first couple digits, starts with DX! So no VIN #. Does that mean it was never titled, and I get to claim complete ownership without worrying about the man stopping me?

[jimmer]

PS: I can't find any numbers on the carburetor. It says Mikuni Kogyo on one side, and MIC near the top near the choke.

[KDXGarage]

Thanks! It is information from the dealership manuals: Model Identification Guide.

Do you think someone painted over the 17-digit VIN? Maybe Kawasaki didn't have a VIN back then? Not sure on what your state's title situation is. In Alabama, the state does not title off-road vehicles.

It's a Mikuni of some sort.

[jimmer]

Yeah. I have heard that there was a cutoff for Kawasaki where they started putting VIN #'s on these bikes. Even in the video you can see that it says bike frame number in 1980 and then VIN # in 1981.

I still have a lot of homework to do I think!

[KDXGarage]

Hey. You're right. I went back and looked at the guide. It does not show a VIN. EDIT: I looked at several street bikes. 1980's did not have a VIN. Thanks for pointing that out!

Do you see a frame number there?

[treelimb]

all in all pretty cool for a free bike,a KDX none the less. welcome to the forum and best of luck with the KDX175.

[John_S]

Good luck on your project. I could see myself (when I was younger) seeing one on the side of the road, pushing it home 3 miles, and bringing it in an apartment lol. Hey ma, look what I found.

[jimmer]

Good luck on your project. I could see myself (when I was younger) seeing one on the side of the road, pushing it home 3 miles, and bringing it in an apartment lol. Hey ma, look what I found.

Lol. Yes, the spoils of mid-20s bachelorhood.

I think I am going to move this conversation to another thread. I've got the engine out, the engine cover off, and am trying to figure out if it's locked in gear or what. I have the clutch out, gear shift shaft out (splines all effed up). I tried to vice the shift shaft to see if it would change gears. Seems like something is wrong.

Thanks for the welcomes everyone!