Kawasaki H2A Restoration Project

This project I completed in the Spring of 2011.  There’s a few photos of the project in-process and a link to the initial start up video at the end of the text.

1973 Kawasaki 750cc H2 Two Stroke Triple

The Story…

The Kawasaki 750cc H2 was sold during four years, 1972 – 1975 with the 1973 model available in two factory colors; candy gold and candy purple. Though this bike, manufactured July 1972, was originally gold, I prefer the purple and as either color is correct, I choose to restore it as a purple example.

This project was found in a pole barn in northern Indiana in 2004 and I paid the equivalent of $100.00 by trading two $50.00 motorcycles in exchange for the H2. The engine was frozen, the transmission was severely damaged and many of the major parts were gone. Missing components included the entire exhaust system, seat, rear tail piece, rear turn signals, body side covers, one carburetor, and the air cleaner system.

I did all the restoration work I was equipped to handle, including the complete engine rebuild, though I had the cylinder machining and crank shaft rebuilding performed by professionals. The paint work and frame powder coating was done professionally as well, though I did the powder coat of some of the smaller components in my shop. Many of the transmission parts, including most of the actual gears and the shift forks were replaced after being sourced from several different suppliers across North America.

Many of the chrome parts are original and were simply re-plated, including the handlebars, gas cap, the seat rear grab rail and the front fender. As absolute originality is important to me, a lot of research was done and every effort made to return the motorcycle to new as-delivered condition. Care was taken to use original NOS parts, good used items or as necessary, quality reproduction items only. There were virtually no common hardware store fasteners or other components utilized as part of this project.

The engine was started for the first time in early April, 2011.

Engine Disassembly

The overall restoration was typical and straight forward, though time consuming and painstaking. However, disassembling the engine proved to be quite an adventure, as all three cylinders were solidly frozen. I wanted to preserve the original cylinders if at all possible, so it required some creativity and several weeks to remove each one. This evolved far beyond simply soaking with penetrating oil and prying the cylinders off. It required two different techniques to create lift on the cylinder while simultaneously creating downward pressure on the piston. And lots and lots of heating and cooling cycles. It appeared the engine had never been apart, as the cylinders were at their standard bore, so boring first over was part of the rebuild process.

Other Information

I currently own at least one version of every two stroke triple Kawasaki made during the 1970’s:

          One 1975 S1 250

          Three 1973 S2 350s

          One 1974 S3 400

          One 1973 H1 500

          And the 1973 H2 750

Several of these bikes run, though only the 750 H2 has been restored.