Kawasaki H1 500 LC Four Cylinder - How its made

in this video we're going to be talking about my 1970 kawasaki h1500 lc it's liquid cooled it revved to 10 000 rpm and it flies we'll talk about how i made it and then we'll take it for a ride the first thing i had to do was to convert some kawasaki kh 500 crank cases into four cylinder like i do with my air cooled versions then tried to fit some yamaha rd-250 lc barrels the problem was they didn't fit the crankcase mounts were too small so i had to open those up the studs were in the wrong place the deck heights were wrong the pistons would come straight out the top of the cylinders so i had to make a new crankshaft as well which had a standard 54 millimeter stroke i used yamaha parts with new bearings and labyrinth seals then line board the crankcases to make it all fit together i use the standard kawasaki kh-500 gearbox and the ratio has worked out about fine although this engine does rev to 10 000 rather than eight so it goes much further in each gear the crankshaft made from yamaha parts so it didn't match with a kawasaki alternator or kawasaki primary drive sprocket so i had to re-machine them in the barrels i had vapor blasted to give a nice silver finish to match the kawasaki crank cases i'll walk around the bike now explaining some of the features the front forks front wheel and yokes from a kawasaki h2 because they are much stronger than the early 500 forks i fitted the standard h1 kawasaki headlight ears by making special adapters the headlight is also from the early 1970 h1 i removed the caliper mounting lug from the right hand fork leg to make it more slender looking for the 500 lc and also i fitted a stainless steel mud guard because the h2 mug guard looked too heavy when it was on the bike the steering damper is from a kawasaki h2b and fits perfect i made the radiator from a dual core racing radiator that was meant for an rd350 lc but i also included an electrically operated fan that's turned on using a suzuki gt750 thermostat switch under the seat i've got an expansion bottle for the coolant i made a mechanical water pump to fit where the distributor used to be i use the impeller from a kx250 motorcross bike and it works just perfect i machined up a water temperature gauge housing out of a billet of aluminium and i used a bezel from an old ammeter and the internal workings are from a gt750 suzuki it works perfect the petrol tank holds pure petrol with no oil mixed oil is meted into the engine via a separate pump that once belonged to a kawasaki h2b the pump has four outlets so i can use one for each independent cylinder the oil pump sits behind the water pump and is controlled by the throttle cable so as you go faster more oil is injected and when you go slower less oil is injected this hopefully reduces the amount of smoke the two-stroke oil is held in a tank on the side of the frame and it has a really nice little sight gauge at the back the cap is from a gt500 it's made of aluminium it looks much nicer than the plastic kawasaki one i had to reshape the kickstart because the engine's slightly wider so i put a kink in it so when it folds out it works and when it folds in it misses your leg the speeder and rev counter are standard for a 1970 h1 i think i'm definitely going to paint the water temperature gauge black for some reason i left it shiny i don't know why but i did the choke and throttle work well considering they're pulling up the extra carburetor but they're still light and smooth the front brakes hydraulic on this bike because the front ends from a h2 kawasaki which has a hydraulic disc the standard h1 1970 would have a drum operated by a cable the modified gear lever works with the same shift pattern which is neutral down five up the back brake fits in its original position on the same pivot it's just been reshaped for the wider engine i made a four into four stainless steel expansion chamber exhaust system for the kawasaki 500 lc and i like to tuck my exhaust systems they fit closely to the bike so here's how i start these little flat sheets of stainless are cut out from cardboard templates then they're rolled up around a piece of bar using my hide hammer and tig welded together the front header pipes are from a kawasaki h2b and fit just perfect i fitted four new mikuni racing carburetors they're 28 millimeters diameter and have special plugs at the bottom so you can get the main jets in and out with ease this was lucky because sorting out the jetting took me ages and ages but i got there in the end the four carburetors are connected to a single k n filter that's meant for an rd 400 with the left-hand side panel removed we can take a better look i used old waste pipe to make the actual ducting this is plastic and can be molded and shaped and the chain guard is from an early h2 the rear brake is fitted with this unique and novel air intake adjuster so you can make the air go in to call the break or shut it off if it's wet a bit of a novelty really but i guess it works i suppose the ignition system is points and there are four sets of points behind the left hand side cover hello is that neil it's alan thinking about going out on my 500 lc for spin do you fancy coming along why you're in southampton with mandy oh never mind maybe another time see you bye so so [Music] hey so so i'm back home and in the garage after the ride on my kawasaki 500 it takes a while to calm down it makes you really buzz but soon i'll be going out my flying milliard 5 litre v-twin that's totally different it revs to 1500 rpm and idles at 350 totally different but a great machine to ride anyway see you all soon and don't forget to subscribe

Channel: Allen Millyard

Views: 180,138

Rating: 4.9722223 out of 5

Keywords: Super Six, six cylinder, home made, shed, shed made, old school engineering, engine repair, Z1, Kawasaki Z900, Kawasaki Z1, Hacksaw, hand cutting, MCN, Classic motorcycle Mechanics, The motorbike Show, HCA, Filing, Files, Colchester Lathe, 1970's, Kawasaki, Camshaft, Haveago, millyard, millyardracing, hyperride2, lockdown, Turbo, Z1R, Turbo bike, Wastegate, Mikuni, Its fast, 500LC, RD250LC, Four cylinder, its fast

Id: 8zklMSrmh0o

Length: 11min 2sec (662 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 23 2020