Getting a Kawasaki KE175 street-ready | Kyle's Garage - Ep. 4 - Hagerty Media

There is a problem in my garage, and it happens fairly regularly. That is, I see a great weather forecast for the weekend followed by a look into the garage, which tells me I don’t have anything vintage to drive in this beautiful weather. I decided I wasn’t going let another week pass without getting on the road with one of my fun vehicles.

So I had to do an assessment to see which one was the closest to road ready. In a garage with four vehicles, the 1977 Kawasaki KE175 happened to be that machine. The ’65 Corvair needs a mountain of exhaust work, the Model A’s front end is apart, along with other tasks to really make it road ready, and the the Honda XR250R isn’t street legal.

The KE175 was a quick project because I stored it properly in the fall, so really it just needed to be lovingly brought back to life after nearly six months of splitting between my new garage and a friend’s storage barn. I chose to fill the gas tank to the top with stabilized fuel to prevent rust in the tank, and while the fuel may have still been good, it was easy enough to drain it and add it to the tank of my modern pickup, where it will be burned without any incident.

I also pulled the side cover and gave the carburetor and oil injection pump a visual inspection and pulled the float bowl from the carb just to be sure everything was clean and ready for another season of riding. No deposits or chunks, so everything went back together.

The only other item was the exhaust, which was on the workbench rather than on the bike. I removed it in the fall and planned to have it ceramic coated, but instead I got distracted in a multitude of other ways. Rather than ship it off now, I decided to try a new type of high-temp paint, one marketed for grills rather than exhausts. It went on quite nicely; only time will tell if it holds up. The only drawback is it has a bit more of a chalk finish than more common exhaust paints. I don’t find it annoying, but some might.

In the end, I managed to get something vintage ready for the weekend. My first ride was up the driveway to retrieve the trash can, but I plan on taking it on a longer adventure as soon as the clock hits 5 p.m. today. Hopefully you are doing the same.