Kawasaki KLX450 - Giving the old girl some love & prep for Tankwa Rally

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Buff

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KTM 690 Adventure
This thread stems from me reading one too many resto projects on this site and then deciding to tackle something way beyond my pay grade. Most recently [member=16826]ktmkobus[/member] 's thread on his projects in his new George workshop have really inspired & motivated me to venture out way beyond my comfort zone and wallet clasp.  :-[

I picked up this KLX450 one evening a few weeks ago from Dogmatix on the forum when he decided to leave our shores for greener pastures in NZ. After parking it my garage, I left for a 3 week holiday in Kgalagadi, so it’s only in the last week that I’ve been able to give it a good look over. The aim of my purchase was to possibly race it in the Silver class of the Tankwa Rally in Sept but on initial inspection, I think I’ll be risking a blown motor if I go down that road (more on that later). So that idea was canned and I’ve instead decided to give the Green Girl some love and race her in 2019 when I can be fully confident in her abilities (and mine).

This thread will hopefully try document that process but be warned, it will be slow as cash for splurging is in short supply at the moment. You might see more polishing than new bling parts  ;) I’ve got zero technical background into all things mechanical besides what I’ve picked up from racing bikes, chatting to friends and gathered from WD’s and YouTube. I do however get much enjoyment from tinkering in my garage on my own bikes and bicycles when time allows and most importantly, I've got friends with ninja bike skills and tools, namely [member=5609]Dux[/member] and a non-forum mate Vincent, who has restored a number of mini bikes. And let's not discount you guys, I'll be needing plenty advice  :3some:

This thread is in no ways a sledge at Dogmatix so please don’t see it that way. I was informed of most of this bikes shortcomings prior to purchase (just to different degrees), so I had a basic idea of what I was getting into and I got the bike at a good price. The bike was used almost every week on our local quarry tracks and although used regularly, has not been flogged to death. It was however put away wet on a few occasions and the salt in the quarry sand is not kind to metal surfaces. The bikes maintenance schedule was also not as rigorous as my bikes schedules (as in, I’m anal about my bikes), so somethings were possibly left too long before requiring attention (I'll let you decide on that). I believe in “prevention is better than cure” but not all of us are necessary like that.

Okay, so with that behind us, onto the bike… this is what she looks like. In Afrikaans they have a saying that applies well to her… “Mooi van ver maar ver van mooi”.
 

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