1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

[Nessism]

Got the rear wheel Gun Koted. Turned out decently enough. Glad these things are done. Can't believe how much work they have been. Also painted the handlebars. Not sure I'm going to use them yet though. Bought some OEM Kawasaki handlebars, superbike bend, but they are really narrow. Strange. Painted these to hedge my bet.


P1010490 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010491 by nessism, on Flickr

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P1010502 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010501 by nessism, on Flickr

[Nessism]

Keihin carbs are kicking my as$. Can't get the choke linkage to operate smoothly. These carbs use a butterfly valve type choke, and there is some friction in the linkage and the return spring is very weak. Found a little bit of glass bead grit on one of the choke rods so going to take the carbs back apart and see if that's it. I'm feeling like quite the carb rookie right now and not liking it. Mostly though, I'm cussing Keihin for using such a wimpy return spring.

Was struggling to find a rear master that didn't have a pitted bore. Bought one off ebay that turned out to be junk. Found a decent looking one on ebay and sent a note asking the seller if they would be so kind as to open it up and look for corrosion. No response. Found another one and asked again. This time the seller came back with a personal note, and not only opened it up, he sent me some photos! Great service. In one of those small world moments the seller turned out to be our own Joe Whelan. Imagine that! Needless to say I bought it! Thanks again Joe!

My pleasure Ed

[Nessism]

Was struggling to find a rear master that didn't have a pitted bore. Bought one off ebay that turned out to be junk. Found a decent looking one on ebay and sent a note asking the seller if they would be so kind as to open it up and look for corrosion. No response. Found another one and asked again. This time the seller came back with a personal note, and not only opened it up, he sent me some photos! Great service. In one of those small world moments the seller turned out to be our own Joe Whelan. Imagine that! Needless to say I bought it! Thanks again Joe!

[850 Combat]

Is that 4.1 cfm at 29 psi accurate? Thats not much compared to dome cheapies I have looked at.

Great looking work so far.

[Nessism]

Hand controls were heavily weathered so bought a couple better units for parts off ebay. Took them all apart and cleaned/greased in innards. Fixed a broken wire here and there too. Good fun.

P1010498 by nessism, on Flickr

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[Nessism]

Looks like retail is around $400 + for a new one. I will keep my eye out for a deal. Thanks for the link it looks like a great sprayer.

You can purchase a nice spray gun for about $100 off ebay. Lots of options if you get to that point.

[Vmass]

Thanks for the props Rich. All those restorations you have been doing is inspiring me.

My "good" spray gun is a Sataminijet. https://www.sata.com/index.php?id=mi...=11#ad-image-0 Bought it a few years ago. It's a regular minijet, not sure what changes they made when it went to "3000 B" model. Prices on these has shot up quite a bit since I bought mine. No way I'd pay retail now a days. At any rate, having spray equipment is a "must have" in my opinion.

Looks like retail is around $400 + for a new one. I will keep my eye out for a deal. Thanks for the link it looks like a great sprayer.

[Nessism]

Bought some "All Ball's" wheel bearings and tried to install them yesterday evening. Note the word "tried", maybe should be "failed". Pounded in the first bearing no problems (or so I thought). Drove it all the way in until it seated on a machined shoulder in the wheel. Kawasaki wheels use a snap ring as a safety retainer, and when installing the second bearing realized the first was in too far (by about .100"). Tried to push it back using the only available way, pushing on the inner race, and wound up destroying the bearing big time by dimpling the races. My fault all the way.

So now need a new bearing. Just for kicks, took one of the old bearings, which similarly had the inner race pounded (only harder), and cleaned out all the blast media grit and old grease. Low and behold, it's silky smooth. KOYO bearing company makes some seriously good $hit. No comparison. Going to repack this thing and slam it in.

Awesome work on the rebuild. She will be sweet when she is done.
One thing I would have done is to clean up those welds a bit. At least get some of the high spots down. I know most of it will be covered with the tank and various parts, but I like a clean smooth weld. Just me I guess.
I'm going to start on mine in a few days getting her ready for the summer riding. I will get some pics up hopefully this weekend.
Again congrats on a sweet rebuild.

[Nessism]

Fantastic work Ed.

I should pick up a spray gun......... is the minijet the brand name?

Thanks for the props Rich. All those restorations you have been doing is inspiring me.

My "good" spray gun is a Sataminijet. https://www.sata.com/index.php?id=mi...=11#ad-image-0 Bought it a few years ago. It's a regular minijet, not sure what changes they made when it went to "3000 B" model. Prices on these has shot up quite a bit since I bought mine. No way I'd pay retail now a days. At any rate, having spray equipment is a "must have" in my opinion.

[Vmass]

Fantastic work Ed.

I should pick up a spray gun......... is the minijet the brand name?

I do but it is a glossy satin for sure.

[Nessism]

Gunkoated the calipers as well as the wheels.

Not too happy with the gloss level. To bright. Not bad enough to redo them though. Color is "Satin Black". Anyone see any satin in this coating? Oh well...

P1010523 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010524 by nessism, on Flickr

[Nessism]

Reworking the wheels this weekend. Decided to try Gun Kote since it's supposedly durable and chemical resistant. Main concern is removing all the old paint first since this material is designed to be applied to "white" metal.

Started by bead blasting the polished surfaces (band around the rim and the edge of the spokes) to remove corrosion. Next was polishing with a sisal wheel and heavy gray cutting compound. After that the polished sections were masked and the wheel went back into the blast cabinet for more blasting, this time to remove all the old paint. Tried using coal slag in the cabinet but the flow is too slow. Switched over the aluminum oxide and it's working better, but visibility in the cabinet is worse. Can't wait to finish these things.

Also going to try Gun Kote on the brake calipers. Will shoot them as soon as things warm up a little.