1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

[koolaid_kid]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys.

Been hanging out at kzrider.com to learn a little more about these bikes. Nice bunch of guys over there but that forum is very slow compared to this one. They don't have a Basscliff either! We are SO LUCKY in GS land!!!!

Listen to Patton and 650ed. They know their stuff and are quite helpful. They are also on a lot. Read the forum rules, they are much stricter than GSR.
I had an 81 KZ750; great town bike. Shorter and lighter than a Honda or GS of similar vintage.
Easy to work on as well. I installed and removed my GPz engine myself several times (very similar engine).
Did you buy those gaskets? I used Athena on my GPz and have had no problems with them.
Have fun rebuilding those Kehin carbs. cycleorings will be useless for that, you'll have to get OEM rings or McMaster-Carr.

[Guest]

Forgot. Were his GS1100'sin the same shape? All corroded and locked up?
G
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack.

[Guest]

I would look into investing in powder coating everything but the pipes, get those ceramic coated by Jet Hot or someone.

[tkent02]

Ordered some Conti Go tires last night from American Motorcycle Tire.

Curious Ed, have you used these Conti Go tires before?

[Nessism]

Curious Ed, have you used these Conti Go tires before?

Bought them on faith Tom. Continental doesn't make junk (normally).

[Nessism]

Hi Ed
I am truly sorry for turning you to the bike. It did run when I left Cali but he didn't listen tome about taking care of it. I had no idea it was in such bad shape. When I left, the black engine paint was still glossy. And of course, he did not drain the gas either.
Sorry again.
Greg

No worry Greg. I'm grateful to you for turning me on to the bike. It was my decision to proceed.

Mike's 1100's were buried in the garage and he didn't offer up a look. Nice guy. He's just a little delusional as to what damage can occur to a bike after it's sat outside for 5 years.

[salty_monk]

Doesn't really look in any worse state than my Skunk was... I reckon you'll be fine!

On the house - you don't have the same incentives I have...

[Guest]

You are right about the delusional. And the choice. It will make an excellent runner. Though I would keep the Mac header and clean up the engine. The jetting didn't need much tweaking when I messed with it. Though, unsticking everything would be a priority.
Laters
G

[koolaid_kid]

I see you picked up a factory service manual. It is organized just like a GS manual. It covers the E models (yours) and the H models (LTDs, their version of an L ).
The baseline is 1980, then there will be an appendum that covers the changes between 1980 & 1981. In the appendix is a very nice color wiring diagram. I blew it up to 11x17 for troubleshooting.

[Nessism]

I see you picked up a factory service manual. It is organized just like a GS manual. It covers the E models (yours) and the H models (LTDs, their version of an L ).

Yeah, manual on the way. Also started gathering parts like gaskets.

Researching on KZrider is even more difficult than here. Those guys must get a ridiculous number of repetitive topics because the search function spits out posts related to the search term, not threads. In particular was trying to figure out what cables to order, and wanted to see if the GPZ cables will fit on my bike because I plan to use the lower lower handlebars. Seems the answer is the clutch cable will fit but not the throttle cable because the carbs are different. Researching stuff like this is proving to be a lot of work.

[koolaid_kid]

I could not agree with you more, Ed. It is a rudimentary site compared to GSR. You are fortunate that Patton, 650ed, and others are there now. Years ago, it was pretty much dead, and virtually impossible to get questions answered.
One word of caution, I purchased 2 kaw cables from Z1E. Both were MotionPro, and both were wrong.
Kaws are not picky about using OEM gaskets like GS machines are. I have yet to purchase an OEM gasket for either Kaw.
Did you see the sites to order from, and how to find the OEM parts diagrams?
If you need any shims, I have a ton of them.

[koolaid_kid]

AFA the carbs, you will like them over the Mikunis. You can clean them with spray, and they don't clog up like the Mikunis. And you can buy cheap boots off ebay if you need them, they work just fine.
And they do not have the charging/stator/wiring problems like the GS machines.

[Nessism]

I could not agree with you more, Ed. It is a rudimentary site compared to GSR. You are fortunate that Patton, 650ed, and others are there now. Years ago, it was pretty much dead, and virtually impossible to get questions answered.
One word of caution, I purchased 2 kaw cables from Z1E. Both were MotionPro, and both were wrong.
Kaws are not picky about using OEM gaskets like GS machines are. I have yet to purchase an OEM gasket for either Kaw.
Did you see the sites to order from, and how to find the OEM parts diagrams?
If you need any shims, I have a ton of them.

AFA the carbs, you will like them over the Mikunis. You can clean them with spray, and they don't clog up like the Mikunis. And you can buy cheap boots off ebay if you need them, they work just fine.
And they do not have the charging/stator/wiring problems like the GS machines.

George,

I bought an OEM head and base gasket, and also what I'm told is an aftermarket gasket kit as sold though Kawasaki's accessory group. Learned my lesson regarding Athena gaskets. Kawasaki parts seem to be plentiful on ebay and such so I'll stay OEM where possible. It's nice to see what the parts look like before purchasing too. I learned about differences in throttle cables that way.

Bought one of those Shindengen series R/R's for it to take care of the charging system. The existing unit was covered in white powdery corrosion. Must have been running quite hot and burned off all the anodizing or paint.

Since there are so many OEM Kawasaki parts on ebay it's easy to check to see

[Nessism]

Made some good progress, and some good news. The inside of the engine looks clean. Hopefully the cylinders look similar.

P1010282 by nessism, on Flickr



P1010284 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010283 by nessism, on Flickr


Found a friend keeping an eye on the bike for me. These little buggers are everywhere in my area. Have to pay attention.

P1010255 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010257 by nessism, on Flickr

[Guest]

What kind of spider is it? and is it poisonous? we have lots of spiders, up here and big ones but only one that is poisonous and they are far and few between.