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1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

almarconi said:
My KZ has a little over 25k miles on the engine. There is also some primary chain noise at idle (different from valve clatter). The noise disappears off idle. I'm told that this is fairly normal for this engine. The cam chain tensioner can also contribute to a noisy top end.
Click to expand...

Yes, there is some primary chain noise. It has a very distinct sound. It has a plain bearing crank so no crank bearing noises like a GS though.

My bike doesn't have much of any cam chain noise per say. The speced valve clearances are about 3x that of a GS shimmed engine so there is a hint more valve clatter though.
 
Installed the Race Tech emulators last weekend but still have some tuning to do. The KZ service manual says to use 10W oil but Race Tech recommends 15W oil for their emulators. Since the emulators only control compression damping, not rebound damping, I decided to use 12.5W oil and crank in a little more compression damping via the emulator spring preload. Got everything installed but discovered that the Progressive springs are now sticking out the top of the forks by about 3/4" of an inch (the height of the emulator). Pressed the cap down and got them installed but the front end of the bike is now riding higher than before. Since I don't want the front end to ride taller I decided to order new springs from Sonic. Rich (Sonic owner and GSR member) emailed me and said the GS1000 springs are identical size wise to the KZ springs so I placed an order for the .9 kg/mm rate springs. Update to follow...
 
Got everything together and happy with the results. The ride quality is a little better, probably because the compression damping is more controlled.
 
Despite my best effort while restoring the gauges on this bike the needles warble around some in use. Found a NOS tachometer off ebay for a great deal so I snatched it up but haven't been able to find a deal on a speedometer. In fact, a lot of guys selling old parts on ebay want more money for them than you can get the part for from Partzilla or similar. Amazing. At any rate, I didn't want to bust down the cluster to install the tach until finding a speedo, and since I couldn't find a cheap speedo I just popped and ordered one from Partzilla. Hopefully it's truly available and not a mistake.
 
I've done a deep dive on Kawasaki gauge part numbers and learned a lot...but not everything.

If you look at the face of the speedo you can see 1154 printed near the bottom. That's the part number suffix...in some cases. Kawasaki had two different part number speedo's for this bike, 25005-1154 and -1066. -1066 was used on the KZ550 too, and the same speedo with a larger trip meter knob was used on the GPz550 under a different part number. It's a game figuring out what gauge fits what.

P1010557_zpse5248f97 by nessism, on Flickr
 
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One last photo with the shocks and pegs installed..

ed5.jpg
 
Well, it seems that Kawasaki's part system is even more screwed up than Suzuki's. They show two different part number speedometers for my bike as still available, but neither are.

This guy is selling two speedo's of the (supposedly) proper part number, only the trip reset knob looks wrong...http://www.ebay.com/itm/150719293323?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT I tried to message him and ebay said I can't send this seller any messages. What's up with that? Big red flag. I suspect that gauge would be fine, only it maybe be a GPz variant. Thing I don't like though is that it looks to have been bouncing around in an open tray instead of being sealed up safe in a proper box. Big money gamble. Gonna have to pass.
 
It's not an 82 GPz speedo. Speedo tach and other bits are all in one pod.
 
Spent a few hours today updating the photos. No more Photobucket holding me hostage.
 
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One of my last projects with this bike was to update the gauges. As shown earlier in the thread I cleaned up the housings and the gauges looked nice and all, however, the needles sort of wobbled around more than I liked. Did a deep dive on gauge part numbers and got all kinds of confused. Kawasaki used a couple different part number gauges which threw me for a loop. The 550's used the same size gauges too which increased confusion.

In the end I've come to realize that the E2 bikes use a somewhat unique tach that has the "headlamp" warning light built in. This gauge also uses a black gauge bezel inside the housing. The speedometer for my bike also has a matching black bezel. I found a NOS tach which is correct but couldn't find a speedo. The speedo I bought has a green bezel so the gauges don't match. Guess I'll have to open my new speedo and paint the bezel. It's just that I've got heartburn opening a NOS gauge that I paid so much for.

Sorry for all the photo glare...

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Killer Canary said:
What does the headlamp warning lamp do?
Click to expand...

The bike has what's called a "reserve lighting system." If one of the headlight beams (high or low) burns out the bike switches automatically to the other and lights the "headlight failure indicator light" to show the bulb needs to be replaced.

I don't care that much about this feature, but it's a nice to have. The 1980 MY E1 bikes don't have this feature. They have the "oil" warning lamp in the tach instead. My bike has the oil light in the gauge cluster.
 
Nessism said:
The speedo I bought has a green bezel so the gauges don't match. Guess I'll have to open my new speedo and paint the bezel. It's just that I've got heartburn opening a NOS gauge that I paid so much for.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that, man... but it just HAS to be done! :p
 
Very nice restoration! I always liked those Z750s, a great looking bike.
 
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