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1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

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!!!!
 
Nessism said:
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!!!!
Click to expand...

You are right! I don't spend nearly as much time there as I do here (different user name too).

If you ever see a link to an article called Brand Loyalty over there it is written by my cousin. He's talking about the Z1 I now have.
 
Nessism said:
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!!!!
Click to expand...

Absolutely! I use Cliff's page several times every day when I'm working on this stuff.
 
Woohoo when can I come ride it! ;)

Let me know if you need any muscle / help parting motor from frame etc.

Plumbing & Kitchens stopping bike play over at my place! :)
 
salty_monk said:
Woohoo when can I come ride it! ;)

Let me know if you need any muscle / help parting motor from frame etc.

Plumbing & Kitchens stopping bike play over at my place! :)
Click to expand...

Now you're making me feel bad Dan. My house needs more work then yours but I bought a new bike instead of fixing stuff like you.

Oh well...

Spent a couple hours tonight taking apart the back end. Excepting for some crappy alarm that was installed, the bike is pretty much unmolested. Bad news is it's corroded pretty badly. Carbs completely frozen, rear master dry and stuck, and heavens know what's next. Yup, I paid too much for this thing. Oh well again...

P1010241 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010243 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010245 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010249 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010188 by nessism, on Flickr
 
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Ordered some Conti Go tires last night from American Motorcycle Tire. Compared price against Avon Roadrider's, Pirelli Sport Demon's, and Michelin Pilot Activ's, and the Conti's were the cheapest. Considered Shinko's but decided to spend the extra $. Also ordered a Motobatt battery. I've had good success with them in the past.

Not sure I should keep track of the costs for obvious reasons. It's not fun to cut costs too much, just look for a decent price before each purchase and move on.
 
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
 
Bead blast the carb bodies and paint the chrome tops black.

Bolt threaded in the banjo bolt hole with an alemite fitting (grease gun) over the bleeder screw should remove the piston/ and (or) a good used one off the bay.

Send the jugs and cam cover off to be vapor blasted.

For instance...http://www.arnoldsdesign.com/Vapor-Blasting.html
Most motorcycle engine case: $35 per case half
Finned Cylinder Head: $35 (Because of the immense amount of surface area detail in fins)
Click to expand...

On a side note... I have an immense number of hours rebuilding the trailer I bought a few years for, as it appears now in hindsight, WAY too much money. Between the initial purchase price ($400) and what I have in it now ($381), I could have bought a new one. Maybe not quite as heavy duty as what I have now, but surviceable for most of my needs. Do I regret buying it? At times, yes. But that would be for all intents an purposes, water under the bridge. I rebuilt it for as little money as I could and I am pleased with the results. Plus for the most part, except for grinding the rust, I rather enjoyed doing it.

I think you will enjoy this new project of yours just as much. All the rest is 'under the bridge'.
 
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Nessism said:
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!!!!
Click to expand...
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.
 
Forgot. Were his GS1100'sin the same shape? All corroded and locked up?
G
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack.
 
I would look into investing in powder coating everything but the pipes, get those ceramic coated by Jet Hot or someone.
 
gmansyz said:
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
Click to expand...

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.
 
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... ;)

:)
 
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
 
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.
 
koolaid_kid said:
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 ).
Click to expand...


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.
 
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