1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

[posplayr]

Hey Dale,

Most of the removable hardware and such were replated. Exception being the parts attached to the throttle butterfly valves, which look somewhat dingy, which bugs me. Really don't want to pull those things out though. OCD? Maybe just a little.

Ed, this is starting to look like your have some NOS stock of parts from the 80's you are pulling out and cleaning really really good.

Now I know I'm going to have to tear my ED completely a part (again) some time, but not sure how I'll even do this well.

Looks very very professional.

[Nessism]

Rebuilt the petcock tonight. Bead blasted the body and replated the steel parts. Started working on it yesterday and couldn't find my bag of parts. Looked for it everywhere. It's kind of windy so started to wonder if the bag blew away. Looking around and found an empty bag on the side of the garage that looked like the right type. Hummm. Looking around under the trailer and found one of the parts! Ah ha! Kept looking and found the parts all scattered about. The fuel pick up tube found it's way right behind my cars tire! Good thing I found that bad boy. Unbelievable to find everything I needed. Thank heavens!

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[ged]

Mate Nice......................

[jwhelan65]

Wow just wow! luv those plated parts, what is the process?

[Nessism]

Wow just wow! luv those plated parts, what is the process?

Joe,

Caswell Plating sells a kit called "Copy Cad". Not cheap though. You can put together your own kit pretty easily only haven't found a proper electrolyte formula yet that replicates Caswell's. Search google on "home zinc plating" and you will get tons of hits.

[Nessism]

Some wheel shots. Ordered the wrong rear sprocket, thus it's missing, but you guys should get the idea.

P1010522 by nessism, on Flickr

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[Nessism]

Shopping for a rear sprocket. Z1 Enterprises is $29.48 + shipping. Can get one on ebay for $35 shipped. Just for kicks did a Google search and bang, Amazon is $24.44 shipped from one vendor or $25.75 from Amazon direct (2 day shipping upgrade with Prime). Can't beat that so placed the order. Never would have thought to shop for motorcycle parts on Amazon...

[alke46]

Shopping for a rear sprocket. Z1 Enterprises is $29.48 + shipping. Can get one on ebay for $35 shipped. Just for kicks did a Google search and bang, Amazon is $24.44 shipped from aone vendor or $25.75 from Amazon direct (2 day shipping upgrade with Prime). Can't beat that so placed the order. Never would have thought to shop for motorcycle parts on Amazon...

Don't know how pertinent this is but I had to replace a charger for my mp3 player and went to Amazon. The part came from one of their vendors from overseas somewhere, China I suspect and it did not fit. Would not work so I went through the process of getting a refund and long story short, it finally got back to me after about 3 weeks. Also took about 3 weeks to get the item to me.

Just sayin'. Check where Amazon products are coming from if you are concerned about quality or anything else.

[Nessism]

Replated most of the chassis hardware. More to come when I tackle the engine...


P1010525 by nessism, on Flickr

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[winfield]

That looks like magic, dude.

[nvr2old]

Seriously. That's amazing. Those parts look brand new.

[SVSooke]

Those are looking REALLY good.How do you get the plating black?Caswell chemicals?

[Nessism]

Yes, Caswell's. Copy Cad kit, which is zinc. Also have blue, yellow, and black chromate dips. The blue is used on the bright parts.

The parts are not perfect but serviceable I think. Have been struggling to get consistent results. Those parts with the yellow cast need to go into the blue chromate. That removes the dark finish, but it also dulls the shine a little so it's a balancing act. Main focus was to remove the rust and put on a rust barrier. Zinc works pretty well for that, but not as good as cadmium like they used to use.

[gmansyz]

Very NICE Ed! Home/garage work. How much did the kit set you back?
Laters
G

[SVSooke]

Yes, Caswell's. Copy Cad kit, which is zinc. Also have blue, yellow, and black chromate dips. The blue is used on the bright parts.

The parts are not perfect but serviceable I think. Have been struggling to get consistent results. Those parts with the yellow cast need to go into the blue chromate. That removes the dark finish, but it also dulls the shine a little so it's a balancing act. Main focus was to remove the rust and put on a rust barrier. Zinc works pretty well for that, but not as good as cadmium like they used to use.

I'd love to get a Caswell zinc plating kit but just to much for what I think I can do DIY.Might not be as nice as the old Cad plate but they look damned good to me