1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

[Nessism]

Bought the oil pan and valve cover off ebay Stan. Oil pans with the take off are dime a dozen. It took a good while to find an affordable valve cover though. Bought a cooler from a ZR-7. Will have to figure out the frame mounts. And speaking of frame mounts, Kawasaki rubber mounted the engine for '82 (I think), so that's one thing I wish I had. Would have required welding on the frame though so took the easy way out. Still thinking about it though...

Seems like you have a collection of all the best bits there Ed.
Is that how the engine was when you got it, or did you go shopping for the cover and oil pan?
Those bits look good, slightly rough is good for paint adhesion I would think, the paint will smooth it out as it flows.

[Nessism]

Finally got my butt in gear again. A couple weeks back I started to bead blast the engine case parts but was about to shoot myself because it was taking too long. Today I dumped the glass bead and slammed coal slag in the hopper. Much better. The finish is a little rough but it's going to get painted anyway so no worry.

Oh, and the valve cover is from a KZ750 Turbo. No air injection junk on top. The oil pan is from a later model 750 that has the oil cooler outlet ports on the front.

P1010994 by nessism, on Flickr

[Nessism]

Other than the odd cylinder wall wear pattern of the original cylinders.

How does the new (old) set look? Much better than the originals, about the same, or worse?

New/old cylinder doesn't show that funny pattern but they have a smig more wear. Pistons look slightly better than the originals.

[rustybronco]

At any rate, I suspect the pistons and bores are just fine and I don't need this big bore kit afterall.

Other than the odd cylinder wall wear pattern of the original cylinders.

How does the new (old) set look? Much better than the originals, about the same, or worse?

[Nessism]

Spent the evening measuring and remeasuring the new/old cylinder and pistons, as well as the original cylinder and pistons again. I'm half way batty now and still scratching my head. The cylinder seems to measure .002" oversize to the stock bore size even when measured in the area where the rings don't sweep. The numbers suggest .004" piston to wall clearance, but using the old feeler gauge between the piston and cylinder wall trick suggests just slightly more than .003". This seems right since I can measure about .0008" of wear with the bore gauge and the stock piston clearance is about 2.5 thousands. At any rate, I suspect the pistons and bores are just fine and I don't need this big bore kit after all.

[chuck hahn]

Looks awesome Ed. Love the sheen on the pan. Cant wait to see it all together..gonna be sweet.

I doubt seriously that the seat pan looked that good when the bike was new! WTG!

[Nessism]

Nice work on the seat pan Ed. Is that single stage that has been cleared over, or is it base/clear? To me it looks like it's been hit with clear.

You have that hardware plating down to a science!

Thanks Dale. The seat pan was blasted, epoxy primed, and then shot with the same Dupont single stage urethane as the frame. Love that stuff.

[rustybronco]

Nice work on the seat pan Ed. Is that single stage that has been cleared over, or is it base/clear? To me it looks like it's been hit with clear.

You have that hardware plating down to a science!

[Nessism]

Seat cover #2 installed. Turned out okay this time. A little lose in places but I was afraid to pull too much. Gotta find some strap hardware now. The search is on...


P1010956_zps357a0f45 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010955_zps16060fe8 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010954_zpsa05ad78e by nessism, on Flickr

[Nessism]

If this engine has near perfect internals, is the plan to sell them off and use your old cylinders? That sure would be nice to recoup some of the money you spent towards the big bore kit.

If the cylinder measures nice and tight I'll run it sell the big bore kit! Never wanted to buy it in the first place. This engine has unknown mileage though, and based on the oil covering the bottom, it has more use than my original engine so not holding my breath.

[rustybronco]

If this engine has near perfect internals, is the plan to sell them off and use your old cylinders? That sure would be nice to recoup some of the money you spent towards the big bore kit.

[chuck hahn]

Take pics as you go and look at them when reassembling.

[Nessism]

Bought a $75 parts engine today. I've forgotten how my engine goes together so now I have something to compare against.

P1020124 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020123 by nessism, on Flickr