1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

[Nessism]

Got back in the garage yesterday working on prepping the engine for paint. Been putting it off because scraping gaskets and blasting parts is one of my least favorite activities these days. Base and valve cover gasket are petrified and even Permatex Gasket Remover barely softened it. At any rate, finishing up with valve cover and top case half today. Will post some photos later for y'all to see.

[Nessism]

Received the piston kit yesterday and it's pure motorcycle geek porn. So purdy! Label on the box says piston to wall clearance of .002". So that means only .001" on all sides right? Half the thickness of a human hair! Nice and tight.

[blowerbike]

the base gasket will make the most difference if your looking to lower compression.

[rustybronco]

That second guessing gets to be old after a while. I deal with constantly. Bump up the mains and shim the needles to account for the ethanol in the fuel, try it on 89 octane and see what happens. Worse comes to worse, go with 91 octane.

Oh and I've got a pile of parts on my workbench that have been their a while. I'm going to have to do some heavy consulting of the parts diagram when it comes time to re-assemble mine.

What's the thickness of the head gasket in the kit compared to the stock gasket? If it's thinner than stock you might be able to loose a little CR by reverting to the stock one.

[Nessism]

10.25:1

Boy, when you jump into things you go full bore don't you.

Do you have any other upgrades planned for the engine to match the exhaust and pistons you just bought?

I truly didn't want to go this route Dale, in fact I'm second guessing the purchase today. Don't care about more power (although it never hurts), and hate the idea of rejetting. These 750's are known for engine efficiency, with early road tests reporting 50 mpg. That's more attractive to me than power. The piston clearance business and the wear pattern on the cylinder is bugging me though. Engine only has 11k miles but it looks like much more. At any rate, sold some stuff and had some extra paypal funny money. Hopefully this purchase will motivate me to get back into the garage and work on the engine. Need to get busy before I forget how it goes together. When rebuilding my GS1000 engine everything went together smoothly and intuitively. This Kawasaki is different. It uses a primary drive chain and was a biotch to take apart. Requires a specific assembly order, which I've forgotten already. Putting this thing together is not going to be fun...but I'll figure it out. Just hope I don't leave out a shim or similar along the way.

[rustybronco]

Used to know a gentleman out here by the name of Larry who worked at the local Napa Store. They did engine work and he was at the time one of the most anal people when it came to his work. I think that is what kind of person he is looking to find. I would be too if it were me.

Should be able to find a good machine shop in SoCal to bore it for you.

[rustybronco]

10.25:1

Boy, when you jump into things you go full bore don't you.

Do you have any other upgrades planned for the engine to match the exhaust and pistons you just bought?

[Nessism]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I've been sort of dragging my feet since finishing the painting stuff. Have some time coming up and will get something done soon though.

Been watching ebay for months looking for some OS pistons and rings, or a nice OE set. As mentioned earlier in this thread, the cylinder bores look suspect and there is .004" piston to wall clearance, which is getting out there. So...just bought an 810 Wiseco kit. $420 shipped didn't seem too bad, particularly when new OEM rings are $248.12 by themselves + the cost of a head gasket. http://www.ebay.com/itm/321490069847

Need to find someone trustworthy to bore the thing now.

Gorgeous Ed

Just read through this entire thread, amazing work Ed!

[nejeff]

Can't wait to see the finished bike, your sparing nothing on her! Forgive me, I'm sure you mentioned it here (thread is up to 15 pages, wow!) but is this for yourself, someone you know or just a flip project? Nice job!

[Vmass]

Very nice work, Ed! One of these days I hope to set myself up with the proper (within reason) setup to do a paint job.

GOEIE BLIKSEM

[alke46]

pre polishing, are you serious? Is it going to get even more like glass than it already is? This is turning out just beautiful. Nice work Ed.