1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

[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]

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...

[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

P1010521 by nessism, on Flickr

[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.

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

[ged]

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

[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!

P1010520 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010518 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010519 by nessism, on Flickr

[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]

And you call me OCD...

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.

[rustybronco]

And you call me OCD...

Beautiful work as usual Ed!

[tkent02]

Was struggling to find a rear master that didn't have a pitted bore. Bought one off ebay that turned out to be junk. Found a decent looking one on ebay and sent a note asking the seller if they would be so kind as to open it up and look for corrosion. No response. Found another one and asked again. This time the seller came back with a personal note, and not only opened it up, he sent me some photos! Great service. In one of those small world moments the seller turned out to be our own Joe Whelan. Imagine that! Needless to say I bought it! Thanks again Joe!

My pleasure Ed

I love how this forum works, when it's working well. Way to go Joe!

[nvr2old]

Jeez..those babies look brand new..w/o being over-the-top. Just the right amount of natural and shiny finishes. Beautiful restraint.

[Nessism]

Carbs are done! Had an epic battle with the choke linkage. The spring is very weak and any slight amount of friction in the system causes the butterfly's to hang. Took a while but finally got it where I'm happy. The Keihin carbs are quite similar to the BS Mikuni's used on later GS bikes. Main differences are the choke and the Keihin's have a two stage main jet. Not sure how well they meter but I've read some reviews that say these 750's get pretty good fuel mileage - over 50 mpg. Fingers crossed on that anyway.


P1010507 by nessism, on Flickr


P1010513 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010508 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010509 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010510 by nessism, on Flickr

[Nessism]

Instructions for the Gun Kote say to heat the part to 120F before spraying, but I only did it minimally. Don't think it's strictly necessary, rather it helps reduce runs. Once sprayed the GK drys to the touch quickly, then yes, you bake it to cure. 325F for an hour, but I ran it up a little hotter and longer since they say that increases hardness. I didn't think it stunk bad at all. Nothing compared to the smell of regular paint curing. KG Industries is the manufacturer, and they sell direct. The newer product is the 2400 series. Supposedly better than the original 2300 version, but how to know for sure? Yes, on the spray gun. Clean gun with acetone. I'd like to do the engine but that means, I think, removing all the old paint. I did that with the wheels, and it was a pain, but not sure I'd like to do that with the engine. Maybe. One interesting detail is that the Gun Kote needs heat to cure. The tiniest little touch with an acetone wettened rag can remove the dry to touch stuff. Easy clean up if you get some tape bleed though or overspray, but be careful handling the parts before curing.

I have not heard anybody using Kal Gard Gun Kote in years!!!! Back in the 70's and 80's Gun Kote was only available in a grayish color. I used to do all my motors in Gun Kote. It looks like its available now in more colors by the nice black on your rim. That rim looks GREAT!!!!

Do you still have to heat the part up first before you spray it, and then have to bake it for like an hour??? Still smell horrible?? Did you get your Gun Kote right from Kal Gard?? Did you use a spray gun??

They used to have KG9600 coatings in all kinds of kool colors to do your rims in. My trademark back then was Gold rims on my bikes. I did a '80 KZ750E1 with gold engine cases, and gold wheels that matched the gold pin stripping on the fuel tank back in in the day.