1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

[Nessism]

Finally got over to the machine shop and had the valves cleaned up. Shop is called Costa Mesa R&D. The owner is awesome and has lots of nifty videos on You Tube. He did them on the spot and charged me $20. He had to cut them more than I thought they would need, and a lot more than those from my GS1000 that had more mileage. They are good to go now though so I'm gonna get the head assembled this weekend.

[Nessism]

Got the valves installed this weekend. Lapped them first and gave the head one last wash down before assembly.

This head uses shims under the buckets, which are more work compared to the Suzuki GS's with shims above bucket. I had to assemble each valve into the head, lay the camshaft on top, check clearance and figure out what shims are needed. Then pull the valve back out and move to the next. I did this using only the inner valve spring to save hassle. After getting a full shim inventory the head was assembled properly using both valve springs, shims and buckets.

All but one valve was within a tight range of shim sizes. The one valve was off by a couple sizes. I think this valve could use a smig more ground off the stem but not sure it's worth messing with at this point.

The shimming process was made significantly easier because Mr. Koolaid Kid (George) sent me a care package full of Kawasaki shims. Special shout out to this wonderful generosity. Yet another example of how great the GSR is. Gotta love it.

[Nessism]

Baby (small) update...

Kawasaki's of the KZ era have an air injection system to reduce emissions. Pretty good system all and all, but adds quite a bit of clutter.

The air ports in the head were taped 1/8" BPT and plugs added. Had a hard time finding some suitable plugs. The first ones were too small and the second set were a little too tight. Wound up using the second set and dressing them down a little with a dremel. They are in their permanently now. No turning back.

Valve cover with the reed valves and tubes is the original, and the nice clean one is what I'm using instead.

P1020559 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020558 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020561 by nessism, on Flickr

[Nessism]

Rebuilding the clutch hub this weekend, along with cleaning the engine cases one last time before engine assembly.

Some guy on the KZ650 site sells these nifty neoprene clutch hub bumper thingies that really tighten up the clutch action. With the stock bumpers the clutch had quite a bit of play, but none with the new bumpers. Just gotta find someone to weld this thing up now.

P1020564 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020568 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020565 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020566 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020571 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020572 by nessism, on Flickr

[rustybronco]

What is the purpose for the three dark colored buttons and springs?

[chuck hahn]

Would you remove the dampeners before welding??? Cant they be out in after the reweld so they dont melt?? Just wondering as I am gonna be doing my KZ 650 at some point and may be doing this to the clutch..at least redoing the dampeners IF it has them. Are they needed in place for alignment reasons???

Where is a good place to find 76 KZ parts fiches???

[Nessism]

What is the purpose for the three dark colored buttons and springs?

Good question Dale! I don't know the answer but the only thing I can imagine is for noise control in case the back plate or the dampers were sloppy (which they were).

Got one of the R&D shop techs at work lined up to do the TIG work. Said he's got some silicon-bronze rods that are perfect for work like this. This guy is an amazing tech and I trust him. I feel fortunate that he volunteered. One less thing to worry about.

[Nessism]

Would you remove the dampeners before welding??? Cant they be out in after the reweld so they dont melt?? Just wondering as I am gonna be doing my KZ 650 at some point and may be doing this to the clutch..at least redoing the dampeners IF it has them. Are they needed in place for alignment reasons???

Where is a good place to find 76 KZ parts fiches???

Chuck, your clutch is same as mine, so yes, you have the dampers. The dampers are used instead of the springs Suzuki uses on their clutches. The dampers are trapped inside the hub so you have to weld with them in place. If you don't like the idea of welding there is a tutorial on using screws instead (linked below).

Here is a thread from kz650.info on the repair...http://forums.kz650.info/index.php?topic=4820.0

There are two different guys selling new dampers: one guy uses neoprene and the other Viton rubber.

Here is a link to a tutorial that uses screws instead of welding to put the basket back together...http://www.750turbo.com/forum/download/file.php?id=5490

I showed a R&D tech at work this procedure and he said it would work fine but he thought welding is a better solution.

[chuck hahn]

I have a MIG so thats the way I would go. I looked at Partsfish and few other places but I didnt see any fiches that go back further than like 1980 so i havent seen any exploded views of anything. Thanks for the links.


EDIT..............Just found CMS has the bike fiches.

[rustybronco]

TIG welding the rivets in short sections (1/2? way around) and moving to the opposite rivet- repeating the procedure and letting it cool down, then doing the same thing with the other rivets shouldn't produce any heat related damage to the isolators.

[Nessism]

I have a MIG so thats the way I would go. I looked at Partsfish and few other places but I didnt see any fiches that go back further than like 1980 so i havent seen any exploded views of anything. Thanks for the links.


EDIT..............Just found CMS has the bike fiches.

Chuck,
Kawasaki.com has the fishe...http://www.kawasaki.com/Parts

Partzilla.com is pretty decent source for parts. Not sure if they are the cheapest but the service is decent in my experience. Thing with them is that they show stock on some part that have been discontinued. Bike Bandit's fishe is better in showing what parts are still available, but they are expensive and don't use Kawasaki part numbers so that adds a wrinkle when ordering.

[chuck hahn]

According to the rebuild tutorial, they are THRUST PADS and springs Dale.

[Nessism]

TIG welding the rivets in short sections (1/2? way around) and moving to the opposite rivet- repeating the procedure and letting it cool down, then doing the same thing with the other rivets shouldn't produce any heat related damage to the isolators.

Handed off the clutch this morning to my tech friend. Started to mention welding in sections and he took off talking about a clover weld pattern (or something to this effect), to minimize heat transfer. This dude is the most overkill guy I've ever met. I don't like asking for his opinion sometimes because he just can't force himself to "get er done", instead he shoots down the rabbit hole and reengineers everything he touches. He used to work for Porsche in their R&D / Race shop. At any rate, the clutch is in good hands.

[rustybronco]

A man after my own heart.

I'm doing a few repairs to my ex-wife's house. One of the things that need to be done, is to replace a few rusted away fasteners holding the balusters on the front porches railing. Years ago when I designed the railing (cedar and wolmanized ), I made it so each section could easily be removed, just in case something got damaged. I asked my son if he wanted me to repair the loose posts, and, if he did want me to, there was just one condition, I take it apart and repair it correctly. He said, "can't you just toe-nail them in place"? I told him, you get to fix it.

I love people who take pride in what they do.

[Scout]

I've was with you at the beginning but that was over 1 1/2 years, when do you plan completion and I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere but who or what is bike meant for? Your attention to detail is second to none but I am curious why so much fretting over a KZ750?