1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

[Road_Clam]

For some reason my '84 GPz1100 seems to have a notchy feeling gearbox. Not sure if this has anything to do with straight cut gears vs. a GS , It also seems that my GPz's gear shift throw feels longer than my GS1100E. Gotta' give credit to Suzuki gearboxes, they shift very smooth and quick. Even my '87 GSXR's tranny shifts SO sweet !

[Nessism]

For some reason my '84 GPz1100 seems to have a notchy feeling gearbox. Not sure if this has anything to do with straight cut gears vs. a GS , It also seems that my GPz's gear shift throw feels longer than my GS1100E. Gotta' give credit to Suzuki gearboxes, they shift very smooth and quick. Even my '87 GSXR's tranny shifts SO sweet !

Suzuki seemed to have an upper hand over most other OEM's in terms of gearbox shift quality during the UJM era. This doesn't have anything to do with helical vs. straight gears on the clutch though.

I'll say that my KZ shifts wonderfully though, and adding the articulated shift mechanism had a very positive effect.

[Griffin]

The Honda CB750/900/1100 F Supersports of the early '80s have some of the clunkiest gearboxes I've ever encountered. I've owned three or them, and ridden a few others over the years. Compared to the same era GS and KZ gearboxes, they were light years behind.

My current 900F requires an extremely firm, deliberate (i.e. slow) lift with the toe to ensure a proper shift. I don't know how many times I've gotten the RRRROOWWWW-CLUNK! of a partly missed shift fully engaging a split second after the clutch is let out.

Annoying, to say the least. Particularly when you're accelerating hard from a standing stop.

[ron bayless]

Just took the first ride! Runs GOOD! Very nice driveability. First gear is tall but the clutch and low end torque manage easily. Speedo and tach needles are rock solid. Bike feels like a scooter compared to the GS1000.

Have some niggly things to tend to: fuel level warning light sensor leaks, so took it out, exhaust leak because missing the crossover pipe gasket on one side, need to anchor the clutch cable better, and the exhaust pipes only look so so. At any rate, it's a good day. Time to clean the garage...

Absolute perfection.

[almarconi]

Ed, have you noticed any gear train whine that seems loud compared to a GS? I've owned three of these bikes now ('82 750E, '84 GPZ750, '84 KZ700A, all of them under 25,000 miles)) and they all have exhibited a bit of whine to the tranny, particularly noticeable on downshifts.

My KZ has a little over 25k miles on the engine. There is also some primary chain noise at idle (different from valve clatter). The noise disappears off idle. I'm told that this is fairly normal for this engine. The cam chain tensioner can also contribute to a noisy top end.

[Nessism]

My KZ has a little over 25k miles on the engine. There is also some primary chain noise at idle (different from valve clatter). The noise disappears off idle. I'm told that this is fairly normal for this engine. The cam chain tensioner can also contribute to a noisy top end.

Yes, there is some primary chain noise. It has a very distinct sound. It has a plain bearing crank so no crank bearing noises like a GS though.

My bike doesn't have much of any cam chain noise per say. The speced valve clearances are about 3x that of a GS shimmed engine so there is a hint more valve clatter though.

[Nessism]

Installed the Race Tech emulators last weekend but still have some tuning to do. The KZ service manual says to use 10W oil but Race Tech recommends 15W oil for their emulators. Since the emulators only control compression damping, not rebound damping, I decided to use 12.5W oil and crank in a little more compression damping via the emulator spring preload. Got everything installed but discovered that the Progressive springs are now sticking out the top of the forks by about 3/4" of an inch (the height of the emulator). Pressed the cap down and got them installed but the front end of the bike is now riding higher than before. Since I don't want the front end to ride taller I decided to order new springs from Sonic. Rich (Sonic owner and GSR member) emailed me and said the GS1000 springs are identical size wise to the KZ springs so I placed an order for the .9 kg/mm rate springs. Update to follow...

[Nessism]

Got everything together and happy with the results. The ride quality is a little better, probably because the compression damping is more controlled.

[ron bayless]

Your kz750 is the most beautiful 750 I have seen ever.

[Nessism]

Despite my best effort while restoring the gauges on this bike the needles warble around some in use. Found a NOS tachometer off ebay for a great deal so I snatched it up but haven't been able to find a deal on a speedometer. In fact, a lot of guys selling old parts on ebay want more money for them than you can get the part for from Partzilla or similar. Amazing. At any rate, I didn't want to bust down the cluster to install the tach until finding a speedo, and since I couldn't find a cheap speedo I just popped and ordered one from Partzilla. Hopefully it's truly available and not a mistake.

[Nessism]

I've done a deep dive on Kawasaki gauge part numbers and learned a lot...but not everything.

If you look at the face of the speedo you can see 1154 printed near the bottom. That's the part number suffix...in some cases. Kawasaki had two different part number speedo's for this bike, 25005-1154 and -1066. -1066 was used on the KZ550 too, and the same speedo with a larger trip meter knob was used on the GPz550 under a different part number. It's a game figuring out what gauge fits what.

P1010557_zpse5248f97 by nessism, on Flickr

[jwhelan65]

Stunning!!!!

[Nessism]

One last photo with the shocks and pegs installed..

[Nessism]

Well, it seems that Kawasaki's part system is even more screwed up than Suzuki's. They show two different part number speedometers for my bike as still available, but neither are.

This guy is selling two speedo's of the (supposedly) proper part number, only the trip reset knob looks wrong...http://www.ebay.com/itm/150719293323...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT I tried to message him and ebay said I can't send this seller any messages. What's up with that? Big red flag. I suspect that gauge would be fine, only it maybe be a GPz variant. Thing I don't like though is that it looks to have been bouncing around in an open tray instead of being sealed up safe in a proper box. Big money gamble. Gonna have to pass.

[SVSooke]

It's not an 82 GPz speedo. Speedo tach and other bits are all in one pod.