1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

[Nessism]

Been following along Ed....looks awesome.

Thanks Chuck!

When baking the cylinders at 200F a few of the liners raised up. Pushed them back down easily using a press at work; they are quite a loose press fit. Read on someone's KZ650 hot rod build thread that when boring liners such as these the machinist mustn't take fast cuts or the liner will spin in the casting. I believe it.

[chuck hahn]

Been following along Ed....looks awesome.

[Nessism]

Blasted and painted both cylinders: original and cylinder from the spare engine. Need to decide pretty quick if I'm going to just re-ring, or put that big bore kit into play.

Had a little over spray inside the valve cover after painting, but brake cleaner on a rag takes it off pretty easily. Mind you, this is after baking the VHT paint per the directions. Not a fan of rattle can paint for this reason. Wish I knew what kind of paint was used originally. Kawasaki painted the engine inside and out before machining, and whatever they use it sticks well, doesn't flake, and is impervious to oils/chemicals for the most part. A far cry from this VHT rattle can crap.

P1020011 by nessism, on Flickr

[Nessism]

Baked out the paint last night. Didn't stink as much as I was expecting. The instructions said 200F for one hour, which was done, except the temp was cranked up to 230 for the last 15 mins.

Blasting and painting the head and cylinder are next...

[rustybronco]

Ed, I know what you mean. The castings on my GS1000 were so crisply made. What impressed me the most was how clear the bolt tightening sequence numbers were.

LOL you should see all the spatter,slag and other stuff on a 83 GS750+ frame,the 78 1000 and GPz frames aren't perfect but are MUCH cleaner.

[Nessism]

Oh, and the Kawasaki engine case casting quality sucks compared to Suzuki. The surface finish was abominable; rough, slag everywhere, casting sprue removed with a hatchet (or similar), just plain sucky. I smoothed out some of the rough marks but lost patience and said F it. Good enough.

[Nessism]

Doesn't look like much but some progress.

Two coats of VHT engine paint primer followed by three satin black coats. Rattle can paint sure makes things easy compared to a spray gun. Scrubbed out the inside of the cases before painting of course to make sure all the grit was out. Generally speaking I don't recommend media blasting engine parts like I did because the grit goes into all the oil passages. The blind passages were plugged before blasting of course, and then liberal amounts of cleaner was forced through all passages regardless. Broke out the long engine brush kit and ran out every passage I could find. Should be okay. Going to bake everything tomorrow night. After curing I'll take some sandpaper to the DOHC highlights on the valve cover and skim off the paint. Good fun!

P1020001 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020002 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020003 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020004 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020005 by nessism, on Flickr

[Nessism]

My 82 GPz750 has rubber mounts on the front,just the front mind you.The 750 cruisers are a variation on the Kawi 750 with shaft drive,not sure how much crosses over.I can do mount measurements if you like.

Fishe shows the sporty/standard 750 bikes using rubber mounted front only, and the cruisers have four rubber mounts. The fronts look doable, but there's a lot going on in the back to attempt a frame mod for the rear mounts.

Kawasaki added a frame cross bar with two tabs underneath the front mounts. What is that for? I can imagine the need for a little extra bracing but what are the tabs for? Support the engine in case the rubber mounts fail?

My 82 GPz750 has rubber mounts on the front,just the front mind you.The 750 cruisers are a variation on the Kawi 750 with shaft drive,not sure how much crosses over.I can do mount measurements if you like.

[rustybronco]

That mount kit would make the frame mounts steel.

See if someone on the KZ(?) site you frequent can get you some measurements.

The downside of the whole thing is it would be a shame to mess up your pretty paint job on that frame.

[Nessism]

Thinking about picking up this mount kit so the situation can be investigated more easily... http://www.ebay.com/itm/83-KAWASAKI-...c7263b&vxp=mtr

[rustybronco]

I figured fabrication shouldn't be much of and issue for you. The only thing is the lack of a welder.

Are those brackets steel only or do they have sleeved rubber inserts in them for a lack of a better term? It's hard to tell form that picture. If they are all steel, they should be relatively easy to make with nothing more than a hack saw and a bench grinder.

[Nessism]

If the difference between rubber and solidly mounted is that much different, I think I would do it. The cost to weld the brackets on can't be all that great. The rest is obviously just time and effort.

The problem Dale is that I'd need a frame that has the mounts to pirate from, or I'd have to fabricate them from scratch. The photos below show the difference.

P1010487_zpsf6590e2e by nessism, on Flickr

rubbermountframe_zpsfc5d03d3 by nessism, on Flickr

rubbermounts_zps5eaebae9 by nessism, on Flickr

[rustybronco]

If the difference between rubber and solidly mounted is that much different, I think I would do it. The cost to weld the brackets on can't be all that great. The rest is obviously just time and effort.