What I did last summer...

[justinbelshe]

Before:



After:



Here's a movie showing the whole process: http://vimeo.com/3306009

The bike started out as a 1980 Kawasaki LTD 750-4 (KZ750-H1).  I found it in a junkyard in Amarillo, traded a craptastic $50 Peavey solid state amp for the bike, then had to dig it out of a sand dune.  I had to drag it over to my truck and lift it in because the wheels wouldn't roll.  I moved it from one storage place to another for a few years while I was in music school and then on the road with bands, before I had the time to get into it.  I replaced the wheel bearings and rebuilt the brakes & carbs, found a seat for it and bought some tires, patched up the wiring harness and got the bike on the road.  I rode it around for several years like that, and never even had to get into the engine!

Fast forward to April 2008: I decided to freshen up the top end, replace some leaky gaskets and such, and, well... one thing lead to another and I ended up taking it down to the frame and redoing a whole lot of stuff.  I ported and polished the head, cleaned up the valves, installed a manual cam chain tensioner, rearranged all the wiring and electronics to fit under the seat, etc.  I still have some lumpy GPz cams I'll drop in as soon as I get this electronic Spectre tach working (no tach drive on the GPz cams).

The only original parts are the wheels, frame, and the top end of the engine. The bottom end is from a 1982 LTD750-4 (I drove to Kansas and picked up the low mileage bottom end for $50 and a case of Dr. Pepper), the tank and fork are from different '82 GPz750s, the seat is an Airtech Streamlining fiberglass piece originally intended for a Yamaha TZ250-U.

I did this on a shoestring budget, and still probably have less than $1000 in the whole bike, but countless hours.  For instance:  The tank was $21.50, the seat was $7.00, both from eBay, both had been campaigned on race bikes and sustained considerable damage (they looked like they'd been chewed on).

[bigsbybender]

Nice work!  I like that gas tank and especially the custom taillights.  It's hard to believe it was at one time a fairly run of the mill Kawasaki. That is a great motor though, it's very smooth and they seem to go forever. 

I like this 2 wheel stuff.  I often moonlight in the summers in a Bike shop when they need a spare hand, I usually fix Euro stuff, Motorcycle and Scooter. Piaggio Vespa, Lambretta, BMW, Triumph, BSA, Royal-Enfield, Moto-Guzzi etc.  I do get a few Kawasaki every now and then as there aren't a lot of local dealers (same with Suzuki)...I rarely get Yamahas, Harley-Davidsons as they have far more dealer service and support locally. Honda's pop up a lot just because of the sheer number of them....and I like working on the scooters which a few other bike shops look at like they're from Mars.



j.

[Dynaflow]

 Great job, I like the cafe look and yeah boy those old KZ motors run a long time and are still pretty impressive performance wise. Always wanted a gpz750 but settled for GS750 suzukis for a time before I got older and got a sportster which I loved but divorced, couldn't afford the insurance and up keep (blah, blah, blah :D ). Nice going though, I also like alot of the bobbers people make out of the 70's and 80's Japanese bikes. Cheers!

Regards,

Dyna

Ps: My brother down in San Diego got into scooters, he's got 2 vespa's, a 59' and a later one he's working on, he loves working on em, same with my Neices husband, he's had vespa's (including a three wheeler at the moment from India, well lets say parts are from there for them still), lambretta's for years and years. Fun to ride.

[panhead]

Nice job! KZ's are fast! And I always liked the cafe racer style. Besides my H-D '53 panhead (the furthest thing from cafe as you can get) I have a '73 Norton Commando. I thought about cafe-ing it out. It's got some Dunstall parts, but there are so many projects and so little time (or cash).

[justinbelshe]

Thanks, y'all! 

Now if I only understood thermionic emission as well as I grasp internal combustion! 

I find that good lubrication is essential: 

[panhead]

Now if I only understood thermionic emission as well as I grasp internal combustion!

gasoline = electrons
carb = control grid
crankshaft = plate
clutch = standby
drive chain = speaker leads
rear wheel = speaker

[justinbelshe]

Now if I only understood thermionic emission as well as I grasp internal combustion!

gasoline = electrons
carb = control grid
crankshaft = plate
clutch = standby
drive chain = speaker leads
rear wheel = speaker

You know, that's actually a really good analogy!

Would it follow that a SE amp is like a thumper, whereas a PP amp would be like a twin (or four)?

[Megachunk]

I had Zuke GS1100's forever.

My buddy had a K1000 with shaft drive, nitrous and wheelie bars. Complete insanity. Fastest bike I ever rode, besides the Kawi triple my toher pal had. That bike was impossible. We were scared to ride it. We did though.

Cool stuff. I like older jap bikes sported out. My fave was a 73 Gold Wing I stripped the fairing and bags off of. Looked MEAN!

-Megachunk.

[panhead]

 I happened to see an NHRA event of TV yesterday afternoon, and besides the Top Fuel rails, Funny Cars and Pro Stock cars they had the Pro Stock Bikes eliminations. Man, those are sick!

[justinbelshe]

Big block KZs were still competitive in drag racing up until a few years ago, just because they're such anvils and will stand up to so much abuse.  Hell, they only quit making the KZ1000 cop bikes a few years ago, and the KZ750 engine is still in production after 29 years!

Myself, I'm more into AHRMA roadracing, because I like motorcycles that go around corners...

Note: none of these are mine...