TOPIC:

Earlier this year I acquired this 1983 Kawasaki GPZ750 off of craigslist as part of a bundle deal with a KZ750 of the same year. My buddy took the KZ and I got the GPZ. I figured I'd start a build thread given how much I love reading them. Some day I'll probably enjoy looking back at the progress. I'm a bit of a novice, learn as you guy type person.

Photos from the pickup.. I was not there.





It did on run on arrival... and in addition, needed a brake overhaul, an airbox, turn signals/headlight/taillight and some new tires.

Wheel her outside...


Trying to get it start once I had all the hosing hooked up.. gas coming from the funnel. The tank needs some rust removing love.


She fires! And a bit of seafoam love..


$60 later, new starter relay. The old one had a big rusty hole in it... any clues as to how this would've happened? The other two, and the rest of the fuses look fine.


Since then, the following has been done:
-New Sparkplugs
-Oil/oil filter change
-New Battery
-Used airbox from a member of this forum.. thanks!
-Air valve that goes to the airbox and the associated plumbing

And now it idles OK, but doesn't like being revved. It'll either get really rough, or just die. I'm assuming it has some vacuum leaks and a slight fear that I will need to rebuild the carbs. The plan is to get it running before it gets to cold, have a few joy rides, and then get down to details over the winter.

I wanted to add a few of my inspirations to this thread (you know.. for once I get it running and all that). I have all the original fairings but they need paint love. It was this bike that made me go out and hunt for a GPZ:

www.bikeexif.com/kawasaki-gpz900r

There's a lot more money and fabrication talent than I am willing & able to put into this machine. However, Lately the whole retro endurance look has really caught my eye. Feel free to send further inspiration my way, or steer me in the correct direction, or let me know where I can track down some fairings to get this sort of look...

Lastly... a photo of my other girl. It'd be wrong to talk motorcycles without her.

...And now it idles OK, but doesn't like being revved. It'll either get really rough, or just die.


revving uses little fuel and no load, vacuum leaks usually result in uneven idling.

Maybe check out your coil connections and HT leads?

Well if you haven't taken apart the carbs yet I would definetly recommend doing that. Cleam them thoroughly, replace the float bowl gaskets and find somebody who can synchronize them properly.

Have fun.

Tyrell Corp wrote: Maybe check out your coil connections and HT leads?

Thanks, I appreciate it -- Yeah, I've checked and they have nice sparks, BUT the connections are pretty shady looking and don't sit too sturdily on top of the plug. I was definitely planning on replacing those...

Boudewijn wrote: Well if you haven't taken apart the carbs yet I would definetly recommend doing that.

Yeah I'm not looking forward to this, but it'll be one of the projects I take on this winter.

My buddy who has the KZ is up in NYC for a while but he rode back down to DC for an evening (in his kickass MG Midget I should add) and let me into his apartment to grab some parts... Here's the exhaust I 'm going to put on here. I need some sort of connection to route the exhaust up and closer to the bike since it's sticking out at a 45 degree angle, but for now I will slide it on there since it rocks the neighborhood to start it up exhaustless. Pretty sweet piece of hardware.



Annnnd here it sits.



I also got some sort of solution from my buddy to get rid of the rust in the gas tank.. so I'll be taking care of that next week and hooking it up. Ordering those HT leads & petcock rebuild kit now.

here is some inspiration

Spot on - I had been waiting a long time for Icon 1000 to release details on that thing.

I've heard that running the pod filters isn't the best idea though/ it's hard to get right? I'd love to get rid of the big ole airbox, but I'd hate to have to tinker with the carbs any more than I have to. Maybe when I rebuild the carbs it'll be a "while I'm in there" type mod.