KZ750 L4 - café-/ brat project

So, I thought that I'd start a thread about my project with a KZ740 L4, I've had great use of this forum along the way so now I guess it's time to start sharing I'm new to road bikes (been riding some motox and enduro so 2-wheels aren't new though) and started with my driver's licence this fall, for this I picked up this kz with the intention to use it for practice only and the buy a newer one once I got the licence. But, when driving it I started to like it more and more and finally realized that I don't want to sell it I didn't quite like the headlight on the bike so I figured that I'd change it to a round one, ended up with tearing the bike apart ... :silly: The engine runs very nice and smooth so I let it be for now. This is the first time I do something like this so there has been a lot of trial and error during the project (emphasis on error but I'm starting to get the hang of it and starting to get quite happy of the results!

The bike isn't that far from being finished at the moment but I figure that I try to post the project from the beginning anyways!

* Started to disassemble



* Cut the rear frame off



* Frame cleared

My plan was to make an electrical compartment to hide all of the electrics like this, though at this point I hadn't measured the clearance needed for the rear tire... :whistle:

Had a local company bend the hoop and fitted it to the rear frame, also started on the seat pan (which I had to toss later because of the clearance problem, the new seat pan is what I'm working on at the moment



Made a case for the battery



First hint of how it could look

All adjustments to the frame was done so I assembled the bike back together again to begin with the wiring, completed the wiring (which btw took ages since I didn't have a clue what I was doing in the beginning, here google and youtube became my two best friends :laugh: ) and then realised the previously mentioned clearance issue



Started to solve the clearance

Once finished with the adjustments I had the frame sandblasted ( forgot to remove the chassiplate so it was completely blasted away, only the rivets remained haha )





Sent the frame and other parts for powdercoating, meanwhile I painted the engine

Shaved off some of the fins and installed the engine



Swingarm, footrests and brake pedal installed



Sandblasted and sanded the parts that was left to paint, the lower fork legs and front fender I painted black followed by a 2k satin clear. Calipers were painted with a black glossy caliper paint.

The gas tank had some dents to it. Bought one of those "glue tab pullers", sanded the tank down and pulled out the dents as much as possible before laying a 2k epoxyprimer, worked quite well! After the primer I smoothed the remaining dents with a filler. Sanded it (here I underestimated exactly how smooth the surface needs to be if the results are going to be good ) Painted it with a green/brown/gray color and then put 3 coats of clear. Wetsanded the clear and sanded trough on a small, small elevated spot of about 1x2mm... !! :evil: ... For now I just cover the spot with some clear for protection and leave it alone until winter (we got like 6 months of the year when it's not so pleasant to
ride motorcycle so I will have more time then

Got the rear wheel on and the new shocks mounted It's a bit chaotic around the garage at the moment, partly because a car lift is to be installed and everything needs to move before and partly because I am not quite the master of order





Front fork and wheel is on, finally it's a two wheeler again! Clear coat is not polished, kinda lost the enrgy on that matter when I sanded through, would be like putting makeup on a pig hehe, polished the side covers though!

Made some preload-washers in 3 steps so that I can try some various settings once roadworthy



Front calipers, mufflers and emblem mounted



Drilled holes, threaded and mounted screws to prevent the controls from hitting the gas tank

Started to rewire the electrics to fit in the new compartment, real crowded in there now



view of the wheelhouse



Speedo installed

And that's how far I have come at the moment, today I'm going to pick up some aluminium for the new seat-pan and get the bike moved to where I work which is better suited for sheet metal.