Retroactive KZ750E Project Thread

Even though this bike is finished now I'm going to put up this thread for reference purposes just in case it could help someone else working on their bike. I'm not a professional restoration guy, just someone that has learned a lot by [strike]making mistakes[/strike] doing. Remember, it's only a "mistake" if you do something wrong TWICE.

I always loved the 750E and GPz550/750 bikes. All my early years of riding was done on smaller bikes (400/550's) so to me a 750 IS a big bike. At any rate, got a tip from a friend about the availability of this bike so went for a look. It was only 10 min's away so I couldn't resist. One of those "ran when parked" bikes, only this thing was "parked" outside for the last five years. I paid too much ($700), but it did come with two exhaust systems, one of which was a Mac header that was easily sold to bring down the effective purchase price. Here we go...

Excepting for some crappy alarm that was installed in the tail section the bike was pretty much unmolested. Bad news is that it was corroded pretty badly. Carbs completely frozen, rear master dry and stuck, brakes frozen, etc.

I paid too much but oh well...



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Good news is that the inside of the engine looked clean.







Found a friend keeping an eye on the bike for me. These little buggers are everywhere in my area and shop. Have to pay attention.

The webs are just like that photo shows in that they are very random, messy, disorganized. Almost looks like the typical abandoned web after a few weeks. These ladies are not good housekeepers.

Degreased and cleaned for blasting...









Something to do in the evenings...

Pistons looked good, but cylinders look a little funny. Borrowed a bore gauge from work and measured them. Not thrilled with the numbers but usable. Going to bottle brush hone and install new OEM rings.




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Blasting, blasting, and even more blasting...

Carb bodies bead blasted...

Transtar Epoxy Primer.

Finally found a good use for the ironing board...

Gloss top coat was Nason urethane. Fleet paint. Wonderful stuff. Amazing really. Flows out amazingly well and you have to hamfist the gun to create runs. Shot the paint with a Sata minijet spray gun. The semi-gloss paint was Por-15 Chassis Kote. Looks good but really sucky to spray. The Nason spoiled me and the Por-15 punished me...

Doing the frame was an exercise in masochism. There was a fair bit of surface rust, particularly around the tabs and brackets, and underneath the steering head area.

Paint stripper, the good stuff that washes off with mineral spirits, was first. Interestingly, Kawasaki used some sort of yellow primer on the lower half of the frame, but no primer that I could see on the top half.