Relay Ride preperation, gettin the KZ into shape

Well I've been tinkering a bit on the KZ750L4 ( my daily rider ) but it has taken a back seat to my other KZ project. But no more, the old girl is gettin some much needed love in preperation for a leg in the Relay Ride

First up I went out to the shed and grabbed a spare set of wheels. Spooned off the old ( antique ) rubber lol. Installed a new set of Bridgestone BT45V's and cleaned up the wheels/disks. Installed new rear wheel bearings as well, fronts were fine.

Poor wheels were oxidised and pitted bad, and the disks were scuzzy with surface rust and grime....turned out ok, 2+ hours a wheel, wheeeew. Started with 600 wet, then 2000 wet, then polished with my electric drill.



This morning I went out to the shed and grabbed the spare forks for her, tore them down. I'll be cleaning everything, installing new seals/fluid and possibly a set of stiffer springs ( we shall see on that as money is tight ) then give them a scuff and a fresh coat of black paint.



Going to put the piggyback ZR750 shocks back on her, new clutch cable, and maybe even a set of new grips lol. I'll update as I get a bit further along.

Ahhhh and here she is, its actualy hiding in my sisters shed feeling unloved and COLD lol. Guess I better go pick it up this week. I should set the valves too, she was makin some noise at the end of last season...hmmmm.

Thats the spirit.
VERROOOOM VERROOOM

nice looking bike

M357.5 wrote: Well I've been tinkering a bit on the KZ750L4 ( my daily rider ) but it has taken a back seat to my other KZ project. But no more, the old girl is gettin some much needed love in preperation for a leg in the Relay Ride

First up I went out to the shed and grabbed a spare set of wheels. Spooned off the old ( antique ) rubber lol. Installed a new set of Bridgestone BT45V's and cleaned up the wheels/disks. Installed new rear wheel bearings as well, fronts were fine.

Poor wheels were oxidised and pitted bad, and the disks were scuzzy with surface rust and grime....turned out ok, 2+ hours a wheel, wheeeew. Started with 600 wet, then 2000 wet, then polished with my electric drill.

This morning I went out to the shed and grabbed the spare forks for her, tore them down. I'll be cleaning everything, installing new seals/fluid and possibly a set of stiffer springs ( we shall see on that as money is tight ) then give them a scuff and a fresh coat of black paint.

Going to put the piggyback ZR750 shocks back on her, new clutch cable, and maybe even a set of new grips lol. I'll update as I get a bit further along.

Ahhhh and here she is, its actualy hiding in my sisters shed feeling unloved and COLD lol. Guess I better go pick it up this week. I should set the valves too, she was makin some noise at the end of last season...hmmmm.

Glad the Relay Ride is inspiring you to blow the dust off the old girl!

Sanded the fork lowers and got a coat of black paint on them. Turned out ok, no more stone chips n' scratches but I got a run on each leg, oh well

Still trying to decide if I want to spend big bucks on springs and gold valves from Race Tech. May just put a set of their springs in, but the Gold Valves are tempting.

Anyone have input on how much better the forks work with the new valves ?

there is some goog info here.
if u r not happy with your forks then, the end answer is ,Yes gold valves are worth the $170.

www.kzrider.com/forum/5-chassis/364964-a...ience-with-race-tech

Ya the stock setup sucks actualy lol. Dive is a big issue, and when leaned over in a corner they seem to deflect, super squishy. Although these traits didnt realy bother me until I started riding my other bikes more. Now getting hard on the brakes before entering a turn on the KZ750 I nearly shat my pants....not confidence inspiring at all lol.

What fork oil are you using? I'm not trying to talk you out of making other changes, but you may be able to improve the handling and reduce the dive by making an adjustment there. Ed

30 is what I was using, been a while since I changed it so cant remember what level it was at. They are air forks as well, left hand side leaked down real quick, if the air wasnt the same pressure on both tubes it would weave real BAD....like scary bad. Didnt weave at all till the air pressure was off by 2lbs or more. I have a Progressive Suspension hand pump I use to fill the forks. So looking to raise the spring rate and not have to run air at all.

The set I'm rebuilding are my spare forks off one of my parts bikes.

Without any air these springs wouldnt hold up a Honda Z50 never mind a 500+ pound KZ lol.

30 is pretty heavy duty, so I guess different fork oil isn't the answer. Ed

Ok, forks are rebuilt and painted, and I left the stock springs in them. They feel much stiffer than the set thats on it now. Not sure why, maybe they are aftermarket springs to begin with in this set. I used 15W fork oil in this set as well.

Rebuilt the calipers and painted them, new pads too

So I've got her mechanicaly ready to go

I even greased the steering head bearings and put a clutch cable on too....she hast got this much attention since I bought her.

Swapped most of the stuff over this evening. Still need to pull the carbs and jet them a bit richer for the 4-1...no POD FILTERS for this bike. I'll be polishing the engine cases and doing a general clean up of her. I'd like to paint the frame etc, but too close to riding season now, so next winter I'll tear it right down.

I'm sending the bodywork out next week for a fresh coat of paint. Cant wait to see it when she is done.

Of course I had my issues, almost dropped her off the lift...pic included. And I broke an exhaust stud taking off the pipes, so took me an hour of welding nuts to it and breaking it off again every 2-3 threads. Finaly got it