1981 KZ750-E2 Project

I decided to put together a project log for a bike I recently picked up. It's my 3rd bike and I bought it with the intent on fixing it up over the winter. It's also my first Kawasaki - other 2 were Hondas.

Here's a picture of her on the way home from Rhode Island, February 2nd, 2012:



It's a 1981 KZ750-E2 with around 18k. From afar it looks OK, but there are some blemishes and issues that need work. There was also a small discrepancy where the PO thought it was a 1980, but after checking the serial it confirmed '81. Maybe of interest, Kawasaki started painting the KZ750 front fenders in '81; before that they were chrome.

As of now, this is my to-do list in no particular order:

1. Clean the inside of the fuel tank
2. Replace the cracked rear cowl and paint the bike black
3. Replace the starter motor
4. Needs new tires
5. Replace the fork seals
6. Address some electrical issues: headlight, horn, pedal activated brake light
7. Put on some superbike bars
8. Rejet the carbs
9. Repair the tachometer
10. Probably more little things as I go

Before I put new tires on it, I was curious if spoked wheels could be fitted with a dual disc in the front and single disc in the back. I believe my front axle is 15mm, 17mm for the rear. Would have to check again for the disc size and bolt pattern.

Seems like I could just change the swing arm and put a rear wheel from a KZ750 twin on the back... is the disc the same size or would I need the caliper too? I don't have a welder, so relocating the caliper isn't a possibility.

Not sure what I could do for the front. I'd like to keep dual disc breaks, but I might change the master cylinder anyways and could do with a single disc if it's as simple as bolting in the same axle size and the same disc size. Interested in hearing any thoughts or experience with this.

More updates and pictures to come!

Nice find...thanks for posting the photos.

Good looking ride.

By the way, here's a picture of my Honda:

[img size=400x300] lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0a6XsMJJCLg/T...0/20110818090909.jpg [/img]

One of the first things I did for the KZ was repair the tachometer. $50+ for a used replacement was the second option. The tach itself worked fine, but the 2 faceplate screws had come loose and fell out, resulting in the faceplate moving around freely when accelerating.

[img size=400x300] lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0TzCw1eMdZg/T...0/20120222202631.jpg [/img]

Removal was easy and simply required unscrewing two nuts and the tachometer cable at the back of the housing. I then removed the 3 light bulb harnesses going into the housing and labeled them with tape for reassembly.

Taking the cover off the tach was a bit more work. I posted about it here and used a combination of the techniques martin_csr recommended.

[img size=400x300] lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0QXT5ttCEYY/T...0/20120223212530.jpg [/img]

After doubling over a long strip of duck tape around the metal ring, I secured it in place with a hose clamp. I then filed down a paint can opener to a sharp edge and gently began to work the lower edge of the ring up, starting from the bottom, non-visible side. When the edge was pried up enough I used a very small screwdriver to get more leverage and the cover slid off.

Oddly, only 1 of the 2 faceplate screws was still inside of the cover, and I'm 100% sure I didn't lose one... Thankfully I had an old broken instrument cluster from a BMW in the garage. After taking that apart, the screws from the BMW fit perfectly in the tachometer. A quick cleaning inside and the tach was ready to be put back together (which was also the most time consuming part of this).

I pried the ring up a little more to allow the tach to slide into the cover easier. Once in place I used pliers to carefully roll the ring back over. The duck tape helped prevent any scratching.

Reassembled on the bike and the tach works fine. I didn't keep track of how long it took, but the whole process took about 2 scotches.

Over the weekend I replaced the starter motor. This required removing the starter motor and sprocket covers. After unscrewing the starter motor and its electrical connection, reassembly with the replacement part was just the same in reverse.

I also noticed some of the philips head bolts on the engine covers were in bad shape. To prevent further stripping I'm going to replace the rusty ones with some new ones.

Welcome aboard! Well, it's your bike, but paint it black?? There are a million black KZs out there but darn few bikes with a nice original paint job. The paint scheme looks great to me as is, but if you want just another black bike; well obviously, it's up to you. If you really must have black, why not consider getting another set of bodywork that needs a paint job and keeping your original set or selling it to make a few $$$. Parts on eBay with original paint jobs bring better $$ than those with non-original paint, so you should easily come out ahead if you decide to make the swap. Ed

650ed wrote: Welcome aboard! Well, it's your bike, but paint it black?? There are a million black KZs out there but darn few bikes with a nice original paint job. The paint scheme looks great to me as is, but if you want just another black bike; well obviously, it's up to you. If you really must have black, why not consider getting another set of bodywork that needs a paint job and keeping your original set or selling it to make a few $$$. Parts on eBay with original paint jobs bring better $$ than those with non-original paint, so you should easily come out ahead if you decide to make the swap. Ed

The paint looks OK in the pictures, but in person it's pretty faded and scratched up. The rear cowl is cracked too, so I need to replace that regardless. I've been debating about colors and have also been thinking about using stock Kawasaki colors like the navy on the '80's KZ750 LTD's, dark red and green from the '70's KZ750 twins, or possibly silver from my bike's era.

Do you happen to know if a stripe set from a '70's KZ750 twin would fit on my bike? I can't find any specifically for my year...

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