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Hello everyone, I just introduced myself over at the new members forum, and figured I would throw up my project I've been working on this winter. I picked up my 1983 KZ750 LTD from a coworker of my brother (gotta love when people make offers when they're drunk), got a good deal on it, running with a title, so I was happy, since I had just sold two of my non running projects in search of a running one. So, all that aside I have been a big fan of the "cafe" look for a long time now so I wanted to go that direction, here is a pic from the day I parked her in my friends garage to start the build





I will put up as many photos as possible, my camera broke the day I parked it in his garage, so all photos have been from the old phone...

I'm not a big motor head by any means, so I wasn't sure where to start, for someone like me this bike has a lot of wires and connections and etc. So I was a little too intimidated to pull the engine and all that, plus it seems to run good and I would probably do more harm than good at this point so I decided I would strip down what I could, start shedding weight and get it prepped for a new seat and everything else, no real pics yet, mostly just took off the seat and tank, and started cutting/grinding off tabs. Then I decided to go with pods rather than the air box so I picked these up, they are the cheap kind for now, maybe when they are ready for replacing I'll go with some nicer ones.

awesome deal

looks to be in really good shape! If you still have the stock air box keep it! pods have been known to cause lean issues and give headaches trying to get the right jets. The size I need for my mains doesnt exist so I have to drill some spares out, but theres this thing called the venturi effect, meaning theyre tapered inside.. doh.

happy building!

Thanks for the tip Heyst, I am honna be working on that here shortly, hope I don't have too many issues otherwise I'll have to get a new air box!

Next step was shortening the seat frame, can't remember how much but I took about 5-6" off







From there I did some cleaning, nothing to crazy for a bit while I researched some seat building techniques and shopped for a tank

For the seat mold I started with insulation foam from the hardware store, it's easy to carve and sand, but I think when I do it again I will use florist foam, it seems to finish and carve quite a bit easier, not a ton of photos, but here is the carving process



Lots of test fits



Then more sanding and shaping and all that jazz




I have to say, I learned a lot doing it myself that no matter what you read, you just don't figure out till you do it. Anyways my biggest tip to someone would be, Prep! Get the fiberglass cut and fitted exactly how you want it, get everything covered and prepped, cus once you mix the resin and hardener it's go time. That said here it the first layer I did, had some rough spots, but it was my first time with fiberglass



After it set up I cut it and gave it a test fit



Then gave it a rough sanding and applied a few more layers of mat and 2 layers of woven fiberglass

hey, that looks really interesting!

I kind of want to do something similar on my 550. But, I want to use the original seat pan, but cut the passenger section off, then glass a cowl like you did. That way I can keep the stock passenger section.

Dumb question because I have no experience with fiberglass, but did you take your styrofoam mold out after it had set up? Also, will it be strong enough to sit on like you plan to do?

Apbling -

I hear ya, I thought of using the seat pan, but I figured I'd try and sell the old seat as a whole to recoup some expenses. To answer your question, yes and no, after it sets up its solid, so I took out the mold, cut it and test fit it, that way I knew I was happy enough with the look before I threw down more glass. Then I put back on the mold to throw on more layers, it helps to have it on there to raise it off the table a bit, I can post some more pictures of how we did my friends as well.

that would be great. I think I'm gonna farm this out to a buddy of mine to do. I'm sure I can make a functional one, but I bet it would look horrible once it was finished. Did you paint yours up yet?

This gives you an idea of what we did on his seat, he made his mold with foam and a thick cardboard/paper. He then screwed it to a second layer of foam to raise it up off the table and also scewed it to the table ( this keeps it from moving around while you work) then covered it in foil tape and release wax which helps the seat pop off real easy.



Then here he is applying the fiberglass and resin. With it screwed in it makes it real easy.

Sure wish you guys weren't so far away, I'd come visit you and learn!

Then I started with bondo on the seat, and ordered a new tank, didn't get much for pictures on the bondo, so far I really don't like bondo...



Lay a layer, sand, lay a layer, sand, paint it to find flaws, test fit...



Then I got my new tank in and sanded it down fit it with the seat



Don't have many more pictures of bondo, but I worked on it for a while, had to bondo the tank a bit from the previous job someone did on it, also mounted some drag bars



Has anyone mounted drag bars on the KZ750? My master cylinder for the front brakes is too big, I had to remove the tach to get it to fit on there, and even still it's at an angle, I want to replace it with a smaller one but I'm not sure if that's a problem with the dual front brakes, anyone ran into this?

Did the same thing on my 550, but used superbike bars from z1enterprises. The MC fit on the 550, but I ended up breaking it. (don't ask....) I bought a cheap knock off one on ebay (take a look at the recent posts about a 550 mc, you'll find the link to the ebay seller there). I can definitely say I got what I paid for... It works, but compared to my 93 shadow, it does a poor job.

You'll definitely like the new bars, but I ran into issues with all my cables being too long too. With some creative routing they work, but when I replace them I'll have to get something shorter.


Just wondering, with all this comestic work you are doing, you are sure the bike runs and those wonderful cv34 carbs are in good shape (the diaphragms?). When I had my 750, it ran like ass until I got those things sparkling clean, then it was smooth as butter, but alot of cleaning. I mean epic amount

I will look into the MC you have, thanks for the tip. Anyone know if you can swap them out with any other bike MC's? Without running all new lines? There is a motorcycle shop in town that has a junkyard and TONS of used parts, so I was thinking of checking them out, just want sure if the MC bolt (the one that connects the brake line, I don't know if it has a specific name) is typical or specific to each model/manufacturer

I rode the bike all last summer before getting into my build, once she's warm I haven't had any problems, went on some short and some mid range rides. I do have a little trouble starting it right off the bat after a few days, but I think I need to adjust the idle.

Sounds good then. Don't get the same one I did, it was a 12.7 mm piston, for single caliper setup. Not sure what the 750 has, but I'm guessing a 14 mm. Maybe you can find one off a standard or gpz model, because they had bars similar to yours. Heck, a 650 (if it had dual caliper) would probably work too. The 750 and 650 have a lot of interchangeable parts. I was told it's basically the same motor, just hair bigger bore.

So after all that this is where I am at, did some more bondo, mounted a new headlight bracket, made a license plate holder, and primed the tank and seat so I can find all my imperfections. It still needs some bondo work but it's closer





Last night I moved her to my brothers garage, and mounted my new brake light, turned out pretty decent I think

I think it looks great! I don't think my plan is gonna work with making a square cowl to replace my passenger section of the seat and still keep the seat pan. It will end up being so wide where my butt is that it will look dumb. I'd have to basically do what you did, and I really don't want to cut my frame. I never realized how much the frame angles up on the LTDs.

yeah, it has some crazy bend in it, i used steel square tube to build a seat mount to lift it off the bend, and like i said earlier i cut a good 5 or 6 inches off the tail, so i can see why you'd have a huge cowl to try and cover it. What if you tried cutting down the seat pan and making a seat that sits on top of the frame?

like this



with a lot more bend in it?

maybe something like this?

yeah, that might work. Maybe I could actually let the frame alone, but allow the cowl to overhang a bit. So, in your drawing the frame woudn't be in like with the gray, but actually recessed up into the blue area. The reason why I'm looking at this is because the seat pan I have is in rough shape, along with the seat. Instead of spending the money to recover the seat and have the pan crap out 2 years from now, I just waited for a nice one on ebay to pop up. In reality, it wouldn't be much more work to make a whole new pan out of fiberglass...really the seat portion only makes up a sliver of the work, since the seat will cover the majority of it.

BTW, what tool did you use to shave the pink foam so nicely? I was thinking that anything I have would end up gouging or tearing it more than shaving/grating it.