kz750e Resto-Mod

the problem with wrapping a gas tank is that you will have a edge seam right at the filler neck where you are most likely to drip fuel. even a good wrap will peel if fuel gets to the edge and makes it lift. seen it first hand.

DoctoRot wrote: the problem with wrapping a gas tank is that you will have a edge seam right at the filler neck where you are most likely to drip fuel. even a good wrap will peel if fuel gets to the edge and makes it lift. seen it first hand.

Rusty,
I'm as tired of looking at my bike's old paint as I am of trying to find the mythical correct MK2 blue. I'm just going to pick a metallic blue that I like, and spray away.

mjg15 wrote: Rusty,
I'm as tired of looking at my bike's old paint as I am of trying to find the mythical correct MK2 blue. I'm just going to pick a metallic blue that I like, and spray away.

Same here. And since mine is just a shameless clone, I no longer feel that it needs to have a factory perfect color match. It's just when I see that vintage luminous dark blue, I think "That color right there, that is perfect. I want that!"
So as long as it is a dark blue that looks good, I will be content.

Metallic colors are inconsistent from batch to batch. You could have 2 vehicles side by side with the "same" metallic color and you will see slight shade differences if you look hard enough.

They did build a 750 MKII. It's the Z750FX. A JDM compliant model due to the displacement rules of the time. Used an actual debored MKII block. There was a member on here that found one in the states about a year back and posted about it.

Daftrusty wrote:

mjg15 wrote: Rusty,
I'm as tired of looking at my bike's old paint as I am of trying to find the mythical correct MK2 blue. I'm just going to pick a metallic blue that I like, and spray away.

Same here. And since mine is just a shameless clone, I no longer feel that it needs to have a factory perfect color match. It's just when I see that vintage luminous dark blue, I think "That color right there, that is perfect. I want that!"
So as long as it is a dark blue that looks good, I will be content.

if you're after the "luminous dark blue" that they used on the kz650s as well. A member over at kz650.info had a panel color matched and 2015 BMW "san Marino blue" is pretty much the same. I just sprayed a body set in it and it looks great!

GPzMOD750 wrote: Metallic colors are inconsistent from batch to batch. You could have 2 vehicles side by side with the "same" metallic color and you will see slight shade differences if you look hard enough.

They did build a 750 MKII. It's the Z750FX. A JDM compliant model due to the displacement rules of the time. Used an actual debored MKII block. There was a member on here that found one in the states about a year back and posted about it.

Ironically that is mjg15 who has that z750fx1. That's the bike he wants to repaint blue.



DoctoRot- I have been looking around at other auto manufactures for blue paint ideas. BMW has upwards of four amazing blue colors through out the years. I was convinced that Carbon Black (which is a blue so dark it looks black except when it is in the sun.) was the color I wanted. Then I saw a Subaru Blue Ridge Pearl which is my current favorite.
The biggest issue is that I'm "color-blind" with certain colors. Meaning, if the is the tinyest amount of purple in a blue, all I see is the purple, not the blue. So I keep looking for a dark blue that I don't see neon purple when the sun or shade hits it. The Luminous Dark Blue is that color unfortunately.
But as I can't afford paint right now, I have plenty of time to look and make plans.

Your bike is a job well done, and certainly worthy of getting the paint that you want. All in due time... ...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! Your 750E got posted on the Kawasaki Z1000 MK2 page on facebook!!!!!!

Even in primer, 36 likes and growing!!!!

Ha!
Thanks Dr. Gamma! If you had not given me a heads up, I would have never known.

I have in fact found a retired painter that is willing to paint all the bodywork for a fraction of the price that the body shops have quoted me.
I have my mk2 pinstripe decals ordered, so maybe by the new year, I will have it finally painted. *fingers crossed*

I have been slowly putting miles on it order to get the motor broken in before winter gets here. I am almost at 500 miles, so it will soon be time for it’s first oil change and I can then re-check the valve clearances when I take the tank off to be painted.

So I have had to make one “minor” change to my 6-speed transmission swap.
There was one day where I took my 750 for a ride and when I got home I jumped on my zr550 and took it out for a spin so I could compare the weight and general handling differences between the two bikes. And besides the 550 feeling like it was 200 pounds lighter, I instantly noticed how little effort it took to shift between gears. It’s not that the 750 is “hard” to shift, but it definitely has a stiffer action at the shift lever. Since the transmission in the zr550 is essential identical to the gpz550 transmission I used, I was curious why it felt so different.
At first I thought the kz750 shift detent spring was to stiff for the 550 drum, but the zr550 and kz750 the exact same spring.
Then I looked the gear lever mechanism that rotates the shift drum when the gear lever is moved. Turns out that the shift lever return spring is different between the zr550 and kz750. Oddly enough the 84 zx550 transmission I used, also uses the same return spring as the kz750. I remembered comparing the two springs when I was choosing what parts I was going to use during the transmission swap. But….The zr-7 and the Zephyr 550 and 750 all used a lighter return spring when they switched to modern rearsets that used longer shift linkage.
So I looked in my ebay box of zr-7 misc parts that I bought years ago, and there was a return spring!! The “newer” spring is smaller and made of a smaller gauge wire. It is noticeably easier to compress by hand than the beefier kz750 spring.



It involved “minor” surgery to swap out the springs. I had to remove the chain cover, chain, sprocket and transmission cover just get to access the gear change mechanism. It took seconds to swap out the return spring and another hour to put it all back together. Thankfully I was doing the first break-in oil change on my motor, so I didn’t have to tilt the bike to keep the oil from pouring out of the exposed transmission area.
After a road test it now feels much easier and requires less pedal pressure when shifting. The tension at the shift lever is greatly reduced. It is stiff a little stiffer than my 550, but not by much. Some of that I think, is because the heim linkage at the shift shaft on the 550 is more elongated/larger, thus giving it more leverage to rotate the shift shaft than the zx600 linkage I had to end up using. I tried to swap the 550 linkage on the 750 shift shaft, but the 550 has the heim joint on the wrong side and it makes the linkage on my rearset bind up.
But now the snow is falling and I have put the bike away for winter. So more innovation will have to wait for spring.

I only have 500 miles on the transmission swap, so I can’t attest to any longevity issues, but I was wondering if people would be interested in a dedicated instructional thread about the swap itself? Kind of a “how to”.
That way if someone is interested in reading up on it, they don’t have to wade through pages of unrelated content in my build thread.

Let me know what you all think.

I bet that a nice write up with pics, posted in the file base where it is easy to find, would be gratly appreciated.
Thank you for offering.