Retroactive KZ750E Project Thread

Bought some clear, basecoat, and hardener. NOT cheap. The clear is the "new" 2.1 VOC flavor. Translated that means it's low solids and thin. In other words three coats needed instead of the old two. Hum, makes one wonder if it actually results in less crap going into the air or what? At any rate, that's how it is in California these days. Took a flier on the color: bought a pint of black and a pint of dark pearl blue and had them mixed together. Going for a black look from distance, but with some pearl blue coming though when you get closer. We'll see.

Since the original paint is so chalky and tore up I'm removing as much as possible before prime. Two part epoxy for that of course. One of the side covers had a swale in it so filled it with body mud. Good fun...

Any color you want as long as it's black.

Actually, the color looks black until you get it out in the sun then it looks pearl blue. Just the look I was after.

Had a hard time with the USC01 clear. It goes on dry looking then lays down. Have a few runs because I laid it on too thick. Going to color sand anyway so not a huge problem. Pin stripes will go down after sanding then two more clear layers over the graphics. Now that everything's cleared I can take my time.

Color sanded the clear. Used a gray scotchbrite pad to level the orange peel.

Bought 3M brand stripes, and ordered direct from 3M because I wanted to make sure to get fresh stock. The stripes themselves are sort of gummy in consistency, and stretch easily for the turns.

Allowed the stripes to cure up for a day or so and then it's more clear...

More clear, sealing over the stripes.

The paint laid down plenty smooth for me, just some localized polishing needed. I don't like to color sand the final clear other than to remove dust pimples.

Seat cover #2 installed. Turned out okay this time. A little loose in places but I was afraid to pull too much. Gotta find some strap hardware now...

Moving on to the engine... Blasting time again.

Valve cover is from a KZ750 Turbo. No air injection junk on top. And the oil pan is from a later model 750 that has the oil cooler outlet ports on the front.

Two coats of VHT engine paint primer followed by three satin black coats. If I had to do it again I would have used Gunkote. VHT paint sucks; it's brittle and chips like crazy, and it doesn't resist fuel easily either.

A little sandpaper to bring out the highlights...

Soda blasted the head. Trying to avoid grit in the blind oil galleys. The soda worked great, but it's not just a simple rinse with water and you are done aftermath. I scrubbed this head to within an inch of it's life before being confident of no more grit remaining behind.

Trying my hand at a little pocket porting. Just trying to smooth the sharp edges in the bowl. The short side radius was particularly poorly done and sharp.

The last two photos show the after.

Some seat clean up work performed with Neway cutters.

I was surprised by how poorly the seats were cut from Kawasaki. The seat width was very inconsistent but I was able to clean that up.