Saving a '81 KZ750-E

Look what arrived today! Sorry about the tie downs in the way. They are just loosely fitted to see how they fit.

Other things arriving in the next week or so:

Braided front brake lines
Engine paint
Engine case bolt set
Used seat (to be re-upholstered)

I am not sure when I will get the GPS speedometer. It's coming from the orient and the Chinese New Year shut down operations for a week. Bad timing on my part I guess. Now that I have the foot controls I can get a new rear master cylinder start to get the mount and linkage done.

Just holding the stock foot peg up to these rearsets, they look to be two inches up and around five inches back.

I got my new Galfer braided lines today. Front brakes are done, just need to bleed. Since I had to have custom lines made, I went two single lines instead of the staock Honda "Y" line.

Now that the rearsets are here, I ordered a rear master cylinder from a ZX-6R. As soon as it arrives, I will start to mock up the mounting bracket, and have a new braided line made for the rear. I also need to fab the linkages for both the rear brake and shifter.

With the used seat on its way here, and the rearsets on, I put the old half-rotted seat back on to see how the foot position felt. My intention was to have the seat foam sculpted at the upholstery shop, taking around an inch off the rider position which would create a bigger "butt rest" (for lack of a better description). Now that I can see how much knee bend is required I think I will leave the stock foam shape alone and go with a recover only.

The used seat arrived yesterday. So much for "no rust thru or holes" in the pan... Ebay people really suck sometimes.



This bit was conveniently not in any pictures, and was covered by the seat cover. Several barbs missing. Luckily my old seat was in better shape there. Welding really thin, old, rusty sheet metal is not easy - even more so when trying not to burn the foam.

There is 2-1/8" gap from the rearset brake tab and the stock frame mounts for the aluminum bracket that held the rear master cylinder. This set up was supposed to use the stock MC set up, which I can't use. I'm going to have to get really creative to get this ZX-06 master cylinder functional.

Hindsight always being 20/20, it would have been easier to weld tabs to the frame PRIOR to powder coat, but I did not know I would be using another MC at the time. So I will need to engineer a mount that bolts on to the existing holes.

If I can find a stock right rear footpeg bracket that does not have the brake shaft frozen, I think I can get the ZX-06 master bolted up to it. This would allow the brake linkage that came with the rearsets to work. I have found several on Ebay, but none with a working brake shaft. While trying to get my brake shaft unstuck, I broke the mounting bracket. A good, working replacement would solve my issues.

Another small success! I was able to remove the brake shaft without damaging the OD of the shaft. I had to break the bushing out of the aluminum bracket, then cut through the bushing with a grinder and cut off wheel. I had to make sure not to cut all the way through, then use a chisel in the cut groove to finally crack the bushing. Using penetrating oil in the crack, I got the bushing to turn, eventually working it all the way off. After soaking it for a few days in the rust treatment, I will polish the shaft. Now I can replace the stock rear footpeg bracket with a used one that doesn't have the brake shaft. Yay!