1982 GPZ 750 Easy restoration...psshhhhh, right!

So this is the story of my 750...neglected and put out in the weather! As we all do I was doing some late night shopping, damn marketplace, last year when I ran across the 750. I had been looking for one for several years and was excited. The pictures looked horrid, and the seller was less than amicable to send more pics. I knew at that price I needed to jump on it. During our late night texting, trying to get more info. the seller out of the blue texts, "Come get it tomorrow and $400 its yours!" So I loaded the ramps in the truck and early morning drive over to the valley to nab her! As I approached the house I see two young, early 20's men sitting on the steps with the bike sitting in the driveway. As we chit chatted about the bike I was looking at a complete, including the stock exhaust 1982 GPZ 750, that at some point, the seller didnt know its history, said he got it in a trade and was going to use the motor in a go cart...ughh! So quickly I had the ramps down and the bike loaded for the agreed price. I wasn't about to haggle for the price and it being almost, missing the dash plastic cover...grrr, complete. I smile shake his hand , hand him the money and proceed to tell him how rare this model is since they only were done for one year in this style...and with the history lesson over, I zip back over the hill to stash her away till I can start the restore...which is were we are now. Thought Id document the journey along the way to glee some wisdom from you wizards of the Kawi kingdom!

Good score !

So the following morning I unload the 750 and give her a good once over. Well, as I hoped, she was all there but in need of some TLC, but not so bad as to warrant a nut and bolt tear down...pshhh, sure. I cannot see any tampering as far as modifications, which these poor girls suffered by the hands of the uncaring. By my assessment, Im thinking, rebuild all the  obvious systems...brakes calipers, master cylinders, forks, chain and possible sprockets, tires, seat upholstery, and slight upgrading as we did back in the day. Definitely needs a Kerker, maybe jet kit or Keihin CR carbs, Dyna ignition, swingarm /calfab, rear shocks..Ohlins maybe. Anywho, I needed to finish up my 89 GSXR1100 I was building and then Id jump on her... I know, booo hisss. But I loved the 80s! The only issue I saw was, I think she probably lived somewhere near the coast as there was corrosion on alot of things, not deep rust through type, but corrosion that could lead to a full frame off restoring...well see. Need to crack the carbs to check them, get a battery and see if she starts...fingers crossed!

Hi Mike, I'm turning my 750 into  moriwaki tribute bike kinda thing, GS1100 swingarm, 45mm showa front end, 810 kit, leaving the BS34 carbs but installing a stage 3 dynojet kit and lots of other goodies, they are a great little bike..   Covid has slowed things down a bit but its slowly getting there...

 

Thats awesome. I checked your story out before I posted mine as it encouraged me to. Thats going to be an awesome tribute. Ive got an ELR tribute, not a clone since that pisses off the purists,  that im going to start as soon as ive collected some additional parts. Its going to be built off an 82 LTD 1000 i found locally. In my research Kawasaki built the frames for all the models mostly the same except at the back area, where if you look, the either installed a hoop for the LTD or whatever design  for the other models. I already did a trial fit and you can see how it works. I have an 82 GPZ rear 18" rim and just need forks from the year thats bottom mounted and not leading mounted. I read muzzy even said to use KZ cop tubes since they came with a thicker wall  diameter to stiffen the front!

I love the 750's.  Good luck with your project.

One comment, when posting photos, PLEASE click "INSERT ALL" before posting.  Doing so results in the photos showing up in high resolution, instead of tiny thumbnails.  

Thanks in advance.  

wrote:

Thats awesome. I checked your story out before I posted mine as it encouraged me to. Thats going to be an awesome tribute. Ive got an ELR tribute, not a clone since that pisses off the purists,  that im going to start as soon as ive collected some additional parts. Its going to be built off an 82 LTD 1000 i found locally. In my research Kawasaki built the frames for all the models mostly the same except at the back area, where if you look, the either installed a hoop for the LTD or whatever design  for the other models. I already did a trial fit and you can see how it works. I have an 82 GPZ rear 18" rim and just need forks from the year thats bottom mounted and not leading mounted. I read muzzy even said to use KZ cop tubes since they came with a thicker wall  diameter to stiffen the front!

I'm using 18 inch wheels on mine, the front is off a Z1300, 2.15 x 18 and the rear is off a Z1000p Police bike, 2.50 x 18. I also have a set of wider 17 inch rims I may use later on..

What a great score! I would get it going and do a "rolling restoration" gathering the parts you want as you go. I see it has the rare automatic transmission and over 100K miles but I'm sure you'll get it sorted 
Mine is ELR green but with the GPz750 emblems, so I guess it's a tribute? 

Thanks and thanks, appreciate the photo advice!

Well I decided to pull the 750 out of storage as I wait for decal masks to be made for another bike and start assessing and ordering the small things like rebuild kits for calipers, master cylinders, chain, tires, carb rebuild kit, ignition switch and battery. All the brakes were locked up and clutch also...She was definitely left outside and had a lil rust in spots, but not bad. I turned over the motor at the crank by hand so she wasn't frozen...yeah!  I started on looking for broken parts to do little fixes...ie the headlamp, as we all know is unobtainium, while I wait for the parts! 

Day 2...started with cleaning the tank with rust rescue, works amazing. and rebuilding the petcock. The fuel sender/level indicator  wasn't working and the gasket was hard as a rock, so ordered a gasket and will try and fix the sender. Hopped onto the brakes as you can see, they did want to play nice, I literally had to use a slide hammer to remove the piston on the master cylinders. Cleaned up the primary sprocket area and didnt need to order a sprocket since the stock was fine...for now! And had my first casualty. While trying to remove the rear brake lever from the peg base...she broke...ugh. I tried everything from penetrate oil to heat and then in the press she went...snap. Thank god you can find these from other models on fleabay!

Well, I decided to try and start her, just to see what would happen, since she wasn't frozen. I did change the oil before hand just in case there was anything in the oil.