New to me 82 750 LTD

Hi all. I've been looking for a good cheap bike off and on over the past year or so. My 1st bike was an 81 750 LTD I bought in FLA back in 86 when I was in the Navy. Loved it. Had it for a few years, but sold it. A couple years ago when my son was buying his 1st car we looked at an S-10 that belonged to his friends dad. The friends brother had a Kawi LTD and it reminded me of my old bike.

Jump ahead a couple years and the boy and I were on our way to look at a craigslist find and he told me the friends brother just bought a brand new bike. So we stopped by on the way home and sure enough, he still had the LTD and wanted to sell it. I took it for a ride and even though it had been many years since I had ridden my LTD it felt like home again. And the sound is just like I remembered it. We worked out a deal and now it's mine.

Pretty much bone stock. There are a couple little problems I need to work on, but a good running bike that was basically just what I was looking for.

Things to do:
Fix tach (broken cable, on order)
Fix left front blinker
Fix horn
Ride it.

If I do decide to modify it, this is the direction I will be going with it.

When I had my 1st one, I just rode it. Never really had to work on it. So now I'm not really any more experienced than I was then as far as maintenance and stuff. I've restored a couple chevy trucks and have been working on cars for ever, but not bikes. So I have questions. I have a service manual coming in the mail.

For example, I'd like to use the clamp on air filters and remove the air box, but I've been told I would need to re-jet the carbs to prevent leaning out. How difficult is that? I've rebuilt holleys and edelbrocks and quadrajets, but not a set of 4 of these.

Would adding a 4-1 header require the same carb work?

I don't like the 85 mph speedo, will the older 140 speedos bolt in or does it require other mods to work? Other options I should look for?

Any help and suggestions is appreciated.

Removing the stock air box will require rejetting the carbs. It takes some time to get running right once you make the switch so make sure every other component of the bike is tuned perfectly before installing the pods. Don't throw away the stock airbox once you remove it. They can be hard to find if you ever decide to switch back. Some people can get away with using a 4-1 header without rejetting, however most people need to rejet the carbs to get the bike running right.

Thanks for the advise. Got the service manual today and it doesn't look too bad.

Great story and great looking bike you got there. You might get away without re jetting when switching to a 4 into 1 exhaust. Try it and see. Is that the original exhaust on on it? Looks to be in good shape not many of those 4 into 2 around any more.
For sure you will need to re jet if you go to individual pods. It requires some trial and error. Like nickleo373 said get er running well first.
A 140mph speedo should be bolt on
Good luck

I would HIGHLY recommend you do a search on this site using the word "pods" and read at least some of the thousands (honest, 842 - 12 months and newer; 6,916 12 months & older) postings on the subject. Tuning the CV carbs on your bike for pods is not to be undertaken without some serious consideration if you want the bike to run as well as it does with the airbox. You will most likely lose power at normal operating rpm. Keep the airbox handy if you decide to attempt it. By the way, what is your reason for wanting to switch? Here's some info that you may find interesting. Ed

kzrider.com/forum/3-carburetor/585949-po...-a-free-lunch#585949

JR wrote: Great story and great looking bike you got there. You might get away without re jetting when switching to a 4 into 1 exhaust. Try it and see. Is that the original exhaust on on it? Looks to be in good shape not many of those 4 into 2 around any more.
For sure you will need to re jet if you go to individual pods. It requires some trial and error. Like nickleo373 said get er running well first.
A 140mph speedo should be bolt on
Good luck

I don't know if the exhaust is original but its possible. I may just go with smaller, shorter mufflers than these instead of the 4-1. My 1st bike had the 4-1 and I liked it. Thanks for the info on the speedo.

650ed wrote: I would HIGHLY recommend you do a search on this site using the word "pods" and read at least some of the thousands (honest, 842 - 12 months and newer; 6,916 12 months & older) postings on the subject. Tuning the CV carbs on your bike for pods is not to be undertaken without some serious consideration if you want the bike to run as well as it does with the airbox. You will most likely lose power at normal operating rpm. Keep the airbox handy if you decide to attempt it. By the way, what is your reason for wanting to switch? Here's some info that you may find interesting. Ed

kzrider.com/forum/3-carburetor/585949-po...-a-free-lunch#585949

Thanks for the link and info. I always research before I dive into the unknown. That's my main reason for joining this forum. I'm a member of the 67-72chevytrucks.com forum and it is a fantastic source of info and inspiration. I'm hoping to find the same thing here.

My reason for the change is partly cosmetics and partly performance. Tim Taylor grunting "more power". I like to hot rod things up a bit. I'm also interested in swapping cams and maybe some head work. I don't want to lose driveability but a few extra ponies would widen my grin. Why do you think it would lose power in the normal operating rpm range? More air and fuel throughout the band should provide more power all along it. Especially if the exhaust will flow well.

New tach cable and air filter should be here tomorrow. Weather is suppose to clear up and warm up by the weekend. Hoping to get a few miles on it.

Check out this link from a few days ago. kzrider.com/forum/3-carburetor/593574-tu...-your-carbs?start=20
I personally have had no luck with pods because the jetting got really expensive. I got it in the ballpark and then realized I was losing power somewhere in the rpm range. These bikes are designed to run with a very specific fuel/air ratio and the pods mess the mixture up. It's possible to get it running right and you may be able to gain a small amount of power but it probably wont be a significant amount. I think most people do it for looks and the ease of taking the carbs on and off.

nickleo373 wrote: Check out this link from a few days ago. kzrider.com/forum/3-carburetor/593574-tu...-your-carbs?start=20
I personally have had no luck with pods because the jetting got really expensive. I got it in the ballpark and then realized I was losing power somewhere in the rpm range. These bikes are designed to run with a very specific fuel/air ratio and the pods mess the mixture up. It's possible to get it running right and you may be able to gain a small amount of power but it probably wont be a significant amount. I think most people do it for looks and the ease of taking the carbs on and off.

I just noticed the bike I posted that I would like to emulate has the air box. LOL

This is why I ask my questions. And I appreciate the replies.

I guess I should start over and just ask what the most common, easy and affordable mods are to get some power gains from this engine? Couple other areas I'm looking at changing are the fuel tank and wheels. I don't dislike either, but I like the look of the regular KZ750 tanks, which have more volume. And the 83-84 GPZ wheels appeal to me. They are 18" front and rear and a newer style. Are the tanks and wheels swapable on these bikes from those years?

I don't fully understand the technical reason why it is so common for low end & mid range power to suffer with pods, but it seems to be pretty common. With CV carbs it's possible that the problem is caused by eliminating the vacuum on the air cleaner side of the carb prior to that carb's intake valve opening. Just a thought - but if you picture an airbox with 4 carbs attached to it, there is always some vacuum in the box while the engine is running because one of the 4 carbs is always taking it's turn sucking in air. While this is happening, there is some level of vacuum being pulled on the airbox side of the other 3 carbs. Since the CV carb diaphragms are affected by vacuum, and since they were designed/tuned to run with an airbox and its associated vacuum, it seems plausible that removing this vacuum would affect their performance. This may be less noticeable when the bike is running at or near redline with the carbs wide open sucking air at there max level, but it may have an affect at more moderate rpm. Again, all this is just speculation on my part, but the fact that many folks notice some performance loss at moderate rpm implies something is affected by the loss of the airbox. Ed

Fuel tank. The tank from a 750E Standard will bolt-on to your frame, but your triple tree will bang against it when you turn the handlebars. Your Ltd triple is kinda straight across, whereas the 750E is angled forward. You'll probably encounter the same clearance issues w an 82 GPz R1 or 83 750L3 tank, or any other larger tank. The R1 /L3 tanks have a different method of attachment at the rear, but one of those might be somewhat easily modified to bolt-on to your frame. The front mounts on the frame appear to be the same, but I really don't know how the fit would be, front or rear.