83 KZ750 LTD Cafe Project

Hello everyone, I just introduced myself over at the new members forum, and figured I would throw up my project I've been working on this winter. I picked up my 1983 KZ750 LTD from a coworker of my brother (gotta love when people make offers when they're drunk), got a good deal on it, running with a title, so I was happy, since I had just sold two of my non running projects in search of a running one. So, all that aside I have been a big fan of the "cafe" look for a long time now so I wanted to go that direction, here is a pic from the day I parked her in my friends garage to start the build





I will put up as many photos as possible, my camera broke the day I parked it in his garage, so all photos have been from the old phone...

I'm not a big motor head by any means, so I wasn't sure where to start, for someone like me this bike has a lot of wires and connections and etc. So I was a little too intimidated to pull the engine and all that, plus it seems to run good and I would probably do more harm than good at this point so I decided I would strip down what I could, start shedding weight and get it prepped for a new seat and everything else, no real pics yet, mostly just took off the seat and tank, and started cutting/grinding off tabs. Then I decided to go with pods rather than the air box so I picked these up, they are the cheap kind for now, maybe when they are ready for replacing I'll go with some nicer ones.

awesome deal

looks to be in really good shape! If you still have the stock air box keep it! pods have been known to cause lean issues and give headaches trying to get the right jets. The size I need for my mains doesnt exist so I have to drill some spares out, but theres this thing called the venturi effect, meaning theyre tapered inside.. doh.

happy building!

Thanks for the tip Heyst, I am honna be working on that here shortly, hope I don't have too many issues otherwise I'll have to get a new air box!

Next step was shortening the seat frame, can't remember how much but I took about 5-6" off







From there I did some cleaning, nothing to crazy for a bit while I researched some seat building techniques and shopped for a tank

For the seat mold I started with insulation foam from the hardware store, it's easy to carve and sand, but I think when I do it again I will use florist foam, it seems to finish and carve quite a bit easier, not a ton of photos, but here is the carving process



Lots of test fits



Then more sanding and shaping and all that jazz




I have to say, I learned a lot doing it myself that no matter what you read, you just don't figure out till you do it. Anyways my biggest tip to someone would be, Prep! Get the fiberglass cut and fitted exactly how you want it, get everything covered and prepped, cus once you mix the resin and hardener it's go time. That said here it the first layer I did, had some rough spots, but it was my first time with fiberglass



After it set up I cut it and gave it a test fit



Then gave it a rough sanding and applied a few more layers of mat and 2 layers of woven fiberglass

hey, that looks really interesting!

I kind of want to do something similar on my 550. But, I want to use the original seat pan, but cut the passenger section off, then glass a cowl like you did. That way I can keep the stock passenger section.

Dumb question because I have no experience with fiberglass, but did you take your styrofoam mold out after it had set up? Also, will it be strong enough to sit on like you plan to do?

Apbling -

I hear ya, I thought of using the seat pan, but I figured I'd try and sell the old seat as a whole to recoup some expenses. To answer your question, yes and no, after it sets up its solid, so I took out the mold, cut it and test fit it, that way I knew I was happy enough with the look before I threw down more glass. Then I put back on the mold to throw on more layers, it helps to have it on there to raise it off the table a bit, I can post some more pictures of how we did my friends as well.

that would be great. I think I'm gonna farm this out to a buddy of mine to do. I'm sure I can make a functional one, but I bet it would look horrible once it was finished. Did you paint yours up yet?

This gives you an idea of what we did on his seat, he made his mold with foam and a thick cardboard/paper. He then screwed it to a second layer of foam to raise it up off the table and also scewed it to the table ( this keeps it from moving around while you work) then covered it in foil tape and release wax which helps the seat pop off real easy.



Then here he is applying the fiberglass and resin. With it screwed in it makes it real easy.

Sure wish you guys weren't so far away, I'd come visit you and learn!

Then I started with bondo on the seat, and ordered a new tank, didn't get much for pictures on the bondo, so far I really don't like bondo...



Lay a layer, sand, lay a layer, sand, paint it to find flaws, test fit...



Then I got my new tank in and sanded it down fit it with the seat



Don't have many more pictures of bondo, but I worked on it for a while, had to bondo the tank a bit from the previous job someone did on it, also mounted some drag bars



Has anyone mounted drag bars on the KZ750? My master cylinder for the front brakes is too big, I had to remove the tach to get it to fit on there, and even still it's at an angle, I want to replace it with a smaller one but I'm not sure if that's a problem with the dual front brakes, anyone ran into this?