Saving a '81 KZ750-E

Good advise, Nessism.  There is a list of things needing to be done before any long rides.  This is a milestone that's been coming for a long time.  A bit of a surreal feeling after being away from motorcycles for so long...

Congrats on getting it legal. Must be time for a photo shoot...

I need to change the oil (and the plug washer to stop a small drip), torque the head, and a couple other small items.  And we have some weather coming in for the next three days.  Photoshoot will show it being driven, probably next week.

My morning coffee task is re-torqueing the cylinder head.  Then I ride!!  It will be really nice weather here tomorrow, so I am looking forward to getting some miles on her.  

Enjoy the ride! Well-deserved and a long time coming

Well, the first real test ride didn't go so well.  There is a bunch of stuff that needs addressing prior to taking it on another "real" ride.  Today's venture was a whopping 6 miles.  Here is a list of things needing attention:

1) The tach is squealing pretty bad.  I lubed the cable, but I think it may be the gage from sitting for so long.  The gage needs to be removed, and lubricated.

2) Both forks began to leak oil, the left one pretty badly.  I knew they weeped a little bit, but now the left one is dripping on the ground.  Luckily no oil made it onto the brake.  I have all of the new seals to do these forks, I just didn't think they were bad enough to address right away,  I was wrong on that one.

3) The chain needs to be adjusted better.   It wasn't tight enough to begin with, and it loosened up more.

4) The idle needs adjusting, and there is a miss at 1/8 - 1/4 throttle.  I may have partially fowled a plug, as the last time I started it, it belched smoke pretty bad but cleared up quickly.  It had some mild smoke afterward so I turned it off.  This issue went away after torqueing the head this morning.  No more smoking.  As far as the missing, I am going to have to look into that.  I will recheck the carb sync and the timing, but I am leaning toward the sync being off.

5) The bolt attaching the steering stabilizer to the fork clamp decided to leave the party.  I have to source a new one, and install it with Loctite this time.

What little riding I did showed me the steering is pretty sensitive.  The front brakes are OH MY GOD powerful!! It surprised the crap out of me how touchy the brakes are.  I can one finger stop in a big hurry with these brakes.  Something I will need to get used to.  I was really hoping to get some miles on this bike today, but I have better judgement with everything I am seeing and feeling.  Too much work left to be done.  All things considered, the list is pretty minor stuff for a frame off rebuild.  I didn't accelerate very hard but I can already tell this motor has some giddyup.  My current project bike just became a roller again, so it's perfect timing to get it off the lift and put the green monster back on it.  I know it isn't a KZ, or a Kawasaki for that matter, but here is a glimpse of project bike #2 - a street tracker build ('87 Suzuki LS650 Savage)


 

That's not a bad list, all easily rectified . I like the look of the savage, it'll be a fun ride   !  

Rebuilding the front forks is the most labor intensive of all of it.  With the low RPM miss, I took my digital pyrometer and measured the temperature of each of the head tubes.  All were within 5 - 10 degrees F of each other.  The engine miss is when you hold the throttle steady anywhere from 2000 - 3500 RPM. after 3500 it cleans up and pulls pretty good.  The Delkovic header is pretty loud, but not too bad.

What size is your brake master cylinder?  If you can upsize the master cup size it will reduce the sensitivity.

Regarding the miss, what jetting are you running.  Sorry if you mentioned this already but this is a long thread so...  Bottom line, you may be a little lean in the primary main and or needle.

 

I am running the Dynajet stage 2 kit on this.  Honestly, I did not write down the jet sizes before installing them.  I just followed the directions.

I chased a low rpm pop and backfire, ended up being air leaks at the boots. 

I installed brand new intake boots on this build.  I wouldn't suspect that.