82 gpz 750... its a secret...

[Mr.E]

Ok, this actually started back in november, but things just didn't work out to compile anything until now.  So here's a little back story, this is a 1982 Kawasaki gpz750, its been in storage for about 8 years. It belongs to a friend who started to caf it years ago. Through circumstances and years it never happened and has been referred to in recent years as the "if only I could."

So this friend's brother formulated a plan to get the bike out of storage, caf it, and return it in time for spring, without the knowledge of the owner.  So yeah, its top secret   we have an idea of what he wanted it to look like, so we are going with it, and adding some feature we rink he will approve of... we hope.

 

Here it is the day we picked it up. As you can see there is no tank.

 

That aspect sucks, however, motorbikebruno suppliied us with a 550 tank at a good price, so some heavy modding will do the trick on that. 

And after getting it into the shop

 

[wab]

Great idea! Wish my friends and family would come and sneak my project away and complete it! :PLooking forward to see what you can do with this bike.

[Mr.E]

Thanks, and we are a lot farther along now than what I have posted so far. In fact, re-assembly should start happening within a couple weeks.  I will post more progress up tonight and throughout the week.  I also want to re-emphasize that this is not "my project." This was entirely schemed up and funded by my friend, as a way to help his brother out of a rough patch of life.  Im just the voluntary help and dtt'er that thought it would be good to share it with all you delinquents   There is another element at work here too.  We are still trying to get the polishing business running smooth, so this bike will be receiving a lot of polish work, as sort of a rolling example.

[Ritz cracker]

thats some good shit. good friend and good family, it seems that people that ride vintage are good people, im waiting to see the polishing work cant wait to see it complete 

[valvesprung]

Super cool project! If your plans don't involve re-using the factory tail cowl I'd love to buy it. I'm currently on the hunt for one to use on my KZ650 build.

[rrjlind]

good to hear, thank you for sharing.... now MORE PICTURES! And is that a lil red wagon/radio flyer w/oversize tires? I wanna see that too please

[Mr.E]

Ok guys, pics of the little red wagon will follow soon... till then, a few more progress shots.

Got it stripped on down some more.




Carbs cleaned, and ready for re-assembling.



These bits will not be appearing in the rest of this build...



And the Frame is out on the table and ready for blending work. It is already de tabbed, and the rear brace was removed a few weeks prior. It will be getting a hoop installed, so we will likely be doing some old school tube bending very soon. Stay tuned!

 

[Mr.E]

Super cool project! If your plans don't involve re-using the factory tail cowl I'd love to buy it. I'm currently on the hunt for one to use on my KZ650 build.

We are not planning on re-using the cowl, however because the bike is not ours,  we are just cleaning and boxing all the leftover bits to return to the owner in case he wants to sell or reuse them him self. Ill mention it to him when he receives the finished bike tho.

[MotorbikeBruno]

Awesome.  Hey I've got BOXES of parts for a 72 750 with some 550 parts....I woulda sent some "free" stuff with that tank if you needed it! Darn. Let me know if you do and we'll get em to ya for postage     Also, I have the manual if you need me to look something up!

[cyclone]

like it so far...such a cool bike the gpz750

does the 550 tank fit on it...?

i tried to put a gsx 550es tank on a gsx750es...it didnt fit

as i had it i tried to force it to fit..that didnt work out either

just wondered if the kawasaki equivalent is gonna work out for you without too much trouble...

[JustinLonghorn]

This is a rad thing you are doing, sir.

[Ialone]

Wow! Such awesome support. I am the friend Mr. E is referring to. I really appreciate such a positive feedback on this build. I have to give credit where credit is do. My dad has been a huge part of this build. He has spent a many Saturday's with me in the shop. And I could not be doing this without Mr. E! You keep me going brotha!

[Mr.E]

To answer the question about how the tank fit.... it didn't! But thanks to the glorious invention of blunt striking objects, Welders, body filler, and imagination, it will. And the exterior lines look good on the frame, so it will work out we think. I guess the main point being: anything can be made to fit anything, it just depends on how much work you are willing to do. More pics on that process soon... for now, here's another shot of the little red wagon, and a shiny things...

 

The carbs are clear and assembled too. Gun metal paint is the basic color of the build, so we accented the carbs in that.

 

 

And the forks. They aren't done yet, but a lot nicer than they were.

 

[MotorbikeBruno]

Wow, carbs look amazing, as do the forks.  And that wagon is cool 

[Mr.E]

Thanks guys. The wagon was built by ialone about 8 iwe also years ago because ordinary red wagons just aren't cool enough

I also want to point out that the focus of this build is mostly cosmetic. We aren't going to do any majors engine upgrading, just clean it up and relocate some under the seat parts to shave some weight and make it look good. The same goes for the instrument panel area. It is getting a round light, round tach, and probably a bicycle speedo similar to what im setting up on another build lurking in the garage.

The frame is getting all the welds blended or filled before powdercoating, and the rear hoop will actually be removable in case the owner wants to ever return it to stock shape. Soon I will post up some more frame work, till then, here is the new headlight. It came off my cb500t basketcase, since I wasn't going to use it anyways.

 

 

And some more shiny stuff