1980 Kawasaki KZ750G Twin

[Vix]

1980 Kawasaki KZ750G Twin

As mentioned in my introduction thread, a week ago I didn't know what "do the ton" meant, or what a cafe racer was. But I saw a bike I loved and wanted something like it, so I looked for an older bike that I could design into a cafe racer style bike and my boyfriend is doing the work to make it happen.

We brought the bike home Monday, a bit rough around the edges. Electric start wouldn't work, kick start barely worked, front brake not working, rear brake barely working, leaking oil which was smoking like crazy, and it was backfiring. But for the age, not too bad, just needing a little TLC before conversion.

Week 1
Taking it apart, figuring out design, troubleshooting issues. So far it's not in too bad shape, the starter clutch needs replacement as do the points. Leaking some oil. No front brake, rear brake just barely working. Currently has Harley pipes.

• Replaced battery
• Ordered points
• Ordered starter clutch
• Orderd all gaskets
• Ordered a 2-1 exhaust

Figuring out paint scheme, how much to modify the frame, working on the rear fender this weekend, considering handlebar style, and want to redesign the entire dashboard layout.

 

[dp9]

whoa, thats a pretty clean ride. nice place to start. love these big twins, cant wait to see another one go under the knife.

oh, and welcome!

 

[Vix]

whoa, thats a pretty clean ride. nice place to start. love these big twins, cant wait to see another one go under the knife.

oh, and welcome!

Thanks! I have to say I thought we had our work sort of cut out for us until I saw your project. What you have been able to do is just amazing! Very inspirational.

Thank you for the welcome!

 

[Fox]

Welcome, welcome!

Gotta agree, love big engine twins. Plan to get one my self some day.

Any ideas on dashboard layout? There's a guy on here that does custom gauge faces. Not sure the process to disassemble gauges on a Kawa, but from what I do know of it, it's easy. Just tedious. Might be an option to change things up a bit. His name is Sonreir. If you put that into the search function, something will come up. You can PM him or post in his "Custom Gauge Graphics" thread. I got a pair from the guy and I'll vouch for him. Great material and he went through multiple redesigns until I got it exactly how I wanted it. And only $25!

 

[Vix]

Thanks, Fox! Appreciate the info on Sonreir.

It's the entire panel with the speedo, tach, and indicator lights. I am looking for a sleeker look, we are probably going to do something totally custom. Still not sure if we are keeping the original speedo/tach but if we do they will need some repairs.

This wouldn't work but it's sort of headed where I think I'd like to go. Chrome, clean look, want the trip meter so I know when I need to start looking for a gas station, and I prefer the look of the lights here more than stock. I've found some gauges that offer the indicator lights right in the gauge itself. Still thinking about it and doing research.

 

[Fox]

Yeah, that's your best bet. Just keep looking. Somewhere out there is something that is exactly what you want. Trouble is finding it!

 

[Vix]

Thanks! We took the meters off today, found the bike has been dropped more than once and the meter bracket is broken but usable. Some of the other covers would need to be replaced. Most economical option right now is to modify what we have, replace the front cover with metal, and use LEDs instead to give a bit of a sleeker look.

More tear-down today. Some corrosion in the wiring harness connectors. Found missing screws in the dash, someone had evidently been in there before. Seems like the bike has been the "first bike" for a number of people. But still a good find, frame is good, forks, clutch, transmission, all appear ok.

Got metal for the rear fender and am researching seat options, think we will be making that ourselves. (We took our SV stock seats and converted them to gel seats a few years ago, they are awesome!) So probably a custom seat with foam and gel for the right look and a comfy ride.

 

[dp9]

oooooh, gel sounds fancy. im interested to see what that looks like as an end product and how complicated you can get with the design.

 

[Vix]

oooooh, gel sounds fancy. im interested to see what that looks like as an end product and how complicated you can get with the design.

We have design ideas but nothing final yet. We have a stock seat pan (pan only) on order to work with. The seat that came with the bike is in excellent shape so we'd like to sell it later, we are finding out how hard it is to find parts for this bike! Not impossible but challenging. We actually photographed the progress and wrote an article on the gel seat conversion for the other bikes, I probably have it archived somewhere that I can dig it up and maybe post on a blog somewhere. The gel made riding a totally different experience, my legs would ache after an hour or two of fairly solid riding and the gel made it a non-issue.

Anyway, if our seat design is on the simple side we may do the upholstery ourselves, if not we'll have the foam and gel shaped and ready and have someone else do the sewing.

More Progress
Have discussed tank/seat/fender layout and finally have arrived at a design. Marked the frame and cut the tail off; held up a seat with the fender to see how it's all going to look and it is coming together so nicely!! Also de-rusting the tank, it's not that bad but it will be better for the bike to be clean.

Have to say my boyfriend is awesome, every time I turn around he has disappeared into the garage again to work on something else or to look at something for an idea.

 

[VonYinzer]

Good to see progress. Looking forward to seeing your design come together. Do you guys have any plans for performance upgrades, or are you just focused on style for the time being?

 

[Vix]

Good to see progress. Looking forward to seeing your design come together. Do you guys have any plans for performance upgrades, or are you just focused on style for the time being?

A few performance upgrades in mind, nothing too drastic: 2-1 exhaust, tune the carbs, and K&N pods. One of the major factors in me looking at another bike was something to ride on more rural roads so this will also get dual sport tires.

And as we're chopping the bike it's making it lighter. We actually have access to a large scale that, when the project is done, we can put the bike on to see the end weight. Should be interesting, I think we found out today the dry weight is about 480lbs.

 

[VonYinzer]

Ah... So more "dual sport" or tracker than cafe? Cool...

 

[Vix]

Well, the look is kind of based on brat/cafe racer, but the tires should allow me to handle dirt roads better than my sport bike and save money on gas over a "cage."

 

[dp9]

mines about 385 if that gives you an idea. also, in tuning the carbs, youre going to need to enlarge the mian jets which will cause the mid range to be rich when the top end is well tuned. the air bleeds need to be larger to lean out the mid range. once i figure out the size they need to be, i'll letcha know, laugh.

 

[john83]

Any progress?