82 kawasaki kz750 twin - my first bike

well i ended up trading my project truck for this kz750 due to lack of funds/time for a project, i think this will make a good substitute until im ready for another project. I have ridden a few street bikes before but never more then a mile or 2 at a time and ive ripped around on a 125 dirt bike for a while before but have never really had a real bike.

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its a 82 kz750 twin. it has a kz1000 swing arm thats been stretched 6", cut of stock pipes, and a unknown gas tank from another kawasaki. runs and rides great besides that the petcock will only turn with pliers (to tight to turn by hand) and it needs a tach cable and a battery but it does have a kick start so thats what im using until i shell out for a battery (pretty much always starts in 1 - 2 kicks anyways).

i really dig the extended swing arm but im trying to figure out how i want it to end up, with the longer arm it hits the fender if you have any wheel travel so it has solid struts on it right now. what i have been thinking is that i would like to bob the back off right behind the shock mounts and make it a single seat and a swing arm mounted fender. then find the right length shocks and with the back part cut off the wheel will be able to move up without any issues. here is a rough idea of what i was thinking (got bored at work haha):

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let me know what you guys think and if you have any suggestions.

Thanks!

Cut the seat down or make your own from a plank of wood.

Almost everyone cuts the fender off, or rotates it around the tire so the little kick-up is near the top. Sorta like our old Schwin bicycles. To be different, you could play with a fender mounted to the swing arm that rises and falls with the tire.

foxtrapper wrote: To be different, you could play with a fender mounted to the swing arm that rises and falls with the tire.

This, its pretty much what has been done in the sportbike world for the last 15+ years with our factory "hugger" fenders.

yea the swing arm mounted fender is what i was thinking, just gotta find a good way to mount it

take a look over at kzrider there is a bunch of great info on these bikes and a bunch of builds that others have done.

i love my 550 ltd

They were unusual bikes even when new, Kawasaki just didn't sell very many of them. If it were mine I'd find a stock swingarm and put decent shocks on it, with the extended rear and struts I can't imagine it's safe to ride.

well the bike had been running good up until about a week ago when the right cylinder was not running right and popping a lot, took the fuel line off the tank and the gas that came out of the line was orange im guessing i got a little rust in the carb so looks like it time to clean out the tank and carbs.

also ive decided that im gonna keep the extended swing arm and cut the back of the frame off so that the rear tire can move and just use a single seat, kind of a bobber/cafe look. ive found a cheap set of shocks that are what i need but i havent heard much about them, didnt know if you guys have any experience with RFY shocks

and also down the road i would like to build a 2-1 intake manifold for the simplicity of having just 1 carb and was wondering what a common single ~750 carb with good aftermarket support to look for would be?

Thanks!

the basic idea of the 2-1 manifold for reference (not mine, random google search)

if you want completely to berkeley it up make that manifold. how the hell does anyone expect the right side to get the same mixture as the left with the 45 and the T fitting it just an'it going to work right.

As for RFY shocks they leave a lot to be desired but can be made to work well but by the time your done you should have just bought a set of used Ohlins and had them gone through by a pro. Me I've done a bit of fooling with them but I have a full machine shop. you can read up on them in the link below. They do work out of the box but there is loads of air and crap fluid inside. I have about 50 hours in to my race set and I'm still not done. http://www.caferacer.net/forum/technical/22408-cheap-e-bay-shocks.html

i get what your saying on the manifold, the others i have seen dont have the 45, they run it straight back which would have an equal length from the carb to both ports. but i dont think the T fitting would be much of an issue if both ports are an equal length from it, harley intake manifolds are almost a T shape and they seem to work alright

Kawasaki knew a thing or two about performance back then. I vote to keep the carbs stock with a comprehensive cleaning of everything.

yea if its not worth the trouble then ill keep the factory carbs, i just liked the simplicity a single carb would give, although 2 is much simpler then 4 so i cant complain to much.

also i have some pod filters that came with the bike, are they worth the trouble of re-jetting or just keep the air box?

In reply to edizzle89:

If you're already in there and there's "good known jetting info" out there on what to run with them. I ran them on my GS because I got tired of pulling the airbox when I had to futz with the carbs again (because of rust issues. Just lean the hell out of everything in the fuel system, don't be lazy like I was and band-aid symptoms).

yea not taking the air box out maybe worth it by itself haha ill look into recommended jet sizes for pods.

Thanks again guys!

well its been a busy cold winter so far and i didnt get much done on the bike until a this last week. i found the info that i needed about jets to run with pods and open pipes so i got the carbs rebuilt (rebuilding 2 carbs is a lot more fun then 4 ), 50 mains and 135 secondarys with "canada only" needles and seats. the bike starts way easier now and runs really well, i wasnt able to ride though since it was already partially tore part so we will see how it rides later

I've also started to cut out the back frame so that i can get rid of the solid struts and run shocks again and not have to worry about the rear tire hitting anything. here are a few pictures of the process, still have to weld the hoop back into the frame and get the new rear tire mounted. after that it will just be putting the new shocks on and some general maintenance and it should be ready for summer!

heres the full back frame before being cut

back hoop cut off that will be moved up, will be using the mount on it for the brake light

next section cut off, this part will get scrapped

this is roughly what it will end up looking like, i think i will probably mount it at more of an upward angle, i will also cap the open section thats under the tube

here is a rough mock-up of what the finished product will look like, i dig it

some of my buddies helping me though it would be funny to help "improve" my bike with the old wind jammer and a 255 car tire

I like that wind jammer

well i got the bike wrapped up for now, got the rear tire changed, rear hoop welded back on, and seat cut down. I am going to rework the seat a bit to give it a better shape in the back but its functional for now. also need to turn the coils up a bit more, the tire rubs on the hoop a bit on big bumps

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besides getting the back of the seat shape a little better the next thing is to figure out a rear swing arm mounted fender and paint

Looks good!

What's your opinion on those shocks?

In reply to edizzle89:

For the fender, weld some 90* tabs to each side of the fender so it can mount to the top of the swing arm. It won't need to go under the swing arm at all, so that should give you a good starting point.

Whereabouts in Indiana are you btw?

the shocks seem ok to me, but coming from having solid struts in there before its a world of difference, they are still firm which is what i wanted but still have some give over big bumps. for 100 bucks i think they were a pretty good deal for what i need them for.

and for the rear fender i think the fender will have to start at the top of the tire and go back since there isnt much clearance between the tire and rear hoop. i need to start looking around at old bike fenders to see if i can find one the right diameter that i can chop up

and Yamaha im down in Columbus, IN

also forgot to give an update after the carb rebuild and pods. now that ive been able to ride it a couple times i can confirm that the jets and needles i got were the right choice. it runs from idle to wide open up to redline without missing a beat. couldnt have went much better for my first carb rebuild/jetting.

In reply to edizzle89:

Ahh, damn southerner....

Glad you got it running good, I'm not much help with finding a fender, as everyone I know just orders new fenders when they fubar theirs.

The look of the seat will make or break your build.

http://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/c168/buy/seats-amp-pillions/

thats a good point, i just like the stock seat basically for the pan, how it hinges and locks with the stock key and covers the helmet lock.

i need to mess around with adding some foam back to my seat to give the back side of it a better shape, i think that will help alot