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1982 Kz750E

5K views 37 replies 10 participants last post by  mack74 
#1 ·
Hi everyone! I've made a couple comments to posts but this is my first post about my bike. Brief history of me: went through riding class 2 weeks ago, am now legal :smile: I'm a chick, short and lightweight, lol. My last experience with auto/engine work was when I was a kid somewhere around 25 years ago I used to help my dad work on his POS '67 Ford Pickup, lol. I am basically too cheap to pay someone else what I can do myself and have found I love working on the bike.

I got a 1982 Kx750E last Thursday night, 12595 miles. When I got it, the paint (someone painted it with a a Chameleon paint job, but no primer coat) was dull, it ran like crap, wouldn't really idle for more than 10 seconds on its own without some pressure on the throttle. Front brakes didn't work. Here I am, after working on it around nine hours over four days and I have it looking a heck of a lot better and running pretty good.

I have:
drained carbs
cleaned out front brake lines and brake fluid resevoir
2 gallons of "the good gas"
2 qts of "the good oil"
added fuel system cleaner to the gas
added engine cleaner to the oil
Washed twice
Waxed five times - once with some gentle scratch remover/rubbing compound on the tank to some gas overflow spill tracks
wheel and tire cleaner
Chrome polished all chrome once (Blue Job Chrome cleaner is some amazing stuff!)
replaced a non-firing spark plug
restarted, worked choke while spraying copious amounts of carb cleaner
Adjusted idle
WD-40'd dang near every moving part at least once

Still have to air up the tires, replace grips (Well, I got irritated with the crappy split foam grips and ripped them off), and replace mirrors - one has broken glass, they both look like crap, just don't like 'em. Oh, and for whatever reason, my clutch lever is black and the brake lever is silver, lol. Which are they supposed to be???

The brakes now work great. She runs nice, idles around 900-1100 rpm with no throttle pressure. Still getting a few pops and backfires, but I think that will disappear as she is ran and gets the good gas/oil and cleaners through. Oh, forgot to mention, she's been parked mostly for the last 7 years before I got her, has a 2002 plate on it. Do you folks think I am right about the clearing of the popping/backfires as she runs more?

Question about the chain: I have some play from side to side at the back wheel. Enough that it makes me wonder if it has the right chain on it or not. Anyone have one of these that can tell me how to figure that out? Or is there anything I can do the reduce the side-to-side play, or is it supposed to be like that?

All right, here is a before and after clean up photo and I am sure I will come up with more questions! Love this forum. Have already found a lot of great helpful info!

BEFORE 4/24/09:



AFTER 4/27/09:
 
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#3 ·
Sea Foam is what I have :) I drained the carb bowls, which were not gummy or nasty at all, but the gas was old. There was very little gas in the tank, and very little oil in the bike. The Sea Foam stuff is rated for use in both fuel and oil while running.
It is sounding lots better. Haven't had it out yet, was going to air up the tires and take her out today and it's rained all day. Grrr. I will hopefully be able to tell after I run her a few miles on whether I have fuel issues still, but she is idling great at this point, which is something I could not say when I got her. I am cautiously optimistic that I'm not going to have to dismantle the carbs completely. I am going to have to pull the tank at some point and will probably see what the carbs look like from the top then.
We are talking probably 1/8" or more of side to side play in the chain at the back sprocket.......
 
#4 ·
Welcome aboard!

Most excellent write up and congrats on joining us in the KZ madness.

As for the chain, it's likely an O-ring chain which is designed to keep the grease in the roller links and the dirt out. As the O-rings age they will get brittle and break up and fall out leaving a considerable gap between the side plate links and the roller links. I've wheeled a project bike around and littered the garage floor with bits of old O-rings from the chain.
 
#5 ·
I'll try to get a decent pic of the chain from the top and see if you can tell the size of the gap/amount of play, Nate. Thanks for the suggestion, tho, I'll def check that out.
Any idea on the non-matching clutch/brake levers? There were several dif 750 models that year, at least one had black levers. I have been largely unsuccessful in finding a lot of info on the 750E. As it turns out the E's were only made in 6 months as an 82 model. Go figure. I'm assuming then, that no changes were made from the 81 E model.....
 
#8 ·
For degreasing aluminum or other metal, WD40 and an old tooth brush actually works quite well. Simple Green or other mild detergent will clean it up afterward. To polish the aluminum Mothers polish is probably about the best along with a lot of elbow grease. To clean and brighten the chrome I like NEVR-DULL as it'll even clear up light surface rust.

On the levers, my guess is that the E would have natural aluminum while the GPz would've had black levers.
 
#10 ·
Great job on the old girl! Get a set of buffing wheels that can be used with a drill and some stick polish (rouge) . That will speed polishing the aluminum bits greatly. Follow up with the Mothers polish.
 
#11 ·
Picked up some Mothers Aluminum Polish yesterday - in paste form, figure I'd have better luck with the paste form, since the Blue Job powder/paste worked so well on the chrome. I got a pleasant surprise last night with the fins, though. Check out the bottom half of this pic as opposed to the tp half. All of the crappy looking coroded junk now looks like the bottom of that pic.



I was fairly amazed that I could manage that with me, a shop rag, and a can of WD-40...I love that stuff.

Big project of the day (weekend??): I'm pulling the tank and the carbs...after sitting for seven years I am thinking that may take care of any residual popping, fuel sucking, and, uhm, the fuel I discovered in the oil in the case last night when I drained that.....

Have an air filter on the way, should be here about the time I figure out how to get the carbs back together. :)

I am also looking into how much it is going to cost me for a paint job on the tank, side covers, front fender, and back fairing/brake housing. As far as I can tell there was no primer coat put on under its current paint so stripping shouldn't be too rough and I am going to carry the parts into wherever paints them to save on tear down labor. What would be a reasonable cost to expect? Nothing flashy, just a nice solid dark color with maybe a bit of silver contour pinstriping on the tank, front fender, and side covers.

Thanks to everyone who has made comments, and for all the "atta girl" comments I have gotten over the last week, it makes a differnece!
 
#12 ·
Heh, we cheer everyone on who makes an effort of resurrecting these old bikes. All of us started at that "Huh? What's this stage". A good thread like this will inspire those who come along later.
 
#15 ·
How Do I Get These D**n Screws Loose?????

Looking Lapis Blue, House of Kolor BC05.....

New issue, guys! :)

I got the tank pulled (pics to come later) and am working on getting the carb tops off to see how bad things are in there. 4 tops, 4 screws in each. Would you believe that I have 2 of each set of 4 screws out. Each of the other two on each top is rusty, stuck, and/or some various stage of being stripped. After 30 mines messing with 8 screws and getting nowhere I decided to come in and ask the experts ;)
 
#16 ·
Remove the whole rack of carbs. Place it on a solid workbench and block them so they are vertical and stable. Using a new screwdriver that fits tightly in the screw twist for tension and tap the handle of the screwdriver as if you are driving a nail into the screw. It may take a bit of time for the frozen screws to break free. Once you do get them out be very careful removing the tops. If you tear a diaphragm they are extremely expensive. On my bike I left the tops on and just cleaned the lower section of the carbs.
 
#18 ·
Yours looks good red! I ordered a set of chrome mirrors and chrome/black grips to bring out the chrome in mine a bit, plus once it's painted - a deep metallic blue with simple silver pinstriping - the pinstripe will pop with the chrome.
It's nice to see how mine can turn out if I keep plugging away :)
 
#20 ·
aluminum polish

I found the cutting compound and jewelers rouge through Eastwood and bought the polishing wheels for a handheld drill that worked wonders. Made mine look like it had new parts on it, actually polished better then new ones because they didn't come with this look. Mine is a 78 KZ750 twin. A guy gave it too me just to get it out of his Mom's back yard.
 
#22 ·
ER - thanks!! I will be sure to check that out - any idea where one can find a couple of the KZ750 emblems that go on the side covers? Mine didn't come with those when I bought it, lol. No telling where they are!

GPZRider - Where are you out down here? I can tell you know the area fairly well!! I'm in Bedford....don't supposed you are the guy I've sen riding around on the dark colored Kawi this week are ya? That would be too funny.....

*amy*
*mack74*
 
#23 ·
Check with bike boneyard or Roger at motorcycle center and also oldmankaw. I think he sells the side covers with the emblems though. You can also check some other sites. When I get a chance I will look at some I have saved. Check you messages this weekend. I will send them to it if I can find some.
 
#25 ·
I was in Vincennes but have recently moved to Mount Vernon. My friends and I ride out your way quite a bit. We usually ride out 50 from Vincennes, stop at the overlook in Shoals just past Jug Rock, and than down 450. We take a break at the dam, and then it's on to Bedford. Lunch at the Golden Corral in Bedford and then back down 50 to Shoals again. A short hang out at Bo Mac's and then it's time to take 150, either to Paoli and back to Bedford via 63 to bring 50 back to Vincennes, or to catch 56 in French Lick and cut back home through Jasper and 257 back to Washington.

There are no highways any where else in the state that offer the curves and beauty of your area. There is nothing like riding through the shadows of the Hoosier National Forest on a warm spring/summer day or seeing the leaves change and smelling the cool damp woods in the fall from the seat of a bike. But be careful, 450 often has gravel drug out in the corners and 50 often has damp spots hiding in the shadows of the corners. But, alas, I am not your dark Kawasaki rider. I currently ride a Yamaha for long runs and haven't made it your way yet this year.

Joe
 
#26 ·
Amy, as far as the parts for your bike, there are three good places for parts in in Indiana. Cycle-Re-Cycle and Cycle-Re-Cycle 2 both in Indianapolis on 38th about a block apart and Jim's Cycle Salvage in Evansville just off Diamond Avenue. In Kentucky, you have Green's Cycle Salvage which is one of the largest motorcycle scrap yards in the US. Green's and Cycle-Re-Cycle 2 are on the web.

Joe
 
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