new old kz750

hey guys
Have a 78 kz750 barn find. been sitting for years. going to tear it down and refresh it.
Anyone have any suggestions as to wear to get good parts for this bike and maybe also a little about getting a little more performance out of it at the same time?

Thanks

Restoration?? Cafe?? Chopper?? what are your plans? Z1 Enterprises excellent parts supplier. I was considering a chopper build KZ750 ( see attached for rear frame sections)

www.voodoovintage.com/frames.html

Z1
Old Bike barn
Bike bandit

You will need a factory manual.

Welcome!

I would not recommend a chopper, why make a bike handle worse? Try to resist hacking up an old bike for some fad...

Like everybody here will tell you: get a factory service manual, order stuff from Z1 Enterprises.

How's your garage situation? Got tools and space? Done this sort of thing before? How long have you been riding & wrenching?

750 twins aren't screaming missiles, but they make decent torque and they're smooth and they're reliable. Pretty easy to live with. There aren't a lot of hop up parts available, most people just make them run and enjoy them for what they are. The old joke is that you can dump the clutch with a fat girl on the back and the bike will happily chug away.

Put up lots of pictures!

Thanks for the welcomes and advice so far. Have a decent shop area with tools. Mostly diesel mechanic I've done some gasser engines never a bike before. I'd like to restore the bike it's all original was maybe thinking if there was a small performance benifit sorta hidden like a slight cam or head or carb upgrade I would do. No wild things

No hot cams, no forged pistons, there may be a 2-into-1 exhaust to fit that bike, but don't hold your breath.
[Edit: A quick perusal of eBay shows a couple of Mac exhausts for your bike.]
There might be a little more power to be had by polishing the exhaust ports.

The best thing you can do to that bike is to go through and clean everything, put in new seals & bearings wherever you can, nice tires, new chain & sprockets (I don't recall if the twins came with 630 chain, but switching to 530 will get you a little extra go), LED bulbs all around and braided stainless brake lines.

It's a bit of an old man's bike: neither too exciting nor too boring.
Think of it like an improved version of an old Bonneville or Sportster.

Also, your bike probably has wire wheels, yeah? Set up a truing stand with a dial indicator (clamp the axle to a couple jack stands), make sure your wheels are still round and straight. I did that on my dad's Suzuki, made a huge difference.
Shinko makes a good tire that won't break your wallet.
Also, instead of "old man's bike" I should have said, "respectable gentleman's bike".

Of course, there are exceptions...



When you don't have many options for increasing output, the best method of improving the power to weight ratio is to add lightness.

Original is cool. Does it still have the original paint? Here's one color; there were others too. Ed

650ed wrote: Original is cool. Does it still have the original paint? Here's one color; there were others too. Ed

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That's exactly what mine looked like when I bought it new in '79.

Spend the xtra $ and by nos parts if possible, especially gaskets and such. There's a local speed shop by me where the owner has been hoarding this type of stuff for years. You'll pay for it, but better to do it once then mess it up with cheap parts from god-knows-where.

DesertKZ wrote: Spend the xtra $ and by nos parts if possible, especially gaskets and such. There's a local speed shop by me where the owner has been hoarding this type of stuff for years. You'll pay for it, but better to do it once then mess it up with cheap parts from god-knows-where.

I guess you've never ordered anything from Z1 Enterprises...