1982 GPZ750 (KZ750r1) - An Opportunity in Learning and Bonding

I'd check/adjust the valves before attempting to start it.  The valves tighten with mileage, and hanging open valves are somewhat common on neglected bikes.  It's something that must be done, so do it before getting too far down the road with other things.  Doing a compression check is not an effective way to judge valve condition either, other than checking for previous damage.

I keep thinking to ask this, but also keep spacing it. When comparing my bike to others on here and to service manuals and such, I have found what looks to be an anomaly on mine. As you can see in the attached image, there is this silver loop sticking out of the frame. When pulled out, it is on the end of a 4ft long plastic coated wire cable that hits a stop at some point and can't be removed. Is this a normal part of these motorcycles? Kinda makes me think of an integrated bike lock. But again, I haven't seen it on any other pictures or diagrams. 

It is indeed an integrated lock (can’t say I’ve ever seen one still in place after 40+ years:)

Yep, it was sold as an accessory by Kawasaki.

Yes, as mentioned, a Cable Lock.
I found one on eBay, but it left the box in shipment.

A mechanic friend was talking about them, and he gave a warning that he had seen some bikes with the cable develope rust in the frame, and the area around the sidestand getting weak.
 

rstnick wrote:

Yes, as mentioned, a Cable Lock.
I found one on eBay, but it left the box in shipment.

A mechanic friend was talking about them, and he gave a warning that he had seen some bikes with the cable develope rust in the frame, and the area around the sidestand getting weak.

 

I could see that. I've pulled the cable all the way out to it's stop and there doesn't appear to be obvious signs of dangerous rust. Any recommendations for how I can make sure to prevent rust in there?

The classic car guys use cavity wax in box sections that can’t be accessed 

This is the stuff to use...

   

A lot of airplane guys, and I, use this.

www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pnpages/09-00364.php


it also makes a good drive chain lube for sealed chains (X, W, Z ring, etc).

Thanks for all the input guys, I really appreciate it

Took some time last night to work on carb #2. I had planned to do that on Monday, but a hose bib decided to start leaking into my wall. Spent a couple hours digging into my basement wall to find the leak, cut out the section of bad pipe, and sweat in a new line for the hose bib. That took my whole evening for motorcycle stuff. The joys of being my own landlord, right?

Back to Carb #2. I got it all disassembled and into the ultrasonic. This one was significantly cleaner than #1. No oxidation anywhere, and just a small bit of gummy fuel in the bowl. Came out sparkling from the ultrasonic. Little did I know, I missed something.  



These little shits... the spring and ball detent for the choke rod. Completely forgot they are in carbs 2 and 3. Didn't notice until I picked up the carb body and saw the spring sitting there on my rag. Immediately panicked, carefully placed the spring in the tray and began searching for the ball. Nowhere to be seen on the rag or table. Thankfully I kept my head and determined that it most likely fell out into the ultrasonic. I carefully scooped out enough water that I could see the bottom of the pan and immediately noticed the ball in the corner. It got placed in the tray with the spring. Gotta love a nice heart attack. 
Once everything was back together, I carefully placed the spring and ball in their place, and thoroughly taped all openings they could escape from to prevent loosing them again.
 
 
Before cleaning, there's enough dirt and stuff to keep them from running off, but being clean, they want to escape. I'll be sure to pay better attention on carb #3. I have made sure that it is still in place for now. 

Finally, I pulled all the spark plugs and took a look into each of the cylinders. I was able to see that each is pretty clean. No concerning rust, pistons move well, valves open and close well and they look to be in ok condition. Far left cylinder looks a little dirty, but otherwise is good. I'm guessing that everything is good enough to spin up once my keys and battery come in. 


 

You did well to find the choke de-tents

Wookie58 wrote:

You did well to find the choke de-tents

I am so glad I found the one that fell out. I remember I was watching a video about the carb disassembly after I had pulled them from the machine and had removed the choke rod. When they mentioned the detents, I immediately panicked and went to look for them. Thankfully they hadn't fallen out of the carb body yet. So they were safe. Now I just have to make sure  to not lose them before I can get things back together.