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Kawasaki GPz 750 R1 1982
( The above pic is of a stock example ) Build History This was my first streetfighter project , in fact it was my first 'proper' bike I bought after passing my test. I bought it from my uncle as a stock 1982 Kawasaki GPz 750 R1 back in 1997, it only had 6000 miles on it , and I was a rust free Florida import. it was in nice enough nick , and completely standard apart from an American Kerker 4 into 1 exhaust system that , unusually ,exited on the wrong ( left ) side of the bike. I loved it , as it had the 'muscle bike' looks of the big Z1100 , and sounded the business too !. It wasn’t long before I learned to ride it properly and soon discovered its shortcomings in the handling department. I'd always messed around with cars in the past , and dabbled with a bit of rallying too – so I wasn't too scared to get my hands dirty , and start modifying the Zed . At the time I was working for an engineering firm , and had plenty of mates there to help me if there was something I couldn’t do on my own. A plan was formed , I wanted a cool streetfighter , with upgraded suspension to improve the handling , and I wanted it to have an Eddie Lawson influence , the icon of the muscle bike era - but subtly modernised. The first steps to a streetfighter !
Lots of things going on in my dads shed ! .Now sporting the obligatory alloy MX bars ,and cut down 'Lawson' style seat , getting ready to fit the twin headlamps and replace the tired Kerker 4:1 pipe. The first step was to ditch the American spec clocks ( they maxed out at 55 mph !) and replace them with some UK GPz1100 ones , In true Streetfighter style it had to have some twin headlamps too. I also junked the stock bars ( horrible clip on type things ) with some proper risers and some alloy MX bars - I even splashed out on new grips!. I got a bargain with a new belly pan out of a local free ad's paper - which also came up trumps with a brand new 'Lawson' style cut down seat ! Then came the 'Big' step - to monoshock it . I removed the stock swinger , and measured all the necessary dimensions - armed with all the info I needed I toured the breakers for a suitable replacement , eventually a box section ally jobbie from a GPZ600R was found to be close enough - it came with the shock & linkage too which was ideal , because the whole lot cost just £35 - perfect for my meagre budget !. I made some new bushes for the spindle and soon had it fitted to the frame the next step was to mount the lower linkage , and the upper shock mount . I had some new steel brackets machined up and welded to the frame with my mates Arc welder - not pretty I know, but plenty strong enough ! , I copied the geometry of all the mounting points from the GPZ600R , and luckily , everything worked as it should , I ran it around like that for a while ( still with the original zed 18" wheel on the back and 19" on the front ) , I saved up and got a shiny chrome Harris 4:1 'Works' exhaust system to replace the tired looking Kerker , and fitted a race baffle to it. I then replaced the crappy headlamps (actually spot lamps from a car scrap yard !) which some decent chrome bates shells ,in which, I fitted Cibié lamp units blagged from an auto jumble. It was about this time , that I gave the old Zed a bit of a make over - polishing and painting all the bits that needed it , adding a few trick bits , and generally tarting it up. Stage One Complete !
twin headlamps fitted along with a belly pan ,a Harris 'Works' exhaust and converted to monoshock rear suspension with a GPZ600R swingarm & linkage After the summer it came off the road again , and I met up with a chap called Tim Neale* at Evesham Streetfighters - we discussed at 'fat back wheel' conversion and a brace on the alloy swingarm .I sourced a GSXR750K back wheel complete with carrier and disc , Tim modified it to fit the swingarm. He also braced the swingarm at the same time , and I polished it up - lovely ! . As the Zed was running 630 chain and the gixxer was 532 , I had a bespoke alloy sprocket made by sprockets unlimited , which fitted the GSXR wheel , but was a 630 pitch to match the zeds chain . It took a fair bit of head scratching to work out the correct number of teeth for the gearing - I'd gone from a skinny 18" rear wheel with a high profile tyre to a fat 17" wheel with a low profile tyre - luckily I'd worked it all out correctly (one off sprockets aren't cheap - and you cant take them back !). With the new wheel in and the GSXR calliper mounted underneath , the conversion was complete .This improved the look of the bike no end , and I remounted the tail lamp further inboard to help emphasize the new FAT back wheel. I painted the front wheel to match the back , and ran it around like that until the winter, whilst I saved up some more funds to sort the front end out and the paintwork. A Fat Rear End !
After a few mods , the 17" x 4J rear wheel from an '89 GSXR750 just squeezes in !,swing arm is now 'double' braced and polished Lady luck crossed my path in the form of a very cheap complete bandit 1200 front end .All I had to do , to fit it was to press the stem out of the Zed bottom yoke & machine it to suit the bandit yoke. The whole front end , then just plopped straight in , complete with the 3 spoke 17" front wheel ( to match the GSXR rear ) .I also used the Bandit 12 discs , callipers and master cylinder too. Finally the suspension and brakes had been dragged kicking and screaming into the 90's ! .I got a set of K&N air filters and a Dynojet kit for it too. I had some contacts in the rally car world , which is where most of the Goodridge braided hosing came from for all the brake & oil lines. I replaced the stock oil cooler with a trick earls one on some ally brackets that I fabricated and polished at work. I got hold of a Daytona steering damper , then the next thing on the list was to fit an aircraft filler cap to the fuel tank and a breather to complete the overall effect. And a Funky front end !
The whole front end from a Bandit 1200 is grafted on fairly easily All the planned modifications & fabrication was now pretty much done . I ripped the bike apart and gave the panels to my mate Keith of Nasty Paint. His brief was simple I wanted a Eddie Lawson replica paint job , but with a modern 'twist'. Keith came up trumps and sprayed the lot in Kawasaki Lime Green , then airbrushed the Electric Pearl Blue & Pearl White stripes in a 'wavy flag' style down the length of the panels and on the belly pan. All the badges were removed & the holes filled . The logos were all airbrushed on to keep everything as smooth as possible. Then the whole lot was covered in clear lacquer , finally about 4 coats of multi pearl lacquer was applied and then polished by hand. Whilst Keith was doing this , the bike was stripped back to the bare frame ,The stock footrests on the Zed were big ugly things , so I fabricated new mounts to accept bandit 1200 front and rear footrest assemblies , I replaced all the pegs with anodised alloy ones too. Then, along with all the other non-alloy parts on the bike, I had the frame powder coated black. Everything that was alloy , I mirror polished myself . The engine was treated to a rebuild , including the fitment of a later unitrak 750 head ( bigger valves and hotter cams ) , once built up it too was treated to a lick of paint and more polishing, it was fitted back into the frame together with some Dyna coils and Taylor leads . The bike was then built back up , replacing all the fasteners with stainless steel ones ( which again , I hand polished all the heads on ) , all the usual stuff was replaced , like wheel bearings & suspension bushes etc. Finally after another 3 months of languishing in my dads shed , the old Zed emerged triumphantly . FINISHED ! Ta Daa !!!!
Painted , Polished and ready for the road The Zed 750 now looked exactly as I wanted it to , and a few runs on the Dyno soon sorted out the fuelling , so it went as good as it looked. Once on the road , it was obvious that the handling and braking has been transformed. I sent some pics into Streetfighters Magazine , and they liked it so much ,the sent a photographer around to take some pics . I was told to expect to see in the mag 'sometime in the future'.............. . Along with my dad , my younger bother Dean , had helped me a lot during the build of the Zed , and had caught the streetfighter bug too . Now that my bike was finished , and there was some room in the garage , we started on the next project - a streetfightered GSXR 750 G for Dean. Eventually Streetfighters Magazine rang me up , and said my bike would be in the next issue. Sure enough I had a 4-page feature in issue 68 . Now , I enjoy the building of the bikes , just as much as I do riding them - with my Zed finished & after helping Dean with his bike , I was left twiddling my thumbs with nothing to do but ride the Zed and give it the occasional polish . By now I had owned it for nearly four years , I'd got used to the power of the old air cooled z750 engine & felt the need for more performance than I could coax out of the old girl .I kept it for a another summer then I sold it as a result of the feature in the mag . So , armed with a wad of dosh I went hunting for my next streetfighter project .After riding Deans GSXR750 and comparing it to my Zed 750 I knew one thing , it should be a GSXR - in fact it HAD to be a GSXR , but (not to be outdone by my younger brother )I wanted an 1100 ! I soon found a suitable bike - and started my next project - The blue Suzuki GSXR 1100M
*Evesham Streetfighters ceased trading in 1999 . Tim Neal was an extremely talented & creative engineer and the man that owned and ran the company. Unfortunately Tim died early on in 2003 after a long battle with cancer. Rest in Peace Tim.
Kawasaki GPz 750 R1 1982
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