Kawasaki Zephyr 750 Restoration

phone pouch completed. Open/Closed

This 1993 Zephyr was a kind gift from my uncle. Based on the tax disc, it had been sitting since around 2009, meaning it potentially hadn’t run in 16 years (I'll have to check with my uncle for a more accurate timeline). Needless to say, it needed a lot of work.

Getting it home

I'd been wanting a motorbike project to work on for a few years, so when I was offered this, I said 'yes please'. I had to get it home—only a few miles—but it definitely wasn't going to get there under its own power. Thankfully, a mate had use of a work van and ramp, so he was able to help me transport it.

out the van To make our lives easier, my uncle had loosened the brakes so the wheels would turn. Seeing it roll gave the illusion that it wasn't going to be as big a job as I'd thought. But, once home and on the drive, the feeling of 'what have I just got' struck me. Everything was green, and something was leaking from around the fuel tank. It wasn't fuel, though—that was drained when it was parked up—this was water.
Although not a motorbike fan, my mate was still interested. We decided to see if connecting a battery would show signs of life, but here was the first problem, the seat catch had failed. The catch uses a plastic part against metal, and it had completely rounded off, stopping the seat from being freed. To remove the side covers, you really need to remove the seat, but with no other way in, I was able to carefully pry off a side panel. I can't remember which of us managed to pull the latch, but it was a struggle. Even with the panel removed, getting a hand or any tool to the catch lever was near impossible. Attaching a battery had no effect. A quick check of some initial wiring showed many wires were somehow disconnected. To make things worse, the gear shifter had 'welded' itself to the cover.

I now had a bike that had a tank full of water, a seized gear shifter, no working electronics, and a broken seat latch.

Getting Started

Its First Wash

after first wash Feeling a little overwhelmed with how much work seemed necessary, a good start seemed to be giving it a wash. It's amazing how much better a project seemed once the moss was gone.

Actually Getting Started

The Seized Shifter

Getting the shifter free was a bigger job than I had envisioned. Where it slots through the sprocket cover, the two had become one. I started with penetrating oil and prying the cover off—no luck. I tried adding heat—still no luck. In the end, a combination of oil, heat, prying the cover, and hammering the shaft finally got it starting to move.
It's not ideal to hammer on something that shouldn't move the way it's being hammered, but I couldn't think of (or find in any online forum) another way. All the wiggling and hammering unfortunately damaged the oil seal into the gearbox, causing a stream of oil, so I had to drain it prematurely.
I can only assume this was also the cause of some slight damage I found once inside the gearbox cover. Luckily, it wasn't anything that would cause issues, and I was able to just replace the seals and reinstall the cover. I left the sprocket cover off for the time being, just in case I had to remove it again later on.

Electrics, Fuel Tank, Stands, Carbs, Headlight... Well, a lot of things at once

With the shifter out of the way, I reconnected some wires, and that was all it needed to show some signs of life. A quick press of the starter button and it turned over a full revolution with ease—I didn't need to worry if the engine was seized anymore.
Next, I looked into draining the water out of the fuel tank. My dad had a 25-litre drum that I was able to drain it into. I removed the fuel line, but only a slow drizzle came out, it turns out the fuel tap was clogged, so my dad and I ended up syphoning it out instead.

Once it was drained as best as possible, I removed the fuel tap and washed the tank out. The inside wasn't bad—a little tarnished, but usable without needing to add any sealant or protector. I did have to hunt for a filter that had come off the tap inside the tank, which wasn't an easy task!
It turns out the water had got into the tank from moss pushing against the rubber seal around the filler port. This was an easy fix: I disassembled the fuel cap, cleaned it, reassembled it, and it was good to go. I also poked a wire through the drain port to ensure water couldn't pool around the filler cap again. Finally, I gave the tank a bit of fresh paint underneath after removing the rust, as well as around the filler neck to tidy it up.

Underside of fuel tank before painting Underside of fuel tank after prepping and painting

With the tank out of the way, I removed the airbox and the carburetors. This was a somewhat tricky task, as the rubber intake and airbox boots had become hard and brittle with age.
I started by removing the float bowls. I hadn't expected to find so much sediment —it was like sand inside. I gave them a thorough clean, checked that the floats still held their buoyancy, and ensured everything else inside was as clean as I could make it. I then moved on to the throttle linkage, which was stuck shut. With some cleaning, oil, and a lot of wiggling, I eventually got everything moving nice and smoothly again.

carb removed float bowl with sediment float bowl after 1 clean float bowl after 2nd clean
After reassembling, I put the carburetors back on the bike to see if I could coax some signs of life out of the engine (I had also added fresh oil by this point). I fed fuel into the carb fuel line via a funnel, but I didn't have any luck. Because there was fuel leaking directly out of the carburetor bodies, I decided it was time to order new intake boots to replace the brittle ones, along with a basic carburetor rebuild kit including new gaskets, pilot jets, and float needles. Seeing the condition of the carbs, I also disassembled the fuel tap. It was completely full of sediment. After cleaning it, I found it wouldn't hold back fuel when in the 'on' position. Since it is vacuum-controlled, the 'on' and 'res' positions require engine vacuum to flow —meaning the fuel should be off when the engine isn't running —while the 'prime' position bypasses that vacuum-operated stopper entirely. Because it wouldn't hold back fuel, it was leaking into the carbs even when the engine wasn't running, obviously, this is how the carbs ended up so full of water and debris in the first place.

With the nice weather, and while waiting for parts to arrive, I decided to tackle some cosmetic work. I painted the stands and the front wheel (since the tyres needed replacing anyway, I wasn't too worried about overspray), and I started working on the brakes. My dad gave me a hand, buffing the fuel tank, the rear shocks, and the chain guard.

Stands before painting Center stand after painting Front wheel after painting

Getting It Roadworthy

What I've ordered since starting this project

With the first of my orders having arrived, I set about changing the fork seals—only to realize I was missing the retaining clips, which meant yet more waiting. Once those were sorted, I replaced the intake boots, changed the spark plugs, and refitted the carbs.

After troubleshooting a connection issue, I finally got the bike to run, though it required a jumpstart. It turned out the new battery I had bought was faulty, it would drop below 9V under load, preventing a spark. It took me a while to figure that out, but thankfully I was able to get it replaced once I realized the problem.

I was still having issues with the brakes feeling a bit sticky and hoped that riding it (on a private track) would free them up —which worked, to an extent. It wasn't running perfectly, but it was at a point where I felt ready to get an MOT and enjoy some riding before the end of summer. However, the insurance companies put a stop to that, wanting over £700 a year, despite my other, more valuable and slightly more powerful bike costing me around £300 a year.

This put a real dent in my motivation to complete the project, and over the next few months, I only tinkered with it and started considering selling it—especially after having to fix my other bike when a deer jumped into me. Luckily, it was at a low speed, but it still cost over £100 in parts, not to mention the gear I had to replace.

Where is the project at now?

It took nearly five months —I initially thought it was only three, but looking at the dates on my photos, it really was five— for me to get back into the swing of things.

Since going back to it, I've rebuilt the front calipers, painted the frame, and had to clean the carburetors yet again.

With it still not running as it should, I now plan to check the valve clearances —something I probably should have done already- and then I'll look at finally getting it on the road.