Hello from San Antonio, Texas!

Hello fellow members! Well just about a month ago I decided to purchase a very cheap, basket-case-of a 1980 KZ750 Twin for a long-term project. Cool thing is it was born the same year I was. It's all in tact and not seized up, but needs to be completely restored. I assume it will take quite a while to complete, but I'm definitely looking forward to it and I'm in no huge hurry. With help from my father (a life-long mechanic) along with some other close friends/family and of course you all, I am confident this will be an enriching experience.

A little about myself now. I was born and raised in Texas. As a kid, I did ride dirt bikes, but until about 5 years ago, I never owned a bike as an adult. Now I have a 2003 HD Sportster, XL1200C that I ride pretty regularly and now this old thing. I was in the USAF for 4 years as a F-15 avionics technician and after I got out, I worked in IT. I sort of got burned out in IT, so I've decided to go back to school to get my FAA A&P license to work on airplanes again. There's nothing like working with your hands in a skilled trade. I'm no great mechanic and I plan on strengthening my skills along the way. Great to be here!

I just wanted to say howdy and welcome to KZR! I was born in Hondo and grew up in Kerrville. I live just north of Houston now. Nice to see more Texans on the forum.

By the way, that pic was taken by the previous owner in his back yard. As of now, I'm working on de-rusting the fuel tank. I've had decent results with bb's, a tumble dryer, and Jasco's Metal Prep, but it keeps flash rusting. Think I'll have to Kream the tank (reluctantly). Also, I'm just getting into troubleshooting why it won't start (no spark or spark that is so faint I can't tell). I did purchase a new battery and plugs. I bought new breaker contacts because the previous ones were rusted out. The old coil has the correct resistance through the primary & secondary windings (eventually I'll replace it). I get voltage spike to the plug wires when kicking, but no good spark. I have a lot of small things to do to continue my troubleshooting process. I'll post to the appropriate threads when I get to it. My goal is to try to get it started first and then I'll strip the whole bike down and replace major parts as required. Take it easy everyone and have a good week.

Right on Testarossa. I appreciate the welcome. My sister lives north of Houston as well. Small world it seems...

BTW don't do the Kreem. You'll grow to hate that stuff. Try the POR 15 kit.

It's awfully hard to keep the bare steel inside those tanks from flash rusting. After I cleaned mine, I shot a coat of WD40 in there, but mine went into service right away after the cleaning.

I think I'm going to hold off on the tank for a while until I figure out the no spark issue. The Jasco did a good job of converting the rust and didn't seem to rust right away. After that, I tried mixing fuel with motor oil to coat the tank to get the acid out. A few days later, after I washed it out with regular fuel and put new fuel in for test starting, it flash rusted again. Major PITA. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm being really cheap right now. I'll have to jump on the correct thread later about this because as you stated, I'd hate to put Kreem in there.

I to live in Sa tx have a 78 kz1000 if u need help with things I'm more than happy to help

Pm me if need help

Thanks crock62! That's great having someone close by (Actually, I live in Cibolo, but you know it's a small town close by SA). I'll keep you in mind as I go along. My dad is supposed to come by either Mon or Tues to help me check a few things. He and his brother grew up riding bikes and have a great deal of mechanical knowledge as well. I'll message you if we have any specific questions that cannot be resolved by experience or research. I have an online manual I found for free somewhere online so that should help as well. It has a supplement for the 1980 G1.

welcome and enjoy the site!

Few more pics... Yep, she's rough, but I've definitely seen worse.

Welcome jvinyard! Testarossa lives north of Houston, I live south of Houston. Nice project you have...take your time...you may become close with eBay as there is not a lot of new aftermarket available for the 750 twins. BTW, there is also a 750 twin forum run by a fellow named 'Steele'...you might want to explore the web to find it.

I couldn't find a quick thread for asking this question, so I figured this would be my first real question for you guys (please follow below). If there's a thread for this, please point me in the right direction.

When I got this bike here in San Antonio, the owner didn't have a title (they said they bought it from an estate sale in which the owner had passed and his family members couldn't find the title). So the person I bought it from didn't have it registered either. Anyways, they gave me a bill of sale and I got the bike pretty darn cheap. I knew while buying it that the bike had a short VIN number (13 digits?) since it was made prior to the 17-digit mandate. Anyways, I called the TX DMV and also tried doing a VIN search online but no one could verify the VIN. I'm hoping it's not from out of state/country. Does anyone have experience registering a bike through the bonded title process or something similar to this? I did check the TX DMV site and there is a process for it, but I though I'd check with you guys first. I would hate to pour a ton of money into a bike without being able to get it legally registered. Hopefully, this will not have to become a part-out bike. Normally, I wouldn't think about buying a bike without a title, but this was too hard to pass up in my opinion. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!