TOPIC:

Hi again everyone. Lots of small progress over the last few days. Nothing terribly big or exciting, but I wanted to post anyway.
Here’s an explanation of the photos:
1. Repaired ignition wiring. I’ve decided to use the stock instrument cluster, but I’m lowering it 2-1/4” for a cleaner look across the top line of the bike.
2. Template for the aluminum triangular mount plates for the rear sets.
3. Template for the steel plate that gets welded to the frame and the aluminum triangular mount plate for the rear sets bolts to this. As you can see, the rear sets will have 3-position adjustability.
4. Got the “Bonneville” seat and started fitting it. Long way to go…
5. The rims cleaned up very nicely. Too bad the spokes are shot. I’ll be getting new spokes and either polishing (satin, not shiny) or powder coating the hubs.
6. Detail work. I noticed where these two motor mount brackets come together and the fit bugged me. This is the “before”.
7. After.
8. New parts starting to arrive, along with the steel and aluminum.
9. 4 pieces of steel for the new custom 3-position upper shock mounts (still waiting for the 5/8”ID 1” OD bushings that will nest between the plates to add strength and guide the bolts through), a piece of steel for 2 rear frame cross members, and a (way too big) piece for the rearset mounting plates.
10. Aluminum rear sets.
11. M16 (5/8” +/-) 18-2 Stainless Steel Upper Shock Mount Shoulder Bolts w/18-2 stainless nylon lock nuts.
12. Aluminum shocks
13. 16 ga. Steel for the front and rear under-frame tray (To hold battery, electronics, wiring, tool set, reg papers, cigs, etc..)
14. ¼” aluminum for the rear set triangular mounts.
15. Tail light w/integrated turn signals

I'm also still waiting for up-swept rear frame hoop and slugs. They should be here tomorrow. I hope to have most of this stuff done by the end of the weekend, then I can re-run the harness, figure out what wires need to be lengthened and what wires need to be shortened, etc.. Then comes the complete tear down.

And once again, my apologies to the purists/originality guys. All I can say is that if you don't like seeing a bike being tastefully and professionally modified and vastly upgraded from a styling and performance aspect, this probably isn't the thread for you.

I use that same tail light. It definitely cleans up the back of the bike quite a bit. I like the aesthetics a lot but after spending more time riding and less time working on the bike I'm a little concerned that the brake and turn signals might not be as visible as I'd like them to be (well, at least the brake). I'm contemplating adding an additional brake light, maybe something as simple as an LED string, that is somewhat hidden when not lit up under the back of the seat or at the bottom of the fender or something like that.

I like the little details you've done like matching the contour of the cut down front fender to the original, the smoothing of those engine mounting plates, etc. Those are things someone may never notice but it definitely smooths out the overall look.

Looks like you've got a great start. I'm looking forward to watching your progress.

diggerdanh wrote: I use that same tail light. It definitely cleans up the back of the bike quite a bit. I like the aesthetics a lot but after spending more time riding and less time working on the bike I'm a little concerned that the brake and turn signals might not be as visible as I'd like them to be (well, at least the brake). I'm contemplating adding an additional brake light, maybe something as simple as an LED string, that is somewhat hidden when not lit up under the back of the seat or at the bottom of the fender or something like that.

I like the little details you've done like matching the contour of the cut down front fender to the original, the smoothing of those engine mounting plates, etc. Those are things someone may never notice but it definitely smooths out the overall look.

Looks like you've got a great start. I'm looking forward to watching your progress.

Thank you very much, Dan. I appreciate that. I might also order the "strip" tail light and curve it around the hoop. I have to see how this one looks on the bike and see if it's bright enough for my liking. I'm also thinking of adding a few LEDs on the bottom of the bike. Nothing huge a gaudy, but additional light is never a bad thing on a motorcycle.

Speaking of the front fender, thank you for noticing that I kept the original profile. Just this morning I was looking at it from above and noticed something didn't look right. Turns out the left side was 3/16" longer than the right side, so I cleaned that up.

You're right about the little things. Most people won't notice each individual detail, but when all those microscopic details come together, they usually notice the details as a whole, in that it makes for a very clean overall presentation.

Hopefully by Sunday evening I'll have enough done be able to post lots of new, and this time, more exciting pics.

I'm definitely digging the build. I wish I had the skill, knowledge and patience to pull off a well done custom. Keep up the good work!

1977-Z1-A1-LTD wrote: I'm definitely digging the build. I wish I had the skill, knowledge and patience to pull off a well done custom. Keep up the good work!

Thank you very much. I really appreciate that.

Sub'd.

I made an aluminum brake rod for my custom '76 HD, rear disk....ripped it off the caliper carrier.

Kidkawie wrote: Sub'd.

I made an aluminum brake rod for my custom '76 HD, rear disk....ripped it off the caliper carrier.

I hear ya.. I've decided to go with stainless steel for the brake rod. After giving it some thought, I know that there's no need to risk a catastrophic failure just to save a few ounces of weight by using aluminum. Round rod, like the other fella mentioned would have been nice, but there's not quite enough clearance for it on this bike. I'm sure I can find a nice piece of 304 lying around here somewhere.

Thanks for subscribing.

I almost forgot... The knee pockets are done and fit me perfectly! As the kids would say "I'm super stoked!" Now I can strip the tank and get some epoxy primer on it. Then a little bit of filler, primer/surfacer, and so on... By the way, on the subject of paint and bodywork, we've only ever used PPG, but I'm taking a long look at the Summit Racing line of paints. I guess I'll go peruse the paint and bodywork section of the forum and see what I can find. Most of the reviews I've read on Google have been positive and the pics of finished projects I've seen looked great, and it's a heckuva lot cheaper than PPG.

Nice work on that tank!

PPG is PPG and costs what it cost because its damn good stuff. Not that you need to spend the $$$ though. There are some really nice paint jobs some KZ members have done with rattle cans covered with 2 part clear.

Tyler wrote: Nice work on that tank!

PPG is PPG and costs what it cost because its damn good stuff. Not that you need to spend the $$$ though. There are some really nice paint jobs some KZ members have done with rattle cans covered with 2 part clear.

Thanks. The knee pockets only took about 20-25 minutes per side, and that was with me really baby tapping it. I hadn't done a tank this small before and I was concerned about kinking it. I also bought a 2" teardrop instead of using the 2.5" and 2.75" we already had, again, due to the small area between the factory bends. I know on a lot of bikes it's just for looks, but for me, even a small bike like this needs the knee pockets. I was thinking I might be able to get away without them, but my legs were splayed waaayyy out with the tank in stock form.

For sure PPG is great stuff. We've painted a lot of cars, bikes, etc with it over the years and never had a single problem. If I can get a real nice finish with the Summit system while saving $500 +/-, I'm all for it. We've also used Duplicolor, Krylon, etc rattle cans with good results. One paint we really love is the Krylon high temp matte black (has a picture of a grille on the can). Great stuff!

This is really coming along. Makes me wish my KZ400 was in a little worse shape so I would have an excuse to café it.
Nice work!

ThatGPzGuy wrote: This is really coming along. Nice work!

Thank you very much. I'm having a lot of fun doing it.

The plan of attack for this weekend is to get the rear set plates cut, drilled, and welded on, which won't take long at all since I've already set and marked the locations for them (I spent about an hour sitting on the bike, positioning and repositioning jack stands to simulate the peg locations and finally got it perfect.)

Then fab, cut and weld the custom center section of the exhaust (I set the front pipes more inboard than stock for a cleaner look, so I now have to bring the exhaust back outboard and under the rear sets with 2 perfectly placed and hopefully elegant curves, then just under the rear sets, then curve it up at a 22.5* angle right after the rear sets, then the 12" stainless steel shorty mufflers go on. I was going to run simple straight pipes out the back on the bottom, but that's loud, annoying and not as esthetically pleasing as tastefully up-swept SS mufflers.

Then, if there's time this weekend, comes the custom 3-position upper shock mounts and the rear frame hoop. This'll take a good bit of time because I haven't yet made the templates, which I can't completely accurately do until we're ready to cut out the stock shock mounts. The plan for the shock mounts is for the center hole to be in the precise location of the stock mount, but since I'm using 1/2" shorter shocks, it will be lower than stock ride height. The hole forward of the center hole will further lower the bike and give the shock a softer initial feel, but it will be more progressive the further it travels. The rearward/upper-most hole will be a more "stand up" shock position, raising the bike to just a tick under stock ride height and giving the rear a stiffer feel. Even though the bike will probably never see a track with me on it, one of the goals of the build is to make it track-worthy, or at least "track-capable". lol

Anyway, it'll all make sense when I post the next set of photos. Stay tuned!