Testarossa's 78 KZ1000 Fighter Build

Pressure washers are cool to have. It's one of the garge tools I have yet to aquire.....one of these days.

As far as powdercoating body filler....thats a good question. I can stop by the local powdercoaters and ask if you like (Monday). I think the body filler might survive the curing process, but I don't know that it would work with the electrostatic powder adhesion process..... That is a great question Josh.

You're feeling like me :laugh: Do I keep posting pics of stuff I've already posted, or do I just show things that are new, different or finished???

It would be good to know for future reference, but don't go out of your way on my account.

I have decided to withhold any further pictures of fillets. I will let everyone see the finished product. I'm close...

testarossa wrote:

All of this discussion of body filler, paint, and powdercoat leaves me with one question. Is the body filler usable when powder coating? I doubt it would survive the heat. Would the fillets need to be all steel?

BTW is anyone interested in more pictures of finished fillets, or should I just wait until I get the frame prepped for paint, and then painted? I hope to be ready to start spraying tomorrow, but who knows what will happen when I wake up.

I scored a pressure washer today on CL. Man I wish that I had that thing when I got home with the bike. It sure would have made my life easier.

eastwood has a leadfree body solder kit that can be powder coated

Ok now I believe that I finished all welding and fillet smoothing on my frame today. Got the battery box installed, and the final rearset standoffs. The first and second set of standoffs were insufficient since I used 8mm bolts. Those seemed too small for my taste, so I went with 10mm.

I decided to do one final check of alignment of frame neck, front fork, and swingarm today. Since I don't have any fancy frame jig, I just used a little redneck ingenuity and used some twine to establish a centerline, and hung a plummen-bob from the ceiling.

First I assembled the frame with the front end and swingarm. I then centered the steering, and made a mark on the floor which represents the inside contact face on each side of the fork and swingarm. You can see my marks in this picture. Click for supersize.



Next I measured the distance between my two marks and placed another mark in the center of the fork and the swingarm. Since I don't have a straightedge that long, I just streched a piece of twine between two crescent wrenches to establish the centerline of the two wheels.



Here you can see where I checked to make sure that the steering was as straight as possible.



Now that we have a centerline established, we can carefully place the chassis assembly back in alignment with the marks on the floor.



Continued on next post.

Now I hung my plummen-bob from my garage door with a clamp so that I can easily move it side to side. With a little careful adjustment, and a lot of patience I got it aligned on the centerline of the wheels.



As you can see in the above picture, I placed a ruler across the lower triple clamp to measure the centerline relative to the lower part of the neck. Looks good to me.

Now I placed the ruler across the upper clamp to check the upper neck.



With these measurements, I am satisfied that my neck is reasonably on center. I could not measure any closer without using a jig. I might be a little better off with a laser line but I don't have one, so it will have to be good enough. I certainly would not attempt to align the neck without the use of a jig.

Alignment questions for the guru's on the next post.

id say lay a torpedo level across the lower 2 backbone tubes behind steering head to make sure frame is level then lay another level across the top of upper triple tree and compare notes between the 2 bubbles

Alignment questions:
It is well documented that there are many KZ's with the neck tube welded in crooked from the factory and this is supposed to lead to handling issues. My frame doesn't appear to be out of alignment.

Does anyone know what frames exhibit this problem?

Is it prevalent in the earlier frames and not in later bikes?

Could it be different for bikes made in the US or Japan?

Could any portion of the mis-alignment exist in the triple tree's?

Is it possible that the stem could be at an angle in the lower clamp?

If the angled neck is present, could a reasonably observant, sober adult male spot the problem on an assembled bike by naked eye, or is it so subtle that you have to measure to find it?

Is it possible that the tubes were straight from the factory, but years of sitting on a kick stand, leaned to the left caused the frame to twist slightly and take a set? I bet that 500+ lbs leaning on a 31" long lever (the front forks) could probably put a slight twist in the frame.

Did I just get out a 20lb bag of Kingsford, a bottle of lighter fluid, and a box of strike anywhere matches?

PLUMMEN wrote:

id say lay a torpedo level across the lower 2 backbone tubes behind steering head to make sure frame is level then lay another level across the top of upper triple tree and compare notes between the 2 bubbles

Good call, I'll check that tomorrow.

Ok, as instructed, I checked everything with levels this evening. I decided that everything is relative to the position of the wheels on the road, so I installed the axles, blocked them up, and got them level.







Continued below...

Now I can check the triple clamps and frame backbone for level.

The upper clamp.



The lower clamp.



The junction between the seat tubes and the backbone.



The extreme back of the frame.



Plummen, I know you'll ask, and I did check the two lower backbone tubes. Due to the upper tube and my bracing, it was impossible to get a usable picture of the level, but it looked good to me.

looks good to me!

It would appear to be as straight as anyone could reasonably check without expensive and highly specialized tools