Doctorot's '78 KZ1000 build

I rebuilt/painted the rear caliper. It was pretty roached. both pistons were shot and the only replacements I could find came from the UK so it was not inexpensive. I also rebuilt the MC and painted that as well. I used Gun Kote, which is, IMHO, the only caliper paint worth a shit because it is completely impervious to solvents, and I have yet to bleed a caliper and not get brake fluid everywhere. I also had the rear disk refinished and drilled. It had pretty deep grooves and some run out. Blingin!








I swear its the small stuff that takes the longest. I got the turn signal mounts, taillight mounts, tailpiece mounts, and tank mount finalized. I also made a steering stop, but my buddy thought it was a bit crude so he spent like 2 hours remaking it. Glad he's on my team, the damn perfectionist...











I have now turned my attention to the seat. I remade my seat pan. and bought a bunch of foam.






I have sewn a bit, but it is not my strongest suit. I ran a couple test seams on some vinyl with sew-foam using different weights of thread, and trying out a couple different stitch patterns. I was struggling to use my mothers sewing machine so she offered to help me with the final. I need to make a pattern first. Stay tuned, I should have the seat finished this weekend.

The worlds only two stroke sewing machine...

boy all that fab work is pretty tasty :evil: !

can't wait to see how the seat comes out. :whistle:

but ,knowing how you have done this whole build i have pretty high expectations :woohoo: !!!

keep us posted,
leon

So making a seat for the first time was A LOT of work. I did all the sewing, the only assistance needed was figuring out how to put the damn sewing machine in low gear, and someone pulling as i fed the final piping seam through because the machine was bogging down.






















But it turns out I made a huge mistake, I didn't leave enough room for the vinyl to wrap under the seat pan and now it wont fit down all the way. GAHHHH!!! :sick: . I spent two full days working on this seat i probably have about 12-14 hours in it. I really don't want to re do the seat, so I have been thinking about possible solutions.

I have already trimmed back the vinyl as far as it will go and re-riveted it. When My buddy and I made the subframe he ran out of the tubing we we using so for the upper two frame rails we used 1" with a .125 wall. This lets a 3/4" tube fit perfectly inside it. Im thinking that if i cut off the outer half of the frame rails i could then inset a 3/4 tube into it and weld the seams. I'm worried about warping because that is a lot of welding. another possible solution would be to completely replace the frame rails. I obviously want it to be safe. Any suggestions? I will remake the seat if that is my only recourse..... I'm floundering over here!!

Wow Doc, that's a really nice looking seat! Hope it works out for you. Would be a bummer to have to remake it.

That is really a nice seat cover and seat profile. Do you have any room to trim down the foam on the seat giving you more room for the cover? Another possible trick might be to add two extra "rails"of material to broaden the cover, maybe the seam for that could be hidden just under the bottom rim of the seat ......hope I explained it well and that whatever you choose to do works well.
Another idea might be to implant an extra stripe of similar or even different material down the middle......down one side.....? much like a racing stripe......could play into your overall color scheme?
I would stay away from re-welding anything as you have it looking pretty good as it is

would it be possible to remove the cover and split the seat pan lengthwise and widen it appropriately ?

you would still have to remake the seat cover but wouldn't have to cut and weld :whistle: ,

sorry man,that seat and cover looks fu@kin awesome tho :evil: .

leon

I leaning towards cutting out the upper subframe rails and welding a news one in. I think for fit up and welding it will only take maybe 2-3 hours + a couple bucks for steel. as opposed to another 12 hours and $80+ for the seat. I'd pretty much have to start over from scratch on the seat because as the seat pan gets wider , so does the foam, and so does the cover. also the glue i used on the cover and foam is super tough, when i was repositioning the cover slightly when it was still tacky it was ripping the foam up a bit. I doubt i could even get it off in one piece now.

I'm going wait to decide what to do; I will brood on it for a while. I have enough other stuff to work on at the moment.

sorry man.
hope it works out as well as possible.

keep us posted ,i can't wait to see your solution.

leon

I have been real busy. I finalized my headlight ears. I decided not to go with the small 4.5" headlight. it just looked weird with the big gauges. I got this nice 7" headlight and promptly started cutting it up :silly: I didn't like the mounting points so Eric welded some washers in with silicon bronze. I cleaned up the seams with some filler and am much happier with it now. I spent about 3 hours filing and sanding down the headlight ears to get them where they are. I also turned a some washers for the turn signal mount. I need to figure out how i want to route the wire from the turn signal now. I think i'm going to go into the headlight bucket with it. Im very happy with how the headlight/gauge cluster is turning out. Its such a great feeling to have an idea in your head finally come to fruition after a couple years.










I also refitted the frame rails 1/8" in on each side. was real easy. seat fits great now. I also did a down and dirty rattle can job on the frame to see what it would look like white before i commit to some good paint. I wasn't sure about the white frame i thought it might be too garish for my taste, but it highlights all of the frame mods we have done, and really pops. I think i will go with white for the final paint on the frame. I also mocked everything up to see what other frame mods will be necessary before i do the final paint on the frame. I still need to do something about and exhaust hanger, horn mount, mount for HID ballast, and carb support. Super stoked with the way it is looking. :evil: :evil: :evil:

Nice job

graet job.....been following your progress...almost here

Super job on the headlight brackets, you have real talent. The white frame looks good.