650 Mod's 78 Fighter Build

Sorry, here's the rest of the pictures

...and the tank...

Went to the post office today, and it was like Christmas all over again! I got the last few parts in that I'm needing for the build, and made a run to the border to get a few more packages.

Tires are mounted up, rotors are on, and I'll be doing front end work this weekend!

Colortune unit to finally get my carbs all balanced properly


Some Gord's Aluminum Polish to get a mirror shine on the aluminum


Nice gold 530 chain


My BEEFY headlight brackets- these things are almost a pound each...


Nice little new fuse box to get rid of the old barrel fuses


Flyscreen for the headlight, break a bit of the head on wind


Front wheel- the nice 13" Buell rotor


Rear rim with the Pirelli Diablo 180/55



More pics will be up with the progress on the front end this weekend

Loving the gold wheels!!!!!!

Mike,

Wait til you see the end product

Devin

Got a bit of work done on the front end today. Dropped the old forks, got the steering stem out, and made a game plan for getting the old stem into the new triples. Ran into a small problem with machining the old steering stem down. Almost had the old top threading out, threaded the bolt into it to pull the threading, and the insert spun. Got that issue solved, and the rest is being tackled in the morning.

Front end off


Old triples through the lathe, stem out


Running the old stem down to adapt it to the new triples


More updates tomorrow when the front is on
End product of outer lathing


End product of inner lathing to insert the top of the new triple's steering stem

I am no machinist but isn't using a 4 jaw chuck on something round kinda tough to do. I guess the 4 jaw I have you have to tighten each jaw separately which makes it obsolete with anything round.

Mike- it is tough, but using a caliper tool to check where it sits makes it MUCH easier. We had the stem centered within 1 thousandth of an inch or smaller.

Shaving the new stem down to use the threads for the new top bolt


Pressed the new top into place, welded it in, smooth the welds out


pressed the new bottom into place, welded in


Final product of the new steering stem. We were able to use the KZ stem, modified it, and pressed it into the new bottom triple. Good old hydraulic presses help in any situation!


End product of about 7 hours of work- drops the front end ~4 inches. Should be ok for ground clearance, we'll have to see. It'll definitely give that lowered-stretched look for the final product.


The shop that pressed my front wheel bearings in used the wrong bearings, so back to the shop it is to get this issue sorted out...

I'll finish the front end up when I get some time, hopefully soon

Looking good man! Those head light brackets look familiar! :evil: :evil:

You in Canada?

what!!! :woohoo: those wheels look slick... if only there was a polish to leave on them that would keep them easy to clean. :laugh:

Hollywood- I do believe they're the same brackets as what you're using It took me a while to find brackets to fit my massive tubes (53mm) haha. Plus, for $40 I figured I couldn't go wrong. They're pretty damn beefy too! And I sure am in Canada- I'm in Thunder Bay, Ontario, about 6 hours east of Winnipeg. Where abouts are you?

Don- The rims are powdercoated with a matte interior gold powder, then I had the shop toss a clearcoat powder on top. A rinse with water, and they'll shine like new every single time.

Oh, Hollywood- forgot to ask. How much of a drop did you get on your front end with the fork conversion? I believe I'm looking at about a 4" drop or so, should be ok for ground clearance once the rear is done up.

Devin