'80 KZ750E cafe build

dont forget to leave clearance between the seat pan and the frame for the vinyl to wrap and rivets or whatever you are going to attach with. I made that mistake and had to relocate the frame 1/8th in in on both sides.

Got started on the fiberglass! Definitely a learning experience and hoping it will set up right. Should be a good base layer and need to do a couple more layers. Ran out of resin and hardener. Honestly won't be suprised if I have to redue it but we'll see. I'd definitely change a couple things on how I went about it but for a first time I guess it is what it is.

What would you change?
Let us know as Ive got to do mine . Any tips or tricks would be welcome.

Well first off it's been snowing so it was really cold in the garage. The resin needed to be atleast at room temperature. I didn't prep the surface with resin before laying down the mat and probly should have soaked the mat before laying it down. Finally Im gonna grab a roller to help push out the air bubbles. What happened was the mat started to fall apart and got spread around giving inconsistent coverage. I did my best to even it out the best i could. The next few layers will be done more correctly and hopefully give it the regitity it needs and prevent cracking from excess resin in the top layers

Well as expected I gotta redue the seat pan. Used too much resin/hardener causing it to crack and definitely noticeable that how I applied it caused the mat to fall apart and not lay down evenly. I got some better cloth to used as the base and top layer. I'll use the rest of the mat I have for the middle to build up thickness and regitity. I'm stoked that the aluminum tape released from the painters tape so easily so I'll reapply the aluminum tape and do it again. Wish me luck. This first time was a $40 learning experience so hopefully I don't have to repay my tuition lol I know it won't be perfect cause it takes practice but I want it to last so hopefully with the changes I'll have a product I can use

Okay I think I got it this time! There's still a couple spots that are heavy with resin but hopefully it won't crack on me. I did the cloth for the base then then a generous amount of glass mat (3 inch strips probly two layers worth) then the last of the cloth on top. For the top I didn't add any extra resin/hardener I just let it soak up what was in the mat and smoothed it all down with my hand. I'll let yall know tomorrow how it turned out. Also o added wax to the foil in hopes it will release easier Iin case I need to do it a third time lol

That looks way better. Its all about the woven cloth, its a little more expensive, but totally worth it. If you orient the warp and weft of the cloth 45 degrees to bends it will drape very easily. What weight of cloth did you use? You might want to add another layer before you pop that off. For something like this i would use at least 3-4 layers 10oz cloth, or 5-6 layers of 6oz. You don't want the rivets pulling though. If you add a layer to it after you have removed it, it will shrink and can warp the pan.

Starting the paint job (can spray paint) got about 3 coats down. Gonna do some wet sanding tomorrow then put down a few more coats before wet sanding again and putting clear coat down. Does anyone have a link to a thread were they're using spray paint cans to paint. Kinda winging it here lol

There's some good information in these threads by Old Man Rock:

www.kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork...can-paint-job#590240

www.kzrider.com/forum/11-projects/216290...ion?start=800#581015

www.kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork...ray-paint-job#370298

www.kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork...d-v-d-s-folks#345355

www.kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork...ant-clearcoat#296244

www.kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork...ange-or-black#241174

www.kzrider.com/forum/11-projects/216290...ion?start=100#241172

www.kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork...damaged-paint#237962

www.kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork...n-paint-sucks#219603

www.kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork/211314-gas-tank#212796

www.kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork...t-wet-sanding#212121

Good Fortune!

Thanks for the links I'll be digging into those today

Just finished wet sanding the imperfections (bug, dust and paint drops from the spray can) picture of the pieces wet. Hope to achieve a finish like this after I finish laying down rest of the paint and clear. Lots of wet sanding and buffing ahead. Never painted anything like this but in confident in a good end result

Sorry to bring up the valve clearance thing again. I messed up somewhere and my clearances are still not right (I may or may not have forgotten to check that the cam caps were torqued down to speck before measuring and ordering shims lol) anyways this is where they sit now with the caps torqued down. A kept sending my measurements to the shop that did the work on the bike but he told me I need to measure in thousands not mm. I'm guessing this give a more accurate reading of what the clearances are. The valves that have two reading by them are the measurements I took after going through all of them a few times. The larger measurement is very tight and barley fits and the smaller measurement goes in with minimal resistance. Let me know what you guys think.