78 KZ650 Mono Rear Shock Cafe/Brat Style

Well, I've not had a chance to do very much on the bike, as we've had a more important addition to the family



He's taken a bit of focus away from the bike for some reason

What I have been doing is fighting the mirrors wiring. The mirrors are supposed to be attached inside the bars, but they just don't work very well. They come loose all the time. I tried various mirrors, but in the end realised the best method was to attach them around the bars and shift everything else inward. This leaves a hole in the bar end which I picked up some Hope Bar Doctors from the cycle shop. They were a nightmare to fit due to the bars, but I have one side in okish.


The other side will wait until I fit the new throttle.

Next up I've been wanting to fit a replacement clutch cable as the original one was far too long and frankly dangerous. After reading a tip on here that the z1 was a good fit, I swapped them over. Getting the sprocket cover off was a little bit tricky, but I got it done in the end.



I've been wiring up the rear lights and indicators which I think I'm on the third different way of doing it now. I was going to use waterproof connectors, but these just end up looking messy. So I'm just going to solder and sheath them all instead.

Next target is to get the wiring done and tested, then to try to find a time with my wife and the baby so that I can finish my seat cover.

Congrats on the new family member. Very valid reason for being distracted.

The bar ends with the new mirror mounts look good. I am always amazed at what seems like the most simply projects can turn into works of frustration. :pinch:

Keep up the good work when you can. And, enjoy the growing family!

Are you missing the shield that goes in front of the counter-sprocket or was it just temporarily removed? Ed

Forrest wrote: Congrats on the new family member. Very valid reason for being distracted.

The bar ends with the new mirror mounts look good. I am always amazed at what seems like the most simply projects can turn into works of frustration. :pinch:

Keep up the good work when you can. And, enjoy the growing family!

Thanks, it seems as though everything I've been doing on the bike has been frustrating of late. I changed the brake master cylinder for one from a ZX10r and the first lever wouldn't return to zero. Luckily the second one would. I've now got a leaking brake fluid reservoir. The fluid is leaking out from the pipes between the reservoir and the master cylinder. Even though the clamps are in place. Who knows what is happening.

To add insult to injury an ant decided to climb into the brake fluid and then die on my fuel tank. Which cause the brake fluid he had covering him to eat a small section of the paint of the tank. It's only a few mm but it still annoys me. I had planned on repainting it next year anyway I suppose.

My wife has started working on the seat cover so hopefully bar a few minor bits I can get it on the road in the next few weeks! The major one is a new throttle cable to be installed which looks like it will be tricky.

650ed wrote: Are you missing the shield that goes in front of the counter-sprocket or was it just temporarily removed? Ed

It's been removed to replace the clutch cable.

Argh quoted myself instead of hitting edit sorry. Please delete

So, it's been quite some time since I have updated this thread. I have made some progress on the bike. However not as much as I've hoped for. It's still not on the road, but closer than ever!

The major issue has been some wiring gremlins. Some caused by me and some caused by some shoddy work in the past. I got a couple of wires wrong when hooking up the new controls, which I fixed quite quickly. However there was a very bad short which caused smoke to appear from near the speedo and fry the main fuse. After much poking around with the multimeter I realised that the speedo wiring was to blame. I found a really awful mess of cables hidden under some tape. Really really shoddy work, some of which was touching the frame of the headlamp and causing a short. So instead of waiting to fit the new speedo I've ripped out the old dials and wiring and started doing it now, as the wiring would have taken ages to fix properly.







Next up I needed to create a bracket to mount the new speedo in place.
Here it is as it sits now, it needs painting and preparing, but I’m very happy with it.





The other major job ticked off the list is the seat. With the superb skills of my wife the seat is now fully in place. It was a pig to fit, but I’m really happy with how it looks.

Seat being fitted







The seat is in place.







Got to make sure to start the little un on bikes as young as possible!



The next week or two is time for me to do some other wiring jobs. I need to wire up the new speedo and get that working. I also need to replace the current fuse box as it’s in terrible shape.


I’ve picked up this blade style fuse box to replace it with


That and the other wiring I’ve done will fix the headlamp issues I’ve been having. I’ve managed to fit a relay that fixes my led indicators which was one more job done.

Looking good Gordy. Nice bracket for the speedo.

nice job sir!

leon

Bike looks great and you have a VERY cute kid. Spend as much time you can with him, trust me it goes by so fast.

baldy110 wrote: Bike looks great and you have a VERY cute kid. Spend as much time you can with him, trust me it goes by so fast.

Yeah, it feels like only yesterday that my two older boys were little babies too.

I've managed to do a few more bits on the bike. I'm awaiting a few more parts before I can the last few bits done before getting it on the road.

I've fitted the speedo bracket into place using the existing bolt holes. I was going to paint it, but actually it looks better in silver. So I've left it like that for the time being. I plan on changing this in the future when I get rid of the ignition switch for an m-switch.









I've rewired the front brake switch to something less dodgy. I've also ordered a new headlamp.



It's smaller than the current one and has led's in a ring. That should look nicer and be safer.

Once again great work Gordy. I really like the dual exhaust, makes it look tough. I have bought the M-unit, M-button (to help clean up the wiring) myself along with 3 button M-switches. Wiring seems to be pretty easy. I have decided to do the RFID ignition also. No keys to worry about unless I need to get under the seat. It's spendy stuff but we'll built an designed. Keep up the great work and keep posting those pics!