Need a little help with caliper interchangeability

I'm considering a dual disc conversion for my '78 kx1000a2. I've dug through the zedder program to see what's cross=listed, apparently only calipers from '78 will fit?

According to Redline cycle's webite a lot of the brake calipers are quite similar. Anyone know if these: cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&it...TRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Will fit my '78?

thanks, Sam

Those are the newer style of brake calipers, and I don't believe they will fit. Look for pre 80's KZ calipers, you'll notice they look different than the one you posted. I think any pre 80's caliper from the 650 and the 400 will work.

The one thing you want to watch out for is the location of the bleeder valve. For example, on 1977 KZ 1000's the caliper was located in front on the fork, and the bleeder value in that position was pointed straight up. If you rotated the caliper to behind the fork, the bleeder valve pointed straight back. This isn't a large issue. You can still use these calipers, it just means you'll have to remove the caliper when you bleed your brakes to get all the air out.

Here are some that would work for your application, you can see the difference.

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/kawasaki-kz-650-...dZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1979-Kawasaki-KZ...dZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

The 78 LTD and 79 LTD front brake calipers are different. I can't recall how, but they don't interchange. I have 79 LTD front brakes on my 76 KZ900A4... The calipers sit behind rather than in front which looks a bit neater in my opinion. I suggest you keep your eye on eBay and buy the front forks from a dual disk bike and brakes if you can find some sold this way. If you can't, go to a reputable eBay parts seller and ask him to auction the whole mess together next time he breaks a bike... try kzmoney99 (Brian Connell) who breaks old KZs all the time. He is willing to auction stuff the way you would like to see it auction... Get the master cylinder, splitter and lines, calipers/rotors and the forks all together and not worry about bits not fitting...

78 ltds and kzs had caliper behind forkleg also.as far as i know 77-80 calipers should work,differant bleeder location on some but its not a big deal.some of the rear brake calipers were differant i think the 76 ltds and some 77s used a rear brake caliper similar to the front caliper with an oddball mounting bracket,does anyone know if that is a front caliper they used on the rear?

Post edited by: wireguy, at: 2005/12/23 20:08

Hey Sam,
Don't put much effort into finding a right to match your stock left caliper. It's possible but not likely. I've added duals to three bikes so far and I did each by buying out a nearly complete system from another bike. My most recent effort was fitting a dual setup from a 79 1300 to a 79 750 twin.
Good luck
KZCSI