kz1000 street/drag build

Well, I have been buying up a few parts here and there, and puttin in a few hours working on the 1979 kz1000 that i got in a trade for a 1970 R5. With the help of all of the KZR members, especially timebomb, plummen, racer54, etc., I have decided which direction i want to take on the bike.

The bike is moving slowly because of my financial situation. I am 18, and going to college, so money is scarce. The bike is coming together piece by piece.

The bike was a bare frame with the rest of it in boxes next to it. I am working on putting together the bottom end, which is on the floor in my tiny dorm room:laugh: ! I have a suzuki rm250 front end that will be mounted to a raked neck soon. **edit-no longer using rm front end as i have purchased a 96 zx6 front end** Picked up a different swingarm that will be extended about 6".

Here are a few pictures of the chassis after i threw it together today. Will have pictures of the bottom end when i get back to school.











I will begin bracing the frame and cutting off the unneccessary stuff. I will be a little more careful with the sawzall on this project. On my last project i got a little carried away with the sawzall,(the 810 streetfighter) but it still turned out pretty sweet.

cool,thats not what i expected when you said dirtbike frontend!:laugh:

very cool jordan, cant wait to see more pics of it further along.

have u given much thought yet to the front wheel, and brakes? it may be cheaper to get a more conventional set of forks. u can get zx6,9,12,zrx,zx11 forks for around $300 with trees and brakes. Then the wheel is an easy fit too. Also the spring rate will be better for a heavy bike.
I know u like a challenge and i admire that. but these moto x forks may cause a lot of extra expense and grief for u Jordan.
Just triing to help bud.

I have put a little thought into it. I was originally looking for a sportbike frontend, but couldnt find one for near that cheap. Mostly i am looking for something light, so i was then narrowed to the dirt bike front end or a kz400 front(or something like that). I know the rm front end wasn't meant to handle the weight of the kzl000. I also thought that the forks may be a little too long when fully extended, but it looks like they may be just right after the rake, which may allow for some stiff internals to hold up to the kz weight.

Finally got some pics of the motor layin on the floor in my dorm room. Everything is just laid in the case so that it takes up less room. Alot still needs to be done to the bottom end(trans, case bored, crank cap/mill, chain, etc).
I Scored that manual in the background for cheap on gypsybay! Its in a little rough condition and smells like a mixture of old people and wet dog, but it should do the job.

hey jordan that crank looks like they did a nice job but i have one concern have you thought about a center main cap or are you gonna run the stocker the way it is .

also scored this on ebay. The one i have was in a fire and is warped badly. The airbrushed paint job on this new one is pretty sweet and seems to be in great shape, but it will just get repainted anyway. If any KZR members want to use it on their bike i would trade it for another tail(good plastic, no cracks, any paint condition). I would rather see it go to someone that wants it than to just sand and reapaint it.

Oldkaws4ever, if you havent decided on a paint scheme you could use this. Just paintmatch the blue for the rest of the body pieces;)

timebomb33 wrote:

hey jordan that crank looks like they did a nice job but i have one concern have you thought about a center main cap or are you gonna run the stocker the way it is .

I will definately not be using the stocker. Everything is just kinda laid in there for now. The studs arent even torqued down, they are just threaded in by hand.

good stuff the only reason i asked was that i snapped a crank right at the center pin once because of flex in the center cap area also possibly overreving it abit not sure

Just did a little bracing on my frame. Not done yet, but did as much as i could today while i had the chance to use my buddy's welder. If anybody sees any problems with how i did it, let me know. Also if there are any other areas that look like they could use some attention let me know. I have not braced up the steering head area yet because i am gona have the frame raked first.












Still need to make these braces from sheetmetal. Have them drawn up but not cut out yet.

you might have issues with mounting your coils with that front set of backbone braces,im mounting my coils under the seat so it wasnt an issue for me.also stick your tank on there to make sure it fits ok,again im modifying my tank anyway.