'78 KZ1000 makeover

At the risk of getting flammed for an unpatriotic purchase, I picked up an Everlast Powertig 250EX
www.everlastgenerators.com/PowerTig%20%20250EX-381-pd.html

I chose this welder over a similarly priced Miller because of the preflow and postflow adjustments on the unit. I needed those adjustments specifically for working with the material in the next post.......

And here are 3 pieces of 14"x16" .032" thick sheet. Anyone care to guess what the material is?

Gonna go with Ti since that's what the pics labeled

Damn it, I knew that photo tag would bite me in the ass :laugh:

And now you are going to use that titanium to make a.....

That, my good man is an excellent question since I failed to explain it at all. The titanium is slated for an under tail muffler. One piece of sheet will make up the shell, one piece I will have perforated by a laser cutter for the cores and the other will be the end caps. Scrap pieces will make up any necessary brackets. Preliminary dimensions are 6" wide X 3" thick X 10-12" long in a flat oval shape with duel flat oval outlets. If I can make a go of the muffler ok, I'll be alot more confident trying to do some Ti headers.

Dang it! As soon as I saw that Duc. pipe, a welder, and some titanium I knew it! Me...I'll just wait for that stock 750ss, or Desmo single to wander my way...yeah right

I may not even use the Duc midpipe. It was cheap so I picked it up more just to see. If I could afford it I'd buy an 1198 for carving up the local mountain roads, and have the Kz for around town. It seems that not having a bike to ride is incentive to keep working on mine to get it done, so I need that motivation. I wanted to go with the undertail exhaust so as not to detract from the asthetics of the swingarm and subframe......or something like that. I am fully aware that I could never make this bike handle like a Duc, or any sportbike built since 1985. This is more for the challenge of building something..... unique

Are you thinking of a 4-1 under seat exhaust or something similar to the 4-2 you have in your image above?

ti scares me! :ohmy: :dry: :blush: :whistle: :evil:

leon

Damn Leon, where the hell ya been? Ti Is like a beautiful woman.... It needs a lot more attention but damn is it gorgeous :woohoo:
I had planned a 4 into 1 under tail system, then I thought a Duc midpipe and muffler system would be easier with a 4-1-2. Now I'm :S not so sure

burnin vacation,time trying to get my shops arranged to get some winter projects done.namely the zx12r to z1r frontend conversion dealio.i still need to purchase some zx12r rotors and then it is up to me to build the rest and make it work out .fun city :evil:
oh i have drooled over as much ti as the next guy.
the difficulty of machining it is what has kept me away.oh yeah and the price.i used to race quads with a guy that had a titanium lonestar chassis with a honda motor in it.super cool looking but cost like $7500.00 for the bare chassis.
so far i have been able to satisfy all my needs and wants with cro-mo stainless or aluminum.
one of these days i will take the ti plunge,maybe after you show me how easy and cool it is to build custom parts from perhaps .
i will be watching,

leon