Freebyrd's 81 KZ1000 Build

Good work on the bolt/nut combo. I would have had difficulty finding a metric that size, and was going to suggest grinding down a 7/8" bolt to fit, but you already got it covered The forks are my next major obsticle, so I'm watching boss.....

Good work Freebyrd24! I checked on the price of a 22mm hex socket...$31.50!:ohmy: Did you wind up filing down a 7/8"? Having a welder really sets you free if you have the ingenuity. Is your spare steering stem already free from the lower clamp?

Thanks for kind words porchev and testarossa! And holey moley $31.50?!?!? I went to my local hardware store and they let me borrow a vernier caliper (i left mine at home :blush: ) and i went to the metric bolt section and found one that i thought looked close and it was perfect! I think it was a 14mm coarse thread, and the head measured 22mm on the dot so i was pleased! no filing required, just a quick tack with the welder!

I haven't gotten anything started with the forks yet, just brought the spare and the zx one into my basement! The spare stem is not free yet of the lower tree, but I will get on that as soon as I can! :woohoo:

In order to get that stem out, you will need to grind out the weld at the bottom of the clamp. Then you need to press it out from the bottom. It will come out of the top of the clamp.

I ground it down pretty well, now I just need to find a buddy/shop with a press! I assume its pretty snug in there. Does the zx-9 stem press out from the bottom as well?

I'm not sure about the zx-9 stem. IIRC my GSXR stem pressed out the opposite way. It had a circlip that was hidden in there.

freebyrd24 wrote:

I ground it down pretty well, now I just need to find a buddy/shop with a press! I assume its pretty snug in there. Does the zx-9 stem press out from the bottom as well?

Its just like testarossa said. remove clip in the bottom , and press out from bottom to top.

But u dont want to do that.:ohmy:

Just cut the zx9 stem off flush at the top, and press the kz stem into the remaining zx9 stem. DONE, SIMPLE. Well it sounds simple anyways . lol.
Check out this write up that 531blackbanshee did.
kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...ew&catid=5&id=325862

Ooooh yeah, I somehow completely forgot that. I remember someone saying that before and it does sound like a good idea.

I just read that write up and I think I read it one other time before. Terrific job 531blackbanshee! I'm still working on grinding out the welds on the kz stem, which seems to be stubborn at the moment.

I never succeded in actually getting the welds all the way out of mine. Needless to say that the welder was getting good penetration. I got close and a 50 ton press did the rest. Boy did that stem ever shoot out of there. Watch your feet.

glad that write up has helped someone.
i have the luxury of having a lathe so i just chucked up on the stem and spun the tree and used a triangle inserted tool and plunged it in where i thought the crack between the two should be and started watchin for the crack to appear.i had to go deeper than i expected to get passed the weld.i am sure some liberal grinding will get you there tho :evil:.
keep us posted,

leon

Its tough to tell when you are all the way through the weld. i thought I still had some left but the press proved otherwise. The zx stem has the circlip on the bottom youd have to press the stem out the bottom remove the circlip and continue to to press the stem out through the top. But like Mark and I had said earlier you should be able to just cut the zx stem off and clean it out with a dremel or something and then just press the kz stem into the zx stem. Then weld the two stems together.

Alright everyone, I was unmotivated today and got on this forum today and got a little motivation on the front end conversion. After a little more grinding, I gave the kz stem a good whack and look what happened...



It was as if everything finally fell into place, what a relief. The welds finally gave way as you can see in that pic, and I continued to hammer to out!
Here is a pic with some dimensions for anyones reference if need be.



Now I haven't made the cut yet on the zx-9 stem, but measuring from the bottom, I measure 28mm



Now the bottom of that kz stem OD is about 30mm, and the remaining shaft ID is 28mm, so I don't think pressing that bottom larger part in will work, but that small section on the KZ stem as you can see in my dimensional pic is 28mm. What do I do now? I thought that the bottom part of the kz stem would press into the zx-9 tube. That would have been nice and easy! any ideas? Thanks as usual!