Doctorot's '78 KZ1000 build

Ive been poking around this site for a while now. I recently realized it would be better for me to start a project thread than creating a new one each time a I had a question, so here goes...

just a little background on this bike. I bought it about 2 years ago, it was in alright condition, I rode it a bit and did a little bit of stuff to it cosmetically. I decided to ride it around the country after I graduated college. 17,000 miles later I realized I had abused it enough, and limped it home. The bike had bad compression, amongst a bunch of other problems. I decided to rebuild the top end, but once I got the engine out of the frame, I decided to go for a mild restoration, and thats when things started to spiral out of control...

here are a few pics of my baby on the trip.





I have very little experience with bikes, never rebuilt an engine. I want to try to do as much as possible myself.

To rationalize dumping thousands of dollars into this project I have told myself that it is a "learning experience". :whistle:

Here are the things I set out to accomplish:
build and convert to spoked wheels - DONE
Brace frame
brace swing-arm
seam delete gas tank - started
make custom tailpiece & seat - started
build a 1075 motor with all the best internals
motor mounts
cool shocks - DONE
rebuild forks w/progressive springs - DONE
clip-ons
rear-sets
clean up gauge cluster
lots of paint and powder.

Here is the state the bike is currently in. I have been slaving over that tail plug for over 2 months now, trying to get it "perfect". On one of my many bondo excursions I got too much on the bottom so it doesnt fit down on the frame anymore, but it will.


My padre was nice enough to let me move all my crap into his garage. Its nice to be in a garage that locks, has good light, and doesn't have a small stream run though it every time it rains.

Anyway, I have bought ALOT of stuff, and winter is typically slower for me work-wise, so hopefully ill get to put in some time soon.

cool bike, i like the wheels, where was photo 3 taken? why clip=ons? are you building a cafe racer?

That looks like the road to Roosevelt Dam in AZ. If it is, that's quite a ride for a street bike and tires.

looks like you are off on the right foot with your rebuild.
do you have any plans of making any of those seat/tailpieces for sale?
what shocks do you have?
keep us posted,
leon

purple_haze wrote: cool bike, i like the wheels, where was photo 3 taken? why clip=ons? are you building a cafe racer?

first off let me say, nice avatar, im a big fan of TPB myself.

second, photo number 3 was actually taken in Big Bend National Park TX, but fxdl made a great guess considering photo number 2 was taken on the road to Roosevelt Dam.

I dont really think its going to be a cafe racer, I mostly want clip-ons because i like the clean triple clamp look, however i do like me some superbike bars as well. I think im going to try and make my own clip-ons that look something like THIS probably with a bit less rise though.

theres probably a couple KZs floatin around sunnyvale

them are some wicked clipons, never seen anything like that before, looking fwd to seein how this turns out!

531blackbanshee wrote: looks like you are off on the right foot with your rebuild.
do you have any plans of making any of those seat/tailpieces for sale?
what shocks do you have?
keep us posted,
leon

I wasn't planning on selling any of the tailpieces, mostly because I assumed people wouldn't be interested. You have to cut all the seat tabs off the frame to fit it. Once i finish the mold if someone is interested in one, it would be pretty easy to pop and extra one out. I basically just took the KZ tail and made it slimmer and shorter. heres a better pic.


I also picked up this sportster tail light that fits in there quite nicely.



the shocks are Works "billet dirt tracker" shocks, I had them powder the smaller spring white.

I was able to make some preogress today. I got my tarrozi rear-sets on, looks like its working out right despite what the guy who sold them to me said. although i did somehow manage to loose the bolt that connects the master cylinder pushrod to the linkage :whistle:

I also got the cases and frame drilled out to accept the pingle motor mounts i bought, forgot to take some pics of the cases in the frame before i took them out. and got my new 530 sprocket on the wheel.
Hopefully tomorrow i will start masking my cases (for the third time) to be painted. just got them back from the blaster, half bead half granite, they have a nice tooth on them.

What about them wheels? 18# front and read? Where did you buy the rims and spokes and what kind of hub did you use? I'm looking for something similar on my Yamaha SRX-6....

Looks nice and keep up the good work!

Mookachacka wrote: What about them wheels? 18# front and read? Where did you buy the rims and spokes and what kind of hub did you use? I'm looking for something similar on my Yamaha SRX-6....

Looks nice and keep up the good work!

I have a 18 x 2.50 front 18 x 3.50 rear. I bought the rims and spokes from Buchanan's wheels, the hubs I used were from a 77 KZ1000A which were pretty much plug and play. When i was reading up on building wheels allot of people seemed to discourage people from doing it, but I found it relatively easy once I had the spoke pattern figured out. After, I took them to a local wheel builder to make sure I had done them right and trued them correctly, and everything checked out.

I finally got my engine parts painted. I had to wait for my new LVLP paint gun to arrive (which is awesome!) and get 240v power out to the garage for the oven, which proved to be a major PITA. I decided to go with the KG Gun Kote in satin black. I am very happy with the results it seems very tough. I did an "abrasion test" with a screw driver on my starter cover plate and it wouldn't come off at all, unless i really dug it in with the corner of the tip. Definitely a lot more resilient than the PJ1 I originally sprayed on and would scrape off with my fingernail.

I also finished up the tail piece and got it sanded down with 1000 grit so its ready for a mold, going to go pick up some tooling gel coat on Monday so I can start on that.

I suspect that my swing-arm may be bent, Is there a way to determine if it is?

Looking good! Keep the pics and progress coming