1979 KZ1000 shaft to chain conversion

This is my 79 KZ1000, had it for 11 years and love it but always wanted that wider wheel on the rear end but due to it being a shaft drive ive left it alone....till now! after placing a thread about the possibility's of fitting another wider wheel on custom fighters forum I was told by 'Mustapha dump' that my shafty can be converted to chain, not only that but because the frame is wider due to being a shaft drive it will allow for a really wide tyre, like 180-200 happy days

here is my shopping list so far...

Swing arm........40
Shock and linkage.......70
Front and Rear wheel........78
Rear wheel bearings and seal......20
Front and rear Tyre.........43
Spacers........................5
Wheel spindle ............11
Sprocket carrier......17.49
Cush drive.........11
Brake disk................20
Brake calliper...........40
Chain
Output shaft......on its way
17 tooth Engine sprocket*
43 tooth wheel sprocket
Sprocket cover outer......15
Sprocket cover inner .....25
Clutch worm actuator.......on its way

So now I have set about collecting the parts I need, I saw a Hayabusa swing arm going for the right money on abay only 3 miles from my home for £40. So now its time to start stripping down the KZ and getting the new swing arm in to see how it looks and take it from there.....

My 79 KZ1000


Hayabusa swing arm


I had to make a new swing arm shaft make the Hayabuse swing arm fit the KZ frame, because the hole in the Hayabuse swing arm is 25mm and the holes in the Shaft frame are 26mm I stepped the shaft down to 20mm on the ends and had some bushes made 26mm OD and 20mm ID to fit on the shaft when its in place, if that makes sense. I used 431S29 (EN57) Stainless Steel for the shaft, its Martensitic (Magnetic). Supplied heat treated with a high tensile strength.



Most of the rear end has come so got it all bolted together and wheeled her out side for a good look to see how she sits, I've got to make and weld the brackets that hold the shock inplace but just want to make sure I've got the stance right.

this is how she sits now


this is a photoshoped edit to show possible subframe mods i might do


top mount position


bottom mount position, trying to keep as close to the hayabuse set-up as posible


I just need to fab up some brackets to get the shock in place then move on to the engine and covert it from shaft to chain.

Going all out eh? Can't wait to see your vision come to life! Nice plan and great work so far.

i have been dying to see someone perform this conversion.
from the looks of the fab and machine work you possess the skillset and tools to perform this mod.

keep us posted,i can't wait to see how it turns out. :evil:

leon

I had a few hours free over the weekend so modeled up the top 'stepped' yoke to take some 'K' series USD forks i'm going to be using. This will extend the reach of the forks by 40mm, I have been told I can extend the 'K'series forks internally another 30mm. I tried to make as pleasing to the eye as I could. I'm not really at this stage yet BUT I had a chance to get on a CNC, what ya think...

The CAD model I designed in Catia V5

Cutter Paths done in Powermill

I found a nice piece of scrap Alum 6082

Roughing out...

CNC work done, front...

Back....

holybatfreakinsh!t man :ohmy: !

dang seriously nice triples sir :huh: .

i am not used to getting much maching porn on here,thanks for that .

what are k-series forks?

keep us posted,

leon

Thanks for the comment the 'K' series forks are from the later Suzuki busa, the ones with the radial brakes on, if that makes sense. I went for the busa parts cus the weight is not fat off that off the KZ1000 Shaft so felt it would be a good choice,syne I should call it a Kawazuki !!!!!

ow god no please don't call it a kawazuki :sick: .just because that was the parts vehicle to deliver the parts to you doesn't mean you have to aknowledge it :silly: .

it is a kyb or showa sourced from a busa,that is my take anyway :whistle: .

it's the heart and frame that matters,everything else is just accesories :woohoo: .

busa is a good choice i have a busa front end in the works for a future kz900 project.

keep us posted,

leon

Nice job. That is very cool indeed.

Wish I had your fabrication skills. I have a shaft drive sitting in my storage unit I want to convert.

Thanks for the comments, I'm surprised no one on here has done this already, I haven't yet seen another one done. If I had kept to a twin shock I think it would be a much simpler job. I'm just sorting the shock mounts out and going to start making them tomorrow, I was thinking about making an adjustable top shock mount but it might start to look untidy. I'm also going to chop the subframe up and shorten it by around 6-8 inches, I want to retain the tank and tail piece to keep its identity.

Cheers

Nice! I had thought about doing the same to my shaftie at the beginning of my project to put a modern swinger on but ended up going with the stock setup as I needed a running bike :laugh: . Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Had a frustrating few weeks and haven't got much done but finally got back to making the shock mounts, this is the bottom, just needs welding in. I'm going to use the inner of the old main stand lugs to weld to and cut the outer two off, should look ok. I was a bit worried that the tube would twist but the engine is mounted off the same tube so that should stop any twisting