KZ440 build

Here's one with a rough fiberglass seat pan.

It says I can't upload pics. I've tried 4 times. Same message. So frustrating. Anyway. I'll try again later.

I made a seat pan out of fiberglass. I hugged my frame so it almost snaps in. I used the front crossmember as a guide and welded a couple bolts to a metal strip and molded it in to the seat pan to bolt my seat down. I use to do a lot of leather tooling and I hope the skill is still there because after I shape the seat out of 3layers of foam and contour it, I'm going to put a really custom cover on it. I plan on riveting it to the underside of the pan. I also plan to to bolt a battery box to the underside of the seat. I'm going with a small lithium battery to keep the rear ,triangle, open. I like that look.

Seat pan. I curved it up over the tank. I like that look.

This is a mock up with a rear fender. My wife is still is up in the air on a rear fender. I want to have it to give it a paint job. I enjoy drawing, not sure about hand painting then clear coating, but I think I can do it.

She'll thank you after she rides through water. How are you going to fasten it?
Steve

Oh. Those probably aren't the handlebars I'm using. I just couldn't stand using the stock bars in mock ups. They are worse then a self enema. They almost break my wrists to drive. I bought some mini apes from TC bros that should be here tomorrow. I kinda like the drag bars though. But alas, up to my wife.
My oldest talked my wife into a rear fender tonight. I'm glad. My second oldest (got 2 more after that) said the rear fender should be a skeletal backbone. I think that would look shits. My wife agrees. So I'll be learning how to hand paint a spinal column. Bought some blinker lights from JP cycles clearance for 2.50 each. They are really great heavy quality lights. The chrome housing is like 2 pounds. Heavy duty. Great stuff.

I molded in a couple of studs in the crossmember in the fiberglass. I will also do something in the rear.

See the dark towards the front? That's a plate I formed in the fiberglass that had two bolts welded to a contoured plate that poke through the holes in the factory cross member.

Okay. So I can't upload pics again. Tried it 3 times.
I molded in a plate with studs facing down through the existing holes in the forward cross member. I will add something in the rear later, before paint. Gotta mock her up to find forward control placement first.

Forgot to take pics, but started fastening my rear fender by welding a curved strap towards the front of the Swingarm. Spanning the two legs. Then I drilled a hole in the bottom of the fender and using a plastic washer as a spacer I bolted it to the strap. Now I need to make some brackets to go from the rear wheel adjuster area to the fender. I mounted it to the Swingarm not the frame to allow the fender to hug the tire better. I think I am going to use a bit longer Lower shock bolts and mount the braces to the inside of the Swingarm with a nut. I was going to weld a couple threaded tabs to the top side of the adjuster, but using a bit longer bolts with nuts will look cleaner. I'll take a couple pics. I've used up all my scrap 1" strap laying around and will actually have to buy metal to make the braces. That sucks. Ordered some forward controls through TC Bros today so I can start fitting it all and prep it for paint.


Oh. Threw on some 8" mini apes to give it a different look. I like these better then the drag bars, I think.

Wow! It's been awhile since I've posted anything. I have stalled a bit on my kz, but sometimes things go in leaps and bounds. Work and life get in the way of doing the things we want. I did a little more work on the bike. I tried a bunch of different lighting combos, but came up with nothing I like. I decided that if I didn't get going on this, I was going to keep nit-picking and rejecting ideas until nothing got done. So, I sanded it all down. Pulled the paint off of just about every part and cleaned it up. I even did a little engine cleaning to make her shine just a touch.
My wife had some specs that I had to adhere to. One: Had to keep the suspension. I 've already covered that. Two: Silver frame. Three: white tank. I sorta stuck with that. BTW, I used single stake 2k on everything. I know I should have went bc/cc on the tank and fender, but my cheap ass can't afford it.



I did that at about 2 today. Then did some family stuff. Came back around 8 and decided to throw it all together.

My forward control brackets are a little over kill, but I wasn't sure how much weight would be on them. Not much after I built and painted them. Oh, well.

Oh, I got all done about 11 tonight and when I was taking pics I noticed this:

I don't know if you notice the primer white side of the engine. Doh! I forgot to paint it with color. My gun is cleaned up put away. My paint is stored, I'm almost out of the silver anyway. It's really late.



Anyway, I'm tired. Going to bed.

Wow!
Nice work there

That has to be the scariest part of the process huh? Stripped frame with nothing in it or attached to it. I remember looking at KZombie's frame in that state and thinking "dang, it's a long way back from this point..." Glad you got her back and in paint! There's definitely something satisfying about stepping back and seeing the bike all shiny in new colors. I finally got my tank and skins painted today too. I love it when it goes smoothly and hate it when it don't; doesn't seem to be a middle ground with painting. LOL

The painting went better for me this time. I switched primers to a nason brand. Other then it can't be stored once opened, it paints really nice and builds great, sands nice, and drys super fast. First time using 2k primer. Always used laqueur based primers that take a week to dry. Now I know.

Do you have pictures? the previous links don't work. Plus i would love to know which tc bros set you used