TOPIC: Saving a '81 KZ750-E

Finally got my blast cabinet up and running. I am using 80 grit glass bead for the media. The swing arm came out really nice! I have a long list of parts that need blasting, so I am realy glad I have this piece of equipment in my shop!

Factory Kawasaki weld... WTF?

Looks like the welder run out of protective gas.....

Exactly. Fix it? Nah, just send it down the production line...

I'm happy with the results, but I end up waiting for the compressor longer than I can blast.

I'm not the best welder, but at least there's no porosity! I dropped of the wheels, drive hub, swingarm, and rear brake stay at the powder coating shop today. Looking forward to making the frame a roller so I can finish the fab work.

nice work, any plans to brace the frame?

Not as of yet. I am going to de-clutter the rear section, and I have to fab up some new steering stops. What type of frame bracing have you seen?

This is a reference.

heres a thread with a bunch of good info, sadly many of the image links are broken because they are hosted on photobucket, but if you go through it there is still plenty of good info. It is fine to use chromoly tube without heat treating as long as is is thinner than 0.125" just use standard e70 wire

When i braced my frame I used .065" wall chromoly.

kzrider.com/forum/5-chassis/294594-frame-bracing?start=100

Wow! I got a 24 hour turn around on the powdercoat. I was expecting 3-4 days at least.

I would say it all looks look like new except they actually look better than new! Very nice! Ed

That is a lot of good info on frame bracing. To be honest, I had never considered it before now. I am building this bike as a street bike, not a track bike. It's kind of a "resto-mod" with a vintage superbike theme. And yes, I am going with the Eddie Lawson tribute color scheme. I am no stranger to large fabrication projects, and I was Production/Quality Manager at a metal fabrication company for 24 years. This being my first retirement project, I think I am going to pass on the frame bracing. I would get too deep into making or buying a frame jig, and all of the other concerns when welding on a frame.

Great information on weld techniques and strategies! Thanks for all the pointers.

The idea is that as you stiffen up the front end with a fork swap and brace the swing-arm the flex under load these components used to have is now translated as more load to the frame. Bracing helps address that issue. Its certainly not required for a street bike, but its a nice touch and wont cost you much but your time. Plus It can really give the bike a beefy look if you reinforce the steering head to the main down tube. If done correctly no jig is needed as most points you are welding on are already triangulated. With your experience im sure you are well aware, tight fit-up and welding evenly side to side can mostly negate warping. I didn't make a jig on the 3 frames I have braced and it was fun to do. really gave the front tough profile and the bikes handle very well. The other thing you can do to stiffen up the chassis is to remove the slop in the factory engine mounts by over-sizing the bolts for a tight fit and using thick aluminum plates for the mounts

I only brought it up because you clearly got the skills. party on.

You certainly make good points...

Most of the aluminum parts on this bike look really bad - until blasted, that is!

Yesterday I received my Delkevic 4 into 1 exhaust system. First inspection shows pretty good manufacturing. It will be quite a while before the motor is in, so we will see how the fit is when I get there. It looks good so far!

Since I really can't come up with any reasonable arguement not to gusset the frame, I picked up some 1.00"x 3.00" x .083" wall steel tubing and got to cutting...

When looking at the drawing of recommended bracing, I don't think the head tube needs anything more on this frame than what came from Kawasaki.

Nice work. The 750/650 frames were a better design than the larger 1000 frames, so any head-stock bracing is probably overkill. most of the other bracing will apply though.