TOPIC:

looks cool ! if i buy one of these cowlings can i fit it straight on a kz900 or do i have to fill in the sides ??

Rolf1976_KZ900 wrote:

looks cool ! if i buy one of these cowlings can i fit it straight on a kz900 or do i have to fill in the sides ??

You can put it straight on as is (which is what Rob did with the 650 after painting to match) The modifications I did were simply to make it "how I wanted it to be"  (sometimes I hate myself for being so "picky" about these things  )

Okay i taught that you had to modify the cowling since the forks sits wider.

Rolf1976_KZ900 wrote:

Okay i taught that you had to modify the cowling since the forks sits wider.

The ZX9R front end is a little wider but the initial mods where more about not having visible fixings and having it fit nicely around the forks  and other brackets. Once on I decided to add the material to the sides so it looked (IMHO) like it has always been there rather than a later "add on" I wanted it tucked in as tight as practically possible

Wookie58 wrote:

howardhb wrote:

You going to do a "Chip Foose" drawing 

I use a free PC paint program called "PaintDotNet" to "visualise"...
www.getpaint.net/


 

Thanks Howard, my drawing is more "Big Bird" than "Foose" so I will give the link a try 

Wookie58 I can vouch for "Paintdotnet" as well. A brilliant free program. Gimp is another free one that is very good and similar to Photoshop.  www.gimp.org

It's turning out very good. 

MLMG wrote:

It's turning out very good. 

Thank you, it's taking a lot longer than planned but I am determined to make it the best I can (within my skill set and budget)

Wookie58 wrote:

... it's taking a lot longer than planned...

Sounds vaguely familiar...

calum wrote:

Wookie58 wrote:

... it's taking a lot longer than planned...

Sounds vaguely familiar...

Worth the time, though. Excellent job on the bodywork.

Now the bodywork is about done (just need to trim the Zephyr front fender to fit correctly) I have started working through a few smaller jobs that I need to wrap up prior to strip down for polishing,painting,powder coating etc. I had noticed that the "pre-load" adjusters on the front fork would only adjust through the first half of their travel. I pulled the top of the forks and found that I had made a "schoolboy error" when designing the extensions !! In the stock ZX forks there is a thick washer on top of the spring which the adjuster engages with, I had refitted these on top of the extension tubes. The problem was when the adjuster was wound down the washers hit the top of the "joining sleeves" between the original tubes and the extensions   To resolve this I have cut a rebate in the pre-load extensions and made a "top hat" bush for the adjuster to engage with. Fortunately I was able to harvest the materials required from the scrap ZX9R steering stem I had left over so at least it didn't cost anything to resolve 
Now the nosecone is in it's final resting place I wanted to lower the handlebars a little to gain some clearance around the clutch master cylinder. In the absence of a mill the 4-jaw on my little lathe did a great job of trimming the bar risers   - now on to the hand controls 

 

Nice work i miss using a lathe have not used one since i was in mechanical school.