And finally, Wookie's 82 begins !

Ever wished you had just stayed in bed !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a couple of days booked this week to try and get this frame finished so Monday came, a quick job on Mrs Wookie's car and then off to the garage. Fired up my trusty old welder and "what the f*~k" the wire speed control had gone down and it was spewing wire uncontrollably !!. Now this wasn't an expensive machine and I've had it for 25 years plus so I guess it's done ok. It wasn't in my plan to be replacing it right now but needs must so off to Amazon for a budget replacement (I say budget but $200 is still a chunk of change) In the meantime I stayed busy with some grinding and brazing. New machine arrived this morning so I whipped it out of the box, set it up thinking I could make up for lost time but when I connected the CO2 and opened the valve I could hear hissing even without the machine turned on - it should only pass gas when it's powered up and the trigger on the torch is pulled so that was short lived !!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's going back to Amazon tomorrow while I find an alternative replacement. Definitely not in my happy place right now

There's a difference between a cheap welder 20 years ago and a cheap welder today. My buddy and I pooled our money and bought a quality MIG welder 14 years ago and couldn't be happier. We've built a 12' flatbed trailer and a stack of other projects with great results.

Kelly E wrote:

There's a difference between a cheap welder 20 years ago and a cheap welder today. My buddy and I pooled our money and bought a quality MIG welder 14 years ago and couldn't be happier. We've built a 12' flatbed trailer and a stack of other projects with great

Ain't that the truth, I would like something better but a month before Christmas and with no notice a better machine will need to wait . I've still got a lot of spending to do on the project

New welder is here and I'm back in business (got to say for a cheap machine it does OK) I have managed to get the other side of the headstock finished and the "fixed" front engine mount. This side was a bit trickier as not been one to do things the "easy way" I wanted to run the hydraulic line for the clutch inside the frame tube but just chopping holes in the main structure didn't seem to be the best idea I've had !!! . At the outlet point on the lower tube I have reinforced the area around the hole with a piece of thick walled tubing, for the inlet I have added a piece of "slash cut" 12mm tube to reinforce and provide a guide for the hose. I have also added a "scallop" to allow the wiring a better route to the front connector station. Still moving forward













 

Nice, and nice!

To my uneducated eye, the later year bikes have a much better reinforced headstock area, compared to the early 900/1000 frames.  Good job cleaning up the factory welding, and building on that...

That's a clever way to hide the clutch line.  Nice!

Nessism wrote:

Nice, and nice!

To my uneducated eye, the later year bikes have a much better reinforced headstock area, compared to the early 900/1000 frames.  Good job cleaning up the factory welding, and building on that...

Thanks Ed, those brace pressings are certainly significant (2mm plate) and I think along with the additional tubing I have installed should allow me to "reap the benefit" of the improved suspension. I would say to anyone thinking of going this route with smoothing their frame that the key is to ensure you "add" enough material to be able to grind it back without "compromising the original structure".

sf4t7 wrote:

That's a clever way to hide the clutch line.  Nice!

Thanks Scotty, it's a "double bubble" as cosmetically it's cleaner but also keeps the line away from the heat of the header pipes

Wookie58 wrote:

On another note, while looking around I noticed that the ZR750S (watercooled model) uses a very similar instrument cluster to the ZX6R that I had already (there are some small differences) I had a set turn up in the post as there are a few advantages (more realistic redline - fuel gauge) and they are cosmetically different. Side by side I am unsure but am angling towards the ZR unit - What do you guys think (ZX6R on the left)??

Amazing work your doing on this bike Wookie!
I wish I could Weld.

The Gauge clusters look very much like the 2005 z750s I have.
It's pick up is on the front sprocket.

rstnick wrote:

The Gauge clusters look very much like the 2005 z750s I have.

It's pick up is on the front sprocket.

 

It is indeed, this was a bit of a PITA

So now the holiday's over I have been back at it today, I decided that I should break the neighbours back in gently so the welding and grinding can wait until tomorrow. I will be making my own loom using DTM style connectors but I still needed factory plugs for the instruments, ignition module/pulse-coils and speed sensor. I picked up a ZX9R loom a while back that had been butchered so was dirt cheap (I only needed the 16 pin plug for the instruments and the 3 pin for the speed sensor) I am using a GPZ1100A2 ignition system but fortunately several other kawas of that era use the same type igniter so have the same plug (I bought a GPX600 loom for $20 as it doesn't carry the "classic" premium of a GPZ part but is the same 10 pin plug). Having stripped both looms today I have harvested the required parts and have enough cable of the correct colours that I shouldn't need to buy much in the way of cable to build the full loom, a good day

Today has been a good day just a couple more days and the frame will be PC ready (I won't bore you with any more frame pics !) but also I have been thinking about my instruments. I am using ZX6R but there are a couple of issues, first it has a "temp" warning and obviously my bike is air cooled - 2nd is the 15k red line on the tacho. Just before Christmas I reached out to a company in Poland who make replacement faces to see if they would do a "one off" custom set. I sent them a drawing of what I wanted and got a response the next day saying "no problem" and that they would send me a preview after the holiday. Well today I got the preview and I am "stoked" - why can't other suppliers have this "can do" attitude, they are only charging $8 more than their off the shelf offering which is awesome. They have said 8-10 day turn around so I will post pics when they arrive and let you know about the finish etc (I have shared the "preview" below )