Upgrading '76 to '77 Rear Disc

Is this a bolt-on upgrade or is the swing arm and frame different?

The reason I ask, is that I have found a rear wheel with the disc hub and the rear calipers are easy to come by on Ebay.

TIA
Phil

if you can find someone swapping to differant swingarm and wheels on a kz1000 thats usually the easiest and cheapest route to get everything you need.you will need to make a bracket to mount mastercylinder too frame but its not too complicated on a kz frame.on a z1 the resevoir will not clear the sidecover,when i did mine i used a 80ltd style mastercylinder mounted to frame with a remote resevoir mounted under seatB)

As mentioned...the resevoir must be addressed. The complete rear end swap is the best way to go. And I believe your swing arm is different. I would go with the 79 and later rear end. Much easier to find and rebuild if needed.

It looks like I have access to a '77 rear (that good enough?).

Also, what size rear tire are you guys running? I have stock '76 with 130/90/18
(barely clears -- no heavy cornering fo'sho).

I was planning to take the '77 rear hub and send it off to Buchanan's to have new spokes laced to a "17 rim ("1 down)... and was hoping to move to 130/70 or 80/17 V-rated (little sidewall movement).

Is there more clearance with the rear disc support brace than the rear drum?

TIA
Phil

a 130 0n a 3" wide rim is about all you can run on a stock swingarm.a 77-78 mastercylinder will clear a 76 kz cover but not a z1,you need remote on the 73-75 z1 covers.the swingarm on mine was from a 77

Just to let you know that if you use the stock caliper and mount a 17" wheel, there isn't much clearance. I know one guy with this set-up and he had to mount the caliper and wheel at the same time. Stock 18" wheel you can take axle out and remove the caliper, but there isn't enough clearance to do that with a 17" wheel. Think of it as one piece. Knowingly, you don't mess with it that much, but just something you should know about. I still am thinking about doing the same thing and I'm not worried that much about it.

racer54 wrote:

Just to let you know that if you use the stock caliper and mount a 17" wheel, there isn't much clearance. I know one guy with this set-up and he had to mount the caliper and wheel at the same time. Stock 18" wheel you can take axle out and remove the caliper, but there isn't enough clearance to do that with a 17" wheel. Think of it as one piece. Knowingly, you don't mess with it that much, but just something you should know about. I still am thinking about doing the same thing and I'm not worried that much about it.

Good points!

PLUMMEN what rim width and tire size did you go with?

I really want to have some clearance as I do like to corner.

in that picture it was just running a stock 77 kz1000 rim and 4" tire i had left over