1978 KZ1000 a2 swingarm swap

Hi Guys

Its been ages since I posted, Made some progress. the bike is running now and with the Dyna coils and Mikuni Flatslides is so very different to what it was before. It is really quite awesome, The bike is assembled for testing, I am going to ride it for a couple of months while the weather here is cool enough and as it warms up again I will strip it down for painting and polishing so by next winter when its riding season, she will be immaculate and be running right. I realise in these pics that the wheels etc look grimey but they will be powdercoated with a polished lip in the future.

Look forward to comments and suggestions for the next steps.

Steve

As Leon(531Blackbanshee) had advised me towards the Hayabusa swingarm I decided to go that route and it was realy quite simple. I had already decided to keep the rear twin shocks which made it an easier swap as I was not needing to modify the frame, only welded on the Z1 shock mounts onto the swingarm. Some spacers and bushing was required for fitting the swingarm. I used the standard KZ swingarm bolt with bushing to match the ID of the swingarm.

The front end swap was very simple, took a couple of hours at most. All Balls do conversion bearing kits, you list the donor bike and the frame you are coupling to and they send you the appropriate stem bearings. The Busa complete front end simply bolted onto the KZ frame with the new bearings. The stem seemed slightly shorter so I had to machine down the top bolt to get it to look right but all in all this was the simplest part of my conversion. I would say having the complete front end from the donor bike including, wheel calipers rotors etc all together made it easier. I would not have liked to be trying to match wheels brakes etc.

Some more pics, I need to find an alternative to the seat. I am really happy with the way the 190 looks on the back with the original tailpiece and light, I am trying to keep the late 70,s feel to the bike with the modern bits on. Yes, it needs a new tyre, that's going on this weekend.

some outdoor pics, the sun makes it look better!

That looks friggen sweet. Nice work!

bike turned out awesome :evil: !

nice job.
here are some different seat selections, japan.webike.net/ps/#!p.m=463&p.c=1101&p.sk=1

leon

turn out very nice.....

Paul.....where did you get the light brackets from I need some for my project.

thx

Thanks guys appreciate the positive comments.

Spdygon, the rubber mounts for the headlights came from ebay, the mounts between these and the headlight were fabricated from some steel lying around. The rubber mounts came with brackets but they sat the headlight too low and because of the taper in the forks I could not slide the rubber mounts higher up the forks.

I have found that I need to change the gearing, the bike is mega fast but way to quick through the gears, it's like riding a motor cross bike on the road, get to top gear way quickly.

The mikuni carbs make the most awesome sucking, burbing and gargling noises, really enjoying it!

sounds like you are enjoying it.

how much of a gearing change are you looking to make?

i have a 190/50-17 with 18/38 and it feels like it will never stop pulling on the highway :lol: .

but,
i have to run 30+ miles down a highway that everyone runs 80mph on to even to get to somewhere to meet up with folks to ride.

so i like more high speed gearing.

leon

Hi Leon

I won't be riding on highways but we do have some fairly long straight roads over here that average speeds are around 70mph . I enjoy the acceleration now but it's just too extreme, I didn't give it any thought really, just left the sprockets that were on either the bike or the Donor wheel as they were.

I have ordered new pads and rotors for all round as well as some 5.1 brake fluid. The stopping power is less than I expected, I realise it's a big heavy bike but they just don't seem to bite hard. Rear disc is also warped, it's very jerky under braking.

Ground clearance is a bit of a nuisance, the pipes scrape over very small speed bumps but that's something I am happy to learn to live with.

I rode about 100 miles yesterday and am very happy so far, not sure I am going to be able to hold off until summer to do the painting and polishing as every time I stop and look at the bike it makes me want to get it perfect.

I have the standard baffle in the exhaust and it's not in great condition. I managed to get the pipes rechromed as a favour so chose to keep them. With no baffle it sounds awesome but will get me in trouble with the police, with the baffle in it sounds very tin can like and seems to run a little less smooth. Any ideas on how to get around that?

Thanks

Paul

Congrats Paul. Bike looks great, and since I have all the parts needed, think I'll do the same conversion to my '73 Z2/Z1 as well. What speedometer and sensor are you using, and how did you convert the clutch to hydraulic clutch?

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