89 ZX7 fork swap

Aloha guys. I just wanted to share what I found today. I'm a proud owner of ZX750-H1/ 89 ZX7 which I have in parts right now as I'm in middle of resurrecting this beast. And since I have her apart, why not put the whole front end on my 82 KZ750(Gpz750) and see how it fit. It didn't look all that bad, and I have some numbers here. However, my KZ are still apart as well. Don't have the engine in the frame, so these numbers could change after engine in the frame. Also, the front fork on KZ may need to rebuilt, so it may have sat little lower than usual. Also, had my son sitting on the bike to get these measurements, so it's not perfect. I mean I didn't use any leveler to get these numbers. With that been said,

With stock KZ fork with stock 19, from ground to top of the fork - 1100mm. Bottom middle of the lower frame - 225mm
with ZX7 fork with ZX7 17-inch rim - 975mm, bottom middle of lower frame 205mm

The whole front end will be a direct swap. You can use same bearing from the KZ, but if you gonna swap the front end, change your bearing anyway. You can use either KZ or ZX7 bearing. You can use ZX7 top clamp, which are flat, so just drill and get some handlebar clamp. Only mod you need to do on KZ frame is the ignition lock bracket. You need to cut it off, or make it short. At this point, I'm not sure if the ZX ignition lock will work as I have the ignition cylinder apart from the top clamp.

My 89 is still old compare to modern bikes, but with thicker fork tube, bigger front disk with better caliper, I may use this fork on my KZ.

Now, I need to do some research on the swingarm. I know this one will be tougher than the front. Our bikes have two shocks, which I intend to keep it that way. Zephyr piggy-back and the swingarm look nice...................

Fork height: 1100 - 975 = 125mm (4.9")
Frame clearance: 225 - 205 = 20mm (.79")

Why such a huge difference?

It's typical to lose some height when upgrading forks but only losing .79" of ground clearance doesn't seem too bad.

Nessism wrote: Fork height: 1100 - 975 = 125mm (4.9")

Why such a huge difference?

Damn! I was looking at wrong measurement! Sorry. here is the correct hieght. 1030mm. I took all sort of measurements and one of them was 1100mm. Also, I took measurements both in mm and inches, so I got all those numbers mix up!

Sorry guys! And thanks for pointing that out to me Nessism.

Measured my zx 7 1990 and my 82 gpz 750 forks . Both bikes with motors in and on the side stand . Zx 7 forks were 1 3/4 shorter from the end of the forks to the top of the triple . Dont know if that helps or not .

If I was looking for a rear swinger think I would check out PDM fabrications on the bottom of the page . That looks like a bad ass swinger he's got there .

Hope your not giving up on the seven

riturbo wrote: Hope your not giving up on the seven

No way! I'm just collecting parts and looking for a carb for now. almost ready to drop the engine for cleaning and inspection. My plan for both bikes are to get it running as soon as possible.

Hardest part of the 7, for now, is locating the carb. I may need to go FCR or TMR route. Damn, those things are expensive...................

Its not the clearance at the bottom of the frame you need to worry about,its more the exhaust.

davido wrote: Its not the clearance at the bottom of the frame you need to worry about,its more the exhaust.

Yes, I know. But at the moment, I can't find my classic Kerker pipe/canister, so bottom of the frame have to do. Once I find them, I'll take the measurement. That is one of many items I can't find. I know I have old Mikuni Flat-slide I bought back in the days,, but I can't find that either.

I know it's somewhere in the house, or one of the storage I'm renting...............

I used the forks from a ZX9R on mine. Theyre meant to be the longest japanese upsy dupsy forks and I ended up having extensions made as there wasnt enough clearance by the pipes.

Finally made account with Flickr and got some picture for this project. Please remember this is just the mock-up. Just wanted to see:

1. Bearing fitment. Wanted to see if I need different bearing.
2. Stem length. To see if it's too long or too short. It was just right, but needed some modification on steering/ignition lock.
3. Fork length. To see if it's too short. It does look kinda short, but will see again after engine is install back on the frame.

Also, this was how I took the measurement with my son on the bike and trying to hold it as horizontal as possible, so the measurements I provided are not perfect.

And yeah, this was when I found that I had some water in my gas tank. Rag that was plugging the fuel filler is out as I already dump the water out from the tank.

Some more pictures.

As you can see, you need to modify the steering/ignition lock. I just cut it off for now. But I need to figure what I'm going to do later. With all the modern security devices, I may just leave it out, but................