Kawasakikid wrote: GSXR Swingarm for me. Ground clearance is an issue if you pick up fat chicks in the trailer park. Seriously though, I am real close in tight turns but I run a firmer but not uncomfortable preload and dampening on front and back. I catch flack once in a while however Kzs aren't known for peg dragging anyway so slammed to the ground isn't an issue.

?????????? Now you tell me! I've dragged both footpegs, the centerstand tang, and even the right side muffler cover on my stock KZ650-C1 with S&W shocks set pretty stiff. Dragged them so much I replaced all but the center stand (which I could just paint)! Maybe you could try either buying stickier tires or stepping up the pace if you've never dragged the footpegs on a KZ. :laugh: :laugh: Ed

First wheel I tried was an old GSXR with a 180 tyre.Way too big. Then I got a ZRX400 wheel but it had very little meat on it.Not enough to safely shave down. I was more concerned about that than anything else.I wanted to be sure that I wasnt going to weaken the sprocket carrier.I ended up using a Bandit 600 wheel. I think I took about 10mm off the face of the carrier.Plenty of meat left on it to keep things safe and no problems with the bearing. Also had to shorten and rethread the bolts but that was no problem.Shiftting down the chain size was a big help, I dont think it would have worked with the old chain (630 or something,I cant remember).

Guys-

I'm working on my 1981 KZ LTD. my goal is to end up with an AMA style tribute bike to the early days of The KZ being the first Jap bike to win the AMA here in America.

Think Reg Pridmore

The goal is to use mostly period correct race style mods only. I'll retain factory brakes, factory forks, etc. while not stock but try to use period correct modifications, or modifications that appear as period correct.

It seems all those early AMA guys did different things for swing arms. It looks like the original Vetter bike ran some kind of aluminum swingarm. Eddie Lawson's bikes seem to run some kind of braced factory style swingarm that winds up looking like a ZRX arm.

So to the question. What kind of swap or modification would be semi-correct and be a fairly straight forward swap. I want to retain dual shocks and the factory cast 18" wheel. So I guess a 20mm axle. I've seen this done with GS1100E arms as well as ZRX arms.

I'm on a budget. I can source spacers or turned axles if I need them. Not afraid to weld steel or aluminum.

Any advice or suggestions would be super helpful.

Update and a question!
Working on my swingarm.
Looking for a little help understanding what's supposed to move in here. The shaft comes out easily. The SLEEVE seems to be stuck in the bushings, and definitely not turning. Judging by the grease fitting location, I'm guessing that the sleeve is supposed to turn inside of the bushings when the swingarm moves?
Do I need to use a press to remove the sleeves?

A couple photos of progress. Exhaust in and wrapped. (Wrapped because it was quite rusted/pitted. I knocked all the rust off, hit it with high temp paint to seal it, then wrapped it.

Bike is fully apart now, frame painted, and starting reassembly (Hence the swingarm question)

Welp...
I finally am getting around to organizing all my photos from when I started this build about two years ago, so I can document what all I screwed up and learned along the way so maybe others can learn from my mistakes. I have champagne dreams on a beer budget and literally none of the proper tools needed for customizing a motorcycle, so this entire venture is an exercise in doing as much as I can with as little as I can for as long as I can until I have pay a professional. This whole project is really like a self taught shop class for me. I am constantly having to research for weeks on how to accomplish the next step as much of this I have never done. So I may have really struggled with things that other folks could whip out in an afternoon in the garage. So bear with me!

I previously did a ground up restoration on a 1990 zr550 and in the in the process I ended up with literally enough spare parts to build a whole other bike. So after seeing lots of guys in Japan grafting on Zephyr400's (Zephyr zr550 in US) swing arms and front ends onto z750gp's and z750fx2's and 3's, I knew what I was going to do with all my spare Zephyr parts. I wanted a kz750e as they were easier to find than an dual shock gpz or a kz750L or kz700 ( plus I didn't want to irreparably alter a rare bike like those.) It took me a long time to find a bike that wasn't to nice to modify or to trashed to bother with.

Eventually I found a 1981 kz750e with 27K miles that was on it second owner. It had been garaged and taken care of all its life until the second owner, who spray bombed it all black, put pods on it and never figured out the jetting, so it was forgotten in the garage. The gas tank was covered in tinny dimples from a failed attempt at cleaning out the inside with large nuts and bolts, and the rear brakes were frozen solid. But it did start and it ran even though the petcock was fashmoganed and the carbs gushed gas as soon as the engine stopped. So this one was perfect for me to start with.

The day I brought it home.



I wasted no time in beginning to test fit the zr550 parts on the kz just to see how easy or hard this was all going to be. And was pleasantly surprised to find the swing arm fit between the frame bosses with millimeters to spare and the zr550 front end bolted up almost as if it was designed for it, even using the incorrect kz bearings.
So far so good!





Now that I knew that the Zephyr suspension bits were going to work, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish. I had one and a half entire zr550 parts bikes I could use and the internet to find the rest.

I will skip forward to this past winter when I mocked up all the parts I had amassed to see how and if it would all work together. All the powder coating, suspension work and wiring had been completed at this point, but I never had the engine and the carbs and the gas tank in the same place at the same time, so I was hoping it all was going to fit. And thank God it did.
At the time of writing this, the motor is apart and I just finished painting all the engine pieces...so now it will all have to be sent off to the machine shop for the cylinder boring and valve job.








I ended up with:
1. kz750 frame and motor
2. zr550 front suspension, front and rear brakes, handlebars, headlight, swing arm and wheels
3. zr550 entire wiring harness including ECU, Ignition pickup, coils, fuse block, regulator....the entire thing.
4. zr550 speedo and tach and switchgear
5. zr750 (zephyr) cvk32 carbs and intake manifolds
6. zr750 ignition timing rotor
7. 810 piston kit
8. 1984 gpz750 cams
9. zr-7 sprag style starter clutch and secondary shaft
10. zr-7 high capacity oil pump
11. zr-7 oil sump with oil cooler ports
12. zr550 oil cooler and lines
13. 1984 gpz550 6-speed transmission
14. cheap ebay rear shocks until I can find something affordable and worth using.
15. Kerker exhaust
16. kz1000e (shaftdrive) gas tank
17. zx600d rearsets

I will now try to work my way through illustrating all the steps in between and document reassembling the engine when life stops getting in the way.

Fast forward a bit to December. The storage unit where I was storing the Kz and Gsxr experienced a bit of flooding. The bikes were moved to higher ground but it wasn't high enough for the record flooding. After 4 days underwater, the flood receded and I found the bikes knocked over but with minimal amount of damage considering the situation.



During the time in storage I was slowly collecting pieces to update the Kz. I found a Zrx1100 swingarm and an installed but never used Z1 carved seat. I also bought a pair of RFY shocks that were rebuilt by CL MotoTech. I also picked up a set of Carrozzeria wheels but their fate is still undetermined.

After the recovering the Kz from the flood, I was able to get the bike running with a carb clean and a couple oil flushes. With the biggest hurdle conquered, I set about getting the swingarm to fit. I had to shave about 1/4" or so from the pivot and turn up some spacers to adapt the 20mm pivot of the arm to the Kz pivot bolt. Luckily, the arm missed the stock muffler brackets.



I ended up with a spare Brembo rear caliper so might as well put it to use. I pulled out some 5/8" 6061 plate and made a simple mount. I'll get some pics of the finished part later.



To be continued...

Later, Doug

From what I can tell as far as these things can ever be called "done" I'm pretty darn close it seems. Just for shits and grins I thought I'd make a list of whats been done to the old girl. Likely forgot a few things but:

New Shinko tires
New spokes
Rims powder coated satin black
Dual front disk setup from KZ650/KZ1000
Brake calipers front and rear rebuilt
All new Spiegler s/s braided brake lines
New front master cylinder
All new brake pads
Front calipers powder coated satin black
Fork lowers powder coated satin black
Rebuilt forks
New All Balls wheel bearings front and rear
New All Balls steering head bearings
New swing arm bushings
New mini signal lights
New headlight chrome ring
New HID headlight
New Acewell electronic speedo/tach
New Motogadget RFID ignition switch
New Antigravity li-ion battery
New regulator/rectifier
Frame and frame fittings sand blasted and painted shiny black
Bodywork painted shiny black
Kawasaki green pinstripe applied on tailpiece
Side covers replaced
New clutch cable
New Gazi rear shocks
New chain
New plugs
Carbs rebuilt
New fuel petcock, fuel lines, filter
New K&N pod filters
New handlebars
New bar-end mirrors
Exhaust headers powder coated high temp satin black
New Supertrapp slip on exhaust
Valve clearance adjusted
Cam chain tension adjusted
New points and condenser
Timing adjusted
Carbs tuned and jetted
New full synthetic motor oil
New oil filter

So about $6-7K for new and used parts and things I can't do like painting and some other things. Plus about 100-150 hours of my time (likely more). All this for something that's loud, uncomfortable, dangerous and useless to me for 6-7 months a year. Oh, and any decent rider on a new Ninja 300 could probably humiliate me on the road or at the track.

I couldn't be happier

Thx 650 Ed for the support... I've taken what has been said .and have moved forward with a little more confidence and insight..big move!!! I bought gs swingarm.. From very cool member oN here.2 days..in my hands..Thx Kevin.... Detailing now and hopefully you knowledgeable guys will help me thru the install...whaaaaa hooo

I've never heard of a shaft-to-chain conversion on a 750, but I'd guess it's possible since it has been done on the 1000s.
It's going to take quite a bit of work as I'm pretty sure you'll have to split the crankcase.
Here are a couple of topics. google search = kz1000 shaft drive chain conversion. you can try other searches.

KZRider topic --- 1979 KZ1000 shaft to chain conversion --- by SpikeJ
This is an old topic. he mentions a photo blog that might still be floating around the internet somewhere.

custom fighters --- SpikeJ topic --- see reply by Mustapha-dump
He provides some of the particulars.

Forks. search KZR for KZ750 fork swap or something like that. All-Balls-Racing has a cross-reference for figuring out what fits what. Basically, there have to be bearings that will mate the donor steering stem to your frame, then have the steering stem machined --- I guess cut to the correct length, then the end re-machined or something like that.

Rear end. do a KZR search for KZ750 swing arm swap.

Im looking to do a couple of things to my bike and i looking for info on some thing's. I want to o
Do a chain conversion. Im looking at a 1982 kz750 e3 output shaft. Is this going to work with my bike? Second what rear swing arm will work qoth my bike? And im looking to replace my.front forks. I thinking usd forks. Whats the best to use? 99 r1 front end. And im looking for and output shaft backplate