Awesome to hear from the new owner! It would be great if you keep us updated on your changes. Love that bike!

MAR:

Thank you for the report, I am glad to see the bike is in good hands.

I vote that you keep this thread going with your mods, as the bike belongs to you now. Please use this to show us what wonderful ideas you come up with.

I too am very happy !!

Let me introduce myself. I am the very lucky new owner of Ted's build!
As Ted mentioned I took the bike on a 300 mile shakedown ride.
(wanted to do 400 miles. However had to stop and talk about the bike more than i would have thought.)
The bike pulls from the bottom all the way to 6K. Power is smooth and linear. I didn't take it past 6K yet.
Clutch slipped a little. Probablly from not being used for so long. This got better with riding later on.
Rear shocks are still really firm. I loosened the preload. We'll see.
Front end felt just fine without really pushing the bike hard.
I used to own a 1979 MK II. This bike has much more grunt and without a doubt feels more nimble.. The front brakes are "RIGHT NOW" with great feel..
I was a little bit reserved as the tires are quite old. However the bike was willing to go whereever I wanted it to without no evil tendencies.
The carbs seem dialled in with no hesitation or stumbling..
All in all this bike reflects the pride and attention to detail that Ted put in the build. I have a short list of mods I am planning as any owner would to make a bike his own.
I feel proud and fortunate to now be the owner of such a wonderful bike..
Ted, what a great bike.

The new owner rode it 30 miles today, will ride 400 tomorrow. I will get a full report after the ride.

OK I promised the moderator of the forum I would not use this thread to advertise.

The bike now has a new owner, and it was like giving away your daughter at her wedding. "Myke" really appreciates the work in the bike, I was very happy to see it taken by a respectful owner, and a little sad that it was leaving Myke has even offered visitation rights. I feel very good bout the transfer of ownership. I had to take this photo, thought it would be good closure. I obscured Mykes face a little with the text as I am respectful of others when it comes to internet photo's. I am sure he wouldn't mind.

If you are reading this and building a bike, start a thread!



There are so many very knowledgeable people reading and posting, they are so much help. Mark1122, was a great help, as were so many others.

Most of all thank you KZR for providing us with a way to communicate from very distant places.

I'm making progress on the wheel conversion. Front wheel engineered, brake extension templates made, just need to mill them out.
I did have to ditch the stock console (its for sale cheap), the electronic sending unit at the wheel was way too big to the mill down and make fit. So I got a 87 GSXR mechanical speedo drive&cable, that I was able to mill down enough, and the cable matches perfectly to a 1984 Zn1100 LTD instrument cluster. The cluster also mounts right to the triple clamp along with the warning light brackets from the same 84 ZN1100. I had to mill and turn the spacers to fit, and mill the wheel brake mounting points down about 6 mm and re-tap. I used a ridged mounted dial meter to true the disk rotors. The 86 750 front wheel uses a 15mm axle the 87 1100 17 mm, either work fine with the stock GPZ axle. I did have to mill the GPZ nuts down a little. With the front wheel now 18" and wider, I dropped the fender down 3/4" with new mounting holes drilled. I modified the swing arm slightly to allow more clearance for the new fatter 150 rear tire. It actually gave me enough room to mount a 160 conformably, but I'm sticking with a 150 for now. The best thing about this wheel swap is the ability to run radials, they are so much better than the bias ply. I'm using a 87 GSXR rear brake and mounting hardware, the swing arm needs a bracket welded on the bottom for the brake torque arm. I bought a set of Zephyr 1100 rear shocks for it, that I am having Jamie Daughtery of DMS www.daughertymotorsports.com/ Rebuild and modify. When he is done with them they will out perform Ohlins, at a far better price point. Chain is now a 530, with a front sprocket from Z1 Ent. Front forks will get a set of Raceteck Gold Valve emulators and upgraded springs. Also added a fork brace and steering dampener.

FINALLY received my lovely Mikuni RS34-D21-K flat slide Carbs, test fitted them yesterday, perfect fit. They are beautiful. I'm still debating whether or not to fit some race cams to boost the power up a bit (or in my case recover power from altitude loss).

What I still need, desperately, is the in tank fuel level sending unit. This is the round base type.

I have parts for sale too:
All for a 1981 GPZ1100 B1 with 3600 miles on it.
rear brake
MAF unit
2 (two) EFI controllers computers
EFI air box
Speedometer/Console, like new
Tripmeter/Odometer with just 3600 miles on it. <<< what the bike has, original miles.
Right hand mirror
Front wheel with rotors
rear wheel with rotor & sprocket <<< with original factory tire!
Original chain <<< 3600 miles on it

Got the swingarm bearings lubed up and bolted into the frame this weekend. Made some more progress on the front forks, getting some of the smaller brackets done and one of the forks sandblasted and primered. That was the one with all the stickers, so it took a bit of work to clean up. I also didn't realize there was a clearcoat on them until I started blasting. A little scrubbing with 100-grit sandpaper opened up the clearcoat enough for the sand to make quick work of it. The other fork should go faster, just have to clean some grease off of it first.

Long weekend coming up, planning on diving back in. Once I finish the other fork, I'll tackle the top and bottom triple-trees. It's been a pain finding another source of that clearcoat. We have two Walmarts in town, and I wiped out supplies from both (for a total of only two cans ). I tried placing an order online with them today, and their website collected all my info, took me through to the last step, then said sorry, your local store is out of stock... Well no shit, that's why I'm trying to ORDER more. Had to call them up to get the order placed. Maybe I'll get lucky and the new cans will arrive by the weekend. If so, I can paint and clearcoat the rest of the parts on the forks and get them back together next week.

I don't think I mentioned, but I took a look at the ignition switch the other day, and the back side plastic was completely busted up. Found a replacement on ebay though, and the tracking page says it's out for delivery to the house now. Over the Winter I'll have to work on re-keying at least one lock so I can have a matching set. Should be entertaining.

Wow,

Once in a while I go through this thread start to finish.. you forget how much work goes into a project like this.

Thanks for supporting us KZRider!

I have lost so many photo's because of crashed computers, but thanks to this thread, I can review most of them right here.

Never liked the 1100 - far too heavy for my liking - my 750 comes in at around low 190 kg dry minus poxy HEAVY twin exhaust (@75 HP) apposed to 242 dry for 1100 and 8 spark plugs and not much more power ! Styling is slightly different. The Z's are worth heaps more of course but i will be staying with the ZR750. I have it to ride - not for what it is valued at. Was offered $10,000 recently at the racetrack for mine - $560 more than what i payed new.Hard to tell from my avatar what shape it is in.Thanks for the Video Steve - very interesting - but magazine reviews etc piss me off - they dont live in the real world The 550,750 and 1100 swingarms are all different so you have a chance there fitting one - possibly.

Tyrell Corp wrote: Like an elephant humping a mouse, or putting size 12 feet in size 8 shoes, some things just don't work.

I had a 160 on a 130 rim - not my idea, just the tyre fitted. It looked quite cool and fine in a straight line but the steering was all over the place and the centre tread wore down quick. It was difficult to remove too.

So right you are, Tyrell
If you really want that look, you should get a swingarm from a more modern bike & wider rim, they' a bit wider & a bit longer
you should give 531 blackbanshee , a P.M. for some suggestions , he can steer you in the right direction
Pete