If you go wiith the mono shock youre going to need to weld in a good substantial top mount,possibly with some bracing. This in turn knocks your battery box and electrics out of place ,which leads to,relocating them (where?) and rewiring your loom to the new location.All of which is doable and many people have done it very well but it is a lot more work. On the other hand,if you go with the twin shock set up,you just need a couple of mounts welded on the swingarm. Like you say,the difference in handling is probably neither here nor there on such a bike but a lot of people prefer the one look or the other.
I went with the twin shocks as I like the look and It was the easier way to go.

On another subject,you seem to be starting a new thread with every question on your build. Why not just have one thread ( I hope thats the right terminology) that follows your whole build. Its easier for others to follow and nice to see the gradual progress.Also,other people that like what youre doing can scroll back and see how you did certain things. Just a thought.
Good luck

P.S. Did you get the swingarm sorted yet?

I appreciate the help. I have this. It told me to plan on replacing the needle bearings in my swing arm if I wanted to change my rear sprocket and I lost faith at removing the swing arm instead of using a chain breaker. It's been useful for exploded diagrams and that's it. I'm not a complete idiot, but close. Maybe I'm just not getting something about the layout of the book? I've swapped car engines, I work on machines professionally, but I can't make sense of a lot of this. Where do you honestly recommend I start?


Update: I read the section on valve shimming. I'm lost. Sorry guys. I have gauges, dial indicators, calipers, etc. But this doesn't make sense to me.

Steve,

Here is a different angle of the bike, not as stubby. I also think the fact that I set the tail section back a little further than what the "stock" KZ" tail might call for, adds to the stubby look. Hoping new swing arm might set the rear wheel back a couple of inches and balance things out better.
Someone PLEASE shut down my Ebay account, way to easy to shop and spend $$$.
Just bought a POLISHED! OEM 03-04 ZX6RR ZX6R ZX 6R 636 REAR SWINGARM and 03 04 KAWASAKI NINJA ZX6R ZX6 636 REAR WHEEL..

I will change out the swing arm and rear wheel this fall, after riding weather goes south in Cali.

cheers Ronz, I'm just waiting on a friend that has his own machine shop to recover from surgery before I get my ZX6R swingarm milled a couple of mill to fit. NO doubt it will look pretty similar to yours? I really want to use the 6R pivot bolt which will mean reaming out the bosses in the 750 frame but we'll see how things go....only 4 weeks to wait

Pic of the swingarm in the frame at present.

Hey Monkey Doodle, I'm doing a front and rear swap too. I found this web site very helpful with my swingarm selection. I have a 1993 KZ1000P. I used a swing arm from a 2005 GSXR 600/750.








www.xjrider.com/viewtopic.php?t=3136

Various Motorcycle Swingarm Pivot Widths
I found this list of swingarms dimension.
Here's a list, sorted by swing arm pivot widths (width where the swingarm pivots in the frame).
Honda VTR SUPERHAWK (all years) - 165mm
Honda VFR 800 (1998-2001) - 165mm
Honda CBR 929 (2000-2001) - 180mm
Honda CBR 954RR (2002-2003) - 180mm
Honda RC51 SP2 (2002-?) - 180mm
1976 Suzuki GT500 - 185mm
Yamaha XS650 - 190mm
Honda VFR400 - 192mm
Honda MC18 NSR250 - 197mm
Yamaha FZR250 - 200mm
Honda XL600R - 200mm
Yamaha LC RD350 - 200mm
Honda RVF400 - 202mm
Honda NS400R - 205mm
Honda MC21 NSR250 - 205mm
Honda CB400F - 205mm
Suzuki RGV250 - 205mm
Yamaha RZ350 - 205mm
Yamaha YPVS RD350 - 205mm
1986 FZ600 - 215mm (without spacers/covers), - 220mm with spacers/covers
Suzuki Bandit GSF600 - 220mm
1992-1998 Yamaha Seca II - 220mm
1990-1996 Yamaha FZR600 - 220mm
2005 Suzuki GSXR 1000 - 225mm
1976-1982 Kawasaki KZ600 - 225mm
1994-1997 Honda VFR750 - 227mm
2001-2002 Suzuki GSXR1000 - 228mm
Kawasaki Z650/Z750 - 230mm (frame width at pivot)
2004-2005 Suzuki GSXR750 - 230mm (without washers on ends)
Suzuki TL1000S - 232mm
Honda Hawk GT650 - 235mm
Honda RC30 - 235mm
2008 Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R - 235mm
Kawasaki Z900/Z1000 - 235mm (frame width at pivot)
Honda RC30 - 235mm
1999-2002 Suzuki SV650 - 235mm
2006 Suzuki GSR500 - 238mm (w/o spacers)
2003-2009 Suzuki SV650 - 240mm
1998-2007 Yamaha YZF600R - 240mm
1990-1993 Honda VFR750 - 242mm
2005-2006 Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R (636) - 242mm
1987 Kawasaki Ninja ZX750R - 244mm
1987 Yamaha FZ750 - 245mm
2006-2011 Kawasaki Ninja 650R - 245mm
1998-2003 Suzuki Katana GSX600/750F - 245mm
2007 Yamaha YZF-R6 - 248mm
Honda RC45 - 250mm
Ducati SR4S - 255mm
2003 Kawasaki Z1000 - 255mm
MV Agusta F4 - 255mm
Kawasaki ZX10R (Gen 1-3) - 257mm
2002-2005 Yamaha FZ1 - 257mm (20mm pivot bolt)
2001 Yamaha YZF-R1 - 250mm
2003-2006 Yamaha YZF-R1 - 260mm (without caps) - 264mm (with caps)
Triumph 955i - 285mm
BMW K100 - 310mm

After Erik fitted new tires and took it to the road inspection, which it passed with flying colors it’s been a nice reunion. Things certainly took a new direction when Erik picked up his find and another biker friend from the eighties decided on a VF750F for a F Spencer replica project.

Since the last post I have clocked 700km and a 33 year old bike never fall short with surprises, every now and then there is always something happening. Steering end that loosens, speedo cable that decides to spring free, and more. :pinch:

So far I have started to collect good deals for the winter to come. Those beautiful but darn expensive ZRX1100 swing arms will have to wait until I can do a good deal on one. So I settled for a Zephyr 750 Swing arm and picked up a pair of vintage Öhlins piggy back while at it.



Now I just have to decide where to go next.
I need rims and a front fork that will not let me loose to much ground clearance as I will try to go for 17’ front wheel.
Any suggestions for fork swap?

Finally got the bearings knocked out of the swing arm yesterday, finished cleaning it up and primered again where I banged it up. There is a collar (part 92027-1561) that goes in between the bearings. There was a twisted piece of thin washer on one end that got mangled during removal. Looking at pictures of the part, I see it's just to help keep the collar centered inside the swing-arm, however it appears there was supposed to be one of these on each end. Anyone know if it would be practical just to tack on new washers to maintain the spacing? And if so, how much clearance should there be between the outside of the washers and the inside of the swing arm wall?

Yes,I got your pm.Did you get my reply? I was just thinking,something to try (for the back end). You have the frame and the measurement
that you need to fit the swing arm into. Take that and find some breakers yards in your area. There must be some close by you in the Midlands. Its England ! You have bike breakers everywhere. Check out 'Classic Motorcycle Mechanics' or ' Practical Sportsbike' magazines for addresses. (if youve got a bike project on the go,you should be reading these mags anyway.Theyre packed with useful stuff).

If you find a swingarm that fits in the frame ,you still have to think of shock travel (as I mentioned somewhere before) and also chain run. A wider wheel is going to mean an offset front sprocket to keep your chain aligned,but you must also consider clearance twixt the plane of the tyre and the inside of the frame downtube. Some people will go for a fat ass back tyre,say 180 or more and either have the wheel run off center (which sounds totally crazy to me) or scallop a bit out of the frame downtube (which is more work/hours/labour/money)
I struggled with this and went for a 160 tyre and milled a few mm off the sprocket carrier.So,Im pretty sure Im ok with a straight chain run with a few mm clearance either side.
Another thing will be shock mounts. Are you going to keep the twin shock setup? Youll need to have mounts welded on the arm for this. Are you going to go mono? youll need a mount and bracing welded into your frame.
Also, pivot bolt diameter may be something to look at. My gixer swingarm came with a huge pivot bolt . I had bushes made up to accept the Z1000 bolt.
Maybe you know all this already,in which case apologies ( ive had a couple) and anyone else,feel free to chip in.What have I forgotten to mention? what have I got wrong??

Ill get my coat now!

Monkeydoodle,
You need to be more specific. There be a lot of dimensions on a frame . A lot of widths and a lot of 750/900,1000 frames. Even if you take just one of them,say the 750. You have many variations (I have no idea how many) all with differences , some slight some major. Depending on the year, some models may just have a cosmetic upgrade.some will have a major overhaul with a different engine .
If you have a KZ750e, (19??) you already have all those dimensions to hand. So which dimensions are you interested in and why. If you explain a bit, others ( with 900/1000s) will know what youre looking for and may be inclined to help out by going out to thier shed with a dingle and measuring bits of their bikes.
It would be nice if someone had a list of all the dimensions of all the years of all the models of all the KZs ever produced.But they dont.
Someone posted this on the Z1OC site recently, An interesting read and gives some idea of how big and complex the Z/ KZ stable is.
www.z-power.co.uk/merchantmanager/view_information.php?pId=22
I know from an earlier post that youre looking to swap your swingarm. Here are the measurements from my project;

KZ1000CSR(1981)
Inside from face to face of pivot sticky out bit on frame; 23.7mm


GSXR600(????)
Outside width of swingarm(including dust seals);23.3mm


If you need any other measurements,let me know what and ill have a look. Hope this helps.

Take the wheels, handlebars, instruments, forks, foot pegs..etc... and swing arm off.
Get a sheet of plywood and lay the engine on it's side on it and lower the frame over the engine.
Line up what you can with drift punches or small diameter screw drivers to get three or four bolts in through frame tabs and engine castings and roll the chassis upright.