I don't know your plans? But research the old Sandy Kosman frame kit for bracing.
Welding the swingarm pivot is for drag racing only! "Puppet" the infamous dragrace chassis builder said that, "of course" you have to weld everything together. These frames flex so much! Thats for high end street or drag racing!
Any road driving you need a good Suzuki GS 1100 aluminum with good bearings

It's been a long time since the last time I visited KZ Rider, but now I've started doing some work on my old Z650 I thought I should start a thread on here...

As it was when I bought it... bog standard import from the States, original exhaust, single front disc, horrid rear mudguard etc.

It didn't stay standard for long though. Started taking the horrid bits off the day I got it. Managed to find a twin disc front conversion from a shop in Stoke-on-Trent. The 650B1 had a factory option twin disc, so I had to get the second disc and caliper, which was theoretically dead easy as the Z1 had the same deal. Except the Z1 disc was slightly different (thicker, if I remember rightly), so took a bit of finding to get the right disc. The exhaust went in place of a Harris Works Performance 4-into-1, the hooge rear mudguard went and a new little number plate and dinky indicators fitted. Oh, and a horrid tool roll...

Stayed like that for a year, went to the Isle of Man TT etc, and picked up a few more bits. The spoked wheels went because I got fed up of twatting my fingers cleaning them, so found a pair of three spoke CMA alloy wheels. I'd also had enough of the marginal braking, even with the twin disc arrangement, so took a trip to see Sweary Bob at Spondon Engineering for a pair of discs and some plates to take the GSX-R four pot calipers. New springs and oil in the forks, some Raask rearsets, a ZXR master cylinder and a pair of drag bars.

It stayed like that for a while, while I was searching for a GPz750 turbo engine. I couldn't find one, and was going to settle for a ZXR750 front end, new swinging arm and 750 back wheel, but then found a cheap GPz1100 Unitrak engine... Took a while to get all the bits, the Z1000J carbs, get the top yoke risers welded on, and wait for the swinging arm (and wait, and wait, and wait). Finally got it all together, with new engine mounts and braced frame by Big 4 Engineering. Fitted some engine bars (don't know why, it seemed like a good idea at the time). New shocks built specifically for this bike by Maxton. Massive exhaust silencer on some aftermarket headers that needed loads of work as they were full of dents and scuffs.

The Martek swinging arm wasn't finished as I'd asked, and I had to modify the frame so it'd work. But it was lovely in this incarnation, pulled wheelies from tickover, really stable handling too. Made a smidge over 100bhp, if I remember rightly (got the dyno sheet somewhere), and was huge fun until it chewed up the alternator. It was then parked up while I hunted for an new alternator, but then got made redundant and went travelling for three months.
It was while I was in Daytona for Bike Week that I met Terry Kizer, and a plan started...

How did your upside down swingarm work out? I just procured a 2006 gsxr swingarm that I am going to graft onto my 1982 gpz 1100. I was thinking about doing the same thing that you did? I am not afraid of cutting tabs off and re welding them for the chain guard and the caliber mount.

I had an issue with moisture that had been trapped inside the frame and created some rusted spots underneath the lower frame. I've had these spots sorted out and the frame is good In order to attempt to prevent further rust I decided to rust wash the inside of the frame. I bought some cans of rust rinse (directly translated from Norwegian) and drilled a whole in each side of the frame so that I could pour this stuff into the frame and have it flow into the lower tubings. Don't have a picture of this I let the rinse sit in there for 45 minutes and poured it out. A lot of brown sludge coming out. I did a second rust rinse just to be sure, same procedure.

After letting the frame dry out for a couple of days I got me some rust prevention liquid. This is a type of waxy substance that is penetrating and leaves a waxy residue when it dries. I poured this into the same holes that I used for the rinse and slushed it all around in the frame and let it sit and dry. I believe that this treatment will help some with preventing further rust on the inside of the frame, letting my girl have many years left for the road

Right now I am waiting to have my engine back from the shop, as the guy working on it had been injured and could not work for a while. Therefore it has been taking a while. I have now been told that I should get the engine back in about three weeks time. While waiting for the engine, I've started to put everything else back together so that I can slide the engine in when I get it

I've successfully installed new steering races and bearing, along with new needle bearings and assembled the swing arm:



Another shot:


Worked out the linkage for my rear brake. I have made the rear set by modifying the stock brackets, cutting of the parts which are not needed. Put on some Tarozzi foldable pegs. I think the rear set came out ok:



Mounted my newly serviced fork. Changed the stanchions and put in new progressive springs:



I will now rebuild and paint my brake calipers and start hooking up the electrics on the bike while waiting for my engine to get back from the shop.

I'm looking very forward to may miles on the new seat.

Items left before the Rally
-TIG in frame brace kit
-Carb rebuild (this includes cleaning/polishing housings)
-Frame and swing arm paint
-Tank and body paint (Metalic Gun Metal greyish with Metalic black stipes. One fat stripe one skinny just off center, -outlined in green)
-Build new wiring harness
-Build handle bar brackets
-Build rear caliper bracket
-Replace valve stem seals
-General tune up

Damn that's a lot of work.

Any progress to report on this build?

BTW:
I picked up a Zephyr parts bike but I'm not in love with the mags, if anyone has a line on a set of spoked wheels please LMK.

Also; I'll be parting out most of the rest.

Up-date:
I picked up the parts bike but I'm not in love with the mags, if anyone has a line on a set of spoked wheels please LMK.

Yes. It is not bad. Main things are:

- Trim 1/8" off the aluminum pivot tube on the non-chain side (RH) and press the radial seal in until it is flush. remove and discard RH "top hat" spacer.
- You will need to space out your upper shock mounts approximately 1" I believe. I ended up welding in new upper mounts anyway so I got geometry that matched the sotck ZRX.
- Lastly, I have included in my thread a dimensional drawing for a shaft that slides into the arm locking it in that uses 2 x 5/8" grade 8 bolts from both sides to bolt the whole thing in. I did this so I didn't have to make a bushing for the stock 16mm swing bolt to adapt the 20mm pivot diameter of the ZRX. This would also have meant I would have to come up with a second spacer to lock up against the LH side roller bearing to prevent side to side movement.

Cory

I don't have any trouble manufacturing spacers and bushings but that's about where I like to draw the line.

Because each to their own? Universal Japanese Motorcycle. I agree with you on many points but in many ways changing things to upgrade the performance if one so desires is up to the individual. The seat on these bikes is really lacking in the comfort area if you ride long distance. My sergeant saddle makes all the difference in a 1000 mile ride. If I ride my LTD seat that many miles I'm gonna be really sore the next day even before that. As far as the geometry? Yeah, I don't understand why everyone wants to stretch their bikes to limo status. But many like the dragbike look. To each their own I say. But there are many mods that do make the bike perform better than OEM. Those fuse boxes? Better tech is out now, the saddles, I like my corbin saddle. Firm is more comfy. Grips are totally personal preference. I like those Driven D3 grips and I also always wear gloves when I ride.

RonKZ650 wrote: The reason I like original is pretty simple. If the Kawasaki would work better with 3" diameter foam grips, or looked better with a "nice" paintjob like some of them I see on the group, or worked better with the fenders removed, 12" extended swingarms, chainguards removed, goofy humpback/touring seats ect, why in the hell didn't Kawasaki build them that way!!
Because they don't work better that way is the simple answer, and they don't look better either putting it in mild words.