Lazyman06 wrote: Now onto the next step; replacing swingarm bearings

On the plus side, I'm pretty sure you can't put those in backwards. :laugh:

As for removal, I had good luck with a slide hammer I borrowed from Autozone the one time I pulled swingarm bearings. I believe it was called a "blind hole puller"

I'm sure there's a weed joke in there somewhere i'm just missing it lol.
Got the race out by way of dremel and carbide cutting wheel (took only 1 wheel at that) frickin cut it like a hot knife through butter. Now onto the next step; replacing swingarm bearings

HAFROD wrote: Anyone got pics of bikes that are too far gone, in major need of help, current state of project, or just sitting and waiting to be helped?

Here is my '80 LTD. I found a guy on craigslist with some KZ parts. He said he only had bits and pieces left. When I found it it was sitting outside (in MA), and all that was left was the frame (no swinger or back wheel), engine (no pipe, no carbs), and front end. He said I could take what I wanted. I wanted it all, but I could only fit the engine and front end in my car.

A few days later I called him back to ask if he still had the frame. He said it was in a friend's pickup truck on the way to the scrap yard. I asked him to call his friend and ask him to bring it back. You can't get any more "RIP" than a frame in a scrap yard.

On my second trip I took the frame and we searched his garage for parts. We came up with the back wheel and brake, meters, and a few other bits. In the end I gave him $50 on the first trip, and $50 on the second. Oh, and I also got a clear title for the frame.

It sat outside for some time with no pipe or carbs, and then someone came along and kicked it over. So one exhaust valve head was snapped off, and several were very sticky. Although once I opened it up, I found a Wiseco 1075 piston kit!

Later I saw the same guy post a full Tracy body kit and Calfab swingarm, which I assume were once on this bike. If so it was pretty tricked out at one point.

For a while I was actually working on it. I fixed the valves, but found the cylinder walls were too pitted from ring rust to reuse. I found a neato swingarm and put the back wheel and stuff on to make it a roll (with super cheapo struts in place of shocks). The seat pan and pipe were parts I had sitting around. Then I got stuck, so I tossed the head and cylinders back on to keep the parts in one place (no pistons in there). It's been sitting for 3+ years.

I figure that since the frame was already sent off to the scrap yard, I can pretty much do anything I want to it. Normally I wouldn't be able to bring myself to hack up a vintage machine, but this is my free pass. I just need to find the time. Just as soon as I finish the Z1-R that I've broken down into nuts and bolts... and then clean up my other two Z1-Rs... and get that '95 GPZ1100 back together. So it's going to be a long while before the LTD gets any attention.

steell wrote: I'd check the rear wheel bearings, and then replace them anyway cause they are cheap. Unless you go with ceramic bearings, then they are around $350 or so :ohmy:

might as well check the swingarm while your at it

Anyone else ever been more happy than upset to get laid off? *lol* I figured I would have most of the last month to do odd jobs and get ahead on the bike project, but instead wound up finding some work for a few weeks, and doing 12 hour shifts outdoors in the lovely Canadian winter. Nice to have work, and not be completely broke during the holiday, but there are points when I wondered why I didn't just take the EI, sit inside drinking hot chocolate and work on the bike for three weeks..... Well, damn work ethic I suppose. Ah well. Anyway, there has been some progress nonetheless!

Woo! Goodies!





Some odds and ends from Z1, and CWS in Ohio. SS Rear brake lines, some new wiring goodies, and an assortment of grommets, seals and other bits which were either really grotty and beyond restoration of just fell apart when removed.

The big one tho...







Frame and swingy back from the powdercoaters. And what a nice job they did as well! Very professional, and a very reasonable price as well. I am going to bring a few more things in to get done as well, now that I've seen what their work is like. Bringing the whole things in all prepped made a huge difference in price, and I figure the battery box, engine mounts, case protectors and triple tree arms would look nice with matched colour, so I will see about getting those done as well.

All in all, I am once again (mainly) unemployed, and strangely happy about it at the moment. :woohoo:

Jon

Looking good! My brother used to polish for a living, was in a few different magazines. He said nothing polishes better than Japanese aluminum. I will find out which roush polish he recommends.

For the record, I swapped out one spacer on each side for a slightly thinner one. The fit it still very tight but looser than it was. I also added more grease to the inside rubber edge of the end caps. I properly torqued the pivot axle and it seems to move very smoothly with zero slop. Here's a couple pics of how things are looking. More details are in the build thread since this one is about polishing the arm, not installing it. The arm is a bit dirty from working on it so I'll hit it again with Mother's when all the work is done.





Here's the link to the build thread:
www.kzrider.com/forum/11-projects/590383...ild-mods#forumbottom

Project is moving along, although much more slowly than I'd like. This "simple" GS conversion has been alot more difficult than I thought it would be. I've pretty much had to do everything I would have with converting any other swingarm...nothing has been "bolt on". Here's a shot with the wheel installed:



The upper shock bushings were the wrong size so I had to press out the old ones and I installed a pair from an old set of KZ shocks I had. The rear brake bolt hits the swingarm (where the brake pedal bolts to the brake rod that goes to the master cylinder) so I bent the tab on the pedal and will reverse the bolt because the castle nut is smaller than the bolt head and gives me a little more travel before contacting the swingarm. I had custom SS braided brake lines made up for the whole motorcycle because a dual disc conversion is in the plans for the front. Got all (4) lines custom made for under $100. Also did the final trim on the inner rear fender to clear the swingarm and brake arm mount. Few more pics:

Modified inner fender:


I added a few spacers to move the top of the shocks out a little more since the GS swingarm is wider:


Couple shots with wheel, shocks and caliper installed:




Also had to shim the brake arm to the KZ caliper:

Just picked this up from the zinc plating co. $65 anything I can put in a box. Stripped cleaned re-zink. There is enough hardware to do four bikes axles,swing arm ,springs chain oiler brackets plus a ton of extra nuts bolt etc.
I might separate a complete hardware package and toss it on flebay see what happens. I have a 73 I am restoring now and a 75 in the works. Should look good

Thank you for the response Ed, I had researched a little on the forum and saw that's what you recommended. I have 1liter of it on the way. From what I saw that's all I needed. (Correct me if I'm wrong). Things are definitely going to accelerate on this build just spent another $900 in parts yesterday lol I'm about to have a parade of parts within the next week. Let the good times roll!! hahaha
Hope everybody follows along, I'm gonna do my best to show all the new parts coming on, as well as, some of the final process's I have left to do. (Put the forks back together after painting fork bottoms, degrease engine and paint, rebuild carbs (again! Lol), sand and paint wheels, instal swing arm bearings/neck tune bearings/wheel bearings, instal a few gaskets from the Athena engine gasket kit, wiring!! :huh: , painting misc. parts, so much to do lol

Still undecided on what to do with the tank and tail. I've been on a bare metal tank look but I'm having second thoughts. The seat and tail piece will be stock till I can get custom work done (really like the look of the kz900 tail but want a metal tail piece) so the stock tail I was gonna do just gloss black. Idk I'll keep you posted. Definitely have some ideas stirring (constantly haha)