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.

that lattice frame with the swingarm pivots way out there so they line up with the countershaft sprocket and keep constant equal tension on the chain is pretty crazy cool.
dohc,
it does look like they don't mind changing things around :ohmy: !

leon

GA Joe wrote: Hey James where's the updates? I want more pics. I'm finishing up getting my '82 running and have been considering doing a rear swing arm mod to a monoshock so I can do a wider tire and want to see how this plays out!

Sorry for the delay! Been busy at work lately so i havent gotten around to throwing my updates on the thread. Picked up a new welder to start going to town on the frame and lately my house has been Christmas all over again with all the parts coming in the mail. Got the late model gsxr shock in and mocked it up, seems to be the perfect size. I am excited to start tearing into the frame and swing arm here pretty soon. Will try and get some pictures up as soon as I'm off work today.

Jim you may be right and was told to me it had a motor with work ddoneone to it put it however the neck tag still in place and oddly pristine lol z1f-09xxxx and states mfg 8 of 75
Spdygon
I just plan to bring it back to life with a few modern goodies like gsxr front end and still undecided about swingarm clean up the motor and ride lol isnt that how all way overpriced projects

After a long wait for getting my frame back from sand blasting and powder coating, I finally picked it up this week :woohoo: The thing looks sweet..





I also got my tank, seat and fenders back from the paint shop and I like the result:







I am still waiting for my engine to come back from the workshop, as I've had someone help me out with the cylinder boring, valve replacement etc. According to the shop it is about two weeks away. No worries as I have a lot I can fiddle around with on the engineless frame:

- installing steering and swing arm bearings
- laying out the electronics with new harness
- mounting new rear sets and bleeding front and rear brakes

Installing new steering bearing races turned out to be a small hassle. I figured i could just lay them in place and knock them in by using a mallet. Turns out that the lower race was recessed into the steering tube. I had to make my own DIY-tool for this job:

well after scouring the internet for a reasonably priced KZ with tax money burning a hole in my pocket and pictures of cafe builds littering my computer, workplace, and flooding my brain; finally made a purchase today! picked up a 1978 KZ750 for $400 locally. guy was only asking $300 but i had to ward off other internet vultures with an extra benji. guy claims that it ran a month ago but he just lost the key. so i already orderd a new ignition with 2 keys and a replacement right hand switch assembly since the one on it is destroyed. seems to have good compression and aside from some surface rust, the bike appears to be in fairly good shape. picture is kind of shiesty but i will post more as soon as dissambly starts on wednesday and hopefully no nasty issues will show face during the tear down





so far, the plan is as follows: (loosely based off following picture)
chop the excess off the rear of the frame
cut and relocate rear most vertical frame member further forward to open up the tail a bit
modify swingarm for a monoshock and elminate all previously afformentioned tabs
dish the tank in the grooviest kind of way so my big ole floppy knees can tuck up when i do the ton
chop and lower handlebars or use clip ons
clean and relocate stock headlight lower
disassemble errr-thang, procede to get my picasso on and paint the sh*$ out of everything shiny
wire tuck and hide
sell everything not necessary on ebay or barter for other things on this forum





that should be enough keep me busy for the next month or so and keep everyone thoroughly entertained with a constant stream of my work on this thread. second picture is the bike i am loosely basing my build off of, with my own tweaks along the way. let me know what you guys think!! or suggestions for additions to the build are always welcome!!!

Ok so heres what I have so far.

1980 KZ1000 frame
KZ1000 tank (80' or 82' not sure)
1982 KZ1000 motor
1982 KZ1000 Carbs with cone filters
2004 GSXR1000 swingarm (modified), wheel and brakes
2000 GSXR600 triple trees, fork, wheel and brakes
1-7/8" Dakota Digital Speedometer/Odometer
1-7/8" Dakota Digital Oil Temp Gauge
Shorai LFX19A4-BS12 which Im hoping has enough CCA since im new to lithium iron batteries

This is how she looks right now. I have mounted the front rotors since this picture




This is how the GSXR1000 swingarm used to look before I modified it for a dual shock setup.


This is one of the brackets I designed to mount the shocks. (The bolt isnt the final size, just didnt have the right size when I took this picture)


I cut off the hole for the ignition on the GSXR600 upper triple tree and cut two 1-7/8" holes in it between the support ribs to mount my gauges in.


I was tossing around ideas for steering stops and I am currently experimenting with the idea of using steering dampers as stops. I figure I will mount the body of them to the frame on both sides and mount the front end to the fork tubes using canabalized clip-on handlebars (recycling is cheap haha). This way I will get the advantages of the steering damper AND I will have steering stops. I will just mount the dampers so that they bottom out where I want the steering to stop.





I have never done anything like build a motorcycle before so I am learning as I go. Luckily im pretty creative and have a mechanical mindset. If anyone has any unique ideas throw them at me and let me know what you think of my project so far