Steve

As Leon(531Blackbanshee) had advised me towards the Hayabusa swingarm I decided to go that route and it was realy quite simple. I had already decided to keep the rear twin shocks which made it an easier swap as I was not needing to modify the frame, only welded on the Z1 shock mounts onto the swingarm. Some spacers and bushing was required for fitting the swingarm. I used the standard KZ swingarm bolt with bushing to match the ID of the swingarm.

The front end swap was very simple, took a couple of hours at most. All Balls do conversion bearing kits, you list the donor bike and the frame you are coupling to and they send you the appropriate stem bearings. The Busa complete front end simply bolted onto the KZ frame with the new bearings. The stem seemed slightly shorter so I had to machine down the top bolt to get it to look right but all in all this was the simplest part of my conversion. I would say having the complete front end from the donor bike including, wheel calipers rotors etc all together made it easier. I would not have liked to be trying to match wheels brakes etc.

Wow. Been a little too long, I think. Well, for the moment I have some extra free time as I've been laid off from the day job, and am just putting in some extra night shifts at what was the part time job before. (Slinging pints at the local pub.....)

In any case, while it may be less than perfect being mainly unemployed just before Christmas, it does on the other hand mean I've been putting in hours a day in the woodshop and working on the bike.

A few photos to show some of the progress so far, and a whole bunch more to come soon.





Frame stripped as least as far as I was able with chemical stripper, wire wheels etc.... I am never doing that by hand again. It would be worth the money to buy a sandblaster and do it in an afternoon. Soooo many hours to get it that far. Still, rewarding work, and I certainly learned something. Frame and swingarm are out for semi-flat powdercoat right now. Should be back in a couple of weeks.

Just an idea of where things were a few months ago.....



And finally, a trick for any Canadians out there who are struggling to remove swingarm bearing outer races. My $2 removal kit. (literally!)





So, it may be cheaper to go to the store and get some heavy washers like most people have done, however, when it is a really crappy December afternoon, and a trip to the nearest hardware store is going to take longer than the value of two coins, this works a treat. After heat cycling the bearing races (BFH method failed, and actually bent both coins before heating the races!) A loonie fits pretty much perfectly across the bearings on the inside.

Well, back to the shop for part of the afternoon it would seem. As I said, more to come. Thanks everyone for the support, and my apologies for taking so damned long to get back to it!

Jonny

I am starting a cafe project on a 1978 KZ200. It is for my daughter who is turning 16 in March and will be her first bike. I am new to this site and new to building (which is why I am here). I picked up the bike for $750, it is 100% stock, yet came with a paint job that makes returning it to stock (which my daughter would appreciate) less attractive than striping it down into a cafe racer (which is more fun for me and since I am not an experienced builder it wouldn't be my most expensive mistake...but then again getting married to my now ex-wife will always top that). Later as I share all I will end up doing to this bike you will probably all be shaking your heads as to why I would put such work into a 200cc bike...and i am shaking my head with you all, my best answer right now, because when I was looking for a bike for her there weren't any 400 to 600cc bikes around in the small town I am from and I didn't want to haul anything.

I bought the bike this past summer and other than messing with the carb, jetting, and fouling a few spark plugs, (I think there was some water or bad gas) I have it running relatively decently. However in Flagstaff, AZ at about 7500 ft and in the cold I don't think I am getting the most power out of it. I think it has the stock jets on it.



Please feel free to make any suggestions on all of these ideas, your knowledge is very welcome

These are my initial thoughts on the project:
1) ditch the side covers and the intake box and put a pod filter on the carb, which I imagine will require me to jet the carb differently; any suggestions on pod filter and jetting kits?

2) make a new battery box that will hold the be centered and hanging from the top of the frame, probably fabricate this, but still try to keep the center of the bike clean. I have thought about batteryless, but not sure if my daughter would appreciate kickstarting the bike all the time.

3) pull all the fenders, I want to make or find a good mini fender for the front and a shorter rear fender for the back with a custom tail light and indicators and maybe even providing a small storage area accessible under the seat.

4) I would love to find a rearset kit that would work well for this bike, this may be a step 2 after she gets more used to riding, I do want to cut the bracket for the driver pegs off the frame something bad, any suggestions as to good bolt on rearsets?

5) I want to keep the original wheels, paint the hubs and spokes and polish the chrome on the rims.

6) the tires i would like to put on the bike will be the Kenda K761 Dual Sport, 110/80-18 front, 120/90/17 on the rear, I have to double check to see that the stock rims will hold these, I am pretty sure that the front will fit without the fender, but not sure about the rear. I am also wondering if a 1978 KZ650 or KZ750 swing arm would bolt right on the KZ200 frame, and by doing so give enough room for this rear tire; the width of the frame where the KZ200 swing arm bolts on is 8 1/4 inches, I am also worried about the torque link for the rear break rubbing on the wider tire, if just that I am wondering about modifying that.

7) ditch the old seat and fab a new one that is thinner more cafe, matched to the frame, rising some in the back and locking somewhere towards the back with a helmet lock.

I would like to lower the bike some as my daughter isn't too tall, with the front I think it would look rad if the fork tubes stuck out just far enough for some clip-ons.

9) I would like to ditch the tach, and center mount the speedo and mount the dummy lights somewhere else like
where the handlebar holders were, I saw this on a KZ cafe racer on here.

10) maybe a new headlight and maybe some aftermarket front blinkers, but I would rather not have any on the front, definitely new headlight brackets as this bike was dropped once and one of the brackets are bent causing the headlight to sit off center.

11) Naturally I am going to paint everything, I will check into the cost of powder coating the frame as opposed to painting it will an epoxy myself. I want the lower forks, frame, and most of the engine black, I will try to polish many of the covers and caps to see if I can get a good two tone thing going on the engine. I would rather just polish the gas tank than paint it, but my daughter loves the orange copper color it is. I may paint just the muffler and wrap the pipes or paint both.

12)I am not going to rebuild the engine, mostly because I am not a skilled mechanic, but really it is running fine. There is a small oil leak on the front side between the head and cylinder, so I will probably replace the head gasket.

In all I hope to make a really cool looking custom cafe that is light and not too fast for my daughter, for her to use to get to and from school in style and occasionally cruise around with her dad, but most importantly to always be the kind of lady that would ride along side some guy rather than on the back of his bike.

Agreed. Looking at your diagram it doesn't look to me like the swingarm should be pinched too tight. As long as there's plenty of grease between the swingarm tube and the end caps (and in the bearings) and you can move the swingarm up and down without struggling things might loosen up a little as the bike is ridden. Ed

650ed wrote: Here’s my understanding of how the swingarm pivot works; I am open to being corrected if I misunderstand it. In the diagram below envision the two bearings being pressed into the swingarm tube so they are flush or even recessed slightly within the tube. As the swingarm moves up and down the swingarm tube rotates and the outer races of the bearings will rotate with it because they are a snug fit inside the tube. Now picture the sleeve being just a little bit longer than the swingarm tube and installed inside the bearings. The ends of the sleeve act as the inner race of the bearings, so their rollers ride on the sleeve as the swingarm rotates. Since the sleeve is a little longer than the swingarm tube it protrudes slightly out of each end of the swingarm tube; this may not be noticeable because it is very slight. When the assembly is slipped into place on the frame the outer surfaces of the end caps will be in contact with the frame. When the pivot bolt is tightened, it will squeeze the frame against the end caps and they will be squeezed tight against the sleeve. Since the swingarm tube is a little shorter than the sleeve it should not be pinched tight by the endcaps. When the pivot bolt is tightened, the swingarm tube should be able to rotate without much trouble on the sleeve. There may be some friction between the swingarm tube and end caps, but it shouldn’t be so much as to prevent the swingarm from moving. Ed

Attachment 00003_2013-12-04.jpg not found

That sounds exactly like what I tried to describe above. With that being the case, the swingarm probably couldn't be "too tight" in the frame, right? I think all of the pressure would be on the sleeve and not the swingarm. The GS arm is slightly different....has (3) spacers that make up the sleeve, but the end result is the same. All (3) combined are just barely longer that the swingarm tube.
GS Arm:

Here’s my understanding of how the swingarm pivot works; I am open to being corrected if I misunderstand it. In the diagram below envision the two bearings being pressed into the swingarm tube so they are flush or even recessed slightly within the tube. As the swingarm moves up and down the swingarm tube rotates and the outer races of the bearings will rotate with it because they are a snug fit inside the tube. Now picture the sleeve being just a little bit longer than the swingarm tube and installed inside the bearings. The ends of the sleeve act as the inner race of the bearings, so their rollers ride on the sleeve as the swingarm rotates. Since the sleeve is a little longer than the swingarm tube it protrudes slightly out of each end of the swingarm tube; this may not be noticeable because it is very slight. When the assembly is slipped into place on the frame the outer surfaces of the end caps will be in contact with the frame. When the pivot bolt is tightened, it will squeeze the frame against the end caps and they will be squeezed tight against the sleeve. Since the swingarm tube is a little shorter than the sleeve it should not be pinched tight by the endcaps. When the pivot bolt is tightened, the swingarm tube should be able to rotate without much trouble on the sleeve. There may be some friction between the swingarm tube and end caps, but it shouldn’t be so much as to prevent the swingarm from moving. Ed

Last race season went well. I improved each race except for the one in which I was hung over.During the first race weekend I discovered that I had the bike sitting too high. The swingarm is from a 1983 GPZ 750 with eccentric adjusters. I turned the adjusters around which raised the rear approx. 3/4" . The front forks are from a 82' GPZ 1100 which are about 1/4" longer than the J forks. I had the bike on scales and that's why I went the way I did. On the track the bike felt awkward. I decided to turn the adjusters to their stock position and drop the forks 1/2" in the triples. This made an immediate improvement. In my shop prior to the next race weekend I decided to have a close look at the fork internals. Race Tech doesn't recommend any spacer preload on there springs and the previous owner of the forks had 3/4" of spacer preload. I removed 1/2" of preload and this also made a big improvement. During the last race weekend I experienced two troubling issues. At Saint Eustache ,Quebec in whats called the bowl I hit the frame lug for the side stand. This moved the whole bike and for a spit second I thought I was going to go off the track. Out came the hack saw and off with the lug. Later that weekend while racing I felt the brake lever come back a little further. It only did this 3/4's into the race and as soon as I slowed down to come off the track the pressure was back to where it should be. Thank god I still had good brakes. The only thing I plan to do is rebuild the front master and work on the Cams. I will replace the stock exhaust cam (KZ 1100R .380" lift 300 Degrees duration) with a smaller 82' gpz 1100 cam and degree the cam so I will have better mid range.
specs
Motor; stock 1984 KZ 1100R w 120 HP at the crank
carbs 31mm Cr special Keihnin
lockhart oil cooler ( the bike was sponsored by lockhart in 1984
shocks ,fox
forks 1982 GPZ 1100 w race tech emulators/springs, reworked by myself to remove all the stanchion lower play.
Wheels,front astrolite 2.5x18, rear Dymag 4x 18"
Tires, Avons rear 150 front 110
brakes ,cast iron rotors all around. brembo 12" front, custom made rear,calipers lockheed front , VFR 750 rear
Pipe, yoshimura race 4 into 1
Ignition dyna 2000 with rev limiter built in
www.teamkz.ca
I build bikes for people if anyone would like something similiar.

I'm also wondering exactly what parts should pivot with the swingarm? I'm thinking the only moving part should be the swingarm. The bearings, axle, spacers, and the dust seals on the ends should all remain stationary, right? You would basically have the swingarm rotating in the dust seals? They have a rubber liner inside so they swingarm would be rotating/rubbing on that.

Anybody ever noticed what exactly is going on at the pivot? I've never looked that closely.....wish I did BEFORE I removed the stock swingarm! :S

Got a question about mounting this swingarm. I bought 5/8" washers and they fit really well over the 16mm pivot axle. Each washer is about .0020 - .0025 thick. I used 4 thicker washers for a total of about 10mm. I had to tap the last washers in as it was a very tight fit. Now the swingarm doesn't move as easily as I thought it would.

My question is, how easily should the swingarm move? Can I have too tight a fit? All of the bearings and sleeves are brand new and greased. Not sure if the pressure of the frame/washers is causing the tightness or not? Maybe fewer washers would still bind because the frame tightens up when the pivot axle bolt is tightened? Thoughts??

Here is what I have now, on each side:

Thanks for the import #'s info, that's good information, that you got it first hand makes it all the more interesting. A collector friend of mine said He had heard that Kawasaki had a hard time selling the MkII? I plan to keep it here in the good oi' USA. I keep an eye on the Japanese resto-mod work being done overseas, many of the big fours have been picked up here, crammed into sea containers and shipped back.
Speaking of which,would sure like to see a photo of the H2 you have listed, I've become a fan of the triples and really enjoy seeing cafe'd versions. I am building a 72' H2 as well, It has an 83' Gpz 750 single shock swing arm installed, plan to use a set of period correct Lester mags that I found at (of all places) a garage sale! Whacky but true! Thanks again