Progress...Took my Rickman frame to my good friend and sponsor Denis Curtis at CMR racing products last night. He is going to perform the surgery including beefing up the stock swing arm mounts,cutting and shortening the GS 1100 arm,welding tabs for the various mounts and rearsets and a host of other little jobs.He does great work and I can't wait to get it back. I will get the wheels back this week from the powdercoaters and take those down with the engine cases so we can figure out the chain run and get it rolling!

Anyone have an opinion on the best gasket set to buy for the motor?

Cheers

Mick

DoctoRot wrote: the kz1000 has 40 spoke wheels

Doh! Ok Thanks!

the kz1000 has 40 spoke wheels

BohicaBob wrote: Years ago I upgraded my '73 Z1-900's wheels to DID 2.15" x 19" and 3.00" x 18" rims and SS spokes/nipples and beefed up the stock swingarm and kept the rear drum setup.

In 2006 I upgraded this bike's wheels to Excel 3.5" X 17" and 4.25" x 17" rims with radial tires and an '83 GS1100 swingarm and scrapped the rear drum setup. The rear disk setup is much better.

I'm looking at the upgraded spoke wheel option as well, for the KZ hub would one want the 32 or 36 hole wheel?

I dont think so, the ones that Eddie rode in races his winning year were cut apart and destroyed according to Rob Muzzy parts where sold off ,but no complete bikes are possible despite rumors and claims to be "the bike"...he kept both the steering necks to confirm the vins with his records for other reasons ,after cutting the bikes up himself.......

s1elr wrote: I think the s1 in the above mag is the same bike I photographed around 1995..
Let me know what you think? steve

answer about what a S1 is





Until 1980, Kawasaki was content to let others, such as the Vetter and Racecrafters teams, race their bikes for them. Now they recruited a young rider named Eddie Lawson for a factory backed Superbike team. Another racer of great promise, Wayne Rainey, would later join the effort.

Rob Muzzy would build and tune the bikes that Eddie Lawson rode to the championship in 1981. To commemorate the win, Kawasaki built "the most striking, most performance-ready street-legal Superbike ever. The brand-new 1982 Kawasaki KZ1000R Eddie Lawson Replica." (Quote from the KZ1000R brochure.)

Based on the standard KZ1000J model, the R1 had the fuel tank, rear-set footpegs, oil cooler and wheels from the GPZ1100. A GPZ style fairing and lower handlebar were added along with a Kerker KR-series four-into-one header. Revised steering geometry and suspension improved the handling. The motor was unchanged. Motorcyclist Magazine got an ET of 11.56 from their test bike in1982. That may seem slow in comparison to today's 10 second 600's and ZX12's running mid-9's, but it was quite respectable at the time.

If you had the urge to go even faster on an '82 Kawasaki, you could purchase the KZ1000S1. This was no replica--this was the real deal. For a mere £8000 a ready-to-race Superbike could be in your driveway.

At the crankshaft, the motor put out 136 horsepower compared to the 79 of the R1. Eddie Lawson's race bike was said to have 149 horsepower. Harnessing all this power was a braced swing arm and huge brakes attached to the Dymag magnesium rims.

The power may have been harnessed, but it certainly wasn't tamed. These motorcycles were being ridden much faster and harder than their designers intended. The frames would twist and flex from the horsepower and cornering loads. It was common for the riders to be seen sliding the bikes around the turns. Rob Muzzy was quoted as saying," those bikes were like dirt-tracking on the pavement. You really had to muscle them around."

This era was a turning point for Kawasaki, whose racing efforts in the 1970's had limited success. No longer would this be the case. To this day the green bikes are a force to be reckoned with, having a heritage of power and reliability.

Hollywoodmx wrote:

Zedone wrote: What swing arm is that, gsxr?

JMC, England.

Nice swing arm. Difficult folks to deal with. :blink:

Zedone wrote: Nice bike Hollywood!

Very innovative head work.
You might want to install some SS braided brake lines, and it appears that your rear rotor has a decent size groove worn into it... I'm wondering how your brake pads are also. The stock Z1 KZ brakes are OK at best... let alone having a blower thrown into the equation :laugh: . A set of super bike bars or clip-ons would really inspire confidence also.

Someone spent alot of time and resources into your bike... I like the direction your headed with a super bike / cafe influence.

It almost looks like your pipe has been ceramic coated (hard to tell from a pic though). The new oil coolers available are much larger and make a noticeable improvement over the older ones.

Can you post more pics of your swingarm? I've never seen a Calfab with that type of extruded alum. tubing before... maybe it's a one off?

Regards, Doug

Ya he did, he spent lots of money on the bike. Back in 84 I think, he said the supercharger with all the "required" pieces cost him $3500! Pretty crazy. Engine parts were in the thousands. Judging by his receipts be blew the motor in the 90s once, there was another list of engine parts from the 80s I didn't list, thus why its 1045 now.PS. Anyone know what the snowflake does?? Yup it is ceramic coated there is a receipt for it. I will be painting it black. Sure I will add pics.

StreetfighterKz wrote:

Zedone wrote: Can you post more pics of your swingarm? I've never seen a Calfab with that type of extruded alum. tubing before... maybe it's a one off?

The swingarm on the supercharged bike just looks like a stock arm with an extra tube brace welded underneath and then painted silver.

Later, Doug

It was powder coated silver. I think he may have sent it to Calfab to re-enfornce as there is calfab docs in the folder.

531blackbanshee wrote: a custom fabbed aluminum belt cover with holes and lexan over each pulley would be cool.

leon

Ya I think so too. My buddy is going to cut the opening with a cnc.

zed1015 wrote:

Sweet. How did you know how to delete the relays? When I did this one the TR-1 I used the wiring diagram with a forum post of instructions, more or less.

You only need a relay if you are switching a current that is more than the switch gear can handle
e.g starter motor, twin headlights etc.

As for the choice of wheels discussion the widest a std Zed frame will take whilst keeping the wheel true central is a 5.5 inch rim e.g, zx636,Z750,zx7r,zx9 etc .

With a 5/8 offset sprocket the measurement from swingarm spindle center (chassis/wheel center line) to the inside face of the sprocket is 101mm which usually equates to approx 8mm off the rear wheels sprocket carrier to align the chain.

A zx10r rear is 6 inch and won't fit unless it's offset which i think is bad practice.
If you want better/quicker handling rather than pose value go for a 170 rear tyre.
The ideal set up is 5/8 offset front with 19teeth, 530 pitch to get max clearance between the chain,frame and swingarm.
The original zeds final gearing is 2.2 to 1.
To compensate for the smaller 17" rim use 1.92 to 1 for the closest equivalent.

On the Yamaha 2 out of 4 realys were for safety things that I deleted, thats why I was asking.

Hey that's really helpful info on the wheels and the final drive. I would prefer the 5.5 anyways.

But I did fall in love with these wheels but I would get them powdered gold; Aprilia RSV wheels. I was able to find a complete set of forks, breaks, trips, etc. But I'm not sure if that's venturing into no mans land of endless fab work..

Drooz wrote:

Hollywoodmx wrote:

Drooz wrote: Hey, nice Project!! I'll be following along with interest!

I believe the zx6r rear wheel is 1/2" narrower than the zx10r. At least, the '04 -'05 one's are. It made it a little easier to get the chain inside the frame and past the wheel/tire. You can still use a 180mm tire.

We used a zx6r rear wheel and a whole zx10r front end on my KZ.

Ok good to know. Do you have pics of your bike in thread somewhere?

Sure, I've got a few pics.

There are a few others if you need some detail, but that's pretty well it. I also run a 5/8" offset sprocket (see pic) and an idler wheel to keep the chain off the swingarm bottom brace. There is a mylar strip on the top of the swingarm (see pic), and it's needed!!

Hope that helps some.

Sweet ride man. I like the shocks, I mean $HOCK$..hehe. What swing arm is that, gsxr?

531blackbanshee wrote: if i was going with the bimota tank and tail,
i would probably keep some period wheels and get the brakes upgraded,build my own swingarm to match the style of the one in your pic but in stock or close length.
i would then get some fork emulators and new springs for the front forks,some of those ikon shocks like tri bought,avon road rider tires and go with a bimota paint scheme in green and white.
except i would want a candy lime green and would use close to this paint scheme.

i would keep the frame black.


or i would slam a zx6/636/10 frontend on it with the six spoke wheels,like these

then custom build my own underbraced round tube swingarm to accept the zx wheels and use all the zx brakes and keep the ikon shocks.

i myself would prolly go the later route.

here is what i mean by my own underbraced swingarm,

thats my .02 ymmv.
leon

Thanks for the advise. I was actually bidding on the OZ wheels that match the gold rims in my earlier bimota post but I stopped at 700.00 and it kept going. I couldn't justify 1k for those wheels considering I still need to update the brakes. I talked to the seller and he said the Japanese were all over them and they would have gone past 800.

I appreciate your ideas. I think I like the twin shock swingarm, zx6 front and zx6 spoke option you described. Plus I think I can swap my KZ forks, front and rear wheels onto my TR-1 which I wanted wire wheels for so it can be win win.

les holt wrote: That thing is freaking cool! That's some pretty slick work on that heads fin work.


I'm finishing up a round tube arm for a guy now, I should be able to post pics maybe by monday of a finished one. 2" over with twin shock set up for ZX6 wheel. I love the 6 spoke zx wheels but they are a bitch to keep clean, went with the 3 spokes and it's much easier, maybe cause they are chrome but don't care!
It looks like my rearsets will fit perfectly for you.
As for late model front ends or usd's, Theres a few options for a somewhat plug and play, Some can be done with just a bearing swap, some require just a stem swap and some just need new trees all together to best serve our needs. There is some trade offs with the newer conversions, mostly with being shorter and loosing ground clearance and second you tend to loose some effective rake on the chassis when the front goes down and the rear doesn't but, you do gain some trail because most have a lot less offset in the trees. I've got 2 chassis going on the jig here in about 3-4 weeks, I do some playing around with different combos to see just what kind of numbers one truly ends up with. The gains are both the added rigidity plus the brake upgrade! Those 2 things are big by themselves let alone the wow factor when it's pulled off right!

Les

Thanks! Ya I will go with your rear sets and I am interested in the easy swap swing arm.

Is there a difference between the zx10 or zx6 6 spoke wheels? Are the differences in the zx6 or zx10 fork swap? What years bikes are we talking?

Thanks for the help so far everyone!

if i was going with the bimota tank and tail,
i would probably keep some period wheels and get the brakes upgraded,build my own swingarm to match the style of the one in your pic but in stock or close length.
i would then get some fork emulators and new springs for the front forks,some of those ikon shocks like tri bought,avon road rider tires and go with a bimota paint scheme in green and white.
except i would want a candy lime green and would use close to this paint scheme.


i would keep the frame black.


or i would slam a zx6/636/10 frontend on it with the six spoke wheels,like these

then custom build my own underbraced round tube swingarm to accept the zx wheels and use all the zx brakes and keep the ikon shocks.

i myself would prolly go the later route.

here is what i mean by my own underbraced swingarm,



thats my .02 ymmv.
leon

DoctoRot wrote: Ho-lee-sheeet! that motor is beautiful! Never seen the big fin treatment on a KZ,damn that looks mean. As far as plug and play swaps, it is very limited. The GS1100E swingarm is a popular swap which is very close to plug and play but will still take a bit of fitting. if you got the dough you could have Les Holt (member on here) make you one of his gorgeous chro moly swinarms which are built to fit. Since your changing out the body work what are you gonna do with it? I'd be interested in that awesome airbrushed tank

Ok. I seen Les's frames but there wasn't a price. I was just going to store the body parts in my shed..lol. But the gas tank is super mint on the inside. Best vintage gas tank internal condition I have seen yet. Prev-owner said he had it coated. I could sell it if it was worth it.

zed1015 wrote: Nice to see another Drouin. Here's what i've done to mine

Cool man, I seen that pick before it's good to know its someone here. I was going to change my pulley cover I was going to cut out the whole middle and glue in some plastic so its a full window to the pulleys. I was riding it with the cover off for a few min the other day..bad idea, it touched my jeans a bit, not bad but not overly safe..

I like you you cleaned up your rear end. Where is all your electrical stuff? In the seat? Do you have the same injector and carb stuff as mine? I also wondered about yours the tapped oil lines?