Alright, FINALLY got started on this swingarm swap.... This is not gonna be a fast project by any means, I plan on slowly but surely doing a little at a time and end up with big results by next spring, including rearsets, triples, progressive springs in the forks, dual disc brakes, changing handle bars, and a few other things.

Now, my gs swingarm is missing one of the pin bearing spacers and the end caps from the pivot bolt!
ANYONE have these things or know the best place to locate them? Shocks will be ordered next week, and I still need SS washers to take up the space between the frame and the arm at the pivot location. Looks like I'm gonna need an offset front sprocket also?

Has anyone done it? Will to fit?
Thanks

Wheelies are easy on old 900s,theyre even easier when you have an 1197 top end on top of it with a stock length swingarm! :woohoo:
We were doing 100mph wheelies and flat tracking these old things like kenny roberts 30 years ago,long before there was sport bikes with good suspension and frames that could handle 150 plus hp motors! :woohoo:
These new bikes are like flying an f16 yeah theyre freaking fast but theyre like flying a video game!
Now riding fast on an old z1 is like flying an old ww1 bi-plane with a ww2 p51 mustang motor stuffed into it,totally interactive experiance trying to keep the ass end from passing up the front end! :woohoo:

^^^That's a beaut! There's something so right about spoked wheels, although I do like the mags with an inverted from fork and swingarm swap.

Ok, i know that sounds stupid, but if anyone on here has seen my bike, it needs alot of work still, and i just got a job. So heres my dilemma, i need a way to get to work cause im broke. but, this guy on craigslist has a kz400cafe racer, looking for another project. I wanna trade, so i can have something to ride, but when i go to ride with my friends, how am i going to keep up??? but keep in mind i need a way to work, and fast cause i start next week. I could ride that 400 for alittle bit, save up, then maybe swap a 750 motor in it??? If thats possible with that tiny frame :laugh:
I dont know, heres the link, i need advice on this one :[

boise.craigslist.org/mcy/3209541111.html

oh and i knw my picture doesnt show it, but the engine is installed now, no swingarm tho.

Anyone know the length of the factory rear brake line on a 77 KZ1000 A.
Or if a 24in brake line would be long enough for the gs1100 swingarm swap?

My covers weren't deeply gouged but had a few nicks.

Started out with a sanding disc (120 grit) in my electric hand drill to take out the nicks.

Once the nicks were gone an obscene amount of hand sanding followed: 240 dry, 400 dry, 600 wet, 800 wet, 1000 wet (don't forget to change water and wash the parts with every grit change) - all this to gradually make the sanding marks finer and finer.

Last step before polishing was a soda blast to remove the last traces of the 1000 grit and any possible leftovers from the sanding paper.

Then I stuck my hand drill in a vice and used three different cloth wheels for polishing: first one with a red polishing compound (block), then one with a finer white compound (also block), again don't forget to clean the parts (solvent) when switching compound and wheel.

Final touch was a polish with Solvol's Autosol for the mirror shine.

Here are the covers after the soda blast :



And after the final polish - points and alternator cover got the same treatment along with a few other bits (fork lowers, calipers, swingarm etc.):




A few things to consider when polishing with a wheel:


- Mask off your working area, polishing compound et al will be flung around and make a mess. I used some cardboard and duct tape to make an improvised polishing cabin around the hand drill/wheel.

- The wheel should spin with the top towards you and the bottom away from you.

- As you would on a lathe, always work below the center of rotation or nasty things can happen.

- Be careful around the edges of the part you're polishing. If the wheel catches on the edge it will rip the part out of your hands and set you back 5 or 6 steps in the process when your almost finished part hits your garage floor (don't ask...) Always work from the inside towards the edge, never from the edge and inwards.

- Wear gloves, polishing develops a lot of heat. Work gloves initially, cotton gloves for the final polish.

- Some kind of face mask is practical. As far as I know polishing isn't toxic but it will make your boogers go black for a week.

- Mandatory: wear eye protection. Being hit in the eye by a piece of polishing compound is no fun, I learned that the hard way.

Here's a nice article from Caswell Plating: CLICK


Btw, next time I think I'll just paint the covers black.....

ok i have noticed several folks here have a M/C on their bikes, can anyone point me in a direction to find witch one will fit the 79 KZ 750's?
im all for stopping power!!
also wondering how wide of a tire can be put on them with the stock mag wheels

I am doing the same swing arm swap and I have the geometry for the shock linkage but do not know how to measure the angle of the swing arm or how many degrees was wondering how you did it....

doug,
tapped me to extend and underbrace his gixxer arm that he is using for his project.

i am just in the preliminary stages,i have the original ends cut off the arm,and the extensions machined to fit inside the tubes.

i am also going to create an underbrace using 1" o.d. x .120 wall thickness 6061 seemless tubing.

here are some pics to whet your appetites :evil: .

this is what doug sent me.



here is the arm with the extensions mocked up.



more to come,

leon