1978 KZ650 Project

Hey guys...well not a whole lot of progress but a little here and there. Finally found the correct front wheel. Originally I thought a Busa wheel I had would fit but not so. However, the rotors carried over. Found a 750 wheel, new bearings, had a new Dunlop fitted...then added correct axle with a special axle tool. So, that takes care of that.

Scored a really nice cb750 headlight and brackets to fit my forks...and some other goodies too:



Polished my valve cover and added some black wrinkle paint inside the details then cleared the entire thing. Scored a nice generator cover with the all caps logo...which I prefer...call me anal! :silly: And a 1st gen sv650 rear brake...looks practically new...pads are even new. Oh and a new allen head engine bolt kit to replace all those stripped out phillips head jobs.

Had a little notched sleeve made and pressed into the spot where the gsxr ignition was to accomodate my kz ignition.


Rearsets: got these cheap!...now where to mount them hmmm

Starting making the braces for my frame today. Originally I was going to just use sheet metal gussets, but from what I have read, a brace is much more effective. I am just doing the usual I see on all these old KZ's: a tube just above the front engine mounts, two in the swingarm area(one horizontal and one diagonal to create some triangulation), 2 in the side cover area, and maybe a few up by where the coils mount to tie the 3 tubes there together.

For the brace in the front and swingarm area, I am using 3/4" inch DOM mild steel with .065 wall thickness. For the other ones in the side cover area I am using 1/2" DOM with .05 wall thickness. From everything that I have read, especially on the Tony Foale site, the bracing tube need not be as thick as the main tubing. I ordered it cheap and cut to approximate sizes from speedymetal.com, they have a good selection and no minimum if you can't source locally.

For a good fit, I took the tubing to my dad's where we leveled the frame up and measured everything out, and found the angles that the tubing needed to be cut at. For the two front down tubes, about and an inch and a half above the front engine mount, we came up with 8 degress.I then measured the tubing of the KZ frame, which is right around 1 1/8" in diameter. We chucked a 1 1/8" metal hole saw bit into the drill press. Then on his drill press, we adjusted the vice to the 8 degree angle we found. After securing the tube into the vice and squaring the center of the bit on the tube, you can make your first cut. Make sure the tube is plenty longer than the actual size you need. For this to work correctly, the center bit must penetrate the metal and hold it secure while the outside hole saw cuts the curved notch. Then just measure and mark the other side, be certain it is chucked with the top of the tube exactly where it was before and cut the other side. Debur and check fitment. Our first one was just a tab off, on the second cut the tube wasn't lined up perfectly...but then again neither have done this before so try again and it came out great!

Only had time to make the first one but very satisfied with the results. Surely there is a better way to do this if you have a machine shop but hopefully this helps anyone who has simple tools at home.

Here's the setup:


Here's the first brace nearly done:


And here it is fitted into place nice and snug:


The next step is to grind a taper on the outside edge of the tubing...so as to create a little channel for the weld to fill and properly join the tubing.

If I'm doing something wrong please chime in haha -Joe

Joe, your bike is kick ass, i love it. Im doing the same thing to mine. Swapping out the front end for a complete of gsxr 750 front end. Gs 1100 swingarm with the 05 gsxr 750 rear wheel. Ur keeping me stoked to start mine. Cant wait to see more. Jim

Aw, shucks thanks man;) Can't wait to see what you come up with, I love watching these builds come together! Sounds like a good plan, the GS arm should be quite a bit easier than my SV one. I'm using a first gen arm with a 2nd gen wheel, had to get an adaptor kit for it. The pivot area wasn't bad, just had the KZ sleeve grinded down a hair in diameter...and the SV endcaps machined shorter...works like a charm with the original KZ bolt.

Shock mounting will be a little tricky but not too bad.

Bought those 100 dollar mount jobs in the picture there...


Left side will be easy, just have to make a spacer and sleeve to shim the shock out a tad at the top to center it over arm...or else it will hit my chain/sprocket.


on this side I will have to get it welded with gussets on the side to support the shock mount...I saw the same thing done on one of the bikes on the a-magic site. ...those guys wow

A few other shots:

some little aluminum steering stops I made...still to be welded onto the triple...hope my turning radius is not cut too drastically...I don't want to have to put dents in my tank.




My buddy took the head apart and ran it through a parts washer to clean it up, then new valve seals were installed. No pitting on any of the valve surfaces, journals, and springs were good, not bent valves, so just a lap and reassemble for the head. But first I painted it black with PJ1 and sanded down the side fins with my dremel for that cool polished fin look!



Finally a couple of shots of the bike with a fender I bought...
w/o:

with:


Honestly, I hate the way the fender looks...it's just a repro gixer one off ebay. Didn't cost much, and for good reason haha...it's like two layers of .5 oz. glass...feels like paper. Will definitely have to add some more glass if I use it. I made some marks where I could cut it down so it's not so unsightly. The way it mounts on the front is the worst part...it covers the lower forks when viewed from the front..just gross.

I was thinking maybe I could just chop it down like I have marked and chop off the front mounts and maybe use some pieces or curved piece of metal to mount it like on the new Ducati Sport classic fender. Any suggestions? In the end I plan to lay carbon fiber over the top to make it look trick...or maybe just make a whole new one using this as a starter plug. Well, tis late..

Ya, im not to fond of the wat the fender sits as of now either. I love the way the new ducati sport classic fender looks also. Im debating what fender i want to use on mine i will probally just stay with the carbon fiber fender he has on the bike now. What size tire are you running on the back? I want to run a 170 on mine......im hoping for the best.

I guess I'm the "other side" on this one, I really like that fender and I was thinking that CF might look very nice in that shape...but it's not my bike and much of the joy of ownership is in the visual impact, so there's that. Anyway, your work is very niiiiiiice; great project, looking forward to seeing it continue.

-KR

I can has braces:





...and I can has seat...



I gonna modify the original tail section by shortening it and sculpt it to look like a KH tailpiece. Yeaa ultra toxic fiberglass and resin time! :S

Oldkaw...I'm running a 160...have no idea about chain clearance yet.

NO clearence problems with a 160.

-KR

Yea, I bolted up my bottom end to try and get this sprocket alignment going,it looks very close for tire clearance without an offset sprocket. The rear sprocket has to come in quite a bit, so I suppose the best option would be the offset as much as possible while maintaining My kz650 wears a 530 chain stock, and has the same output shaft splines as the z900 and 1000. My swingarm pivot had a 2mm side to side free play so I'm shimming it 2mm over to the right instead shimming 1mm on each side, that's a start I guess. This means my wheels will be a little out of alignment but I'm sure 2mm is negligible.