'78 KZ1000 makeover

Here you are Mark, my failed attempt at a carbon fiber battery box :sick: I gotta warn you though, its rough looking. No smooth molds or vacuum bags, just down and dirty wet layup over a block of styrofoam

thanks for the pics. they tell me what i thought i would see. i didnt think it would look too smooth, which it does not.
good enough for a bat box though.

Nope, not smooth at all. The best way to get it smooth without sanding is to wait until the last coat of resin tacks up, then add another coat to fill in the fabric weave. The problem is the resin is heavy. Another solution would have been heat shrink tape; wrap the block after the layup and turn a heat gun on it to compress the laminate. That would have smoothed things out.

sure many could make a case for all items being GP team finish... gonna be tight finish .....on your bike for sure .....but that item...to me...looks right...it looks right to me...couple nice finished mount holes nice .thing is one off nice...

porchev914 wrote: I would only need 2 Leon, but I also need the clevis ends to go with them as well. The ones from the site you linked are limited in variety. Any other suppliers/vendors on the top of you head Leon?

oh yer killin me adam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :blink:

why cant we just machine up some custom tube adapters and clevis's?

are you going to use rod ends,and clevis's?
what size?
two tube adapters and custom machined clevis mounts?or how is your plan to use the clevis.

if we have been over this already,
just call me a dumba$$ and point me to the post .

leon

Sorry Leon, I forgot who I was talking to for a second. I would need 2 tubing caps, but I'll have to get you the tubing I.D. I would need 2 clevis pins. I'm guessing 7/16" shank and a 3/8" hole for the cross pin. As compact as possible.

I stopped by the paint supply store with one of my fork legs and told the counter guy "I want some paint to match this color". After 10 minutes of solid arguing with the guy (he refused to help me, and kept telling me he couldn't match the color. Despite my assurance that it only needed to be close) a woman that worked there walked up with some color panels for me to browse. I was able to find a suitable match, and I really hope it will look good on the bike with the silver engine and everything else predominately black.


I also picked up some etching primer while I was there. Now I have an incentive to finish the fab work, since once its done, a complete painted frame is only a couple days away from that

Good, painting is fun and then you can just start putting stuff together.

I wish I could post but due to a postal snafoo a lot of the parts I needed are on their way back to Z1E.

get me the dim's and we can get the tubing adapters and clevis's knocked out.

leon

Somebody needs to have a talk with the counter guy at your paint store. The only answer he should be giving you is that they CAN match anything. So what color are they calling that? I think that a bronze colored frame should look good on a mostly black bike. That Ducati 916 that one of my buddies rides has a bronze colored trellis frame that looks pretty good to my eyes.

Seriously. This wasn't the paint store I usually patron, so I won't be going back. It's a pet peeve, but I despise someone saying they can't do something before they even try.

Leon, let me take some more accurate measurements for you. I'm in the middle of making an aluminum battery box which will need mounts welded to the subframe. With the box in place I can fit in the rest of my electrical components and associated mounting tabs as well as any missing sidecover mounting tabs. Then of course your tubing ends and matching mounting tabs on the main frame. Alot more planning and measuring than actual fabrication work, but time consuming none the less.

better to take the time and plan it all than to get in a hurry and have to cut it off and redo it later.

Now I've seen it all...! I thought my freshly painted stock battery box was cool :laugh:

What about cutting the frame so you can get the box in? :whistle: :S :ohmy: or make a removable frame tube with bolts. Just kidding.