KZ900 Streetfighter

More pics on the way!! I'll make it up to ya, I promise :lol: The steel mount does get welded to the frame, and if I'm lucky that will happen this week. Trying to balance sleep and meal time with working extra hours. And that is another project entirely, a 71 Challenger going to SEMA this fall, we are expecting to return to us in a couple weeks in pearl white with silver R/T stripes.
Okay, you twisted my arm, I should have posted a few close up shots of the bracket assembly last night, here ya go. :laugh: I cleaned up the bracket with some filler and primer to hide some of the chatter marks, still getting used to running the machine, all I think is "feed, speed, feed, speed...!"

650mod, the speedo does come with the magnets and sensor. I saw em on fleabay and when I asked about just that, I got a response saying that I can find it with the sensor and mags, and he told me straight up that I can get it cheaper if I order direct from their website. On the gauge page (hehe), there is a drop down menu where you select what you want accessories-wise. Digital-speedos.co.uk is the site. They have good selection of nice speedo's, I really liked the Daytona 140 too, but I didn't think the chrome ring would look right in the pod.

Thanks! I might just end up ordering that unit, I really like it's look. I don't want to toss my stock gauge cluster if I don't have to, and this speedo's looking like the right one

I should note that the paperwork that came with it states the gauge "is not waterproof but it is weatherproof" and some moisture may end up inside, behind the lens. But I think its okay to use on the bike without a housing of some sort, after all, the do sell a bar clamp for it... Come to think of it, they sell a remote switch too, so if it is in a housing you can still operate it. Now I have to come up with something for that, hmmm

How do you plan to mount it in? Just make an adapter ring to slide it into?

Sorry for the delay, have been getting a couple things done the past week to post here. I attempted to finish the welding on the frame but, alas, I had to stop short. What I did get done though was a new coil pack mount. And the story behind that is me delving into a programmable ignition setup that may one day give way to fuel injection. I'm talking Megasquirt, on ignition only. However, I'm still not sure I want to go the FI route anytime soon, but since I have the experience with megasquirt and even picked up some GPZ throttle bodies a while back, I may do it for fun later on. I mean hey, 26mm carbs vs straight thru TB's can't be too bad, but I really don't feel like taking on the headaches of tuning another 'squirt now and with no dyno to tune properly I would be wasting my time, its hard enough to tune a car going down the road with two people :woohoo: . I started looking into perhaps driving the coil pack from an electronic pickup from mid a 80's bike, just to get it going. If that doesn't work I'll have to force the 'squirt into service. But at least timing will be relatively easy. The more I think about it, the more i think I should stay more mainstream; from what I understand, there's not much to be gained with playing with ignition curve on these engines. Or am I wrong...

Got the exhaust bracket welded on too, Pretty straight forward, I took a few measurements from reference points on the frame to make sue it was going to end up in a position that is workable. Only once I drop the engine in again will I see if it needs much tweaking. I'm happy with the way it turned out and I don't think it will need much, maybe have to slip the muffler onto the header a little more.
I also mounted my Daytona gauge.
after cutting off the old, yeah I didn't want to show case much of that lol





A few tacks to hold it on for measuring


And after cleaning up the ugly mig welds I burned it on with the tig.



For some reason I didn't take a finished shot, so I'll have to do that soon, my bad :whistle:

This post is for you 650mod, I thought you might enjoy how I put the Daytona unit in the pod. I did make an adapter for it and figured a way of holding the whole thing inside pretty secure.

That trim ring piece is something I found laying around from some abandoned project, so it saved me the time of spinning one myself. It was only slightly smaller than I wanted but I went with it anyway.
Spinning out the backing plate with a cut-off tool.

I kinda guesstimated on how big I needed to make the plate, since I didn't want the lens sitting against the inside of the pod's lens; so the plate is bigger than diameter of the face of the pod.

after welding the plate to the ring

inside the pod with a little strip of 1/8 aluminum for a bracket.

And the block I added to attach the adapter ring to the pod internals. I can't recall what the two holes actually held on the old clock but they were perfect. I kinda screwed up on that, though. I welded the block on before drilling and tapping the holes. I was sure it would be pure frustration trying to tap those fine threads after it had been heated, but I guess I got off lucky :blush: Aluminum never machines the same after its annealed.


After a quick clean up and a shot of semigloss I made a few test fits and started closing up the pod again. I might add, if anyone wants to try opening up their pods, don't expect them to look untouched when its all over. I was half expecting it to look a little beat up anyway, but it sure don't look as good as before. If I had to do it again I would have just cut the back out of the inside and welded a few tabs in to facilitate future removal. Oh well, live and learn. I already had the thing apart when I came up with that idea. In the future I may invent some way of replicating that crimped ring with billet or something but I have my doubts, lol. Hard to change that without changing the look ofthe whole shebang.

Putting the pod together is time consuming, especially if you want it to look decent. Once again I failed to photo the finished product, hmmm I'm too young to be forgetting the important bits :silly:
The last pic, is what will become a pair of rotor spacers. I measured my brothers Gixxer 750 to see what the difference was between it and the R1 wheel; it turned out the rotors were just .125" wider. I remember I took a measurement awhile back that to give me the same number, on two different calipers (the measuring kind :lol: ).062", but I had no gixxer to compare that number to... So I'm confident that is what I need to make my spacers. Easy right. So I scoured the whole shop and not even a single sliver of .062 thou aluminum. I did find .080" and gave it a shot. If it works , great, if not it will be a dry run. Will see how it matches up tomorrow. Right now when I roll the wheel it drags pretty bad, I think back to riding around the block a couple times like that. Surprised it didn't wear the inside pads terribly.
On a side note, I'm looking for some 300mm rotors that share a bolt pattern with the R1 wheel. I machined up some caliper spacers (R1 rotors are 310mm) and it all works great, but taking the calipers off is a pain. I don't mind if I keep running them but I don't want to beat up the paint on the rim if I don't have too and I really don't want to turn the rotors down either. I'm sure there is something that shares the same bolt pattern and is the right size, but GSXR750 rotors are not it. Any help if ya'all can would be very much appreciated.

The gauge turned out awesome!!! Looks really clean, I love how it looks in the stock pods. Might have to give this one a shot...

Thanks 650, I say go for it!! I would just try to avoid getting into the crimp ring, its a hassle. Now that I think about it, it may not ever seal tight again, plus it will look a whole lot nicer when its done (like you never split it apart at all ) They say hind sight is 20/20, and I wish I had done it differently now, but no regrets!

I think I can make an update here this week. Stripped my frame of rust and primered in epoxy. Going to do a little bit of smoothing out and then I'll shoot it with some single-stage. At work, we have been using SEM's Hot Rod line that seems to hold up well to chips and solvents. We have a silver and a semi-gloss black, both of which look nice, but I am a little torn between the two. Here is the color I chose for the body work, purchased from TCP Global; Gun Metal Grey Metallic:

What do you guys think? This with a black frame, or silver? I think both would look awesome, the silver would contrast nicely and the black would perhaps make it appear darker :evil: heehee (and in the long run, be easier to spot in for repairs)...
I have to thank KZCSI for his write up on fuel tank rust removal. It looks damn good inside and didn't need the phosphoric acid step since the rust was so light; I was very impressed.
On another note I picked up a set of Andrews 2X cams off fleabay with adjustable sprockets, score!! I also managed to find a set of ignition pickups for a '83 KZ 1100. I'll wire them up per LouD's HEI mod and swap the points out after I have the engine dropped in and running again. Speaking of which, I'll be doing an overhaul at my brother's to replace some seals; shifter shaft seal leaves a puddle on the floor after a day and kick start shaft leaks very badly if it gets tipped up too far. There is a bit of oil seeping out from behind the stator cover. But the base and head are solid but at any rate I will install a set of APE head studs, heavy duty timing chain and a few other parts for the valve train; its probably best to get it taken care of now while its still out and save myself the aggravation, just want to get it apart before I make a parts order.
A couple shots of the gauge cluster after crimping it back together. I have to admit, it looks a lot better than I made it sound. Seriously need to repaint those housing though...

Shot the frame in the satin black, I'm happy wit the way it turned out. Turning attention to the tank and body panels next, prepping for the final color coat with high build primer. Once the engine is in the frame the rest of the parts can get some attention, but I won't resist getting some of those ready to be installed, like the swingarm, forks and wheels.