KZ650 no clever title

dcmspikes

Over 1,000 Posts
k, here is my brand spankin new build thread for a build that is going in to its second year. no camera meant no thread, but ive come up with some photos and will be continuing to document the process. lots and lots of help and information came from this board and kz650.info. thank you.

Mods:

smaller gel type battery and aluminum battery tray
aluminum seat/tail section
flat bars
modern CBR master cylinder/remote res
fabricated LED tail/brake light
LED turns
LED idiot lights
DYNA ignition / coils/ wires
pods (needs new ones)
aluminum headlight ears
drilled rear hub and brake plate
came with S & W shocks
bar end mirrors
plexi windscreen
fiberglass fender (not installed(obviously))

lots still to do:

add second disc up front (calipers lightened and rotors drilled)
paint front wheel, spokes, and hub
shorter throttle cables
finish LED tail/brake light
rear-sets
muffler
different guages (maybe GPS unit)
need to make a lighter mudguard (carbon, fiberglass, or aluminum)
fork brace

wish list:

carbon engine and carb covers
modern front end (USD forks + og spoked wheel)
aluminum swingarm


here it was.
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here it is now
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here are some shots of the tail and light. the seat/tail is mounted on the factory hinges and the lights are mounted to the rearframe . the seat pan is hacked together. next time i will start with the mounts to the frame and then make the cowl and pan to fit them. for the light i soldered some bright red LEDs to some thin plexi and added some resistors. working on a diffuser right now. on the running light circuit the LED are hard to see unless you are at the perfect angle.

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and drilled rear brake plate and scalloped hub between spokes (thanks PJ)

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one more for a little while

adding a second disc up front. the KZ650 forks have both left and right mounts for calipers. the calipers are cast to be used on either side as well. so its as easy as drilling a hole for the bleed screw on the proper side of the caliper and bolting everything up. well, in my opinion most of these old parts are too heavy. so im trying to remake things out of something lighter or drill as much out as safe, or somewhat safe.
the calipers weigh over 3lbs each and are comprised of three main parts: caliper casting, piston, and bracket

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IIRC the caliper was 2lb 6oz the piston was 8oz and the steel bracket was 6oz. i might have the piston and bracket mixed up. anyhow, plans are too remove material from caliper, under cut the inside of the piston because it is ridiculously thick walled and remake bracket out of aluminum.

started machining caliper yesterday and need to finish it with dremel and files

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so thats all for now. take a week, probably more, til i can get back in the shop to finish this
 
k. step 1 is done. finished removing material from the casting. drilled some holes, cut off the extra lump for other bleed screw, and just cleaned up the casting.

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step 2 is to undercut the piston and step 3 is to make the mounting bracket out of aluminum.

oh and i suppose i should start drilling the holes in the rotor as well. this stuff is never ending.
 
well, i drilled the rotor. 120 holes. no problems. started with 1/8" then 3/16" finally 1/4" and finished by adding a small chamfer to both sides. drilling was fairly easy. i should be able to finish the other disc with the same bits. these OEM pads are steel not cast.

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just need to drill some holes in the carrier and the rotor will be finished.
 
nice fabbing! i like it that some of us (me too :p) are taking the least travelled road. I mean, it's the first time i see somebody doing this to a caliper instead of buying a lighter one and fabbing a bracket for it. sweet. Peope who come up with AND build old-fashioned hardcore handbuild shit will surive. Always. love it!
 
I'm always a little nervous about cutting holes in brake parts that were not too great to begin with. They are probably so poor that you won't notice any extra flex, but seriously brakes are the one part that needs an upgrade. I'd look at EX500 calipers and a new M/C. Lighter and more effective and quite cheap.

On old heavy bikes, there's no such thing as too much brake.
 
i definitely took in to consideration the loads on the caliper. im not saying that they are bulletproof now, but i believe there will be no problem. i will be doing all of these mods to another brake set for dual discs up front. i actually got some tokicos from a cbr but the calipers were going to be lots of work to fit between the limited space between spokes and forks. thanks for the concern.
 
4 piston calipers basically won't fit without a truck load of work. Look at earlier CBR with single sided twin pistons or the same idea from Kawasaki or and SV650. I tried three or four different Tokico.Nissin.Brembo calipers until I realized that billet Brembos are really slim and light and work but they cost a fortune. Al the production type 4 pistons were too thick and required disks and calipers to move outwards and then still needed some caliper machining.

SV650 are cheap and slide in with minimal changes. http://pinkpossum.com/GT750/phattrakka2/p5brakes.htm I later swapped those for another pair with billet adapters.

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nice. thank you. always up for performance upgrades. the CBR calipers i have can work. i even have a CNC program for the carriers to make them, but it seemed like too much trouble and im still only left with pubic hairs for clearance. this is easy and cheap for now. whats the thickness on your discs?
 
damn you Teazer. i just checked Ebay for those calipers. $25 shipped. looks like i might just get a set and see if i can get them to work with the other parts i have. maybe someone else with a KZ would buy these calipers that im working on. atleast to pay for the SVs. anyway, thanks again for the insight.
 
I used thinner CBR600 F2(I think) disks at 4.5mm thick. Stock GT are 7mm thick and they weigh a ton each.

Tweak your CNC program to move the calipers out a touch and try to centralize them on the disk and check out what else has the same bolt hole pattern as your disks to see what could be used. It's not about spending money but about getting the most for your hard earned.
 
Nice project. The 650 is one of my favortite bikes. I had a 78 with Morris mag wheels and did the Joe Minton mods. Sadly I sold it when we relocated from Cleveland to New York. I really wish I had kept it, probably one of the most enjoyable bikes I've owned.
Rider
 
i saw the post on how someone made velo stacks from a brass goblet. got me thinking.


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pressed the strainer out of the top. punched a hole in the bottom and riveted the top to the bottom. eventually ill weld a flange to the bottom of the shaker for a clamp to get a better seal

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What provides the muffler effect in that shaken but not stirred creation? I love the ingenuity, but suspect it might be a touch noisy.
 
its not super super loud, but i was also running around for a few days with nothing. i can make a baffle for it pretty easy. just perf some tube and wrap it with fiberglass and rivet everything together.
 
I had to come take a peek at yours, Cut from the same mold...

Adapt unrelated things.
Fab as much as you can, as well as you can, with what you have.
Change your mind as necessary, but try new roads.

Lovin it.
 
taillight ver2.0

i couldnt stand to look at my taillight anymore. so i went asym. with an old light i had lying around.

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version 2.1 will have LEDs instead of incandescent bulb and plate light and maybe integrated turns
 
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