saving a 1980 KZ750 twin

The project bikes are back in storage for a few months but i kept a couple parts for to me to work on until I get a garage again. The lathe that i have access to just got rebuilt so i thought id finally machine a couple simple things on this to get started, as my skills progress I will attempt some more complicated stuff. I remade one of the front wheel spacers out of 7075, waiting on some stock to make a speedo plug for the LH side.

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I also turned a starter plug for the case; because the starter motor leaves this big gap on the front of the motor I really want to put an oil cooler there, so I drilled and tapped two holes on the outside of the plug to help with the cooler mounting down the road.

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I cut off the factory gauge mounts and polished it out.

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I got a Speedhut GPS speedo and tach. Nothin fancy on the gauge face but i but for about $20 extra they will give you a template and they will print whatever you want on a gauge face, so I designed my own.

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Im thinking about turning up a cover for the back of the gauge and want to try cutting threads in a tube. Do the machinists out there know what kind of thread this is or any tips on cutting ID threads?

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Im gonna use this 63-74 sportster headlight with a custom composite bucket that i originally made for my 1000 project. I am kinda digging the old school diffuser but if i go HID or LED i will use the clear lens. I think the screws at the bottom of the rings are kinda crude. Any suggestions to make it looks a bit cooler? I was thinking about some type of clamp or something.

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I just mocked it up real quick so i can start brainstorming ideas on how i want to tie this all together.

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Just a quick update, I finally had a chance to hop on the lathe and turn up the speedo delete. In just these two small parts i shaved almost half a pound from the front end. I'm really enjoying messing around on the machines. I picked up a tool blank to grind into the profile for the buttress thread on the tach/speedo. I practiced on some brass and think i have the thread cutting thing figured out well enough to attempt the internal thread.
 

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Joined this forum in 2013, frequent visitor, this is my second post.
I really like what you are doing with this bike and how you are going about it, thank you for posting.
Hope you get some more machine time soon.
 
Started working on the headlight ears by machining up these bits and welding em up. I made a sleeve out of aluminum to keep the tubes from going out of round while welding. now it's clear should have used steel for the sleeve because its stuck in the second. I'm going to slit them tomorrow on the mill and will cut through the sleeve too, hopefully that will help me get the sleeve out.
 

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The Eastwing only made it tighter. Weld a thick plug to the end with waffle marks and drive it out with a wood dowel from the inside, I would go into why but it just is always better to extract press fit aluminum rather than push it.

For the same reason I always tap the inside of valve guides, thread a bolt in and press the bolt surface to extract them... never galls the head or leaves aluminum on the guide ;)
 
Yup. The aluminum mushrooms easily. CRC freeze off might help too. Shrink the aluminum to get it out.
 
thanks for the tips guys, that was a dumbass move on my part hammering the end. I ended up welding the end up like a coil pot to try and help shrink it down. the sleeve came out with some pounding, after slitting, but it galled some parts of the tube. I dressed it up and they mount great. Never done a slitting operation on the mill before. VERY satisfying. Now that these are finished I can start doing some prototyping.
 

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something like this.
 

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redwillissuperman said:
It's your bike but.... why the ginormous turn signals?

Ha, I was thinking the signals and headlight looked kinda small-ish. 8) But good.

BTW, do you got a link for those signals?
 
To each their own I guess. Both the headlight and turn signals are much smaller than stock. the wide angle lense on my phone is making them look bigger than they are. Trek - they are the bullet turn signals that air tech sells. I think they have a good vintage vibe while still being small, this is my third bike with them. Unfortunately they only come in single filament but I have tracked down some parts to make them dual filament for running lights. http://airtech-streamlining.com/miscpages/lights.html EDIT- looks like dime city sells them now too.
 

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Also I don't know why the pictures keep being sideways, they look normal on my phone
 
doc_rot said:
Also I don't know why the pictures keep being sideways, they look normal on my phone

load them to pc and correct them if needed. Your phone will auto rotate if you take it sideways or crop it
 
the only bummer about doing the tach/headlight combo is there is no logical place to put this oil light. any suggestions?
 

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The gauge has 3 idiot lights but they are all pretty small. If this oil light is coming on I want to notice it right away. I was thinking it might be possible to have the gauge back light flash or something but I have no clue on how to do that.
 
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