KZ400 full fairing frankenracer

Love your 900, I'll keep an eye on this one too.

In.

I'm in. And I'm a big fan of lace paint, so looking forward to seeing what you do with that. I have some lace paint plans, as well. If... I ever get restarted on that particular project. Ha.

I love the number of 1-2AM replies! Night owls are good people.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

LBC said:

I did a bit of work over the weekend.

I put a coat of epoxy over my intake mold to protect it from the poly resin I'll be putting on with the layer of fiberglass.

The foam mold started as a block of foam that I rough cut to shape with a hot wire foam cutter. The foam cutter is a homemade unit I made from a transformer, dimmer switch, and a guitar string. This was a much more controllable method for cutting than the first draft I carved out with a steak knife.

Final shaping to make it the proper diameter was done with foam sanding block.

In my first try a few weeks back I tried to add too much material at once so it got out of shape. I also learned that the polyester dissolves the polystyrene. (like dissolves like)

Less than stellar first attempt but a good learning experience....

At least it's hollow...

With nice weather Sunday I also finished the prep for the casting of the rear fender mold....

and laid down the first layer of glass...fingers crossed hat it releases as well as my test pieces...

Overall it seems that the fiber mat that I purchased to start with is a pain in the ass to work with. I've got some glass fabric on order in hopes that it's easier to manage.


Here's some more nice paint inspiration...

Click to expand...

That 8th pic, My first bike was a Harley I dragged out of some guys garage, dragged it home and was promptly told I couldn't keep or ride it, by my Mom. My father helped me get it running on the sly and I sold it and made a ton of $ (for the time). I took that $ bought a Honda CB350 that had very similar paint to that board. It was the 70's and I was under age, but I kept the bike at a friends house and rode the wheels off that thing till I got caught street racing. As the cop was writing the book long ticket, no license, exhibition of speed, reckless, etc...etc.. I was 14 and my Mom drove by... I don't think I was able to leave the house for a year (well, not that she knew of) anyway, that paint scheme brought back a ton of memories.

interested...

This just might work...

I popped the fender off of the...fender....

I used a bunch of layers of wax as mold release but it was still stuck pretty good so it actually pulled some primer off with it. Glad I didn't add any more glass yet because the first layer is strong enough to hold shape but was thin enough to flex and come off.



With a bit of trimming it is starting to look like something.





The LED CBR tail light came in the mail last week.

Looks like it will be spot on once the fender is narrowed to fit the frame.

Made some nice progress on my KZ900 fender copy and composite intake manifold this week.

Started by taking a 1.25" out of the center of the fender to bring it to the width of the frame rails.



Definitely better proportions for the tank.



Also started working on the foam that will be the rest of the seat pan.



To get the hang of how to apply the carbon sleeve I picked up some cheap 5 minute epoxy and some expandable nylon wire harness cover and started mixing small batches and applying it different ways. I started troweling it on with popsicle sticks but ultimately found that the best method to work on a small part like this was to coat an area by rubbing the epoxy in with rubber gloves on and then stretching the sleeving to cause it to pull tight to the mold.



It already feels strong enough for duty with the current lay-up. Can't wait to have it finalized.





Other news.

From the looks of it my original mock-up position of the fairing was too low to allow for clip-on bars but the lower part of it curves in and couldn't be raised any further without lots of cut-outs. I dug out some clip-ons that were a made for bigger fork tubes but I shimmed them to hold still for a mock-up. I slapped the exhaust on too for good measure....yep...even more fitment issues.



So I have to start hacking up the fine piece of art that is the Airtech Cheveroli fairing or start gluing some foam together to glass up my own fairing to fit.....

Any thoughts from the peanut gallery? Anybody need a used but never painted Airtech fairing?

Maybe I overlooked the explanation, but where is the carb going to site with that long of a intake manifold? A much longer intake than the 2-1 I have on my KZ400... but I guess you don't have a battery box in their, so you have a lot of space.

I don't think I gave much explanation for that plan. I wanted to design something that gives a straight run to the head but Y in the frame is sort of in the way back there so I am going to run it back under the Y in the frame. I made the two runs to the boots a bit long because I wanted to be able to trim the ends in case the composite wasn't great. I will use the stock boots at the head and some 1.5" ID fuel line at the rear.

It will be shortened to fit here. The carb is 34mm keihin D slide knockoff. I'll be fabricating an inner fender to minimize road spray/grime getting sucked in the intake in this location.



The carb is 34mm OKO (Keihin PWK D-slide knockoff) that comes with a few jet sizes for about $40 new on ebay. We'll see how it pans out but the build quality is pretty amazing for the price. I should have the intake done this week so I can try it to get it started.

You made that fairing?....what did you used for a buck/mold?.....lookin good so far

DesmoBro said:

You made that fairing?....what did you used for a buck/mold?.....lookin good so far

Click to expand...

I made the rear fender. I bought the fairing on ebay. It's an airtech Cheveroli. It will take some cutting to get it to fit so I'm trying to decide if I should chop on this one or make my own by laying glass over a foam mold. I figure once I start chopping on this airtech I will probably kill any resale chances...

like this: http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=48866.0

or this: http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=7254.30

The neckbone is one of the most annoying things on the KZ400 and makes it difficult to mock up any type of manifold. This is generally why people build 2 into 1 and the exit it off to the left or right.

Def make extras...

firebane said:

The neckbone is one of the most annoying things on the KZ400 and makes it difficult to mock up any type of manifold. This is generally why people build 2 into 1 and the exit it off to the left or right.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I even considered modifying the frame to make room but the composite seemed like a fun challenge.

DesmoBro said:

Def make extras...

Click to expand...

Once I get the technique down I'd be willing to make more. Same with the fender.

Makes sense! My 400 has the frame without that "Y" so I didn't have as big of an issue. My carb just goes straight back with a 2-1 manifold.

Your manifold looked much longer before you held it up to the bike. Looks great though.

78 or 79 I can't remember is when they changed the frame making it easier to route the intake.

firebane said:

78 or 79 I can't remember is when they changed the frame making it easier to route the intake.

Click to expand...

Mine is a 79 and it has the split frame.

Does your 79 have the newer style head with the round breather cover and the oil feed for the head running externally up the back of the cylinders? I found a non runner, no title 79 locally. Wondering if I could put the cylinders and head from my parts 440 on it.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

This is what my motor looks like...