saving a 1980 KZ750 twin

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I personally prefer the older style text. KAWASAKI instead of Kawasaki. I swapped engine covers for the older style
 
doc_rot said:
I personally prefer the older style text. KAWASAKI instead of Kawasaki. I swapped engine covers for the older style

Wow, they run two different versions of logo even in engine cases? Thats cool. Well you should run with the one you prefer of course. Aren't most motorcycle brands/logos all in caps anyways?
 
I missed that too, I knew the two logo's but missed the cases... very nice Doc... Let the good times roll :eek:
 
When I was helping my buddy rebuild that kz650 this summer I donated the factory dual caliper setup I had slated for this build and bought some Brembo P108 calipers.
I'm doing this at the same time as the brakes on my 1000 to try and save some costs on waterjet cutting.

I needed spacers for the disks to allow clearance for the spokes. Really I'm just looking for any excuse to use the rotary table. god I love that thing.

I then drew up a bracket in CAD and laser cut the profile out of .060" acrylic so I could stack them to get the correct spacing. I have the spacing pretty spot on but the bracket sticks out pretty far and will require removal of a lot of material when I mill the plate down. I'm contemplating milling some material off the inside of the caliper mounting bosses on the forks so that I will have space to mount the bracket on the inside of the forks and caliper which is a better solution IMO.

I'm not sure on how to approach milling material off the forks. I think I will first have to mill some material off the side (round part) of the bosses first so I can clamp the fork bottom in the vice securely. Should I indicate off the stanchion tube to ensure I am parallel to the the boss faces? Any tips here?
 

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I threw the forks and triple trees on the mill and clamped the axle in the forks. I then indicated off the axle so that the new caliper boss faces would be perpendicular to the wheel axis. I used paint stripper to remove the paint on the caliper bosses to make sure i was getting accurate readings off them to check against the axle readings. I took off 8mm, and now the mounting brackets can fit on the inside. I used a ball end mill so that the bottom of the cut would not be a stress raiser.

I finally rounded up the last bits for the carbs. NOS intake rubbers, new aftermarket carb boots, and a member over at KZR hooked me up with some trick billet mounts for the carb boots to replace the old plastic ones. I gave them the brushed treatment to match the motor mounts.
 

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Looking stunning man. Smart using the ball end bit. Had some simulations done recently on some plastic parts I designed and just adding a 0.5mm rad added an extra 25% strength in the critical areas.

I really like that stock/modded intake set up. Those triangular boot mounts are trick!
 
thanks guys. the files are off to the water jet cutter today! Since I'm paying for the drops as well i decided to have them cut in a manner that i don't have to create a fixture to mill them. Once the mill operations are done I will cut off the excess with a band saw and then finish them.
 

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Green won. Hopefully ill be able to prep everything and spray the test piece I have this weekend before committing fully
 

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Doc, your front tire is mounted wrong for a front application, There are 2 rotation arrows one for front one for rear as that is a universal model Avon designed for either application, the way you have it mounted will direct water straight at your back tire and you increase hydroplaning risk by a lot and also effect cornering traction. Bike is looking good, I like the paint colour you chose.

edit, it looks like it is mounted right in the brake mockup pics, did you swap it around?
 
Thanks. The tire was brought to my attention and has been fixed.
 
everything is ready to rock and test is sprayed. I was hoping it would be a little more green but i do like the color. I might go buy some of the green toners and add a bit. I also pressure tested the gas tank in my sink to check for leaks before committing to paint. Hopefully this Friday it will go down 8)
 

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It looks better in the sun
 

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I got the color where I want it. Its a tiny bit more gold than it looks in the photo. I was spraying this out last night and the gun spit out a huge fleck of crap right on the top left. so I'm going to sand it back and respray next weekend.
 

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thanks. Its just part of the 2 step forward 1 step back shuffle that my projects seem to do.
 
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