modified, aftermarket, or custom. nothing is safe (78 KZ1000)

thanks for the kind words Pat. This is very much a learning experience for me as I have never done most of the things i have done here. But the internet is my friend so i have been teaching myself. In retrospect i went a little too rigid with the side-covers since they serve no structural purpose. I could have gone with half the fiberglass and without the coremat but in the end it would have maybe saved me 2-3 oz per cover, so right now its not worth the effort and money of redoing them. The mounts i'm working on right now will add a bit of weight as well, but oh well.

Vintage superbikes are my favorite. I have been searching for a GS1000 or GS1100E to add to the stable. My goal with this bike is to leave no aspect un-altered, but to do so in a way that retains the spirit of the original as that is what I fell in love with. Also functionality is very important to me. I like the look of some of the brat and cafe bikes on here, but you ain't doing no 600+ mile day on those. When this thing is done I think I might do a high speed burn up to Alaska, who knows. every ship needs a maiden voyage.
 
I got the sidecover mounts figured out. i just need to make and weld in a small bracket for the lower ones. pics soon. I also cut out the stock gusset in the front of the bike (major PITA). I did this for a couple reasons, 1. it was preventing the front down tube braces from being welded completely around. 2. By moving the gusset forward to the down tube braces it creates a bit more room up front to mount the HID ballast which has to be within 18" of the lamp, and more room for a big ass horn. 3. the stock gusset had bends in it which negate some of the effect of the gusset as it gives a point to flex at. mine will be a real gusset so it will increase strength. 4. another excuse to use the dimple dies. 8) I also fitted a brace where the stock one was before because I had to cut that out to remove the stock gusset. The gusset is going to look something like this.
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I have chipping away at the fab. I saw this Vice news documentary on the political assassinations in the Philippines. It shows kids making semi auto handguns with shitty hand tools and files! inspired me to dress up the motor mounts i made. I nearly have my brake setup together, had to get some custom discs with a crazy offset for the KZ wheel. I have a bunch of pictures stuck on my phone that is busted so i'm trying to figure out how to get them off. Should have a better update soon.
-vic
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Doc_rot, very nice stuff here. I too like the use of the dimple dies. I have a decent set of dies from my rock crawler / 4wd days that you have inspired me to bust back out.

Whats the specs on the tubing you are using?

I really like the fiberglass work as well. Good thinking on the vacuum bag setup. Keep up the killer work.
 
slug said:
Doc_rot, very nice stuff here. I too like the use of the dimple dies. I have a decent set of dies from my rock crawler / 4wd days that you have inspired me to bust back out.

Whats the specs on the tubing you are using?

I really like the fiberglass work as well. Good thinking on the vacuum bag setup. Keep up the killer work.

tubing is 4130 1"OD .065"wall
also have some 7/8"OD .065" wall in the mix where appropriate.
 
Er, ah, would that be 0.065 inch wall? Which is a tad over 1/16" wall thickness.
How did welding the thin wall moly reinforcements / braces to the stock frame tubes (mild steel, nearly twice the wall thickness) go? What welding rod?
Pat
 
whoops yep, forgot a zero there. .065" wall. I just fit the tubing, my buddy Eric at Performance Welding in Bothell, WA did the welding. I'm not sure what rod he used, but i did watch him weld it up with no problems.
 
Yoshimira made a frame brace blue print for kz1000. My kz is pretty close to that. I think you can still buy the kit for that too.
 
Ok i have been procrastinating on updating here for a while. I finally got the photos off my broken phone. I have still been chipping away at the fabrication.

Final gusset
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rear fender....
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cut down to fit.
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Rear brake torque link remade. I cut off the clevis off the old arm and welded some threaded rod to it so i could use this swedged aluminum tie rod.

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mounts on airbox/sidecovers/tail finalized.

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ZRX 1200 forks.... steering stem swapped and axle modified by a fellow member over at KZrider. Renthal pro taper, Brembo 16mm MC for the Grimeca calipers.
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wheel spacers and speedo delete by another friend.
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Its good to have friends with heavy machinery....
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Prepping for 2 part hydrocal mold.
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coddles in place and seams sealed
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Part 2
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Finished mold. 3 coats mold wax, followed by 2 coats of PVA to prep for mold release.
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Vacuum bagged with strechalon to help get into that hard concave edge. I bag the whole mold instead of trying to seal the seams.

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trimmed and fitted.
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Gauge mount. I fit all pieces and My buddy welds it up.
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Made some fork clamps. Found some ID tube that was close to the 43 mm forks.I cut out a quarter inch from the circumference, annealed it, and hammered it down to size. lugs welded on then cut. Pinches the forks very well with no gaps. Mocking up different headlight ears.
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one of many drawings
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I had my photo booth set up for some other stuff today so i decided to snap some photos of a couple things.

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The bike had finally been christened. I need to get some photos of the bike with all the finished body work on it.
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Aha! You have discovered the magic of the plaster mould! I first did some plaster moulds back in the '70's (wish I'd kept them) and still keep a (big) bag of Hydrocal plaster in the shop. I liked Ultracal better but either it's not available any more or my local supplier won't order it for me.
About the only suggestion I could make to your outstanding plaster mould work is, to make the moulds last a little longer, spray the mould face with one of the spraybomb urethane / varathane / whatever your local paint store has clearcoats, as soon as you can pull the mould off the master - when the plaster is still warm is best. Keep doing light coats - you'd be amazed how far it penetrates in. Also seals the plaster from the PVA if you have any areas that are a bit thin on wax coats.
Still on cuppa coffee #2 so not banging on all cylinders yet, but did you mention what you used for a release agent on the master? The last plaster moulds I made (last summer), I used a "PAM" type kitchen spray, just a couple of light coats and hey presto, off came the mould, easy-peasy (the fact that the hydration reaction of the plaster with the water makes the mould "grow" a little bit rather than shrink like almost all toolmaking resins helps too).
BTW, isn't Hydrocal used in the dental industry?
Great build.
Pat
 
Paco, thats good to know about the clear coat. I made another hydrocal mold for the headlight bucket but didn't seal it well enough and had to break the mold to remove the bucket. Most of my plaster/mold making skills come from ceramic industrial processes, so its been interesting applying it to fiberglass. Also WAYYYYYY faster and cheaper to make the mold out of hydrocal than fiberglass. I spent only an hour prepping and pouring the molds and it cost me a couple bucks in hydrocal. Mold making is one of those skill sets if you can get a hold on, you can apply it to a wide range of different materials. As far as sealing the master; I put a very thin coat of mold release on the aluminum plug. I make my coddles out of acrylic so plaster isnt sticking to those, and the base is polished polyurethane so not sticking to that either. Here is the mold i made for the headlight bucket with the retaining ring sitting in it.
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Doc,
Something you can do if you are making a larger mould out of plaster and don't want to do the monolith block thing, is "throw" a coat of a fairly runny plaster on the master to form a thinnish layer against the part - like gelcoat, and then lay up reinforcing that has be soaked in a fairly thin mix of hydrocal. It all should be done as one continuous process, before succeeding coats are fully cured.
I use burlap cloth for reinforcement - bought a bunch of offcuts from a place that made burlap bags for farmers and will never run out, but almost any open weave fabric would probably work. The composites industry makes (made?) a grade of fiberglass cloth for use with concrete and that would probably be the best, but maybe a little expensive for a mould to make one or two parts?
Have fun with your build.
Pat
 
Custom ISR disks. Just gotta whittle a carrier for the calipers and brake setup will be nearly complete.

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