1972 DS7 The Row Boat

Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

Oh and thanks Jp and redbird on the heads up about the rear brakes. The further away(back) from the swingarm pivot, the more it gets amplified. Swagger actually hooked me up with a couple of bits to resolve that issue permanetly ;)
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

I finally made some noteworthy progress. I mounted the 2008 EX250 swingarm and wheels. I still need to have the stem from the ZX-6E front end machined down since it is too long, hopefully that can happen this weekend. I am going to have to have some rear shock mounts welded to the swingarm, powder coat the wheel and mount tires. Hopefully after those few things are done I can pull the motor and go through that thing. I have the go ahead to get a building permit to get started on the shed addition. This thing is only 10 x 20 but I'm going to add another 20x 20 onto it! Can't wait.
20130326_182821_zps1748dfc3.jpg
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

I wanted to add a little clarification to this since I haven't posted much detail on the swaps. The DS7 swingarm is 200mm at the pivot. The EX250 swingarm is 205mm at the pivot, thus it had to be cut down on both sides. It actually cuts down to the bearing races on both sides and uses the DS7 thrust washers. The steering stem on the 2001 zx 6e triple is 27mm at the base (part that presses into the triple) and the DS7 is 25mm so I chose to turn the zx 6e triple down the the correct length. The o.d of the zx 6e stem will work with a bearing and race swap. The front wheel from the EX250 will need to have the race bored out as there are no bearings available to match the o.d. of the EX250 wheel and the axle size of the zx 6e. It would have been way easier to use a EX250 front end but the forks were bought before the wheels. I hope that this can help someone else looking to do a similar swap.
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

So rather than going that route......make an axle (or use an EX axle) to suit and use collars in the forks like the ZX7 forks do. Even easier....have a ZX axle turned to suit the EX bearings. That's going to be loads less expensive than boring the wheel for new bearings. I'm quite surprised no bearings could be sourced....did you try an actual bearing house? Industrial bearing suppliers deal with wacky shit like this all day long....
What are the specs needed for a no-machining solution? Maybe I can help track down bearings.
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

Swagger, I did look around for bearings but I may have missed it. One of my friends has a mill and said that he could do it no sweat. The main problem is that the od of the wheel races are too close to the od of the axle. I don't know how reliable a bearing that thin would be up front. I didn't even think of axle spacers, thanks for the idea. I'll post up some dimensions this afternoon.
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

Swagger the outside diameter of the wheel race is 34mm and the zx 6e axle is 20mm. The closest size bearing that I could find is a 6904-2RS.
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

Got to give it up to Swagger, The ZX axle will be turned down. That is the least amount of headache since we will only have to make the threaded collar for one end of the axle. We can also use the EX250 speedo drive, seals and stock bearings. My buddy Don said that will be the quickest route. Did you realize that I was no Machinist? Lol. Thanks for the insight found on this board.
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

Finally I've got a couple of updates. I did order a new petcock to locate the tank mounting position, got the axle turned down and the stem swapped out. I also got the rear master cylinder/caliper all hooked up along with a few misc. oem parts for the rear wheel. Oh and vortex clip-ons too.
Here is the DS7 stem pressed into the 2001 zx-6E lower triple. Note that the lower portion of the DS7 stem had to be turned down to press fit into the new triple. Bearing size on the DS7 was 30mm I.D. while the ZX-6E was 28mm I.D.

The top portion of the DS7 stem had to be turned down also to fit the upper triple clamp right above the second set of threads.



The front axle was turned down to 15mm for the EX250 wheels and we included the spacer in the axle.


The right side was a collar so we remade a new collar to accept the turned down axle and also included a spacer in the collar.



The front axle:

Next up is to decide on a mono shock or add dual mounts on the swinger. Any thoughts on that one?
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

Well this old girl came a long way I recal a rusted to fuck picture you posted in the thing I just bought thread, now look at cha. I love it
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

bradj said:
Well this old girl came a long way I recal a rusted to fuck picture you posted in the thing I just bought thread, now look at cha. I love it
It was so rusted that the rusty things just started falling off. It kinda reminded me of one of those titanic artifacs. I wouldn't doubt for a minute that since it came from new orleans that it didn't spend a day or two under water for hurricane katrina.
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

I've been out of pocket for about a month working 13 hours a day 7 days a week but I guess it's cool because I have some extra dough for the bike.
I removed the engine and tore it down. It was full of milky oil in there! Nothing internal was rusted up to badly despite water intrusion into the engine. The cylinders appear to be okay and you can still see the hone marks on the wall. I didn't check the I.D. on them yet though. I finally got it to shift through the gears once I found out that the shift forks were stuck to their shafts. So next week I'm going to send the crank to Lyn Garland to go through(whether it needs it or not). I figured since I have it this far down that I should just get it done. Got the wheels back from the powder coater and they look cool. I'll put up some picks of them once the tires go on. Oh and I have a GSXR600 shock for the back end ;)

 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

Sent the crank out Friday to get rebuilt and I've been degreasing and blasting bit's and pieces here and there. I got some prices on tires and ouch! it isn't cheap. Seems like the hardest part with this build for me is control. I originally was going to just get new fork tubes. Then I said what the heck, I should just get new forks and save a few bucks LOL! The next step was when Swagger posted up some nice wheels for sale. I thought to myself and again pulled the trigger. Well then the back wheel is to wide for the stock swing arm so I thought again and bought the proper swing arm for the wheels. When I got the swing arm in the paint was so good on it that I said, " I can't mess up that finish, plus I'll save a few bucks not having to paint it after I would add the dual shock mounts". Next step, buy a mono shock. Now I'm finding myself wanting to graft a newer style rear cowl on it from maybe a early to mid 90's sport bike to blend a little old with new.
Question: When will this stop?
I still would like to fit in an electronic ignition and some stainless JL pipes but at this rate that may get tough.
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

Quick question on the needle bearing for the shift drum, is it just press fitted? Not to clear in the manual that I have. Thanks
 
Re: 1972 DS7 The Long Road

Inching along this weekend. I burnt up my band saw and angle grinder but managed to get a little done on the rear end.
I bought some 1-1/2" x 2" tubing to make the upper shock mount. I still need to figure out the exact position of this support, right now it can rotate up or down a few millimeters.


I did make one of the lower linkage brackets but this was about the time that things were literally falling apart. Porta bands are expensive, so to keep this rolling right now I may go pick one up at harbor freight this week and save some cash for bike parts. When I get the saw, I'll make two new brackets. This one can now be considered a test piece.

It wasn't cool when this came flying off at me, don't know how I didn't get hurt.

So now I have this, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel but it's very dim. Once I get the crank done and paid for I'll be buying some new tires and check the ride height before the shock mounts get welded out. Enjoy the week fella's!
 
Back
Top Bottom