six206
Active Member
I've been looking for a motorcycle to build for a while now. My roommate has been putting the finishing touches on his hardtailed XS650 so I decided that he needed someone to ride with. After looking on craigslist for a few months I found the perfect candidate a few hours away. Its a 1980 KZ550 that was a father son "restore" project but the son had discovered the joy and misery of women and decided he didn't want a motorcycle anymore... Any way all they had managed to accomplish on the bike was loose half the parts. Luckily they had ordered some new parts like sprockets, chain, new tires and a super clean set of carbs off EBAY. So for $200 I bought some parts and most of a motorcycle.
I immediately ripped out the stock wiring and cut off all the extra tabs. After a quick and dirty wiring job I found out the IC module was no good. After some searching I found this little tutorial on how to make one for about $50 out of 2 GM HEI modules and a some radioshack diodes. Here's the link. http://home.comcast.net/~loudgpz/GPZweb/Ignition/GPZgmHEImod.html Plugged it in and fired right up, ran like shit but because the carbs are all out of whack, but was poppin on all 4.
After that I picked up a piece of aluminum for the seat pan and tail out of the drop box at the local welding shop. Clamped a pipe to the bench and bent it up. A little measuring and little sketching I got the shape and fitment I wanted.
I'm planning on making my own rearsets and using the passenger foot peg mounts. They might not work the way I want, but I'll figure that out when I get to it. Also the bars are just flipped for mock up, I'll get some clubmans that have the right drop and bring the sweep back a little.
I went to the local speed shop and picked up some Dzus fasteners and weld on tabs to button this to the frame. So far there is 3, I might add one more. I like the simple clean function of these, and they work like a dream if you need to get into the tail to change a fuse or something. They are also super solid, better then some fiberglass and some clips.
Here's the tail and seat pan in all it's glory. I'll trim just a little bit off the back but not much. I like the proportion in relation to the tank. Though this angle doesn't show it well. For upholstery, or lack of, the back rest is going to have a dimple hole with some screen behind it to keep those electronics cool as well as my ass. There will be a simple leather pad about the same shape around the hole, and then ling pads that follow the same lines of the frame rails. I'll roll beads in between them for a clean look. For a tail light I'm not just going to slap on any old light, I'm thinking about casting my own resin lens and making a bucket that it all fits in. I'll play with and see what happens.
Here it is when I rolled it in the shop.
I immediately ripped out the stock wiring and cut off all the extra tabs. After a quick and dirty wiring job I found out the IC module was no good. After some searching I found this little tutorial on how to make one for about $50 out of 2 GM HEI modules and a some radioshack diodes. Here's the link. http://home.comcast.net/~loudgpz/GPZweb/Ignition/GPZgmHEImod.html Plugged it in and fired right up, ran like shit but because the carbs are all out of whack, but was poppin on all 4.
I mounted the Honda tank buy recycling some tabs and rubber grommets.
After that I picked up a piece of aluminum for the seat pan and tail out of the drop box at the local welding shop. Clamped a pipe to the bench and bent it up. A little measuring and little sketching I got the shape and fitment I wanted.
I'm planning on making my own rearsets and using the passenger foot peg mounts. They might not work the way I want, but I'll figure that out when I get to it. Also the bars are just flipped for mock up, I'll get some clubmans that have the right drop and bring the sweep back a little.
A little trimming and bending and tweaking got it all lined up and brazed with the torch.
And cleaned up. I ran some more filler rod to fill some pin holes.
I went to the local speed shop and picked up some Dzus fasteners and weld on tabs to button this to the frame. So far there is 3, I might add one more. I like the simple clean function of these, and they work like a dream if you need to get into the tail to change a fuse or something. They are also super solid, better then some fiberglass and some clips.
Here's the tail and seat pan in all it's glory. I'll trim just a little bit off the back but not much. I like the proportion in relation to the tank. Though this angle doesn't show it well. For upholstery, or lack of, the back rest is going to have a dimple hole with some screen behind it to keep those electronics cool as well as my ass. There will be a simple leather pad about the same shape around the hole, and then ling pads that follow the same lines of the frame rails. I'll roll beads in between them for a clean look. For a tail light I'm not just going to slap on any old light, I'm thinking about casting my own resin lens and making a bucket that it all fits in. I'll play with and see what happens.
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