Kawasaki Z1000 Turbo Reborn

Went for UK made Armstrong discs, with Titanium bolts all round, pleased with the result. It wont be so easy to fit the R6 wheels to the Kawasaki ZRX1200 forks and swingarm, but it can be done..

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Fitting the R6 wheels to the ZRX12 forks / swing arm isn't straight forward, as the R6 front spindle is thinner and quite different from that of the ZRX. While the rear R6 spindle is 28mm Vs 20mm for the ZRX.

For the front end, I bought an R6 spindle from Ebay, which turned out to be bent.. so slight delay while I bought another. The plan is to use the R6 spindle with spacers to fit the ZRX forks.. Not quite finished yet, but almost done. Not sure yet if the standard 6 pot calipers will fit the discs ok with the new wheel in place..

While the rear will be easier to fit, as it'll just need a pair of suitable top hat spacers.

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Not an easy conversion, but the R6 front wheel is now fitted to the ZRX12 forks. Resisting the temptation to fit the the front end to the bike, as we'll lower the bare frame over the engine which will be on its side, when the engine is ready. Hopefully the rear wheel will be a little easier.

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Fitting a rear caliper to the R6 wheel has proved more difficult than expected.

First attempt was with a small Brembo twin pot caliper, but the disc is so small.. 220mm .. that the caliper hit the hub before the pads were completely over the disc.. not good.

Second attempt used a standard R6 caliper.. which fits of course, but its mount is integrated with the caliper body, and is in turn made to fit the R6 swing arm... which is no good, as I'm using a ZRX1200 swing arm.. sigh

Third attempt used an old front caliper from some 90's Kawasaki.. it would fit, but a mounting bracket would look ugly, while the caliper itself was heavy and old..

Forth attempt. I needed to find a modern sliding piston rear caliper, as this type has a narrower profile and so would fit over the disc without hitting the hub. Eventually bought one made to fit a BMW 1250GS, which will work, so next made a mounting bracket in 10mm alloy plate, and next is a torque arm and wheel spacers in stainless steel.

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Got the swing arm and wheel of the MK2 back home, with its new brake and mount. Arm is from a Kawasaki ZRX1200, wheel from a Yamaha R6 and caliper from a BMW 1250GS. The alloy bracket will be given a satin black finish, probably hard anodised, not sure yet.

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Rather than wait for the engine to be completed before lifting the bare frame over the engine, I decided to reassemble the bike into a roller at last. Still lots to do, but happy with the way it looks so far.

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Collected some parts from Camcoat who ceramically anodised them, including the billet alloy engine mounts and cam cover plates for the MK2. The latter are needed as the cam cover came from the US and included an ugly anti pollution gizmo in the cover. It was machined off, and so a pair of plates were needed, to cover the holes which are drilled through the cam cover. Unfortunately a misunderstanding at the powder coater meant the machined area was masked off and not coated. So now have a small amount of bare alloy around the plates. I tiny paint brush and engine paint will fix the oversight.

The new alloy engine brackets were test fit to the frame with expensive stainless fasteners from Pro-Bolt. The new stainless engine bolts aren't finished, as need to use a friends capstan lathe and Coventry box to cut their threads, and he is super busy, so don't want to bother him yet.

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Found a pair of headlight brackets I liked for the MK2, they can be fitted without dropping the stanchions in the yokes, but sadly the back of the clamps hit the tank on full lock, so they cant be used. Therefore, since I had an original ugly ZRX1200 headlight/fairing mount, I've sketched out a better looking version, and bent a piece of 7mm steel rod to make a sort of cage, similar to that used on the KZ650.

Just taken it to my local welder to have him complete it, and fab the all important mounts to bolt it to the existing cast mounts which are part of the ZRX1200 yokes. I left him the ZRX mount to use as a guide as to how the mounts should be made.

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Test fitted the new headlight bracket to the Mk2.. will fit fine once I space it out with some neoprene washers, along with spacers between the bracket and lower yoke. The original ZRX bracket used thick rubber grommets which need to be accounted for. Next need to make a pair of alloy 'ears', to bolt to this bracket which will hold the headlight.

Meanwhile, took a trip to Maxton Suspension to collect my custom built shocks.. very nice. Cant fit them yet as the upper shock mount uses spacer/threaded jet style nut to move the mount out to match the wider swing arm. The ZRX shocks fitted originally had their top mounts modified to fit the now 18mm extension. Standard Zeds use a 14mm top mount, as does my new Maxton shocks. I wasn't happy with the 'extenders' that were fitted, so will make something better in one piece not two, complete with a standard 14mm top mount.

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Needed to make new upper shock mounts to get the spacing right for the Maxton shocks, next get the spacers blacked out and fit Ti bolts for the lower mounts..

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Weighed the 1170 at last, with no petrol, but all other fluids, its 211kgs / 466lbs . That's 34kgs or 75lbs lighter than the dry weight of a Z1000. Happy with that, and I reckon the MK2 will be even lighter, as the R6 wheels fitted are so light, though perhaps not as cool as the one off wheels on the 1170..

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Weighed the 1170 at last, with no petrol, but all other fluids, its 211kgs / 466lbs . That's 34kgs or 75lbs lighter than the dry weight of a Z1000. Happy with that, and I reckon the MK2 will be even lighter, as the R6 wheels fitted are so light, though perhaps not as cool as the one off wheels on the 1170..

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That's lighter than a gpz1100!
 
I got my KZ1000 down to 460lbs wet with a half tank of gas (LTD tank). i dont think its possible to go much lower in street trim unless you ditch the starter, stator, and go to fiberglass gas tank. It will be interesting to see waht your MKII comes in at. Love the paint on both these bikes. nice work.
 
Started work on the 'ears' of the headlight mount, started with 50mm thick billet, they need to be narrowed my 15mm, then a lot more work on the miller to make them look better. Once I'm happy with them, they will be hard anodised black..

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Even without the engine installed, I think I can built approx 80 or 90% of the bikes wiring. To start managed to use an existing mount to fit the rectifier underneath the right hand side panel. No such luck on the left hand side, where I want to mount the M-Unit Blue, so made a start on making a mounting plate which will utilise a pair of existing captive nuts. Next, had to make 4 spacers to mount the Dyna coils in the OE position.

Test fit the headlight on its new mount, still needs more work to improve the looks and be able to mount the front OE indicators.

Have a matching pair of Motogadget micro switchgear on order, when they arrive can drill the new Renthal handlebar for their wiring, and fit the bars and the new HEL brake and clutch Master cylinders to the bike.

The instruments are a headache, as want to use OE looking set, but they are mechanically driven, which can't do anymore on my bike. I can buy an OE electronic tacho but no one seems to make a matching speedo. More thought required.

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