!PROJECT! KZ650 Cafe racer

[zeiss150]

In answer to the question... Where did I get my tank? I got it from ebay... its off a kz1000 i believe.

The other question is why didn't I take pictures of the tank on the bike earlier? Well, the lighting wasn't light. I used to be a professional photographer so... if the lighting isn't right... don't shoot it.

I hope you like the lighting!



















Now All I need to do now is finish up the tail piece and the side pieces...Then I'll be done? No I guess I wont be done... but I'll be close.

Oh and if you're wondering the seat isn't on right... I didn't want it to touch the tank, because the tank hasn't cured yet.

But I think it look great so far... I hope you guys like it.

Stay tuned Kawi fans!

Matt-

[antiq]

Looking shiny and road ready after you get the brackets on the mufflers.

[Pokey]

awesome!

[KAW>BOY]

...finish up the tail piece and the side pieces...Then I'll be done? No I guess I wont be done... but I'll be close.

Oh and if you're wondering the seat isn't on right... I didn't want it to touch the tank, because the tank hasn't cured yet.

But I think it look great so far... I hope you guys like it.

Stay tuned Kawi fans!


Well I guess I'll have to say the bike looks great! When you get the striping done on the rear, It will look much better. Amazing bike.. If it were mine, I'd have to take a ride about now - HaHa
Your fan,

[Andy the gringo]

Matt, nice job on both the build and the pics. I really like the fact that you spent some time polishing the aluminium parts on the bike, the polished switch gear and the top triple clamp are a nice touch. I'm wondering though why you didn't do the dyno cover? The other 3 engine covers look to be polished to a much higher level and the dyno cover needs to be brought up in order to match. You might also want to fab up some sort of custom chain guard in order to make your life easier, it's much more fun to ride than it is to clean. I'm also wondering if you can re-route the clutch cable so that it runs inside the fork tube and above the upper tree without it binding? I just think it would clean up the look of the front end some. I hope I don't sound like I'm nitpicking but you know me, I notice the small details.

[rstnick]

Well done Matt.
She's looking great!

[zeiss150]

Good morning Andy! Once again your eagle eye has pointed out a few more things for me to do. The dyno cover has been a real pain in the butt. I think the p.o. must have low sided the bike about 15 times and every single time he hit the dyno cover. I've been sanding that damn dyno cover for a long time. I started using a file but that was taking to long. Last week I got an 80 grit sanding wheel for my 4" angle grinder... that worked awesome. It got all the deep scratches out of it. So now I need to spend an afternoon or two finish sanding and polishing... but it will be done soon.

The clutch cable is on my list of stuff to do... its just a pain in the butt to re-rout it. It would only take me about an hour but I just don't feel like doing it right now ... but that's also on my list of stuff to do.

Right now I need to finish the side pieces and the tail piece... then I'll finish the other stuff you mentioned. Keep your eagle sharp!

Thanks for the comments Andy!

Have a great day!
Matt-

[anakinkenobe]

Beautiful bike, i have been looking for a Kz1000 tank like yours and cant find one. Did you mod that tank?

[zeiss150]

Hi Anakinkenobe... As far as I know Its just a plane old kz1000 tank... or maybe it was a kz1100... I don't remember. Either way I didn't mod the tank.

I got it on Ebay I think I payed $50 for it... I just put kz tank in the search, and, there it was! It might take a while for one to show up but eventually one will.

I just did a search on ebay and here's a tank... its just like mine... this guy is nuts with the shipping though. But that's the same tank I bought. Check it out!

1984 Kawasaki KZ 750 Gas Tank + Cap and sending unit:eBay Motors (item 280348512979 end time May-28-09 08:04:28 PDT)

Matt-

[anakinkenobe]

I was checkin it out, i ended up bidding on
CB750 Cafe Gas tank Dunstall tank:eBay Motors (item 150346697294 end time May-26-09 11:28:02 PDT)

[NCDave]

Looking great Matt. keep up the work!

[TheSnodge]

Zeiss,

Your thread has inspired me to flip my handle bars. I thought it was going to be quick and easy...well maybe not. After I turned my bars I found out that I needed to drop my forks a bit, order one new throttle cable, and re-route my cables. I was wondering if you could post some closeup pictures of your handle bars, forks, and how you routed your cables.

Thanks.

[zeiss150]

Hi there Snodge! I don't think you can just "flip" the handle bars over. The bars I have are cafe' bars... I think they are called "clubman" bars. They are shaped like a long U with the handles at a really sharp angle... just do a google search on clubman bars and you'll see. They are pretty cheep ($30 on ebay).

It its a pain in the but to re-run all your cables and stuff. I used all my stock controls, so it can be done. I'll take some close ups and post them up tomorrow.


good luck and let me know if you have any other question.

Matt-

[TheSnodge]

I got the bike with clubman bars. They were just angled up and out. I'll try to post a picture. I pulled off the throttle, clutch, and brake. When I turned the bars around the forks stick up just a half inch too high to bolt the bars down. I ordered a jack and a new throttle cable, since one of the old cables were worn through. Once the jack gets here I'm going to drop the forks down so the the bars will fit on. Then I guess I'll have to figure out how to re-route the cables.

[zeiss150]

At least you have the clubman bars. I don't think I'm understanding why the forks are getting in the way. You should be able to flip the bars left to right and they will be fine. The only mod that I know of on the bars is drilling a hole for the wires for the lighting controls. I hope this helps... I'll take some detailed pictures tomorrow.

Matt-

[solitary]

Real nice work. I'm not sure if you stuck a different tank on than in the first photos where you were doing the gold leaf, but what ever you did made it exceptionally better.

Awesome job.

[TheSnodge]

Matt-

I started a new thread (so I wouldn't take up anymore of your project) with pictures of the forks. Take a look and tell me what you think.

Thanks.

[S.Farquharson]

thats a 1978 isn't it I have one and I love it ,its neat to see one all
apart ,put on another disc its easy the parts are easy to find and pretty cheap

[S.Farquharson]

wicked rocket you've built,

[zeiss150]

I haven't posted in a few weeks but I have been working on my bike... well... a little. I did the side cover and the tail section. I'll post up the pictures of the side cover today and I'll put the tail section up this weekend. I haven't been able to finish the tail section because of the weather. Anyway, this is the ride side battery/ electronics cover. The bike didn't come with a left side but thanks to Ebay I am now the proud owner of a left side cover for $20 + S&H. I'll have to do the same exact thing to the left side cover once I get it. The PO tired to take off the KZ650 emblem but he did a crappy job (shocking) He used bondo which works but not very well. for plastic I prefer fiberglass. First I took off all the old bondo that was filling the logo hole. Then I used a cutoff wheel to really clean out all the old bondo. this is what it looked like



once you have the piece prepared then you can mix up your fiber glass and get to work. Its important that you pile it pretty high... if you try to make it smooth on the first try its just gonna look like crap. So this is what it looks like piled high.



This is the sided view so you can see how much fiberglass was on there.



The key is to not let the fiber glass get to hart before you start removing it. I use a file rasp to take off about %80 of the excess material. Think of a cheese grader and really hard cheese... that's how hard you want the fiber glass to be when you start using the file (cheese grader) on it. you leave about %20 and you wait for that to get hard. Then you use 120 grit sand paper to get rid of the rest. its time consuming but in the end its worth it.

Here it is sanded and ready for "filler". I'll explain the filler next.





Now the part looks pretty smooth and ready for paint but its not. You can't see it in the picture but there are tiny little "air bubble" holes that are in the fiber glass, so they have to be filled. They can be filled with a "plastic filler" (I can't for the life of me remember the name of it but its a like an aqua color) or they can be filled with bondo or more fiber glass... the fiber glass is the hardest to fill them with... use the bondo or ideally the plastic filler... its very "liquidy" and it sands baby's bottom smooth.

So I did that and now its ready for primer



it looks pretty good but now it needs to be sanded. I like to wet sand with 400. I find that if I don't wet sand the dust after a few swipes of the sand paper clogs the paper and it doesn't cut any more... so wet sanding for me.

Here it is sanded and smooth as a pickup line during happy hour.



The rest of the side cover was pretty easy ... just paint it black and put the gold leaf on... then clear coat.

I don't have any pictures of the finished piece right now but this weekend I I'll post some up.

Ok kawi luv'n friends I hope this was informative for you.


Have a great day and ride safe!
Matt-