[Jacksdad63]

I'm Mike, 59, from Manchester England. Been riding since I was a kid, always gone for big Zeds!
I've owned several Z650's, converted one to Gpz750 and fully modified, 5x Gpz900r, owned Gtr1000 for 4 years and now own a ZZR1200.
I just love the latter...that ZZR is a stunning machine, only had it a few weeks and looking forward to touring this summer. Not as comfortable as the Gtr/Concours but what a ride! Well worth losing the huge fairing and luggage space anytime.
Looking forward to getting to know new friends, hopefully meet up as well !

 

[Kawasakian]

Welcome. I am relatively new to this forum, I joined it when I purchased my 2004 ZZR1200. I found mine, and it has only 4395 miles on it. I have modified the exhaust, as I could not stand those huge exhausts mufflers, and knocked about 43 lbs. off of the bike. I am also upgrading it with a pair of NISSIN Calipers I purchased that came off of a ZX9R. I also lowered the bike 1" inch, using the "Soupy's" lowering kit, and will drop the forks soon. I have a GS750ES 1983 model, I purchased new, and ride that. I should have the Kawasaki on the road within a few weeks. I have many problems with cars, and repairs on my home that keep throwing me off the fun things. You've joined a great forum. Very friendly people, with lots of knowledge.

When I was 16, I won an American Field Service' scholarship to the U.K. in 1974. I stayed on a little house in Salford, outside of Manchester. A little road called Lulling Lane. It had a "pitch and put" across the intersection. It was beautiful. It has apparently not the place I remember anymore, but I traveled all over England proper. I loved the Town of Glossop, and did a 25 miles hike through the Moors. One of the best experiences of my life. Great people, the best Fish 'n Chips in the world, oh, what I would do for a newspaper cone rolled with a huge piece of Fish and the chips on the other side!! With Male Vinegar of course. I will never leaving England, oblivious because of the rush that I was leaving through Dover. When the fog lifted, and I saw those white cliffs, well, the picture is permanently etched in my mind. A special relationship with a special peoples, quite right, I say.

I attached a picture of the mod i made to the exhaust. There is a baffle inside, very long. wrapped with Ceramic Wool and that is wired wrapped in. Bike is a bit dusty, but it's shney underneath. My barn has my '73 MG Midget in it, that's coming out soon.

 

[Jacksdad63]

Hi great story! I've walked all over the moors round Glossop, up to near Oldham, the town I live in. Its the Peak District national park, stunning scenery and peace n quiet yet just a few miles from the centre of Manchester. And Cod & chips with lots of (malt) vinegar on, can't beat it...little expensive nowadays though. Check out those calipers: the ZZR has 63mm hole centre fixing bolts, the ZX-R range are 90mm? I'm told Suzuki gsx1000 Tokico 6 pot calipers go straight on. Be handy to know if the NISSIN ones fit, as I need the upgrade!

 

[WFO-KZ]

Welcome to the forums, Mike. Feel free to post pictures of your ride.

 

[Kawasakian]

Hi great story! I've walked all over the moors round Glossop, up to near Oldham, the town I live in. Its the Peak District national park, stunning scenery and peace n quiet yet just a few miles from the centre of Manchester. And Cod & chips with lots of (malt) vinegar on, can't beat it...little expensive nowadays though. Check out those calipers: the ZZR has 63mm hole centre fixing bolts, the ZX-R range are 90mm? I'm told Suzuki gsx1000 Tokico 6 pot calipers go straight on. Be handy to know if the NISSIN ones fit, as I need the upgrade!

I'll have to check that. I have a small machine shop, worse case scenario, I'll machine an adapter plate, or sell them. They supposedly bolt right on, and I may have listed the wrong year. Brain fog at my age. In any event, they really do grab the whole rotor, and I plan to change those too. My son will be getting my bikes and cars, and I want them ready to go after I'm gone. My wife has moved the box, and I can't find them or the Master Cylinder that go with it. I eyeballed them, and they looked spot on. I've blue printed the MG 1275 engine with a 10 degree duration Kent cam, forged pistons, many other engine mods, and a side draft DCOE 40mm Weber, Mallory dual point distributor. The Midget will do 115 mph.

Fish'n Chips were 10p when I was there. Times they are a changing!

 

[Jacksdad63]

The old A Series engine is a fine lump, take a mild tune-up very well, I've had a few original Minis over the years and have tuned up a few motors myself, usually twin carbs and long branch manifold with big bore exhaust, great fun to drive. Also had a mk1 MX5/Miata that I wish I still had, all these cars are getting to be very collectable (expensive!) now. And Cod & Chips? pay aroud $10 now not 10p...and a lot of chippies sell horrible 'white fish' like Whiting and even catfish in place of real cod or haddock.

 

[Jacksdad63]

Please let me know how the calipers work out, be great to have another option to the GSXR Tocikos, or even drawings for an adaptor

 

[Kawasakian]

I figured the Fish'nChips days I had were long gone. They were fished to extinction, just about. I caught a 35 lb. Cod fish off of Point Judith Rhode Island back in 1978, and I had to to 4 hours out to sea for that! You can't get big Cod like that much. It's expensive when you do. There's a Pakistani Restaurant, and the proprietor grew up in the u.K. He makes the closest things to what I remember as Fish'nChips, damned good. Only problem is that when I go there, his buffet style assortment of Pakistani food makes it tough to get the Fish'nChips. Everything he serves is delicious and well priced. Fish'nChips there cost around $7 dollars U.S.

My "A" series 1275 , well, I really went through that engine. Every bearing replaced, bead blasted the cases, shot peened new connecting rods, and I used 3 ring forged pistons, with sodium filled push rods. You dump the clutch and the car does long burn outs. I've been offered a lot of money for it, but I want to put all the repair panels I purchased on. I've done the floors. I will be doing the door mounts over, as they all rust in the same spots. I have all the repair panels, just not a good back. Spinal Cord injuries suck. It's a long term project, but I do wish to finish it within 3 years. It's the closest thing to a motorcycle you can get to with 4 wheels. I drove that car 6 years straiht, through New England Winters, never got cold, or stuck. I also got the car for free, so it owes me nothing.

 

[davidr1963]

Please let me know how the calipers work out, be great to have another option to the GSXR Tocikos, or even drawings for an adaptor

Welcome to the forum jacksdad63 from another Manchester (well Stockport actually) man, albeit currently living three hundred miles away on the south coast.

You could check out the Hel website, they do radial caliper adapter plates so you can fit 100mm spacing radial calipers. Most European bikes use 100m bolt spacing whilst the Japanese use 108mm.

I’ve got a similar setup on a zxr400 front end on one of my GPz750s.

 

[Kawasakian]

I have a milling machine, I could make those brackets, seeing a picture of one is priceless. I have a bigger problem. My wife got sick of looking at the calipers and Master Cylinder, moved the box, and doesn't remember where she put it. I have torn the house apart and can't find it. That's like $350 bucks down the drain. I still have the Braided Brakes lines, the same company Ferrari uses,, but Geeze. Married 37 years, shouldn't complain, but, well, that's all I have to write about that.

 

[davidr1963]

That’s one reason my wife isn’t allowed in the garage.

 

[Kawasakian]

Kind of my bad, I have a lot of parts in the living room. On the other hand, when she first moved in with me (37 years ago), I was rebuilding an engine in the living room. You would not believe how many triples and quadruples of tools I have because she would clean up and all of a sudden I am missing sockets, so I just went out and purchased replacements. She has helped me build a fantastic tool collection. She still thinks you can get a muffler job at Meineke for $79 dollars. I fix virtually everything we own, we went 25 years without buying a T.V. because I would go to the transfer station, grab one, fix it (usually Sony T.V.'s), so she gets sticker shock when there's something I can't fix. The calipers though, well, this has all of stymied, I know she would not throw them out, but I had just put them together with a Master Cylinder that came in from EBAY. The steel braided brake lines came in, and I noticed the box, which had been around 4 feet from me was gone. Very painful. Shallow pockets just double the pain. Ultimaely, I have too many tools and parts in my living space (I do have a Barn). I really can't complain with someone who would put up with me for so long. On the other hand, we just purchased the new Sony 4K T.V, 55" inches of beautiful television. Surround sound is with the speakers I designed and built. 1st new T.V. I've ever purchased, and I am 64 years old.

 

[Kawasakian]

I've found the Master Cylinder and NISSIN Calipers. The NISSIN calipers are spaced 63mm on the mounting tabs, and they line up perfectedly with the ZZR1200 forks I have on my porch, so it looks like I'm all set!! These calipers came off of a 02-03 ZX9R Kawasaki with NISSSIN calipers.

 

[Kawasakian]

Mike, I wanted to post thee pics here. The ZX9R NISSIN Calipers I have are 63mm mounts. I have them mounted on a set of spare forks I have, and wanted to show you. They need more cleaning, and I need to buy the bolts.

 

[Jacksdad63]

They are 4 piston calipers, are they better than the ones that are fitted as standard?
I want to change to 6 piston which are much better.

 

[davidr1963]

They are 4 piston calipers, are they better than the ones that are fitted as standard?
I want to change to 6 piston which are much better.

I’m not sure about Nissin 6 piston calipers but a popular mod on the C1/C2 model ZX9R was to swap from the Tokico 6 piston calipers to Nissin 4 piston calipers from the later models.

 

[Kawasakian]

The "beefiness" of these calipers has to be held to be appreciated. I can see how these will squeeze the disc and heat will not affect them due to the heft and sturdiness of the design. Of course, I could be completely wrong and blowing a lot of smoke, but I got these for around $75 bucks off of EBAY, and they have more than doubled since. I will ultimately let you know when after I am done with all of the modifications I make on the bike before it's maiden voyage in my hands. I have Galfer steel braided brake lines for these, and the matching Kawasaki Master Cylinder, which has a remote reservoir, and that is an idea I've always though made sense.

Six cylinder calipers seem to have too many parts. I've read than they must be kept pristine clean, or problems can develop. It seems to me that having 6 pots (12 total) trying to work in parallel is a bit much, a lot can go wrong. IMHO

 

[9094]

calculate area of the 4 pistons vs the 6 pistons to see if there's any gain. And area of the actual pads against the rotors for each. I'm thinking the 6 piston calipers may have more pad contact area?

Those Nissins actually look very similar to the 65mm Brembo 4 piston I adapted to my Shadow.

 

[WFO-KZ]

Nice bit of CNC machining on the bracket.

 

[9094]

Nice bit of CNC machining on the bracket.

yeah, wish I could take credit for it. Bracket was on Ebay for a NightHawk. Guy had to do a minimum run from the machine shop. Determined the NightHawk and some Shadows shared calipers and brackets,,, worked out great.