Big Zed Build Thread......
Discussion
Just read whole thing - great skills & patience. A mate raced one at CRMC and he was forever helicoiling the engine so that made me giggle.
My rear brake caliper fetish aside - looks great. Will keep an eye out for it down Poole Quay next year.
KTMboy said:
My least favourite thing about sporty Kawasakis over the last two decades is using that clunky rear caliper, whenever a new bike was released I’d look at the rear brake to see whether they had finally emptied the warehouse of the ugly things.My rear brake caliper fetish aside - looks great. Will keep an eye out for it down Poole Quay next year.
Thanks Everyone for the kind words - wasn’t sure if anyone was actually following this ....
On to the exhaust next. Picked up a old school chromed Vance and Hines 4 in to 1 to go on. Headers fitted nicely but the silencer is going to foul the wider swingarm unless I rotate it - at which point the bracket is in the wrong place - more on that later .....
On to the exhaust next. Picked up a old school chromed Vance and Hines 4 in to 1 to go on. Headers fitted nicely but the silencer is going to foul the wider swingarm unless I rotate it - at which point the bracket is in the wrong place - more on that later .....
It's way over my head. I like nice shiny motorcycles and I enjoy riding motorcycles but don't enjoy keeping them looking that good.
My thoughts were how much those front discs weighed and whether that TFT screen socket conformed to an industry standard so you can generally unplug a manufacturers TFT screen and replace them with an aftermarket one.
I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it's finished.
My thoughts were how much those front discs weighed and whether that TFT screen socket conformed to an industry standard so you can generally unplug a manufacturers TFT screen and replace them with an aftermarket one.
I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it's finished.
On to the silencer.
Unfortunately the previous owner has extensively de-tabbed the frame and therefore I’ve had to custom build an silencer bracket. I cheated a bit because I saw this for sale on eBay and couldn’t
resist it...... even though I had no idea if I could make it work......
After a lot of bending and twisting it ended up like this...with all the necessary spacers turned on the lathe.
I like it.....
Unfortunately the previous owner has extensively de-tabbed the frame and therefore I’ve had to custom build an silencer bracket. I cheated a bit because I saw this for sale on eBay and couldn’t
resist it...... even though I had no idea if I could make it work......
After a lot of bending and twisting it ended up like this...with all the necessary spacers turned on the lathe.
I like it.....
On to the carbs...
This particular Zed actually started life fuel injected, and looked like this.
Must’ve been one of the earliest fuel injected mass produced bikes. Sadly it didn't look anything like this by the time I’d rescued it from 10 previous owners and 40 years of neglect, and the fuel injection was long gone - replaced by a set of Mikuni CV carbs from a Z1000J (I’m guessing)
I started to strip these carbs down with a view to rebuilding them but they are pretty nasty with perished diaphragms and worn needles so I decided I’d put the RS34s I’d bought straight on. A decision made easier because I’d found the original Z1000 jetting sheet on the internet.
This particular Zed actually started life fuel injected, and looked like this.
Must’ve been one of the earliest fuel injected mass produced bikes. Sadly it didn't look anything like this by the time I’d rescued it from 10 previous owners and 40 years of neglect, and the fuel injection was long gone - replaced by a set of Mikuni CV carbs from a Z1000J (I’m guessing)
I started to strip these carbs down with a view to rebuilding them but they are pretty nasty with perished diaphragms and worn needles so I decided I’d put the RS34s I’d bought straight on. A decision made easier because I’d found the original Z1000 jetting sheet on the internet.
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