Z1000J Build

[tlc]

Lee.
If you'll forgive me you're going about this the wrong way. Here's why.
I started with 2 pieces of box section as template shocks. I drilled them at 350mm and 370mm as I thought I would need ZRX shocks. My swinger is longer than yours and as such the shocks are more laid down.
I mucked around a lot until I decided that the front end was more important than the rear. When you have your engine in have a look at the bottom frame rail. This should be as level with the ground as you can make it. You will also want enough ground clearance to stop the exhaust scraping. I would suggest, as the J forks are long and you are changing to a 17" front wheel?, you need to get that right first.
At least you have some shocks to begin with and they can be the last thing on your mind.
See pic.



It's difficult to see here because I didn't take a side on pic, however, It became clear pretty quickly that the forks suffered mostly when changing from 19" to 17" wheel.



I decided on a 2" extension to the forks which are now dropped through the yokes by 1/2"



What I'm in essence saying is that a 17" rear wheel with larger tyre is not much different to the 18" you had to start with.

Leave it 'til last.

[LeeJackson]

TLC

Good advice and I agree, this would be the most sensible way forward indeed. I will leave them till last. Right now I have an 18" front wheel on, but plan is to change to a 17" in the near future..

Thanks
Lee

[tlc]

I should add that when this picture was taken the shocks were 360mm.
You will note the large gap between wheel and guard. If it looks wrong it is wrong.
If it looks right..................

I ended up with standard length Zephyr shocks which are of course the same as all Zeds at 347mm.

[Al]

I dont know if this will help at all but its something i have been using for the last 18 months. Things are a bit different now for various reasons.
The key thing which is missing is the dimension from crank centre to ground level. Dont know where it went. Cant find it anywhere.
In this state it handled as well as it had ever done but being me i wanted more and in persuit of ground clearance, i set about it.
TLC is right, its all about the front end geometry and weight distribution to name but two.
Best brakes in the world, nicest wheels, Maxton forks... what ever you like but if it does not work its a nightmare.
To exercise that point and the law of un-intended consequences; i bought and fitted Astralite wheels which as the name implies; weight next to nothing. Great but the original centre of mass was where KHI intended it to be, afterwards it was significantly higher giving a top heavy feel and no longer any flywheel effect from those old boat anchors i had been using.
The advantages for me outweighed the losses but its worthy of some thought.
Tony Foal's book makes very interesting reading but if youre like me it was someone telling you Father Christmas is not a real person!!!!!






AL

[LeeJackson]

Al, very useful info indeed. I'm going to do a measure up and see where is stand in terms of the wheelbase etc tomorrow. Hoping to get my engine back in soon and can figure out the rest then. It's a very interesting point on the wheels, and something I ad not thought of at all.. I was looking at something nice and ligt eventually but your story here makes me think twice. Maybe I'll stick with the zephyr wheels for now and decide on that later.. Already they are much much lighter than the originals!

[LeeJackson]

Been slow progress lately, lots of waiting on parts and then managed to break 4 ribs on the motocrosser a couple of weeks back, but just about able to turn a spanner again now!

Some parts arrived but still waiting on my yokes which is preventing any major progress...

Anyway these beauties arrived quiet a while ago, courtesy of Dave at Saisei (top bloke and service by the way) slightly extravagant but I just had to have them



And some nice period looking AP calipers also from Dave (yes both in picture are right hand, our Japanese friends messed this up but was all corrected in under one week)

[LeeJackson]

Then my S1 replica discs arrived from KipKawa and fitted them, this was a must have I love the look of them...



Only complication is that they will not allow me to use the mechanical speedo drive which is a bit of a pain as I wanted to use some GPZ mechanical clocks...



Only just realized this an hour ago so trying to decide what to do still here. There is plenty of meat that the disc could be machined slimmer or I just dump the speedo drive and use something totally different. Any ideas welcolmed

[z1bman]

use countersunk bolts to mount the disc?

[LeeJackson]

Problem is that the disc itself fouls slightly, so even with countersunk bolts it's not going to quite clear.

[z1bman]

put a shim washer between the speedo drive & the wheel

[tlc]

Lee, oh Lee. Re the Ohlins.

Git.

[Coose]

There's plenty of meat on the speedo drive that can be removed - I had to do a similar thing to clear on my Z1300 front wheel in my J.

[LeeJackson]

Lee, oh Lee. Re the Ohlins.

Git.

Lol, It took an awful lot of internal debating to justify them..

[LeeJackson]

So measuring up I need to shim out 3.5mm and remove same from the outside, unfortunately this particular speedo drive doesn't have much meat on the outside of it to remove, max 2mm.

[neilbarrett]

I'm going to use the standard speedo on me z1 project with after market wheels but am going a diffent route for the drive ,theres a few different versions of these outrigger plates about ive not chosen one yet my self ,even considered making one ,but will see ,if ihttp://www.jauce.com/auction/h188819149ts of any interest