Z650 into 810 project

[Crofty]

Thanks for the positive comments, the head is with Ray for its work, so another major step nearer in the engine dept.
Now searching for a suitable front end.
I have to say I am very impressed how jon's turbo has accepted the 1100 swingarm and the ZX9r front forks, the overall look is close to std, till you see the width of the rear tyre and the diameter of the front forks.
I've got meself a front lower yoke coming to rob the stem from, then will be trawling around for some donor rwu beefy forks an yokes.
Hopefully a alloy box section swingarm will turn up when the time is right.

ps jon, putting the longer kickstand in post tomorrow

[Crofty]

Been removing the seat brackets and cutting jb's rear frame section to fit my frame, just need to buy a MIG welder now (see post in wanted).
Also got hold of a stem from a set of CSR yokes which will eventually get fixed into a set of yokes cabable of carrying something a bit more substantial than the 650 forks.
The brackets for the seat are sat the wrong way round before any anoraks tell me off.

[Crofty]

Trying out me new welder today and have converted my frame to fit the ducktail. Next job is to find a tubing supplier so I can I buy some to make the bracing up.






and I managed to win this on ebay

[Baldylocks]

That's coming along nicely.. I was trying to find a rolling chassis for mine but 650's with or without motors are starting to command higher prices ...I use the Metal store http://www.themetalstore.co.uk it is actually cheaper to buy 6 metre lengths but if you have a friendly local metal supply would probably work out cheaper without the postage..

[Baldylocks]

Also you can get a 180 tyre in the back! just use a Zephyr swing arm ZXR750 rear wheel with approx 11mm (no more than that or the chain will rub the tyre) taken off the sprocket hub and then an offset sprocket I'll post a rear shot of mine , the chain then misses the tyre by about a mm or so!

[Crofty]

Thanks for the info Baldylocks, all ideas welcome in what to run. I have never changed anything this much before.
Liking your conversion.
I got some frame tubing for £3 and have added the front crossbrace and the two little ones above the swingarm pivot.
The 2:4 seat turned up and is in good nick, one small repairable tear.
I also covered my starter motor cover in a carbon fibre lookalike material.


Starter cover with carbon fibre type covering.


Seat and bracing

[Royalratch]

Good stuff Crofty!

Another metal supplier here:

http://www.metals4u.co.uk/

[zedrider]

nice work going on . what was the thinking with haveing to do so much engine work . my z650 bi blew most bikes away inc my z1000 , all i did was stick in some redline clutch plates and heavy duty springs oh and a reynold chain . harris exsust . outher than that standard . with most really quick bikes its not top end its how fast you get away .

[Crofty]

Hi zedrider, there going to be a few chassis improvements too. Years ago I had an exrace Rickman with a Yoshimurad CB750 engine and not only did it have awesome power it went round corners. So really getting the best of both worlds power and handling. While my stock 650 handles OK, I think having more ponies is going to highlight any shortcomings in the chassis dept.
Anyway what else will there be to do over the winter
Over the years I have had around 20 bikes and while I have dabbled in altering them myself, I have always wondered what it would be like to get seriously stuck in with the grinder and spanners, so I'm giving it a go.

[Pigford]

Great thread Crofty - keep it coming

[Crofty]

Have finished frame bracing, one across front downtubes, one across rear above swingarm behind gearbox and two below sidepanels.
Also managed to knock up a seat stay in stainless steel.

[Crofty]

Another bit turned up this morning, the Zephyr swingarm and after trialling it on I decided to remove the pillion footrest brackets. This is not just a case of cut and remove, the rear brake mounting tube has to remain, so needs to be cut around and reshaped, then plated along one edge.
Also there needs to be somewhere to mount the exhaust, especially if you are buying an off the shelf aftermarket 4 into 1. So therefore I had to add a hanger and position the mount tube in the same place as the old one.
I did this by taking a few measurements and setting the width with a threaded rod with some nuts locked together.

Heres a few pictures to show where I'm up to.


Here I had cut away the hanger after setting the width with the rod and carefully measuring the position of the hole.


Then I ground away the edge of the hanger into a nicer shape next to the brake pedal mount.


Using a bit more of the old TV stand, I boxed off the void made when the hanger was cut open.


The brackets finished.


Seeing how its looking.

The swingarm bolts straight in, no need to alter the width at all, the shock mounts appear to line up, it is a couple of inches longer though. This should help straight line stability and stop the front end from lifting a bit, IIRC. It is also quite light.

Also picked up a set of ZX9R forks and yokes, I will have to have the stem from an old 650 lower yoke put into the 9 lower yoke, which involves some lathe work, so having my mate Baz at Blue Haze Engineering do this.


ZX9R forks.


Lower yoke and 650 stem to go in it.
I weighed the ZX9 alloy yokes compared to the std 650 and they are over a lb lighter.

[Baldylocks]

That's coming along nicely, I like what you have done to keep the rear Drum Brake by modifying the Right side hanger, nice work

[Crofty]

Cheers, its actually a disc brake (the modded frame was a SR650, so discs all round and no tailpiece), extra challenge just to convert that over, but (sorry any sr/ltd fans), I would hate to cut up a B, C or F frame with these sort of alterations, don't mind so much on any of the non tailpiece models.
One thing I did notice while working on this frame is that there is extra bracing as std around the headstock.

[Baldylocks]

Ah yes..forgot it was an SR frame ..duh! also wasn't aware they had extra bracing around the Head stock, as the B's C' and F's were already braced better than the 1000's and 900's, although saying that I had mine braced by P&M back in the late 90's and further triangulated the head stock and top tube's as well as the rest of the frame to the spec they used to do to the Big Zed's back in the day.

cheers