'78 KZ1000 makeover

We have all been, and continue to be, dumbasses from time to time. You'll see my last "dumbass" moves here shortly in another builders thread :sick:

In between working on some carbon fiber molds, I drug out my stock tank and started chopping it up. First I made a template identical to the O.D. of the cut out for the ZX fuel filler, and traced it on the tank:



Then I cut out a hole a little smaller to make sure everything looked like it would match up properly:



Then dropped in the ZX filler:



Then I cut the hole out to its full size:



After that I tacked in 4 tabs to support the ZX fuel filler sheet metal so that it would mate up flush with the stock tank:


And so it goes......

Looking good man... I so want to do this.. But!!!

Boostable wrote: Looking good man... I so want to do this.. But!!!

Whats that quote...."Just Do It!" :laugh:
Every time I do sheet metal work, I swear up and down I'm gonna buy a stud gun, but I never do, and this time is no different :whistle:


Now I gotta get back to my composite stuff, enough playing with my own project for now :woohoo:

I love it man. do mine next!

Wait a minute ram.. the line starts back here!!

I'm not sure I'm the guy to be welding everyones tanks up! You guys need fabricators with more experience like blackbanshee, Les or rslingshot

On that note, if I had to do it over again, I would have welded in 8 tabs instead of 4, and I would have tack welded in between every tab first, then at the tabs before doing any stitch welds to help prevent the ZX fillers sheetmetal from warping. It's a thinner gauge than the KZ tank, and it doesn't stay put as well. So I spent time last night tacking welding rod into spots to act as pullers to get the filler back into alignment with the stock tank. It was time consuming, but because I didn't have as many support tabs as I needed, and I didn't spot weld in more spots before running some short beads, it was the price I paid. Live and learn!

Looks great! What do you use to be able to cut so well? That looks like a perfect circle and the edges are really smooth. Can't wait to see the finished product...it will look really cool.

79MKII wrote: Looks great! What do you use to be able to cut so well? That looks like a perfect circle and the edges are really smooth. Can't wait to see the finished product...it will look really cool.

+1. I picked up a ZX tank and will be doing the same for my 900. What did you do about the tube that runs through the ZX tank from the filler to the vent?

Later, Doug

just wondering out loud.
would it be any easier to have cut the kz hole a little small. then u could just push down on the zx flange to keep it tight against the tank ??
someone did mine so i dont know how it was done.

OK, the tools used were a jigsaw....and thats it. I used tin snips to cut the little tabs, a half round file to remove a little extra here and there, and a bench grinder to trim tiny bits off the ZX filler until it fit perfectly. I had scribed a perfect circle, and I went slowly with the jigsaw. Thats it in a nutshell.

The vent, I believe, has something to do with the evap system connected to the carbs. I have the vent line cut under the filler, and for the time being I will leave it open. If I need to, I will seal it off. I haven't decided on that yet.

Mark, I could have done what you suggested, and a lap joint would have been much easier to fit and weld, thats for sure! But I wanted as smooth a transition as possible between the two panels. Less bodywork with no "step" to feather in I guess I'm just weird that way :whistle:

I got the filler neck all welded in :woohoo: Pay no attention to the spots on the filler sheetmetal here and there, those are spots where I welded some rod to it to pull the panels back into alignment.
Not my prettiest welding, but it all gets ground down anyway: