'78 KZ1000 makeover

looks like u will have to lengthen your shifter shaft too. i had to as well.

Thanks for the fathers day wishes Josh. I still need to finish up fitting the outboard bearing support and get the lugs welded to the frame.

Mark, I was wondering if I would have to lengthen the shifter shaft. I don't think I've read any threads about someone having to do that though. How is it done generally, or at least how did you do it?

i haven't read of anyone doing it either.i shimmed my side cover out with washers for extra clearance with my 5/8" offset sprocket.
i just cut it in half and added a piece in the centre. i have to make a new one now actually. after years of abuse with vice grips on the end , the teeth r getting ratty. the aluminium shifter linkage i have for the end is getting stripped. so i'm going to start over, new and fresh. i am just about to start a post asking for linkage options. the 1 i have came from my spare parts bin 30 years ago.

Holy crap it took waaaaaaaay too long to fit this damn support plate! :sick: I had to modify the plate to fit my frame, then I had to modify the lugs to match, blah blah blah. Finally, I got the plate fitted and the frame lugs welded :woohoo:





Now I can strip the bike back down to the frame, clean up the welds, strip the rest of the stock paint and repaint it. Now THAT will be a milestone

p.s. Sorry it took so long Leon

talk about danged ol' vroom vroom man, :woohoo: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


leon

Slow progress is still progress!

Must have missed it, but what is the purpose of the support plate? Is it basically another engine mount (located where all the torque is transferred from the engine to the chain)?

When running an offset sprocket, you are putting excessive leverage on the output shaft and the output shaft bearing. The outboard bearing support removes that leverage, or at the very least greatly reduces it. I needed it because my offset is so high. Now I get to start taking her back apart!

porchev914 wrote: When running an offset sprocket, you are putting excessive leverage on the output shaft and the output shaft bearing. The outboard bearing support removes that leverage, or at the very least greatly reduces it. I needed it because my offset is so high. Now I get to start taking her back apart!

Ahh ok. Didn't catch the large offset part. Back on track.

Yeah, that's the rub Mark. Most people running modern swingarms can use 1/2" or 5/8" offset sprockets. Those will still fit inside a stock cover with some tweaking. But 1.24" offset is considerably more than I want to subject my new output shaft bearing to, and i can't run the stock cover, so the decision was pretty much made for me

No worries! That seems like a very good idea for all bikes making 100+ horsepower. Along with the frame flexing, the tiny motor mounts in the Zs were a known weak area. The plate would eliminate the flex from the output shaft to the chain - so the horsepower would get right to the chain, right?

That's pretty much it Mark. You got it

mtbspeedfreak wrote: No worries! That seems like a very good idea for all bikes making 100+ horsepower. Along with the frame flexing, the tiny motor mounts in the Zs were a known weak area. The plate would eliminate the flex from the output shaft to the chain - so the horsepower would get right to the chain, right?

its more a case of preventing damage to the shaft. nothing worse than a pain in the shaft.