Help with case guard mounting bolts (pic)
- inline79
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The guards match up perfectly to the 4 front engine mount bolts, but the bolts are too short. I'm having a lot of trouble sourcing longer bolts.
Question 1: Have you found longer Metric 10mm bolts with the small 13mm head?
Question 2: Is a threaded rod a suitable, mechanically sound alternative? I personally do not think so.
Picture of one of the old bolts, which I need to be about 10mm longer...
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- RonKZ650
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321,000 miles on KZ's that I can remember. Not going to see any more.
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- JMKZHI
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- ltdrider
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For the bottom mount, I used the exisitng bolt, screwed into the "oval shaped" nut behind the frame. The mount bolt was long enough with the case saver installed, so I used it.
'76 KZ900 LTD (Blaze)
'96 Voyager XII (Dark Star)
'79 KZ650 Cafe Project (Dirty Kurt)
Greensboro, NC
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- OKC_Kent
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Oklahoma City, OK
78 KZ650 B2 82,000+ miles
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- inline79
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You could use 3/8" bolts instead of metric.
When installing the case guards on my bike, I went to the fastener supply co. (not a hardware store), but their 10mm metric bolts had large heads which wouldn't fit into the engine, so I had to get the SAEs instead.
Also, please not that I've heard tell that the 2-pt guards have a tendency to fold when the bike goes down. Just an FYI. JMK.
...
Thanks JMK, I just picked up some 3/8" x2",3",4" bolts w/locknuts. Will send post pic of install.
BTW, yes I am aware the 2-point ones bend on impact, but I will consider them to have done their job and paid for the $20 they cost.
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- JMKZHI
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- RonKZ650
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321,000 miles on KZ's that I can remember. Not going to see any more.
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- JMKZHI
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- inline79
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I took JMK's advice and got 3/8" x 2", 3", 4" bolts with locking nuts. While installing them I figured that these bolts of course don't carry the weight of the engine, the frame does, so that they are slightly smaller doesn't matter because they're just holding the engine against the mounts on the frame.
I'm not thrilled with the look they add to the bike, but as you see below, I'm not one to care much about the look of my bike - most people just see the Kawasaki tank or a red blur going past them. They won't notice the rusting shocks or the geeky case guards.
Anyways, thanks again, KZRiders!
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- 76 LTD
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- Bluemeanie
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1980 KZ650F1, Bought new out the door for $2,162.98!
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