[chaos6]

Well I figure that it's about time* for me to begin a thread for my upcoming project, a new-to-me 2005 Kawasaki Z750s in blue. (*by "about time" I mean that I'm getting bored of just shopping for parts and reading about all of the inspirational work the rest of you are doing)

While it'll be about one month until I begin the actual process of D-in-W, due to my present location and working environment, I wanted to post the initial pic of the bike and the list of work to be done, parts to be ordered, parts already ordered, etc.

First, the bike:

I bought the new bike in the fall of '09, sight unseen, with 1000 miles on the clock, to replace my last '06 Z750s that was stolen towards the end of the 2008 riding season. The guy I bought it off of cut me a sweet deal once he found out I was calling from Iraq, and he went above and beyond in order to make the transfer go smoothly.

I finally got a chance to see the bike in person a couple of months back while home on leave, and it didn't disappoint. Clean (outside of having been tipped over at a standstill prior to having bought it), low miles, perfect for my upcoming plans.

The list of work to be done:
-2006 Kawa 636 Rear swingarm, wheel, and brake swap
-Race Tech fork springs and emulators
-Supersprox chain and +2 rear chainring
-Install Speedohealer
-Cut down the exahust can
-Black out the frame covers, rearsets, passenger pegs, radiator covers, and exhaust
-Remove rear fender
-Mod and wrap/insulate airbox

My hope is to knock out all of that list within the first week or so of arriving back home, with more plans (paint, headlights, 636 fork/brakes/wheel swap) for the winter. I welcome any and all input/suggestions/pointers. Thanks.

 

[Saltlick]

If you cut the can, make sure you use a big chop saw. An angle grinder with a cut off wheel won't get through everything that's in there.

 

[rdannar]

Nice, I had the ZR7 a few years back... I liked that bike. Good project

 

[swiftnet]

I cut my can with a hacksaw, fuckin' oldskool:rock:

 

[chaos6]

Yeah, I'll probably go with the hacksaw and a rig to hold it all steady. A buddy already has the rivets and tool on hand for me to seal it all back up with.

Has anybody here done an '06 636 swingarm swap on one of these before? I'm wondering about whether the wheels will be offset with the recommended spacers I've read about. If so, how much is acceptable before it begins to be noticable in the bike's handling?

 

[chaos6]

FINALLY!!! I'm back in the states and free to do a little work! I got back about a week ago, and spent most of the time since then riding the bike as is and buying things for the new house.

Today I couldn't resist the urge to get something accomplished any longer and I took a hacksaw to the exhaust. Once that was done, my friend mentioned that he was surprised I hadn't taken a dremel to the obnoxiously larger rear fender (he seems to know how to push the right buttons).

I figured that since the dremel was sitting right next to me it couldn't hurt to chop it up a bit. I spent the time cutting and smoothing and evening everything out, and then realized that the brackets that hold the fender to the bike could also hold the turn signals...off came the fender entirely. I cut the signals down about an inch or so, and remounted them to where the rear reflectors had been.

All in all it looks much more fluid than stock. Tomorrow I'll be high-temp painting the exhaust, rearsets, and passenger pegs. Plus I'll be sure to post pics (since I forgot to bring home the camera)...Sorry bout that

Stay tuned.

 

[VT420]

nice to see another Z on here, and which branch you in and how was your tour? I'm AF, haven't been yet.
sounds like good plans, get that ugly hunk of plastic off the front too though

-Jeff

 

[Kaos]

Cool. We didn't get the Z750S over here, just the base Z750. Def get that front fairing off dude!
I'd just like to thank all you guys for your service, even though I'm Australian and you're US. You guys rock :thumbsup: Stay safe whenever you're abroad.....

 

[crowbar]

If I can offer some advice. If you want the can to look good, take some tape and figure out where you want it cut and wrap that around the muffler. Make sure it is straight and use that as a guideline. Then use a dremel and cut the outer skin of the of the muffler off. Being thin aluminum a hack saw or shit like that will crush it. this way that doesn't happen but its your choice.

 

[chaos6]

Thanks for the responses guys.

VT420...I'm Army, and the last year was my most boring deployment. It was as if they had a three month tour worth of work, but decided to give us a year to do it. Booooooooring (but it kept my family happy) (which of course I would have accomplished anyways by keeping them ignorant of my activities).

Kaos...A bunch of my buddies spent their leave time in Australia. They had a great time. I'll be heading there sometime in the not to distant future. The fairing is a project for the next month or so. I want to remove the side portions, but I need to find a way to support the lower points of the headlight (right now they are held up by the sides. I removed them once on my last Z so that I could get the tank off, and it gave the bike a very mean look. Narrow and very wasp-like.

Crowbar...I accept any and all advice, thanks. That being said, the outer sleeve of the can was actually stainless steel (I think) so it held up pretty well to the hacksaw. My buddy and I attacked it like we were lumberjacks. I did use masking tape for the line though, and that worked great.

 

[chaos6]

The pics as promised....

Bike with exhaust removed.

The chop.

With the exhaust chopped and re-installed.

With the fender removed and the signals relocated.

More work and pics to come...

 

[fslflint]

that chop and fender removal makes a big difference! good job.



any plans to lose the funky grab handles on the passenger seat?

 

[Kaos]

Yeah that cleaned it right the hell up! Lookin good man...

 

[chaos6]

Thanks bro.

As of right now I don't plan on getting rid of the handles. I know some guys have removed them and used fly screen/mesh to cover the holes from the inside, but 1, I kinda like them, and B) I'm planning for a cross country roadtrip this month and I may need them for mounting bags.

We'll see though. Maybe after the trip. I will say it makes the bike a bit more sleek looking.

 

[chaos6]

Anybody have any advice on getting rid of (and stopping future development of) light corrosion on bolts (engine, mounting, etc.)?

It's nothing excessive, but it seems to jump out at me. It's taunting me...making me crazy...

 

[crowbar]

All I can say is try waxing the problem areas regularly.

 

[crowbar]

maybe strip and re coat the bolts that are not a huge issue to remove?

 

[chaos6]

Yesterday was beautiful here (even before the Blackhawks won), but I still managed to get some work done while I wasn't riding.

I removed, scuffed, and painted the passenger pegs, rearsets, radiator guards, and exhaust with black high-temp engine paint. They seem to have come out well, I'm just hoping that it holds up. I'm now contemplating doing the same to the side covers so that they match.

Since they're plastic I think I'll be priming them in a plastic primer prior to shooting them in flat black. Anybody have a take on that? Any advice on brands or techniques?

I'll post the pics of the work from yesterday tonight.

 

[chaos6]

Yesterday's work...

I'm a bit annoyed that I didn't paint that chrome disk on the exhaust mounting point...I'll have to hit it later when I coat the footpegs. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, so I'll be painting the sidecovers.

If I'm feeling especially ambitious I may look into removing some excess metal on the front sprocket cover. I like the look of the exposed gears. Any downsides to opening it up a bit?

 

[chaos6]

Alright, so today I took a ride out to a machinist who happens to be a friend of a friend. I wanted to double check the measurements for a set of spacers that I'll be needing for the Kawa 636 swingarm swap I've been drooling over for the last couple of years. I have all the parts waiting. Now it's just a matter of him turning them out for me.

I'm hoping that I can have them complete and everything installed by the 22th of this month. That way I can have it all dialed in for the Westbound road trip I spent most of my deployment thinking about.

Yesterday I had planned to paint the side covers, but it was way too friggin humid. I'm hoping tomorrow or tuesday is a bit better. If not, maybe I'll get around to cutting open the front sprocket cover. I may have the time to open up the airbox a bit...