[Gixerman]

Heres my 2003 Kawasaki Z1000 as she sits now, rode the wheels off it when i first moved stateside (original Build in me sig) for 6 years she's sat outside my house in the rain, sleet and snow barely ridden and very neglected.

Since she's the only thing i have to show for 6 years of marrage it's abouit time i got my ass in gear and started building and riding again.

Nothing major planned, as per usual i will make the shit up as i go along, she will probally still look pretty stock when done but with a few trick bits thrown on for good measure.

I have always love the expression "You can't polish a turd" I hope to prove that wrong.

So there ya have it "Project Turd Polish"

 

[Gixerman]

Not Much of an update but I have started, waiting for the motivation to fully kick in.

Bought the bike into the house because.......im not married anymore and if i want to build a bike in me house i feckin well will, Not the only reason i figured if i see it every time i get in from work i will be more inclined to get busy working on it. also my landlord died and i wanted to give the family some time before i start working in his workshop, his wife says its cool but outta of respect i don't wanna get in there just yet.

Got a small but growing collection of tools and parts, enough to get off to a start and more coming every pay check as long as i stop getting tattoos for a while lol.

In the last couple of days i have slowly started stripping the bike and dry fitted the replacement stock body work.

As im going along a plan is beginning to form in my mind but esentually as always i'm making the shit up as i go along.

 

[Gixerman]

Took a few more bits and pieces off, this is how she stands as of right now, complete with 6 years of crud from not giving a shite about bikes

Decided the vast hunk of plastic shite that is the air box has gotta go, now i need to find a deal on some ZX10 Throttle bodies, Pod filters and ZX636R PC5.

Got a rare weekend off this week so should get a good amount done.

 

[Gixerman]

Not much to report, finished stripping bodywork now gotta prep it all for paint.
Bike looks like this.

Didn't like original riding position so i got some renthal dragbars to lower the riding position by 3 inches

Had an epic battle with the airbox.......eventualy i won, ZX10 throttle bodies will be ordered shortly

Thats all i got for now but i foresee a very busy couple of months coming uparty-smiley:

 

[Gixerman]

Pretty much done fuck all since last update, Got people off on vacation at work so i'm putting in as much OT as i can to pay for all the goodies that keep arriving at my house.

Sanded tank back to metal, gotta fill and smooth a few dings in it yet, Planning to spend an hour or two each evening after work prepping bodywork for paint and maybe get motor prepped and painted in the next week or so. once thats done i can get my toys outta the box and start to make some real progress.

 

[Gixerman]

We had a nice couple of day here in Illinois so i spent me day off outside working on the Z,
Gave the bike (whats left of it a power wash) should get motor Painted this coming week, Not really much more i can take of the bike so i'd better start working towards putting some shit back on it.

Got some new goodies so I figured i'd start on the ZX10R Throttle body Swap

Took the ZX10 Fuel rail off and swaped the injectors for the Z1000 ones, gotta work on the rubber injector seats for the Throttle bodies because niether seat is quite right but that shoul be a fairly easy fix. Didn't take any pics yet but i also opened up the inlet rubbers for a better fit and flow.

Did a quick mock up to see what we got and it looks good so far, most people who have done this swap have mounted the throttle bodies up side down so the throttle cables work, I don't want to do this and i will fabricate a bracket so they will work right way up, got a few options in mind.

Thats all i got right now, got a hundred and one little jobs i need to get done, hopefully progress will start to come a little quicker now

 

[Gixerman]

Not been on fer a while but i have been doing a little more on the bike.

Spent the last nice weekend we had outside, cut off some tabs that were no longer needed, gave the frame a lick of paint, polished the shiny bits on the engine and the painted the motor.

Found some nice hard rubber washers that fitted the Throttle bodies perfectly, just had to drill the centers larger for the injectors, everything is now tighter than a ducks chuff, just gotta rewire the secondary throttle actuator, and the TPS, then they should be good to go.

Also been doing some bodywork prep for painting, a little plastic welding and some wiring harness beautification, pics later if i remember.

Funny story before i go........So i ordered some Carbon Fiber cloth, resin etc and some how paypal reverted back to my old address and sent the shit there, My Ex Wife took from me everything i ever owned and now i'm sending her more of my shit, it's so fucked up i laughed my fucking balls off when i realised what had happened.

Next update soonish i hope

 

[Gixerman]

Mini Update: just so you know i'm still here and working on the build when my new job and crazy hours allow.

Finished tidying up the wiring harness, fitted some new Radiator hoses and polished the engine covers.

Above pics are from early January, I have done a bit more than that honest, I need to upload about a months worth of progress to my PC and i will update thread hopefully tomorrow

 

[Gixerman]

Right, The reason the build has not been updated for ages is because in my infinite wisdom i decided to try my hand at skinning a couple of parts in carbon fiber even though i'd never done it before and i already know suck at glass fiber, After all how hard can it be, I read a couple of threads on it and watched a youtube video or two so now i'm an expert lol.

I may have slightly overestimated my skill level because once i got started it soon became clear that is was a total cunt of a project, Hindsight now tells me maybe should have practiced on something small and shitty before leaping feet first but oh well ya live and learn right.

The objects i chose for my virgin attempt were a fucking big piece, a round piece and a fiddly-as-fuck piece lol.

Below a a few pics mostly of the eventually finished (as they are ever gunna be) parts, figured i'd knock em out after work in about a week, the ensuing fuck fest that followed they took me nearly a month (admitedly only an hour or two each night)

I had originally planned to skin more pieces but have come to the conclusion of FUCK THAT!
I wanna ride the shit outta the bike this summer not messing around with that shit. so i have thrown some money at someone who knows what they are doing and i can start working on the rest of the bike.

 

[Gixerman]

To break up the monotony of endless rubbing down carbon fiber resin i dry fitted a few parts to see how she looked with the Renthal drag bars which i have always liked, I wanted a little more aggressive riding stance than stock and they definitely looked the part.

once i dry fitted all the hand controls i found a major clearance issue with the front brake banjo and tops of forks, pic below is not the best for showing the issue but its the only one i took.

The clutch and brake levers are not able to go into the position i'm most comfortable with and i had already decided i was going to drop the forks through the yokes a wee bit. (when i originally got the bike the PO had dropped them alot and it was to much, i put them back to stock and never really like the feel of that either, just never got round to playing about with them) anyway i digress, My initial thought was just make some risers or spacers to raise bars a tad but i am planing to get a damper for the bike and it will mount on the bar clamp, raise the hight of the clamp will mean more fucking about with damper install and the clocks ticking.
Quickest easiest fix was just order different bars with i did, Job done, Next......


Drill a big fookin hole in the exhaust for the PCV oxygen sensor to live.

Get my mate to weld sensor bung into big fookin hole, would have done it myself but EX stole my welder and its probally not a good project to undertake in your rented apartment/house lol.

Dry fitted to check clearances, all good hopefully this weekend hit it with the shiny stick refit and move on. hoping progress should start to pick up now.

EDIT: PM me if you want a good deal on a set of black never used Renthal Drag bars before i go and buy another bike to put them on lol

 

[Gixerman]

Mini update: The person i work with quit so i'm now doing around 70 hours a week again, Awesome for getting tattoos and bike parts, not so much for getting build time.

Got myself a new battery which trims another 5.5lbs of lard off the bike, i already ditched the stock exhaust which is around 40lbs add to this the air box gone, shock swap and the flywheel getting machined i'm looking at a ballpark 50lbs lighter than stock, not to shabby for basic mods.

Did a little more deconstruction, hoping soon to get some time to hit the swingarm (and Exhaust) with the shiney stick, stock shock is Ebay bound.
As luck would have it i have this rather sexy Ohlins Shock that i'll wager will fit right in the space the old one left.

Lastly i need to ditch the nasty plastic radiator catch tank and had hells own job trying to find a bottle short enough to fit under seat (want it upright and not laying down) didn't want to mount it to the Rad because i want to keep the shrouds.

After much trolling of the tinternet i finaly found one that would fit and it was cheap (pun intended) unfortunately i had to buy two, now they have been delivered I just can't decide which one of the two i want to use LOL