Yoshimura GSX1135R (EFE) Project

[Mindless]

On the suggestion from a fellow GSX-owner on another forum I decided to slice out some holes in the rear break caliper mount. I'm kind of surprised how easily the router works through the aluminium and with great results.

Looks much lighter and clean now.

Here's a little shot for you posplayr. This is how the drag slots / extensions fit into the swingarm.

 

[Guest]

Great stuff Victor,

How close was the width of the swing arm at the pivot compared to the 1150 frame? Sorry if its already been mentioned.

 

[Mindless]

Great stuff Victor,

How close was the width of the swing arm at the pivot compared to the 1150 frame? Sorry if its already been mentioned.

Close? How far off you mean?

I think I've shaved off 11mm on either side of the swingarm pivot. The 1150 is 236mm and the XJR was 258mm. So it required quite a bit of machining to fit.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the dimensions. I am slowing putting pieces together for a Z1 Kawasaki build. Was considering a Gen 1 FZ1 swingarm, wheels, brakes and forks but I also have a spare Bandit and a spare GS swing arm as fall backs.

 

[jwhelan65]

This is to cool! Great to see some oldskool stuff here, I still think there needs to be a thread catagory specific to builds on this forum.
Your sceen name certainly doesn't reflect your skills. Super work!

 

[Mindless]

Got the swingarm welded up today by a guy I know. He's not as good as a professional frame- or swingarm welder but it's good enough for me. Not to mention - did it for free.

Oh, and prior to welding I shotblasted the whole swingarm with aluminium oxide to get rid of the anodizing. That's what gives it the unusual finish.

Decided to slap on the front wheel as well to get a better idea of the ride height. It's gonna be tight - 140mm without the engine, fluids and driver. Gonna have to make some fork-extensions in order to fix that issue. 55mm longer forks should do the trick.

Also tried fitting a wind shield I had lying around in the garage. Fits pretty well I think, different color and a bit tighter with the headlight and it should be spot on.

Wont be much more progress this weekend I think. May fabricate a swingarm tube (for the bearings to roll against) depending on how much spare time I have. An update will probably have to wait until early next week though.

 

[posplayr]

Looking sharp; I'm not sure I would have said your freind was not the greatest welder. Looks good to me

Anyway I'm planning on using a slighly larger fairing for my GSXR. Here are some pics. The Ducati headlamps are not quite as big, so some trimming will be required. I will extend the carbon portion to bound to teh headlamp bolt and the upper triple clamp.

Naked is nice, but the buffeting of your helmet gets old quick and at 100+ down right dangerous.

Here is the way i think I'm gonna go.
Carbon off a Monster Ducati.

Pos

 

[Mindless]

Looking sharp; I'm not sure I would have said your freind was not the greatest welder. Looks good to me

Anyway I'm planning on using a slighly larger fairing for my GSXR. Here are some pics. The Ducati headlamps are not quite as big, so some trimming will be required. I will extend the carbon portion to bound to teh headlamp bolt and the upper triple clamp.

Naked is nice, but the buffeting of your helmet gets old quick and at 100+ down right dangerous.

As I said - he's good enough.

That fairing you posted looked pretty nice. I debated for a while if I was going to use one or not and came to the conclusion that I should. Because as you say, doing anything close to 100mph is almost dangerous without one. I typically don't ride at those speeds but when I do, I don't want to be blown off by the wind.

 

[jab3052]

looking good! I welded on an adjustable spacer to lower or raise the shocks and seat height. See pic mor ein my profile pic album if needed.

 

[Fern]

Mindless, looking good. Keep the pics coming.

 

[Mindless]

Thanks guys!

Managed to sort out the swingarm tube (which goes inside the swingarm pivot). Put it up in the lathe and removed 18mm in the middle off it. Turned out I didn't remove enough so the swingarm was a bit of a snug fit but after some work I got it to fit perfectly.

I lined the swingarm tube with a 20x2mm pipe (16mm inside diameter, same as the swingarm axle). Fits like a glove.

Glued in place with Loctite 648. Won't be going anywhere unless I put a blowtorch to it.

 

[ShortyzKustomz]

Amazing build so far bro.... And for aluminum welds those look damn good from your friend, Keep up the good work bro

 

[posplayr]

And for aluminum welds those look damn good from your friend, Keep up the good work bro

Come on now they are not that great; if done in a zero G environment with binocular heat protected microscope and 1 micron rod they could have been pretty enough for a MLS gasket ^o.




Sorry could not resist.

 

[midnightcafe]

Come on now they are not that great; if done in a zero G environment with binocular heat protected microscope and 1 micron rod they could have been pretty enough for a MLS gasket ^o.




Sorry could not resist.

you Engineer.

 

[Mindless]

Not much progress to report yet but I've been doing some thinking, mainly regarding the front end.

Everything is pretty much sorted except some adaptors for the break calipers and some bushings for the wheel spindle, but I can't really decide on what to do about a possible fairing or windshield.

The windshield I thought about using looks alright I suppose.

But at the same time; it's tall as a house and gives off more of a touring vibe than a racer vibe. Hmm...

I'm a big fan of naked musclebikes, but I'm not sure it would work with my current front end configuration or with the "race look". The headlight is where it's supposed to be and so is the speedo, but the problem is that there's just too much air around everything.

The gap is just huge. Looks stupid from the side. Even if getting all the cables and break lines in place would fix some of it, I think it'd just look cluttered and out of place. So, back to the drawingboard. Came up with this "lip" for a windshield. It doesn't look that bad I think, but I think it gives more of a caf?- or fighter-look than it does super/musclebike.

It does however fix the problem with the void between the headlight and speedo. But I'm still not really satisfied with the way it is. Sure, I could cut out a different mock-up windshield but there's something about it that doesn't look "spot on".

So, I went out hunting for some influences and what better place than japanese custom bike sites like Auto-Magic, Mid-Knight and Sanctuary. Sanctuary has one of the most kickass bikes I've ever seen and their Z1 racer is just beyond amazing. One-off frame with all the goodies you can imagine. Here's yesteryears incarnation of their bike, it looks a whole lot different now but it's still kickass in this picture.

This is exactly the look I'm aiming for. Sure, a different paintscheme and not as much sponsor decals but the overall look is just what I'm going for - which got me thinking: "Hey, the Z1R fairing isn't too bad...?"

The lines aren't as soft as the rest of the bike but that's fixable with some filler and sandpaper.

I think it could work pretty well. I know it boils down to me in the end since it's my build but what do you guys think?

In other news: I think I might send off the fork legs for some anodizing. I decided I want them black instead of gold.

 

[posplayr]

So, I went out hunting for some influences and what better place than japanese custom bike sites like Auto-Magic, Mid-Knight and Sanctuary. Sanctuary has one of the most kickass bikes I've ever seen and their Z1 racer is just beyond amazing. One-off frame with all the goodies you can imagine. Here's yesteryears incarnation of their bike, it looks a whole lot different now but it's still kickass in this picture.

This is exactly the look I'm aiming for. Sure, a different paintscheme and not as much sponsor decals but the overall look is just what I'm going for - which got me thinking: "Hey, the Z1R fairing isn't too bad...?"

The lines aren't as soft as the rest of the bike but that's fixable with some filler and sandpaper.

I think it could work pretty well. I know it boils down to me in the end since it's my build but what do you guys think?

In other news: I think I might send off the fork legs for some anodizing. I decided I want them black instead of gold.

There is some resemblence with a Maier Sport Fairing

http://www.jcwhitney.com/jcwhitney/...639&zmam=73771597&zmas=21&zmac=122&zmap=70639

I think I have the larger one and the PO opened the hole a little for the trainlight.

 

[Mindless]

Finally some worthwhile progress to report. Been kinda slow now with all the holidays and going back to school.

Todays job was to deal with the frame. Chop off all the unwanted stuff. Started out with the main stand and old shock mount.

Gonna clean it up so it's all nice and smooth at a later time. Also dealt with the old footrest mounts at the same time.

Then I removed the steering stem lock. No key for it so what's the use in keeping it? Only in the way for the wiring harness.

Needs some final cleaning up but I didn't bring the small air-powered grinder with me to the workshop. *sigh*

After that I cut out the brace from the rear of the frame in order to make place for the new shock mounts. Crappy welds all over the place. A blind quadriplegic could do a better job....

Then I cleaned it all up so it was nice and tidy. New mounts should fit in without much trouble I think.

 

[Mindless]

Speaking of new mounts - while I was going haywire with the grinder on the frame, my dad was at the lathe making the shock mounts. Turned out really nice.

The result:

After a total of almost 5 hours work the frame was pretty much clean. And I was left with a small pile of scraps.

Aiming to get the new mounts welded in place sometime this week so expect another update in a few days or towards the weekend.

All for now folks.

Oh, and I also found a guy selling some FCR39 carbs for cheap. If he still has them by the end of the month I think I might buy them. Originally intended to put CR37's on the bike (fits the era better + they are great carbs), but a set of FCR's for almost half the price of a set of CR's is too good to pass up.

 

[Mindless]

Well, got to work with the new shock mounts today. Started out with the frame braces on the sides.

Taking in mind I only got about three days of experience with TIG welding, I have to say it looks alright.

Next I aligned the brace for the shock mounts and tacked it in place.

Looks straight enough to me.

 

[Mindless]

After a while with the welder, I ended up with something looking like this:

The brace between the frame rails will probably have to go as the exhaust / silencer needs quite a bit of space under the seat.

Anyway - everything turned out nice. Some minor imperfections here and there but at least I can say that I did all the weldig on the bike when someone asks.

Tomorrow I'll get the shock mounts welded into place. Look forward to some pictures then.