KAWASAKI
ZX-7 FRAME TRANSPLANT
Just for the slower ones in
the group, a motorcycle is different from a car. Case and
point - the frame. A bent frame on a car, which in most
cases these days is of the Unibody design, usually spells
out death for the vehicle. The same medical condition on a
bike however may not have the same end result. The main
difference here is that a motorcycles frame has its own part
number, which means you can order a brand new one from the
manufacturer.
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Now swapping the frame on your machine is like swapping your
skeleton for a new one, labour intensive, painful, and
expensive, but they say love is blind and I guess some what
daft. Now for those CMG Online addicts out there you may
recall a friend of mine who last year picked up a 1984
Suzuki Katana 750 in non running condition and received a
good dollar thrashing at the hands of the Suzuki Price Book
God. Well it must have felt good, because he's done it
again, opting for the higher pain level in the wallet
department. A 1995 Kawasaki ZX7 with the above mentioned
bent frame. Ugg! "Got it cheap though ... $7000."
Doh!! I had to tell him at
that point if it was pain he was after to have a look in the
personals of NOW magazine (a Toronto weekly with strange
'personal' ads in the back - RH). It's cheaper than seven
grand and you'd probably like it more too. Oh well, each to
their own, let's see how bad it's going to be.
As always I recommend
getting yourself a shop manual before tackling any project
on your bike, but in this case I highly recommend getting
the original Kawasaki manual. It's going to cost you a bit
more but it will be money well spent when you can't remember
the correct routing for the nervous system, (wiring
harness).
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First step after buying the manual and reading it front to
back is to order/buy the frame. DO NOT remove a single thing
from the bike until you have the new frame sitting in your
garage (or living room if you're like Shovel). Unless you're
like Rob, (add English accent here)... "Oh man, I'm sure I
put those spacers here and I know I saw that thingy just
last week when I was looking for the points plate. Oh blast
damnation bugger, I hate bikes"!
Second step, plan enough
time to do the job, not two and a half years at someone
else's place mind you (bastard - RH), but enough so that it
isn't a pressure thing to get it done and go ridding next
weekend with yer mates.
With the arrival of the
frame the disassembly could begin. All the scuffed, but
intact body work was carefully removed - no pry bars or fits
of male anger please. With the plastics removed the rear sub
frame was unbolted
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from the main frame, (that's the front part of the frame not
a big computer) was removed as a complete unit with all the
bits and bites still attached. Because only the frame is
being replaced here, it is not necessary to break the bike
down into its barest of components but rather remove things
as complete assemblies. With the sub now gone the remaining
electrics, including the wiring harness, were removed. The
heart/engine was drained of its oil and anti-freeze, the
exhaust was removed and, with help from jack and dolly, the
mounting bolts were removed and the heart was lowered out of
the chest cavity. With the motor out, there wasn't really
much left to do, just the front and rear end. Starting at
the front end - simply because I was closest to it at the
time, I removed the upper triple clamp and handle bars and
then, with the assistance from the mad man who now owns this
growing pile of nuts and bolts on my back sun deck, I held
the front fork/wheel assembly whilst he lifted the frame up
and off the lower triple clamp. The front end was now
uni-cycled out to join the other parts on the deck. The rear
swing arm was done in a similar fashion. By removing the
large single rear shock absorber and sliding out the swing
arm pivot bolt the complete swing arm, rear wheel and brakes
come out intact. Ta Dah!! The Meccano ZX7 kit - Only $7000!
Frame not included. Parental assistance may be
required.
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So here we are then. We have an old (well not so old) but
buggered frame, with those all important serial numbers
stamped into the metal. And we also have the new frame, with
no serial numbers. Now then, how does one go about getting
the numbers from a useless piece of metal onto a very
expensive piece of metal? Well, one must take both the new
and bent frames, along with the matching ownership and the
bill of sale for the new frame, to an authorised dealer.
There the papers are checked against the actual item and if
all things are as they should be, the old serial number is
stamped into the new frame using the official sized steel
stamps. At the same time the head of the duff frame is
severed and sent back to the manufacturer as proof that no
funny business is going on. However, more times than not,
the whole thing is dumped into the metal bin for
recycling!
Taking something apart is
one thing, putting it back together so that it looks like
the picture on the box is another ... and if you want that
thing to run, well that's something else again. The truth is
however that because the bike by large came apart in
sections, the reassembling part was pretty
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straight forward. The steering head bearings were safely
removed and reused. The front and rear suspension units were
wheeled in and installed and carefully torqued to the Kawi
spec book value. The motor was then, with much grief,
hoisted back up under the new frame. Both Jack and Dolly had
a bad case of the awkward and made the whole procedure a big
hassle. In hind sight we should have placed the motor on a
milk crate or something like (however we all know that
taking a milk crate is stealing), and then with two people
lowered the frame down onto it. Oh well I'll know for next
time. Ha!! As if there'll be a next time!
With the heart safely in,
it was time to close her up. The sub frame was reinstalled,
followed by the wiring harness, electric trinkets, and
fairing brackets. The patient was given a fresh infusion of
oil and anti-freeze, four new spark plugs and a new battery.
New Battery! Seven thousand bucks and you don't get a
battery? Oh boy.
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With the plastics still off we fired it up and let run until
it was at normal operating temperature before balancing the
carbs. You know, a new bike runs real nice it does. All the
fluids were rechecked to be on the safe side and then all
the plastics were reinstalled. The forks and tires were
aired up to spec and the patient was taken for a gentle
meander down the hall, A.K.A. my neighbourhood. The serenity
didn't last long, for only a few blocks away bleeding
erupted from the clutch master cylinder causing a loss of
hydraulic pressure and thusly a loss of the clutch. The
patient was pushed back to the E.R. where pressure was
applied to the leaking banjo bolt which stopped it nicely.
The second road test went better but not without incident.
It seems that when the bike sustained its near fatal
injuries it had also suffered a hairline crack in the front
brake master cylinder, which would allow a small amount of
brake fluid to squeeze out when the brakes were applied. Not
a good thing since it's brake fluid under pressure that
stops you. In any case the master cylinder had to be
replaced. The third ride was completed with flying colours,
everything running top notch as a two year old bike
should.
Was it worth it? If you
love the thing it almost always is. I think, well I know, I
could have bought a new Virago with all the money I've
tossed into my '84 over the years. The ZX 7 was certainly
cheaper than buying a new one - if don't have to pay someone
else to fix it.
The way it sits right now
is that it runs great, although the plastics are a bit
rough, scratched, and the colors not matching sort of thing.
The bodywork will be done next year once a colour scheme has
been worked out and more cash has been stashed
away.
Nervous
Breakdown:
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Hours:
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12
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'95 Kawasaki ZX 7
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$7000.00 (Including taxes)
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Parts
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$1315.00
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Certification
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$40.00
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Sesame Bagels
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$5.50
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Total
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$8360.50
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Next Sonic: I'll try
to get Marj away from having a life and see if she'll do the
next one for me. It'll give both you and me a break from me.
Oh yes, before I get to leave this blasted computer and go
to bed there's this business about tips.
Tips
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- Don't get involved with
your friends bent bike.
- Installing exhaust
gaskets can be made easier by dabbing a bit of grease on
the gasket before inserting in the exhaust port. The
grease will keep the gasket from falling out whilst you
struggle with that Sure-to-Fit after market header.
- Installing spark plugs
on some bikes with very recessed valve covers/cylinder
head can be quite tricky. By placing a length of ordinary
gas line onto the top of the spark plug you effectively
create a flexible extension that won't slip while
starting the plug into the hole.
- Removing hand grips can
be a bastard! By inserting a small flat blade screw
driver into the grip at one end, and using WD40 shot in
along side the screw driver, the tool can be worked
around between the bar and the grip. Once done the grip
simply slides off!
Thanks for
reading.
Sonic
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