The Shop Blog | Swerve Customs

kz750 | front fender

: I chopped and cut where I needed to, in order to get it to fit.

: Then I added the front and back pieces.

: Overall I think she fits quite nicely!! Not bad for a fender that didn’t belong to the bike.

I started with a fender that was just lying around. I think its off a Yamaha XS750. I liked the shape of the front, and I needed a fender. When I started out the fender sat about two inches off the tire, and the mounting points were a inch off as well. So I started chopping away.

After all was said and done, the fender looks like it was made for the bike! I have it sitting 1/4″ off the tire now, instead off a gaping two inches. I also shorted the over all length for a more pleasing look.

’80 kz750 | where she stands

This is where she’s at. I’m waiting on some brake seals, then I can start test riding!!!

80′ kz750 | update

: I made a headlight bracket that also holds the speedo & tach, and made and attached some turn signal ears. Stoked on the way it turned out.

: Top view of dash.

: I wanted to keep the exhaust short. The bike came with this cool header, so I modified a silencer to fit inside the header, for some back preassure.

: Here is a shot of the electronics compartment, with the seat on.

I’ve been busy trying to get this thing going. I’m almost there!!!! I’m just waiting on some brake seals, then a little test riding!!!

80 kz750 | subframe

: Starting with the top hoop, I make my first bends.

: I make both sides simultaneously, and along the way I look for symmetry more times than I can count.

: I first assemble the top hoop off the frame. Then I weld it in as you see here.

: So far so good. Everything is lining up and looking straight.

: These are the slugs I made up to attach at the bottom of the frame.

: Made out of solid stock, they weren’t easy to bend, but I got them looking pretty good.

: I bent up the bottom supports, attaching them with the slugs I had made.

: Top view.

: Left side.

: I am more than happy with the way the bottom struts turned out.

: Looking good from all angles.

: Right side.

: Everything lined up amazingly!!!

: I filled in the under-tray, and finished off the back of the subframe.

I was really stoked on the way the subframe turned out!!! The suspension turned out great! Now on to the wiring, and seat-pan.

’80 KZ750 | gas tank

: I wanted to dish out the sides of the tank, so I cut out the shape I needed.

: This gave me great access to the inside of the tank. This was the best time to clean out the rust and hammer and dolly the dents.

: After all the cleanup work was done I started to make the panels that would fill in the sides.

: Panel by panel, the tank is filling in.

: I was making one panel at at time, working from side to side to make sure the tank was coming out symmetrical.

: All panels on both sides are tacked in at this point. I just need to weld them in fully.

: All burned in!!! Just a little clean up, pressure test, and time to start getting ready for paint.

So I started out with the original gas tank, and exploded it into a steel beach ball (hopefully the first and last time I do that). I did want to use the tank however. Lucky my local motorcycle salvage yard, Southwest Motorcycles, had what I needed!

I then started out with another stock KZ750 tank. From there I had a little work to do. The new used tank had some dents as well as some rust to address.