I have to thank

[Harvy]

Garth........for collecting my FZ1 forks from the seller in Portland and storing them while I figured out what to do with them......and organising freight to Kentucky for me.
Bill P........ for the advice on what to do with them, and then for doing it.
Marsh ........ for keeping them at his place and then having them freighted to me.



OK the last thankyou to Marsh is only half true.....they are still at his place, but I thought I better jump in before I forgot.

So a first for an Aus FJ (as far as I know) as coming closer.

Found in Aus......... 2002 FZ1 front and rear wheels, $300 including tyres, rotors, sprocket and cushdrive, axles and spacers.
Found in USA......... front fender
Spare triple tree and top clamp machined to accept 43mm legs.

Still to do..........
I've yet to decide what to do for handle bars, but am leaning to just having the OEM bars machined to 43mm (thanks for the info that has me leaning in this direction Bill).
Decide what model Acewell speedo to install.......I'm thinking one of the round units to just replace the speedo in the cluster, and leave the rest of the instruments OEM.
Finish painting the plastics/tank.

ongoing:

Install new FP emulsion tubes and jets to replace the DJ jets in there already.......then balance and sync.
Pay Marc for the D2000 ignition and get it installed.


Harvy

[fj1289]

Decide what model Acewell speedo to install.......I'm thinking one of the round units to just replace the speedo in the cluster, and leave the rest of the instruments OEM.

Harvey - I do not know what the bottom ends of FZ1 fork tubes look like, but this worked on the R1 forks:
Front wheel and speedo drive from YZF-1000 "ThunderAce"
Machined (I THINK) 8mm off the inside of the left fork leg.  The R1 forks have a rather pronounced boss cast into the left fork leg (almost like a built in spacer) - by machining it nearly flat (about 1 or 2 mm remains) there is room to install the speedo drive and keep the stock FJ speedo cable and speedo.  Again, not sure if it will work the same for the FZ1 fork lowers or not.  The ThunderAce rim is the only one I ever found that had the "new" brake rotors and still retained the speedo drive.  I found this info several years ago on a writeup about swapping R1 forks on a TRX850.

Good luck!

[Harvy]

Harvey - I do not know what the bottom ends of FZ1 fork tubes look like, but this worked on the R1 forks:
Front wheel and speedo drive from YZF-1000 "ThunderAce"
Machined (I THINK) 8mm off the inside of the left fork leg.  The R1 forks have a rather pronounced boss cast into the left fork leg (almost like a built in spacer) - by machining it nearly flat (about 1 or 2 mm remains) there is room to install the speedo drive and keep the stock FJ speedo cable and speedo.  Again, not sure if it will work the same for the FZ1 fork lowers or not.  The ThunderAce rim is the only one I ever found that had the "new" brake rotors and still retained the speedo drive.  I found this info several years ago on a writeup about swapping R1 forks on a TRX850.

Good luck!

I don't know either......I think maybe the Thunderace wheel was maybe an intermediate step between the old closed in hub type FJ wheels and the "spider" hub newer wheels?
Thanks for the info mate, but I think I'm going to stick with what i have now. Was hard enough getting FZ1 wheels here in Aus.........probably even harder finding a Thunderace wheel here.

Cheers
Harvy

[fj1289]

As I understand it, ThunderAce wheels litter the countyside in Europe.  Of course it was only in the US for one year so they are rare as hen's teeth here!

I like your idea to put the new speedo inside the gauge pod.  Should make for a really nice setup.

Good luck!
Chris

[Harvy]

Thanks Chris...... I think I may have a winner here:

http://www.atrol.com/cablex.htm

It takes a signal from a magnetic pickup and converts it back into a cable drive for the OEM speedo.

I've emailed the company for details.

Will post results of my enquiries.

Harvy

[Harvy]

Almost done  

Observed:

'91 triple clamp is different to '90.
My OEM triple clamp is made of steel and has 1 threaded bolt hole for the pinch bolts in either side.
The '90 clamp is aluminium and has 2 non-threaded pinch bolt holes in either side.

Handlebars different.
My OEM handlebars had holes bored in them to accept locating lugs on control pods and throttle twist piece.
Arnie's bars  (not sure of year) had no such holes..... they do now!


Apart from the above the swap went smoothly.
I just have to bleed the front brakes (another pair of hands required, but I was on my own) and all is good to go.

Thanks for the offer Benny...... I didn't get started on the job till Sunday afternoon...hope you enjoyed your range ride!
Next Sunday is looking good!

Bill P........ when you have time mate, can you please let me know what I have in these forks?

Cheers all........
Harvy

[Harvy]

Went for my first ride with the new forks yesterday.

I was concerned at first that the bike seemed to want to tip into corners........then I realised I had not checked the pressure in the front tyre......it was on 16PSI.....no wonder.

So with the correct pressure (36psi in my case) I decided that a run down the highway was probably a good first outing....... 60Kms later all was running sweetly so headed for the hills with a couple of new found buddies.

It was great!
I am one happy camper.

For any of you folks out there that want to do the FZ1 fork swap........Bill (The Fan) did a very nice job on them, and considering he has never met me, set them up just right......... all from the PMs we sent backward and forward.....

Still have to install a cheap mountain bike speedo I found for a good price..... and am still considering the in cluster clock replacement alternatives.

Cheers
Harvy

[Yamifj1200]

"Still have to install a cheap mountain bike speedo I found for a good price..... and am still considering the in cluster clock replacement alternatives."


Harvy,
Pick up a cheap Garmin GPS, most I have seen have a speedometer function thats very accurate. They also give you many other useful functions I have found very helpful. Just a thought...

Eric M

[Harvy]

Yes Eric..... I've also considered a GPS, but I really would like to keep the cluster as is with just the change of speedo clock......... I know its a bit strange what with the paint job and the mods front and rear.......but thats me....... a little strange.

[Yamifj1200]

Yes Eric..... I've also considered a GPS, but I really would like to keep the cluster as is with just the change of speedo clock......... I know its a bit strange what with the paint job and the mods front and rear.......but thats me....... a little strange.

Right on Harvy, it was just a brain fart on my part..

Eric M

[andyb]

Or go whole hog and replace the entire dash, updating and modernizing... Could be really purty...

[Arnie]

Harvy,

Congrats on getting the new front end on and right.
After you've spent some time with it, give us a proper review of how it differs from both the orignal and your RTE & properly sprung forks.

Cheers,
Arnie

[islandbum]

Hi Harvy
glad to hear the swap went well buddy
did you do the swap because your front end was cautus or just to get a inprovement?
if their was nothing wrong with what you replaced.....
is it up for sale?
then again even if it needs work its gotta be a improvement on the 86 set up