ROOK!!!!!
So it begins. The first attempt at project race tail. The weight loss alone of removing all that light, & seat stuff is amazing. The seat latch mechanism is gone as well. I should weigh the pile of parts and hardware.been looking at carbon fiber laminating, but I am probably going to do this with fiberglass.

This is going to be a commitment. I'm curious to see what you come up with. Why not just make fiberglass parts to cover where the lights were? Are you stuck on the pointy tail look?

Yes, the pointy tail look is too cool, gotta try to achieve that. The overall width, thickness, shape and weight of the whole zx14 tail is porky. While on the street it looks just right, but at the track, too fat. Further, with some race plastics up front, I would love to have folks ask; what is that bike? Got pretty deep in today. Will be slinging fiberglass in the next day or two. I am still scratching my head about how to sleeve the forward seat mount tangs on the tank as the seat pan will be integral with the tail. Nothing but some 1.25” foam for the seat pad when done.

Nothing but some 1.25” foam for the seat pad when done.

Finally you will achieve the wasp tail look the 14 is begging to have. I don't think I'll go as far as you but I'll carve a stock seat out to next to nothing. I might cover the whole seat area with foam and cut holes for the seat hooks to fit through. A new tank is too expensive. You don't want to cut those off unless you know for sure this is what you want. You can't weld on a gas tank. Think about resale. Maybe buy a used gas tank if you have to cut those tangs off. I can' wait to see this. You're making me look bad with your fast work. I'm still dawdling on my switches.

ironhead racing ZX-14R race tail! Save that armature and take some orders!

ROOK!!!!
Yessir, not going to remove seat tangs. Just trying to cypher a good sleeve material that i can capture with the fiberglass and have it work similar to the stock seat pan. The rear of the tail uses 3/8 ss bolts cut down to use as studs that engage the rubber isolator bungs for the tailight mount. They face forward so the hope is those and the seat tang engage up front will make a slide back-remove/ slide forward-install setup. It also bolts to the helmet hook bolts and where the undertail meets stock undertail. Very solid. I am also eager to try a pink foam cut w a hot wire type form. Most cowl fab stuff I’ve researched uses this style to make a plug. Then a form from the plug, then the ginal piece from the form. The need to split the final in two w a flange is my reservation. Seems like a PITA.[img]http

Just trying to cypher a good sleeve material that i can capture with the fiberglass and have it work similar to the stock seat pan.

Oh--OK--that's what I think I'd plan to do. LOL I see ya just have a black foam pad on the tank now so I thought that was going to be your seat! You could! It don't get no skinnier than that! I would find 1/4" high or so of fiberglass maybe corrugated for strength acceptable. I don't even know if it needs to be corrugated, maybe for that area between the tail and the fuel tank where the seat is not supported.

That rubber tubing looks as good as anything to receive the hooks. I might plan to bolt the closed ends into the fiberglass, not just mold around them. I'm not sure fiberglass will stick to rubber. It sticks to itself but not plastic, I hear.

Godsspeed. That is reminiscent of the ZX-12. Great O-mage!

I am also eager to try a pink foam cut w a hot wire type form. Most cowl fab stuff I’ve researched uses this style to make a plug.

So you have your proto there and from that you make a mold with what IDK...fiberglass with some kind of mold release agent? Whatever it is, it will have to be very sturdy to resist flexing when turn it over to cast the final piece. You might want to make a mother mold which is usually plaster in art apps but for this, I'd think small blocks of foam glued one on top of the other would do just fine and not risk reacting with the aluminum like plaster might.

I have been planning to make a hugger for years following a similar process. Maybe one day I will.

* Last updated by: Rook on 6/11/2018 @ 1:22 PM *

I have pulled the wire form completely off to size it up. The thing is very light and rigid. This pic from the vid of Brian Van taking off on a track bike from the STG opening sequence has a tail that is pulling me in a diff direction...

This race tail look pretty light and rigid too!

OOO those are some nice tails! I think I see a Nerf dart launcher on that super soaker too!

The idea of a shorter tail on the 14 is interesting. I wouldn't go as far as chopping the frame down. You could let the back of the tail frame stick out and it would be very similar to what Van the man has going on on his.

Soooo, temporary delay as I had to put her back together for a Blackhawk Farms Raceway track day weekend coming up next Saturday & Sunday. Two day track jam! I am so ready for this. I removed my kickstand, was shocked to feel just how heavy that assembly is, wow! The race tail project is back on after this track session. The wire form I made is not getting the look I am after. I am going to experiment with foam carving in hopes of making a plug for a mold I like.
ROOK!!!!!
Hey man, I was surfing around researching oil pump upgrades. The Schnitz package was calling my name. I read some very logical ideas about this that did not support running the gear and the valve. Just the stiffer cover. This thread was on the other zx1441 forum. I ran into some posts you did there with a pic of the nut on the clutch basket...have you changed your stock oil pump setup at all? Higher capacity pan, diff gear, valve, shim, anything?

have you changed your stock oil pump setup at all? Higher capacity pan, diff gear, valve, shim, anything?

http://zx1441r.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3587

What I got from my research is that nobody knows for sure if increasing the oil pressure is necessary but many owners feel it is a wise move to go with the billet cover. I had on one of my two threads at zx1441r.com very reliable advice from a guy who ran the pump with an electric drill with the clutch cover off. The stock cover gushed oil because it flexes from the force of the pump. Is this a defect.. Or is the stock cover supposed to leak back to pan as a sort of low tech pressure relief valve? Then the motor turns even faster and the high tech relief valve opens in addition to the leakage. If that was the way Kaw designed it, seems to me putting a non leaking oil pump cover would cause the oil pressure to rise faster than intended and the stock pressure relief valve would open at a lower rpm than intended. Either way, you got your 90 psi. Just you got it at lower rpm with the billet cover. Is that safer?? IDK. Probably makes little difference but I put a billet cover on mine since I was in there. You need to tear the whole clutch out. I would suggest you wait until you need to do that before bothering with the oil pump cover on a NA bike but that's up to you. I have detailed tutorials on everything and the 14R clutch is not too much different than the gen1.

http://zx14ninjaforum.com/messages.cfm?threadid=3F089BE2-1B78-59F6-026121F7C382F7C0

As for an aftermarket relief valve, that just has a stiffer spring so the valve tolerates higher pressure before it opens. It increases the peak pressure the system provides. Seems to me that is causing the pump to work harder and robbing a little power but may be worthwhile for nitrous or boost. Nobody knows for sure. It does not increase the volume of oil being delivered which is the real key to increasing lubrication. I will probably install an after market relief valve when I take my oil pan off soon. You can also shim the spring in a stock relief valve to do the same thing.

As for the gear, I would probably never do that. Again, no increase in volume. Definitely working the pump harder at all rpm and causing parasitic drag. It's not worth it unless the oil ports are enlarged. I don't believe it's doing anything but eating up power and straining the oil pump.

I can't remember the exact comment I read (maybe it's in the thread I linked) but the stock oiling system is probably more than adequate for most applications. The only problems are the chance of oil starvation doing high long wheelies and of course, the old spun rod bearing that has cropped up from time to time. Higher oil pressure won't cure either of those I do not believe.

* Last updated by: Rook on 6/16/2018 @ 10:57 PM *