KX Riders

Maintenance & Technical => KX500 Aluminum Frame Conversion (AFC) => Topic started by: sintax on October 20, 2008, 03:14:21 PM

Title: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: sintax on October 20, 2008, 03:14:21 PM

Any pics of how you guys dig it would be killer.
Title: Re: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: BDI on October 20, 2008, 03:30:41 PM
 I made my head stay out of 1/8" steel, I don't think you would even need longer studs with a stock head. I thought you said you had the whole head stay thing handled :?
Title: Re: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: sintax on October 20, 2008, 03:45:25 PM

my thoughts were that i'd need to place in longer studs in the front 3 to allow me to run some plate under the nuts, and then build a mount off of that plate.

Is that now how you did it?
Title: Re: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: don46 on October 21, 2008, 03:03:21 AM
I machined a piece out of solid aluminum, and I did use longer studs in the front three, they came from a 86-88 KX 500 cylinder. The newer bikes, the 06-08 450 or the 04-05 250f chassis will allow for the use of the rear head stay. I also thought about using stainless steel for the front mount, I bought the material but never got around to it.

The first one I  built out of the 99-02 chassis I had to soften the tank to allow for the spark plug clearance and it took quite a bit, the second one I used a newer 250 2t plug which has a shorter ceramic and I didn't have to move it as much.

Good luck
Title: Re: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: sintax on October 21, 2008, 04:43:14 AM
Don: thats pretty much how I envisioned doing it.

BDI: Now you have me interested in how you did it. I saw a picture of your bike with the tank off, side shot, but could only see the brackets coming off the frame, not where it meets the head. Care to share some pictures?
Title: Re: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: sintax on October 22, 2008, 08:08:48 AM
Come on BDI, now you have me all curious. How about you share with the rest of the class how you did it.
Title: Re: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: AJ on October 23, 2008, 04:15:04 AM
a shorty plug that might help you guys with tank clearence

NGK  BR8ECMIX




Title: Re: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: BDI on October 23, 2008, 10:43:44 AM
That's very good advice on the plug AJ, I wish I would have known about those plugs when I built my Bike. I hope you guys realize how lucky you are to have this site. When I built my bike I had zero help.  As far as I knew, mine was the only one in the world. All I ever got from people was that it would never work and it couldn't be done. That would have stoped alot of guys from doing it but it drove me even harder just to prove I could do it. On my head stay I use all five of the head bolts on the front of the head. I was afraid that if I only used the front three over time, from chassis flex, the head stay would crack and fail or it would pull one stud out. The head stay I built took alot of design time and a couple of failures to make it fit. If I was to build another one I would change it again by 2mm, then it would be perfect. That's how precisly built it is. I feel sorry for anyone who trys to copy my head stay from pictures. I know their are some very talented people here that could do it but I gaurentee most of you would be way happier to just buy one allready made. The head stay I built was the hardest thing I did on this bike but that was my own fault I'm cursed with a sikness called perfectionism.
Title: Re: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: sintax on October 23, 2008, 02:37:28 PM
BDI:

Someone is out there making headstays for this project?
Title: Re: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: BDI on October 23, 2008, 03:06:39 PM
BDI:

Someone is out there making headstays for this project?

       That would be me. I thought I had mentioned that to you and you said you had it handled. :?
Title: Re: BDI, Don: Give me some head stay inspiration...
Post by: sintax on October 23, 2008, 03:10:00 PM
haha well i was just going to whip up a crappy little mount out of some scrap tube and plate i have laying around. I totally did not know you were producing finished pieces. I've seen your work and its always been first class. Please PM me the details.