Streetfighter RZV Roller

[Smoker]

I've got a few pics that show the beginning of a one-off swingarm jig.

It's holding the custom R6 swingarm made by RGVsteve.

Brackets to hold the pivot bolt and linkage bolt are welded to a thick steel plate. Rear axle support is next.

Should be able to post pics, but want to check with Sebastian first.

REALLY happy that construction has started. Best medicine for me!

[Smoker]

Not able to post custom swingarm pics, yet - but very grateful to have pics myself.

Will give a general description of progress, but no details, yet.

Wow!!

Modified R6 swingarm is out of the jig. Supports for the rear axle and chain adjuster bolts (threaded through the arm) are now welded on. He also made some custom spacers to hold the rear swingarm/axle in the jig.

[Smoker]

Man, I want to post pics, but have to respect the fabricator's wishes.

Should have mentioned last time, he welded end-plates onto the jig, so that locating bolts can be threaded through the chain adjuster bolts in the CNC axle blocks for more accuracy.

Sebastian has some cool tools in the pics. Has digital measuring tools that clamp to the jig base plate and measure to .0000 inch. Took critical measurements off the R6 arm before removing it from the jig.

A couple of days after my last post, I received pics of a custom aluminum pivot tube. New OEM bearings and new OEM internal bush installed. Ends machined to fit the (titanium) washers and new OEM end caps. He re-leveled and tuned up his lathe before attempting to cut the bearing bores. Appears that he's doing a really great job.

The front sides of the CNC axle blocks are now drilled and tapped for tubing support blocks. Difficult because of the thin wall left between the axle block cut-outs. Support blocks were turned on the lathe and bolted on.

Got photos of the first tubing bends, which is the upper brace. Looks damn good.
Also received pics of the left side main tubing. Bent, but not cut to length, yet.

Hope things continue to go well!

[JonW]

Sounds very promising Pete.

[cobraace]

Good to hear

[Smoker]

Update.

Swingarm looks interesting and is going through design changes for aesthetics and to facilitate fabrication.

The right side is gull-wing design. Top tube is the upper brace, bottom tube curves up and then curves down to the pivot tube. There's nothing in the place where the linkage brackets would normally be welded.

So, looks like there will be 2 supports for the upper brace, and the 2 linkage brackets will be welded to them. Hope it works out.

Waiting now for the linkage brackets to be water-jet cut. Sebastian made CAD drawings for the brackets and 3D printed them to get a good look. The design looks really cool.

All the main tubes are done. Next will be some bracing and gussetting. No idea about the chain slider, yet. Hopefully, something machined out of delrin. Nothing is welded, yet.

RGVsteve told me himself that he doesn't want to make any more R6 conversion swingarms. Since Sebastian now has a good jig, he could easily fab up R6 arms for the RZ500.

I told Seb people are going to want to see pics of his work, to be interested. Maybe I'll be able to post some pics soon.

[Smoker]

Okay. Already posted about the sick axle blocks machined by dbdesigns that match the OEM frame.

RGVsteve has done over 90 R6 conversion arms for RZ/RZV500s. I'm sure mine is one of the last.

The idea was to copy the R6 conversion arm, instead of the OEM swingarm.

Seeb built a one-off jig, using the R6 conversion arm.









Extremely accurate measurements were taken.



And then the fun begins.

[Jeff B]

Nice jig! I can almost picture the swingarm in that last pic. I hope the welding doesn't mess up too much of your highly polished surface finishes.

[Smoker]

One-off pivot tube.

Critical measuring and machining, so the bearings will press in properly.



OEM bearings and internal bush properly fitted.



Ready for bent tubing.

[JonW]

Exciting! Like an episode of How Its Made lol

[Smoker]

Sorry, almost ready for bent tubing.

Seeb turned 4 tubing support pucks, drilled and threaded the axle blocks, and bolted them on.

[Smoker]

Upper brace.



Left side tube.

[Smoker]

Right side is gull-wing style for GP style expansion chambers.

Linkage brackets will connect to the upper brace supports for simplicity, and to preserve space for pipes. I love the look, and think it's a unique setup.



Some SEBSPEED voodoo.



Now we have these beauties, cut by water-jet.

[Smoker]

Tubes are looking good!

[Smoker]

Nice jig! I can almost picture the swingarm in that last pic. I hope the welding doesn't mess up too much of your highly polished surface finishes.

The polished surface will definitely get messed up around the welded area.

This is the proper way to do it. Check out my custom polished exhaust pipes in other threads. Tons of welding going on, but we still start with polished metal.

Much more difficult to fully polish these parts after fabrication. This way, just the welded areas need to be polished.