Kawasaki ZX-10R Forum banner

Lanister's Track Build

Gen 4: 2011-15 
40K views 176 replies 30 participants last post by  Lanister 
#1 · (Edited)
So I've been working on my 2011 zx10 over the winter and wanted to share my progress. Most of the major stuff is done and now I'm just working out minor details. It's been a lot of fun and I can't wait to ride it at Laguna in 3 weeks.

So I bought this thing is 650 miles and about 70% converted to track mode. Here's goods list:

Ohlins 30mm fork cartidges
Ohlins TTX MK2 shock
Dan Kyle rear linkage
Re-valved steering damper
Accossato Master Brake Cylinder
Galfer Lines
ECU Flash by Archer with 3 custom maps (MR12 race fuel, Slip-on on pump gas, and full stock exhaust for Laguna Seca days)
Bazzaz QS4
M4 standard slip-on exhaust
Vortex rearsets
Tightails fairing stay
CRC body work with tall race wind screen
Reactive wheel spacers
Reactive rear caliper bracket
Rifleman's 1/5 throttle mod
Driven pair valve plates
Driven sprockets (16/44 or 45 depending on track)
DID Gold chain
GB racing engine covers
Cox radiator guard
Driven Race Gas Cap
Driven Block off plates
Woodcraft frame sliders
Rethnal clip-ons
45tf rectifier bracket

Functionally speaking, the bike is done. Now I'm just working on fitting the body work and making sure it clears everything sufficiently before I send it off to paint. The paint scheme is also in design phase but it's coming along.
 

Attachments

See less See more
2
#3 ·
Oh ya, I have a full stock system standing-by for Laguna days. This is why I went with the M4 slip-on rather than a full system, as it allows me to keep the stock headers (which are pretty respectable) and just bolt up the stock exhaust in less than 5 minutes. In addition, I am having a db-killer insert made for the stock pipe to further re-direct the sound away from the sound booth. It's silly but I absolutely love that track to not go there because of sound--especially since I live 45 minutes from the track.
 
#6 ·
I would be disgusted with my bike brother. I'm gonna call Rich and have him send me a dB killer. I'll put my 35mm insert with the dB killer and see if I can make it under 92.
 
#8 ·
Shit.. 90 dB?? fuck I ain't passing then. Screw laguna I'll just do BW, Sears point, and T-Hill. AFM doesn't race laguna anyway LOL
 
#10 · (Edited)
We have a sound restriction at our track here a bit higher than Laguna at 94db limit. County meter is 99db. The track owner imposed the 94db limit to make sure that we don't trip the county meter. 750 dollar fine for each offense. Atmospheric conditions play a big part in noise generation. My stock exhaust on my Gen 1 tripped 89 at the sound check but last track day I posted a 98db reading and got blacked flagged had to run by the meter a gear higher to keep it under 94db. My Gen 4 tripped the meter at 91db with stock exhaust still to much for Laguna which sucks because I would really like to ride that track. :)
 
#19 ·
What happened to the good old days in Cali? Back in the 70's is where everything custom came from Cali! All the street rods, choppers and cool stuff! Everyone wanted to live there. Now all the wacko liberals ruined the state. Sorry for the post jack! Ducati's are everywhere in San Fran so I don't see how they get away with their exhaust?
 
#25 ·
Got a couple of cool bits going in.

- Reactive Engineering Rear Caliper holder bracket for quick wheel changes
- Reactive Engineering Captive wheel spacers for even less-hassle wheel changes (front and rear).

I have a lot of track time planned for this season so these should be well worth the investment. I'll post up a few pics once I'm done
 
#28 ·
Got a couple of cool bits going in.

- Reactive Engineering Rear Caliper holder bracket for quick wheel changes
- Reactive Engineering Captive wheel spacers for even less-hassle wheel changes (front and rear).
Those are nice... thinking about picking the one with the lightech chain adjusters myself
 
#30 ·
Here's a quick snap of the caliper holder bracket, very nice setup and really appreciate the pre-drilled bolt. The installation requires that the axle is reversed so this allowed me to make one safety wire to cover two parts.

Got a set of fresh Dunlops GPAs installed. Captive spacers are a dream to work with.

Modified the lower fairing to make room for the exhaust pipe and now the whole set is off to the painters.
 

Attachments

#32 · (Edited)
A couple more updates.

I spent some time this weekend to relocate the rectifier into the space above the front sprocket. It was a bit of a challenge since I had to extend the wiring harness to reach all the way there. I had to source out the correct gauge wires and all the bits to properly connect and insulate them. The bracket was also a bit interesting as there's nearly no mounting bolts to share. The sprocket cover bolt is the only one, which kind of sucks. I found another mounting spot on the inside of the frame (just above where rectifier sits), which can be used as additional point of support with a properly shaped bracket. In the end, it came out very nice and clean and now I have a proper mounting spot for the left side fairing.

The bodywork project I am pretty excited about. The plan is to have a solid (gloss black) base color and white number plates professionally painted and sealed with a clear coat, which will be done on by Thursday. The rest of the design I will apply through vinyl wrap, which I can choose colors for, design, and most importantly, make changes to as I please. Definitely no time, or real pressing need, to get the vinyl layer done before Laguna this weekend but it's something I'll work on slowly throughout the early season.

Here's my rough design idea for the vinyl layer so far.
 

Attachments

#33 ·
I just want to point out that you did not color the swingarm/muffler part red, yet you painted the rear stand red lol.

I like the color scheme you have going, but I think it could use a stripe or 2 somewhere to accent the red/black. seems a bit bland to me as you laid it out there, then again there isntt any shading since its all the same color.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Well, my painter didn't come through in time for Laguna Seca weekend. Good thing I still have the Superstock style bodywork that the bike came with so I still get to ride!

So after several months in development, at least mechanically, she's ready to roll. Unfortunately, the belly pan doesn't fit over the catalytic converter so we get to ride SV style. The good part is that the bodywork fits very snug without the lower and only needed a couple of zip ties around the radiator to keep it from vibrating. The exhaust insert was custom made by Jay Murray and it's an extra insurance from getting flagged for sound. It's ugly but as long as I can go WOT past the sound booth, that couldn't care any less for how it looks. Other than that, a fresh set of Dunlop GPAs; medium front and medium+ rear should hold up well both days. I am running 16/45 sprocket ratio, which is the proven combination for Sears Raceway, which is known to be comparable with Laguna. But, just in case, I'm bringing my 44 sprocket. Overall, this is going to be a big shakedown for the bike and myself since I haven't ridden in 4 months. I've made a lot of changes to the bike so I am certain things will need messing around with at least a little.

Here are some of the notable changes:

- Complete overhaul of the Ohlins suspension and geometry by MC Technologies. Front springs are 1.0 and rear spring is 105. The shock was re-valved based on another well-developed zx10 raced in the AFM. Front was lowered.

- Archer ECU flash with 3 maps for different exhaust/power configurations

- Replaced stock gearing with Driven/DID 520

- Bazzaz QS4 and Woodcraft shift lever for GP shift

- Reactive Engineering captive spacers

- Reactive Engineering rear caliper bracket

- Relocated rectifier (harness lengthened)

- Relocated foot pegs for my dimensions

- Brake fluid line from reservoir to MC replaced with Tygon (see through)

- Brake fluid flush and bleed

- Race fairing stay

- CRC SBK bodywork (not pictured)

- M4 Standard mount slip-on - eliminating cat (not pictured)

- Woodcraft frame sliders

- Antifreeze replaced with water-wetter+distilled water solution

- Rifleman's 1/5 throttle mod
 

Attachments

#36 ·
Well, my painter didn't come through in time for Laguna Seca weekend. Good thing I still have the Superstock style bodywork that the bike came with so I still get to ride!

So after several months in development, at least mechanically, she's ready to roll. Unfortunately, the belly pan doesn't fit over the catalytic converter so we get to ride SV style. The good part is that the bodywork fits very snug without the lower and only needed a couple of zip ties around the radiator to keep it from vibrating. The exhaust insert was custom made by Jim Murray and it's an extra insurance from getting flagged for sound. It's ugly but as long as I can go WOT past the sound booth, that couldn't care any less for how it looks. Other than that, a fresh set of Dunlop GPAs; medium front and medium+ rear should hold up well both days. I am running 16/45 sprocket ratio, which is the proven combination for Sears Raceway, which is known to be comparable with Laguna. But, just in case, I'm bringing my 44 sprocket. Overall, this is going to be a big shakedown for the bike and myself since I haven't ridden in 4 months. I've made a lot of changes to the bike so I am certain things will need messing around with at least a little.

Here are some of the notable changes:

- Complete overhaul of the Ohlins suspension and geometry by MC Technologies. Front springs are 1.0 and rear spring is 105. The shock was re-valved based on another well-developed zx10 raced in the AFM. Front was lowered.

- Archer ECU flash with 3 maps for different exhaust/power configurations

- Replaced stock gearing with Driven/DID 520

- Bazzaz QS4 and Woodcraft shift lever for GP shift

- Reactive Engineering captive spacers

- Reactive Engineering rear caliper bracket

- Relocated rectifier (harness lengthened)

- Relocated foot pegs for my dimensions

- Brake fluid line from reservoir to MC replaced with Tygon

- Brake fluid flush and bleed

- Race fairing stay

- CRC SBK bodywork (not pictured)

- M4 Standard mount slip-on - eliminating cat (not pictured)

- Woodcraft frame sliders

- Antifreeze replaced with water-wetter+distilled water solution

- Rifleman's 1/5 throttle mod
Did you get that gearing from Lauritzen or Schwartz?

Coming out of T11, I was fighting to control wheelies with 16,42.
Definitely curious to hear your report on the bike :thumbsup:
 
#38 · (Edited)
A quick update on how things went over two days at Laguna Seca. First of all, we really lucked out with the weather. It was in the 80s both days with a very light breeze so track conditions couldn't have been more perfect.

After introducing a lot of changes to the bike over the winter, I was anticipating for issues to come up--but surprisingly absolutely nothing went wrong. I put on close to 400 miles of running ~1:38 pace with zero issues.

The only thing I ended up messing about with is rearset positioning to tweak my riding position and improve comfort.

The stock exhaust combo with Jay Murray insert ended up being the perfect formula. I ran a free sound check at the beginning of the day and registered 88.7db going past the sound booth absolutely pinned and on the red line. Although it was fairly close, I was able to run absolutely care-free both days. At the end of day two, the temperature dropped from a bit of ocean breeze (and air density changed) and my (2012 zx10) buddy with a stock exhaust (without an insert) got meat-balled for going over the sound limit--after running without an issue most of the day. So this shows that a stock zx10 exhaust is right on the limit and the insert shaves off just enough to squeak by even when it gets colder. I should also mention that the insert that Jay Murray made for me is mostly a re-director of sound away from the sound both so it doesn't introduce any further restriction. It was absolutely worth the hassle and every penny.

As with some people here, I had my doubts about the viability of the 16/45 gearing. Some people have implied that the bike would be a bit of a wild bronco with such a short ratio. Naturally, going -1/+6 is a pretty crazy move. With that in mind, I had to trust the feedback of two very fast AFM riders who have been developing their zx10s for the past two seasons. And so, they were right. The gearing was absolutely spot-on for Laguna. I ran in the same gears as I have in the past on my 600 all around the track, with exception of T11, which I took in 2nd gear. For safety reasons, I ran the least invasive Traction Control setting 1, which helped keep the front wheel down in a few spots but overall it was just something to provide a bit of mental comfort. My next plan is to run without traction control to see what it's like untamed.

This was also my first time running the bike after the Archer ECU flash with custom mapping. The results were very positive and at no point did the bike have performance issues or surprises, at least with the map designed for stock exhaust. I will be testing my slip-on map in a few week's time at Thunderhill. The power delivery was very predictable and manageable.

The only challenging aspect of bike's ride-ability was initial throttle response, which seemed noticeably abrupt. In some places on the track, my attention was drawn to being extra careful with my wrist, which was a bit of a distraction. The idea of upsetting the bike while leaned over is not very comforting to me. This obviously doesn't take away from the fact that I need to keep working to improve my fine throttle control. But after my friend took my bike out and came back mentioning the same issue, I knew that it wasn't entirely my problem.

Knowing that the fuel cut restriction has been disabled in the ECU, I reckon that the issue is probably between the map and the mechanical operation of the throttle. I could be wrong but it seems as though the Rifleman's 1/5 mod may have partly contributed to the poorer initial throttle sensitivity. It makes sense since the distance to initiate throttle opening has been shortened so it demands a finer input to control it. So I've decided to go the route of the Motion Pro rev2 throttle kit, which offers a progressive style reel, where the initial roll-on rate is slow but at the top it's fast. I used to have this kit on my R6 and I thought it worked really well so I hope it with the issue. Having said all that, I'll say that Rifleman's mod is absolutely fine and it does the job very well. I did enjoy the short throw to WOT and if I had no other options, I would be totally fine riding the way it is.
 
#39 ·
I must've missed you out there. Glad to see you ate getting her whete you want.

I absolutely hated that track for some reason. Never again for me
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top