Hydraulic Clutch Converstion

Converting to an hydraulic clutch is one of the best mods for a Z1300 as the they are famous for snapping cables due to the sheer size of the clutch & the strong springs. It makes the clutch much lighter & adds feel.
You need a ZRX1100/1200 or ZZR1100/1200 master cylinder & slave cylinder too & a length of fluid line the same as your clutch cable.
Its quite a cheap job if you do it properly.


You need to make the plate yourself from 6mm alloy plate.
The hole for the slave cylinder needs to be 43mm diameter & 6 mm from the outer edge.
Once you have it made just offer up the original cover plate with the 3 holes in it and mark it for position of the 3 holes.
Do the same with the cylinder once in the 43mm hole.

I once had a number made & sold them on Ebay but some people just could not understand how to carry out the work & I spent hours on the phone or emailing people........so stopped after that !

1 X PLATE
1 X M6 BUTTON HEAD ALLEN BOLT.
1 X M6 NUT





PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU FIT THE M6 BUTTON HEAD ALLEN BOLT PROVIDED IN THE KIT THROUGH THE PLATE FROM BEHIND AS SHOWN IN THE PICTURE BELOW. IT MUST BE FITTED THIS WAY TO AVOID CONTACT WITH THE CLUTCH CASING.





BELOW IS AN OUTSIDE VIEW OF THE PLATE WITH SLAVE CYLINDER FITTED.
YOU WILL NEED TO FIND ANOTHER M6 BOLT TO GO THROUGH THE HOLE THE ARROW IS POINTING TO, AND AN M6 NUT FOR THE BACK.





ONCE BOTH M6 BOLTS AND M6 NUTS ARE TIGHTENED, YOU NEED TO OFFER THE UNIT UPTO THE SIDE OF THE ENGINE CLUTCH CASING, MAKING SURE YOU HAVE THE SLAVE CYLINDER DIRECTLY INFRONT OF THE TOP OF THE CLUTCH ADJUSTER BOLT. YOU MUST FIRST REMOVE THE ORIGINAL SMALL CABLE LEVER FROM THE ADJUSTER BOLT AND ADJUST IT AS DESCRIBED IN THE KAWASAKI MANUAL BEFORE YOU FIT THE UNIT.






ONCE THE UNIT IS FLUSH ALL AROUND WITH THE ENGINE CLUTCH CASING, YOU THEN INSTALL THE FLUID LINE, HANDLEBAR MASTER CYLINDER AND BLEED NIPPLE, THEN BLEED AS YOU WOULD A NORMAL BRAKE SYSTEM.

No more sitting at the side of the road with a snapped clutch cable !!

Pete F

Thanks for submitting that Pete! It's elegant!

Bill

I would love to have one and I promise I won`t email or call you Pete. I would get mine chromed after I clean everything up!

That's a nice mod and a really nice write-up, I'm going to get started on that today! Another benefit will be cable routing and length - I've fitted a lower bar and the clutch cable routing has been a pain - a custom length hydraulic line will be a nice solution.

Is the effort at the lever noticeably different?

OK,
For those of us who want to carry out this conversion you need the following:-

ZZR/ZRX1100/1200 Master Cylinder (or similar) & Slave Cylinder (must be off these models).
1 x Length of fluid line & banjo fittings.
Brake & Clutch Fluid.

You can buy all the above on Ebay quite cheap.

The only part you need to make is shown below. Any metal fabricator with a laser cutter can make this very easily.







Once you have the above plate made, you need to use the original cover plate (with 3 holes) as a template for making the 3 holes in this new plate.
The part you need to be careful with first is the very TOP bolt hole also needs to line up with the top mounting hole on the slave cylinder. DO THIS VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE DRILLING HOLES.

This means positioning the plate carefully into place to ensure the CLUTCH ADJUSTMENT BOLT IS DEAD CENTRE of the 43mm hole, as when the cylinder is bolted in the hole, the centre of the piston must be as close to centre of the adjuster bolt to push it correctly. You may also need to use a spacer INSIDE the piston to take up the gap between it & the adjuster bolt.

This is the reason why you dont just get the 3 holes put in the plate upfront........it needs to be done with the bike present.

All the holes you drill in the plate need to be 7mm.

All the clues are in the guide above...........look at the photos carefully & it should make sense.

Pete F
UK

Can you use the stock cover to do this or isn`t there room in the back for clearance or because it might not be flat ? I cant get to my garage to take a look at it because of all the snow.

Pete,

The main reason you dont or cannot use the original cover is that it is "domed" & you need a flat surface to mount the slave cylinder onto with its 3 bolts.

Pete F