Katana progress

Message

ronboskz650sr · Fri Nov 11, 2005 4:58 am

You are a silly man...

Congratulations, so far.

#22 Unread post by **Skier** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:10 pm

ronboskz650sr wrote:You are a silly man... Congratulations, so far.

I'm well aware I'm a silly person.

The GF reminds me of that a lot, too.

Progress: Kat is up and running. I cleaned the living hell out of my other set of carbs and moved the missing parts over from the old set to the new. She starts right up now, but it still looks to be lean at idle with the airbox on, air filter in and the pilot mixture screws turned three full rotations out. I'm not sure if backing it off any more will help or not, but I'll probably try that out later tonight.

ronboskz650sr · Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:20 pm

Skier wrote:...Filled the house with some good ol' white smoke.

I used to smoke...now I just burst into flames a little.

#24 Unread post by **Skier** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:24 pm

Next week I have off from school, so I will be braving sub-freezing temps to give the bike some road time after being down for around six months.

Frozen test-and-tune, here I come.

ronboskz650sr · Tue Nov 15, 2005 3:45 am

Bundle up...especially around the neck.

#26 Unread post by **Skier** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 2:12 pm

Running out of time to do things and I'm in the end of semester crunch, but I managed to get the needles and seats swapped out between the carbs. I need to fab up a new mount for my turn signals and license plate, as well as make a new license plate light so I can be all legal. Then, clean the biek up and get her out for testing and tuning the carbs. Chances are that will be next season, though, just not enough hours in a day.

#27 Unread post by **Skier** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:27 pm

Purchased most, if not all, the parts required for mounting my rear indicators, license plate and license plate light. Also received a clutch lever part I required after some operator-error problems with the last part. I mean, it was old!

I need to beg, borrow or steal the correct tool for adjusting idle mixtures on my carbs while the bike is running. Hopefully get that done soon. In the meantime I can take breaks from studying by making a mockup of my new rear mounts and whatnot.

I also picked up a new battery for my Radian, since I was getting tired of bump-starting it every single morning. New battery from WalMart is charging in the garage right now. Should be just about ready for me to brush the snow off the Rad in the morning and switch them before work.

#28 Unread post by **Skier** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:02 pm

Project is on indefinite hold for now. The semester ends for me in one week and I should be able to fab up a kind of turn signal/license plate mount. Might not be any pictures, I dropped my digital camera the other day. Let's just leave it at "all the king's horses and all the king's men..." :/

I was certainly one of the least fun ways I've blown a couple hundred bucks.

#29 Unread post by **Skier** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 7:35 pm

We're back in action, with more time and a new digicam.

The front of the bike is hanging with a 100% safe retention system:

Poof, front wheel off, fork brace and fender are off, and the forks follow with a touch of twisty-pully:

I seem to have horrible luck with hex-style bolts. One of the fork brace bolts was just stuck on there like nobody's business. After rounding it off, I had to soak it in PB Blaster, dremel a new slot in it and go to town with a screwdriver and hammer. I got it out, but it's seen better days:

Two of those four fork brace bolts are unusable, now. Going to replace them with regular bolts when I get my forks back. Speaking of the forks, here is what I am giving to a local motorcycle shop to take care of tomorrow:

I have a rough mockup of what I want for my new tailpiece. I've decided to make it out of aluminium, I should be able to find some flat stock I can bend and cut to what I would like.

Next up is going to be tires. I settled on some Metzeler Z6s, per recommendation of someone on katrider.com's forums. The CyberPoet purchased five different sets of tires and put 500 miles on each, back to back, and the Z6s came out on top.

It's a good thing three of my five classes this semester do not require a book, tiresunlimited is going to set my credit card on fire in the next two days.

#30 Unread post by **Skier** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 4:29 pm

The forks have been dropped off at the dealer. I should have them back in my hands by Friday. Meanwhile, I busied myself by working on the rearmount. Here's what I'm dealing with:

I made a quick mockup with some cardboard from a helmet box:

You can see where the PO had the tiny flushmounts mounted:

Mark the contours:

And cut the mockup, and place it on your sheet of aluminium:

Break out your trusty $20 dremel knockoff and go to town!

File the finger-shredding leftovers from the cuts:

Then bend, bend, bend. Make sure you have the piece rightside up so you don't bend the bottom and it looks all crappy now. I mean, just a word of advice, I certainly didn't do that. Then, mark where you will be putting in the mounting bolts:

Drill and test mount:

Here's what the final product should look like, only without me juggling the side fairing, rear indicator and camera:

I also have a license plate light I drilled holes for and just need to wire up. I really only have to drill the holes for the indicators, wire those up as well as the plate light and I should be ready to paint it.

Next up: ordering some new tires!