putting my 400 where it belongs

[briyenkieth]

fabricated everything myself. Well more or less, I cheated a bit, had the steel yard make the bends for me. Didn't want to buy a tube bender. Otherwise all me. Thanks

[briyenkieth]

charging system is wired up. Thank you Radio Shack. The rear fender is under way. Old holes welded up and ground flush, even skimed a bit of bondo over it. Pretty productive day in all, even managed to get a skate session in. I think tomorrow I'll try for the starter circuit and possibly the ignition system. I'll edit a pic into this post after I get it in photobucket.

[Jethro]

Your sig is funny!! Trust me I'm a professional... LOL

[briyenkieth]

Thank you. So today I got some more done. Finished up the starter circuit and started the rest. Wait till you guys see this. Pretty slick if I say so. Everything is shrink tubed up and running in nice tight lines out of sight for the most part. Made another trip to the local radio shack for some swithches, momentary and on-off-on. The momentary obviously for the starter and the other for the headlight. I put them under the seat on the gusset, which was as thick as the thread on the switches. Of course I firured that out after I drilled the first hole. Now for the first time my lack of available tools gave me a great solution. My drill only holds a 3/8 bit and the holes needed to be 1/2, enter the UNI bit. Now the uni works in steps and the plate is thicker than the step, so I counter sunk the switches. From ?$@& to ?$9& yeah! Cleaner than I would ever dreamed. I got so lucky. Just need a few connector and shrink tube and it's wired up. Pics to come.

[briyenkieth]

just need to solder a few more wires and I have a harness even the factory would approve. The cleanest one to date and i have done some nice ones.

[briyenkieth]

so this is what I've gotten done as of late. All that is left is to find eight gauge wire for the battery and hook up the lights.

[Nerobro]

I love it. 90% of the chopper jobs on GS's are complete, utter crap. This... is good work. :-) I'd be proud to call that a GS.

[briyenkieth]

thank you! just need to redo the fender and a couple of odds and ends and then see if it will fire off.

[briyenkieth]

man the fender is giving me fits. Might have to go back to the drawing board.

[briyenkieth]

had to start all over on the fender. Just threw the one you guys saw in the trash. Pulled out the original front fender and got it going again. Remade the struts. Changed how they mount at the bottom. Much cleaner now. Few more holes and I'll have a tail light again. Then it's paint and back where I started. At least the struts look better now.

[Craiger]

Zip ties and duct tape. Where would we be without them? LOL!

Nice updates. Keep 'em coming.

[briyenkieth]

ladies and gentleman we have a fender again. So does anyone know how much I need to scuff the chrome on it in order to paint? Once this gets painted I can finish the wiring and start wraping this up.

[po-boy]

I used 80 grit then self etching primer on mine. Still not so sure how it will hold up long term though...

[briyenkieth]

Well at least I won't be alone if it don't hold up. LOL. That's the way I went or at least am going. Still need to prime.

[BentRod]

I know it may be annoying when someone puts in when the project is almost done, but I'm going to justify my putting in on the basis that others who may attempt simular projects will read this.
I cannot fully tell from the photos, but I'm assuming that the distance from your front axil to your rear axil has been increased from the original size. if that increase is greater than say, 10%, depending on your confort level of course, you may want to reconsider your choise of wheel size. namely, you would want to go with a slightly wider rear tire with a smaller diameter, and a slightly taller front tire, perhaps a little narrower as well. the reason for this has to do with how the tires roll in a turn, and small amounts of slippage occure in the contact patches. the basic idea on the rear tire is that in a turn, it will have a smaller turning radius that the front, as well as a reduced lean angle. on the front, the lean angle is greatly increased (hence narrower) and the turning radius is large (hence a larger diameter)
but there is more to it than that, but if you are curious i suggest you buy a book on motorcycle geometery, and study to bits concerning wheel slection, tail, and suspention.

very well done by the way. How large is the tank? my 400 uses about 4.8L per 100km. I'm wondering what kind of range you will get.