T8's 750 Cafe Racer Project

[T8erbug]

Alright guys once again I call upon my fellow GSer's for help. So the good news is I'm back in Utah and have about a week and a half where I have all the time in the world to work on the bike and plenty of dough. Now as you have seen the front end is basically a 2001 GSXR with one exception, the new wire wheels are from a 78' GS750. That ONE exception is making my life tough ha. My questions to you guys are what are the best ways to center a custom wheel (spacers etc)? I am converting the 78' wheel to fit on the stock GSXR axle with just a new set of bearings so I need to come up with a way to keep it centered on the axle. The next and more difficult item are the discs. I need rotors/discs that are 320mm outer diameter. The offset is going to be the difficult part. I DO have AutoCad on my computer and can design my own custom disc to hub spacers to make it so the stock GSXR discs will work on the GS hub but by the time I have my parts machined it will end up costing me a small fortune because of the first time charge machine shops have.. On the plus side the dimensions will be just about perfect and would likely require no shimming. Does anyone know a better way to get brakes that will work on the 78 GS hub and mate with the GSXR stuff?? PICS TO COME SOON. Starting on the front and moving my way to the back. One thing at a time.. This is turning out to be a bigger project than I had planned!

[Helmet Head]

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Amazing work so far. I am doing something similar (but not nearly as intensive) to my GS750. I am a school teacher and artist, so all things mechanical are far beyond me. YouTube and thegsresources.com are my best friends right now.
I love the way the forks look, and the stretched tank...I won't even think about attempting that one, but it will make an incredible difference in the overall shape of the bike.

Anxious to see how this plays out. Keep up the good work!

Bruce.

[mlymanz71]

Acquired another new part today from another fellow GSer. Kerker 4-1 exhaust. Anyone know what to do to a chrome pipe to prep it well for paint?? I'm thinking wrap on the headers then black for the pipe. Can I just grind the chrome off? Probably stupid questions but I figure you guys will be nice enough to help me out ha. Thanks

Chrome is insanely difficult from my experience to get rid of. I had painted over the chrome on my front fender and have not had any issues so far from it. I had only used a wire brush and some sand paper to scuff up to surface, then paint. I did use some self etching primer on it first, suggested by another member, might be a good idea for you as well rather than totally removing the chrome. Which can be hazardous to your lungs depending on the avenue you choose to take it off.

[T8erbug]

Alright fellas, I know I seem like I have disappeared and the build had come to a halt but that is not the case. Lots of behind the scenes measuring and measuring again has taken place. My main goal of the last month has been how to use a 78 wire wheel on a 2001 GSXR fork. I decided to use as much GSXR as I could to make things the easiest. My design is not complete or final but I decided to design and machine my own hub spacers. These allow me to use GSXR bearings, GSXR axle, GSXR brake calipers, and hopefully GSXR hub bearing spacer. All components are GSXR with the exception of Triumph brake rotors. I decided on these because they were fairly cheap, readily available, they had a 6 bolt pattern, and the outer diameter was 320mm. The only thing that could have been better is if they had 0mm offset like the GSXRs do. Anyhow, I officially have ALL necessary parts to complete the front end as soon as the hub spacers are finalized and machined. I'm SO pumped to get it together. Pics to come soon!

[ccsdesign]

Love the build!

can't wait to see how that tank comes out.

On your chrome issue you could take the pipes to a fab/powder coating shop and have them media blast them... they would most likely use 180grit aluminum oxide. Chrome is very hard and therefore pretty difficult to remove.

some high build primer and some wet-sanding work should have them ready to paint.

just a thought if you have someone local.

Regards,

Chase

[T8erbug]

So this is just a teaser.. Still messing with the shaping of the tail and the tank is still not tigged up. Got the clip-ons installed and the front wheel parts are scheduled to be machined this Friday. I will be helping out on the lathe so as soon as we're done I'll be back to install the the triumph brake rotors and 78 wire wheel on the stock GSXR axle. Once that's on the bike will really be taking shape and I'll start the body work.

[speedyandypandy]

Wait, weren't the Gixxers using USD forks by '01? I dunno the models well enough but I thought sure they would be by then?

As for the forks I do believe they still had the RSD forks until 2001 and then they discontinued them.

Sorry, I know it's water under the bridge, but I just don't like wrong data
You are both wrong and right at the same time
The 750 where on USD in 1996 and 1000 never came with RWU/rsd, but the 600 didn't get usd before the 'new' 2004 model.

Nice build, could very well end up with a ubercool bike, just don't loose the spark.

[psyguy]

i like where you're going with this so i'll tag along

[T8erbug]

As promised here are some photos from today. The lathe work is done and both parts are made. We did not, however, get the holes counterbored and drilled. I'm SO bummed. Monday folks Monday and she'll be put together. Unfortunately when Ben took the emery cloth to the parts he went to hard on the bearing area and now they are no longer press fit.. Kinda ****es me off but I just told him we'll throw it all together and see how things work. Anyways here are a couple pics from today.

[Biggie]

This looks very cool!! The disc is almost as large as the rim

[Charlie G]

That's pretty sharpe looking!

cg

[T8erbug]

Well bad news. . Our hub spacers we machined beautifully got messed up in the final process of drilling and counterboring the holes with one of the machines at the shop. I'm a little bummed but since it's not costing me anything I'm really just bummed to have to wait till Jan 5 for Ben to get back from Idaho after Christmas break. Anyways now that the bike is full steam ahead I couldn't stand to just sit around all break looking at the bike waiting to finish the front end SO I have started the swingarm swap. As much as I have looked I have yet to see a detailed GS1100 to GS750 swingarm swap. I'm going to give you guys all the information I can so that you will be well informed if you decide to undertake the same task. Here are pictures from today with some measurement details

I measured each swingarm from pivot bolt center to axle center (with axle installed and pushed all the way forward) The GS1100 measured 20" and the GS750 measured 19" so you will gain some wheelbase distance by going to the GS1100 alloy swinger


Here are the pivot bolts. The one on top is the GS1100 and the other is the 750's. The length of the 1100 from the inside of the bolt to the end is 13-3/16 and for the 750 it is 12-3/16



This picture shows the ends of the axles (Not pivot bolts). The difference in the two is really just where the threads start and end. This confused me at first because the the 1100 and 750 share the same spacers and wheel width. After measuring the 1100 swingarm is slightly wider between the axle carriers by 1/8". This kind of worries me because with all the same hardware this means the swingarm has to flex a bit more to snug up when tightened. Overall though the extra length, as you can see from looking at the pictures, is just taking up space that the 750 axle should have had to begin with anyways.




The width on the fronts of the swingarms are the same between models. Note that the 1100 swingarm is larger up front so it will make things a little tighter but it will all clear.

[T8erbug]

So as a quick recap for you fellas:

-GS1100-20" from pivot bolt center to axle center (when axle is slid all the way forward)
-GS750-19"

-GS1100-16mm pivot bolt diameter by 13-3/16" length
-GS750-14mm by 12-3/16"

-GS1100-Same axle diameter as 750 but different overall length at 10-1/4"
-GS750-length is 10-1/18"

Tire clearances are almost the same even though the 1100 is an inch longer. All of the spacing hardware (including brake bracket) is identical.

If anyone has any questions just let me know. I'm leaving on a cruise this week but next week I will be back to finish the swap. I have elected to go the route of reaming out the mounting holes in the frame to accept the larger 1100 pivot bolt. As mentioned earlier the pivot on the 1100 is an inch longer so I will probably try to thread it an inch further down the shaft and cut off the excess. After that we'll see where I'm at as far as spacing goes and final fitment.

[Mop Bucket]

Nice build and pretty cool ideas and fabrications

[mlymanz71]

YEAH! Nice to see a swinger swap on a thread that I can see. Thank you, bought a GS1100 swinger for my 750 as well and have not had the time to dig into it yet.