It has begun

[hjfisk]

Well I made a little progress this morning. Iwas able to get out to the shop and work on the exhaust . I got it pretty well done. Just need to figure out what I want to do for passenger pegs and exhaust can mounts.




I think it is going to look pretty decent. I really like the look from the rear. It should sound pretty sweet also. I used the stock head pipes to be able to retain some ground clearance. When I cut the old stock mufflers off the pipe was a perfect fit for a 2" mid pipe to be welded on , so I got a couple pieces of mandrel bent 2" pipe with 18 degree bends. made up some flanges and welded it up where I wanted them . Going to work out nice . Not bad for about 5 hours on a Sunday morning. And was done in time to come in and enjoy a holiday meal with the family. Also I wont be running those directional s

[Frank Z.]

Very nice work. (Jealous)
Good inspiration for a project some day, i hope. Following along here.

[hjfisk]

Well I tried to build the front forks using the Bandit 600 tubes and the cartridges from the ZX600E and it does not work. So I ended up spending some money a purchased a set of Race Tech gold emulators , and a set of race tech 1.0 springs . That will help improve the front end of this bike. I also bought a gasket kit so I can re gasket the motor. , and got new brake pads. The tins are out to be painted , and the frame and swing arm are already painted. I have the forks off for rebuild and am painting the triples while they are off. I have also glass bead blasted the battery box, electrical panel and a bunch of other smalls and they have also all been painted and are just waiting for re assembly . So I have to decide on a wheel color . I am thinking they would look pretty sweet in white. As the bike is going to be painted the stock Skunk colors . I also have the exhaust done in ceramic coat paint . I have a friend that works at a electric motor company and he is going to bake the coating for me this coming weekend. The stuff I used , has to have a 3 step bake to cure the coating properly . VHT makes it we'll see how it holds up.

[hjfisk]

Well I am horrible about keeping up on the posting of this build. So as of now a update,
I have gotten the motor out of the frame , the bike was all torn down and the frame was sand blasted and painted. I then started re assembling the bike , as it sits now the frame and suspension are all done, the swing arm has been cleaned up and painted. The triple clamps were sand blasted and painted with new bearings installed. the wheels got 3 coats of VHT white wheel paint. The rear sprocket carrier has been polished up .
Now the motor has been torn down for a regasket job, [ which turned out to be a good idea, as I found that the PO had ,had the top end off and it appears they failed to install a circlip on the #4 piston.] Thus scoring the cylinder. Rings were not damaged, and a flush with the oil pan removed didn't produce the missing clip so my best guess is it was not installed. Also I realized the the top end had been changed when I got another set of cylinders from "Frankenzuki" for the 78 and they didn't have the extra bolt in the front of the cam chain as the head does. So i finally got through these stumbling blocks and will be putting the motor back in the bike this week. My next stumbling block will be the paint, as I sent it all to my brother to be painted and he put his back out last Sunday and I am not sure when he will be back on his feet. I'll post some pics tonight

[hjfisk]

So here are a few pics as of now;

The motor all back together;

the chassis , a few;


,
And a couple with the motor back in the frame with the Exhaust installed, she is on a down hill run now. As long as my paint gets done I figure I should be riding it in a week or two;
,
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I don't really like the black handle bars so I ordered a new set of chrome superbike bars.

[hjfisk]

Well I have been busy getting the bike done mechanically. I am going to fire it up later tonight, or tomorrow morning. Got the electrics all back together today. I had to take all the handle bar switches apart and clean them up . Don't want to have problems down the road so , nothing is going untouched.Now all I have left is install the Dyna ignition and put fuel to it . Then I will just be waiting for my paint.

[hjfisk]

Well I fired the old girl up , and it sounds awesome with those dual Busa cans. I am not sure on the jetting as of right now because I can't ride it . still waiting on painted parts to come back. Also I need to find a seat still. If anyone has a 1000E or a 1000C seat that is decent and wants to part with it drop me a pm PLEASE. I would prefer the C seat for this bike. I have 1 seat pan and bought a cover but when I removed the old cover I found that the pan was completely trash.

[Flipr78]

great job.... love this project.

[gsrick]

Your bike is coming along nicely. I'm not sure I could do that to Suzy(shes my first). Are you sticking with the stock colors? Mine is the same color scheme and I think is the nicest.

Those white wheels might over power the rest of the bike. The color on your lowers might look nice. If you want to part with those black bars send me a PM. I could use them for my Cooley project, that I'm gathering the parts for.

[hjfisk]

Yes I am sticking to stock colors , as mine is an E it was black with the white strip. The bike I have pictured with the tank the same color as yours is the second, 1000 that I picked up. I am going to do a actual full restore on it. It was also an E but the tank had been changed on it.

[gsrick]

Yes I am sticking to stock colors , as mine is an E it was black with the white strip. The bike I have pictured with the tank the same color as yours is the second, 1000 that I picked up. I am going to do a actual full restore on it. It was also an E but the tank had been changed on it.

A skunk? Well then that's a whole different story. Never mind, carry on. I'm still interested in the black bars.

[hjfisk]

Well me being me I haven't kept everyone up to speed here so here goes. I am still waiting to get my painted parts back. I took the calipers aprt and cleaned them because I was bored, and painted them . Got those done and back on the bike. I had pods on the bike , and I hate pods, so I decided to put the stock airbox back on with a K&N filter in it, changed the jetting a little [ dropped from 122.5's to 117.5's ] . I took the bike out with the tank and seat from the other Skunk , Just because I was getting itchy, and I could. [ Oh and it is all registered and insured as of this afternoon ]. I rode it about 25-30 miles and it runs and goes great, except it smokes like hell on start up cold. I did a compression test and it has good compression so it must be valve seals or an oil ring. The bike is very smooth and pulls awesome.It handles like unbelievable, no problem dragging a knee on this thing.Having modern tires and brakes are a great feeling. I got very comfortable very fast . Now I need to buy new tires as it will be very easy to out ride these. I think I hit the jetting very close to where I need to be. I am going to ride it for a few hundred miles and see if the smoking clears up any. The bike hadn't been on the road in 21 years so who knows but I have my doubts . So that's my update. and when I get the paint back I'll post some finished product pictures. Of what can be built with a bigazz pile of parts and " RoadKill"

[hjfisk]

Well it is finally coming to an end "Roadkill" is all most complete, the painted parts are back and have been installed on the bike. As of now I am still running it to see if it will clear up on smoking , it has gotten alot better so maybe it will come to.So here are some pics as promised;
One of the tank the day I picked it up;

the bike as it is now;





Now I hope to be able to just ride this thing for awhile instead of working on it. I should be able to unless I have to do the top end, as everything else is new on the bike short of new rubber.

[Spyder]

WOW ! ! ! She looks great! Nice resto!

[sliim280]

that looks great man, im the one you sent me a link to this build in my thread. mine is a "skunk" too however my paint is cherry. actually the whole bike is in pretty amazing shape. 15k on the odo. only cosmetic isssue is the side covers need polished up. but any who, your build is very close to what i am going for. im trying to keep from hacking it up too much b/c its got some sentimental value as my dad gave it to me and weve spent alot of time together working on and riding this bike (hes got quite the collection of vintage bikes)

i have some questions for ya.

i plan on going with an 1100 aluminium swing arm to keep from doing so much fab work. i want to be able to run a 170 tire. what wheel will will i be able to get some modern brakes on and inolve the least fab work to the swing arm.

will i need to do a chain conversion and will i need to space out the front sprocket or notch the frame. im trying to keep away from hacking up the frame at all.

will i be able to use stock foot peg mounts?

will i need to remove rear footpegs for clearance or anything?

so on the front end these bandit forks... im a big guy and need a stiffer feel and really dont like these air forks on it. i also want to be able to go with some good modern brakes. if the bandit front end has good brakes on it i would be fine with running them. if i can revalve the bandit fronts to get the feel i need i am ok with that. i really like racetech stuff.

sorry for all the questions, im new to modifying street bikes. ive been a bike mechanic a few times at shops but that just involved more maintence stuff. ive spent more time deep inside of dirt bikes than anything.

looking forward to some feedback