1984 Katana 7/11

[nvr2old]

Fresh parts are always a mood-lift, and inspiration to move on to the next stage, eh Pete? Love the red frame.

[pete]

Yes indeed Larry, yes indeed! And cheers, yep that red is pretty spot on what I wanted

I got the rear caliper bracket and the wheel spacer re-sprayed yesterday, waiting for them to dry before I can put the back wheel on.

I got the new steering head bearing races in and oil in the forks as well.

Dug out all the rubbery bits and put them on.

Then started some assembly. Nothing's torqued up yet, just finger tight or nipped up for the moment. I've just loosely put most of the engine mounts on to see how they look.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

[Kiwi Canuck]

I got the wheels and spacers done yesterday.

Sat them in the sun for a few minutes to get the edge of the cold off. The masking isn't real flash so I expect to have some overspray to clean off but I can cope with that.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

VHT primer, satin black, and clear coat done.

I hope it works ok as apparently I don't understand the concept of a thin coat. You're supposed to do 2 thin coats then a medium wet coat, but I reckon my thin coats are more like their wet coat as I didn't get 3 coats on everything and ran out of paint. Worst case is the fun of doing them again I guess... although I suspect it will be fine.

I did however drop the wheel spacer at the top right while turning it around during the clear coat, so I will have to figure something out with that. I have to fix a run on the rear caliper bracket so I'll probably do it with that.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Pete looking good, love the PC colour choice.

Just a hint on painting with spray cans, warm up the can and the part if the temps are below 20 celsius, and try to keep the can upright and about 12" or so from the part, then you can control the thickness of the coat better, too close too much paint usually.
Did you use satin clear as well? I have been happy with just the finish coat and find the clear coat makes it look too thick and glossy so I no longer go that route.

Keep up the great work.

David.

[dorkburger]

Pete, it's looking great. I chose to go all black with my wheels when I did them last winter, but yours look great with the factory style. It's a more detailed look.

[pete]

Cheers guys! Definitely glad I masked the wheels off as I really like the stock style. If you look closely you can see where the overspray is that I haven't plucked up the courage to gently sand off yet.

David, for the wheels I did the 3 stage recommended VHT treatment... engine primer, satin black, then clear coat. That's pretty much the method I used for the spraying but I find I still tend to put too much on each coat, something that I've been trying to improve but struggle with.

[pete]

Still waiting for some cush drivers rubbers to arrive from the UK but I had to stick the back wheel on last night along with the tank and cowl just to remind myself I'm building a Kat... and so I could sit on it off the centre stand and imagine the first ride...


Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

[thebrandonbeezy]

Oh my god its beautiful

[nvr2old]

So lemme ask you this, Pete..is a short section of the black also foam..or does the hard section start right at the edge of the red..? Either way, it sure lines up nice with the frame.

[pete]

Haha cheers Brandon, yep she is a thing of beauty if you ignore the state of the cowl and tank for the moment

The foam ends with the red Larry, the stitching is pretty much the edge of the foam. There's a maximum length the foam part of the seat can be to be able to legally register it as a single seater which I had to adhere to, and fortunately it's about the length of the rider's seat. It did end up lining up well which I'm really happy with too! I know I'm not exactly riding it but that seat feels real comfy just sitting on it in the shed...

I'm getting real excited about the progress now and I'm starting to look at making the harness and finishing the electrics tray, inner guard, etc. so more things can bolt on and stay on.

I also received a PM on another forum yesterday from a fella who has had first hand experience with the cheap Chinese clipons and it's not good. He had a set that no matter how much he tightened up they would always start moving around, and another fella had one break.

So, as luck would have it, there was a genuine set on Gumtree (similar to Craigslist) which are now being sent to me. That'll make me much happier.

[pete]

They need a good spit and polish and the screw holding the bar end weight on the right clipon is stuck pretty solid, but they're straight, solid, and feel so much better than the cheap Chinese ones. I was instantly far more comfortable sitting on it with the genuine set too.

The price of genuine bar end weights made my eyes bulge... has anyone found a good after market set they've found and are happy with? I had a brief look but most seem designed for clamping inside 7/8" or 1" bars rather than just being screwed in the end like these. I'll get some new bolts for the clamps too, reckon these are safe for stainless or better off with high tensile?

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

[limeex2]

The bar ends look like my ZRX1100/1200. Triumph uses clip ons(above and below triple tree) I would think most 7/8 bar ends would fit?

[dorkburger]

Do they slip in the bar end and attach by tightening a bolt that expands a rubber bushing, or is it like 1150 clip ons that have a solid end with a tapped bolt hole to attach the weights? If the latter, 1150 weights are on e bay for cheap

[pete]

Yeah they're the type where the end of the bar is tapped for an M6 bolt, so the 1150 ones sound good. I also have a mate locally who said he's happy to turn a set up on his lathe for beer

[pete]

I gave the clip ons a quick cut/buff/polish yesterday, turned out pretty nice.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Then instead of doing what I'd planned to do which was cleaning up the battery/electrics tray and getting it in, I decided to give myself some inspiration/motivation by putting a bunch of stuff on to see how complete it's getting.

I also managed to get it in some proper sun as well, definitely happy with that colour!

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Hopefully I can get some time at night this week to get back to the battery/electrics tray and start running the harness.

[dorkburger]

Pete, I dont know what your plans are for the tank, but I saw on Old Skool Suzuki a guy that bought carbon fiber covers for his dented Kat tank. No clue of pricing though.