GS650GZ Katana Rebuild (Historical)

[KiwiAlfa156]

MikesXS emulators to suit the 6-fiddy's spindly 35mm forks.

[KiwiAlfa156]

Repainted the frame black on the weekend. Lower fork legs also painted.



Some fork parts arrived from Webike. So I'll drill some holes in the damping rods and start putting these back together. Rear tyre fitted and balanced. But noticed the white paint was flaking off. P.O obviously didnt understand surface prep... Can't be arsed repainting the wheel at this stage... It looks a little diseased...



Need to paint the brake parts and get new hoses, may be paint the engine... Oh, and give the bodywork a coat of paint. But will be bolting things back together.

[KiwiAlfa156]

And the bolting back together begins.

[KiwiAlfa156]

Damping rods drilled for emulators

[KiwiAlfa156]

DIY Fork straightening










The top of the fork tube deviated by about 5 -6 mm when rotated with the lower fork leg clamped in a vice.


Once I parted the the fork tube I identified the high point on tube by rolling it on a piece of plate glass. I then used a dial gauge set up on a small truing stand that I made for two-stroke cranks and identified the straight sections of the tube. I rotated the tube on the truing stand on the straight sections and measured a deviation of about 1.9mm at the high point.


I made some wooden shoes to spread the load from the press and pressed down on the high spot until I detected some movement on the tube end that wasn't the wood compressing. It took a couple of cautious tries to get an idea of the pressure required to bend the tube.


The result wasn't perfect (I didn't expect it to be). But the high point deviation is about 0.3 mm with a similar deviation when rotating the assembled fork. So not too bad a result and it cost me no money. And spending as little on this bike as I can get away with is the point of this exercise.

[KiwiAlfa156]

A few more 'ingredients' for Pete

[KiwiAlfa156]

Sanded, primed and guide coated.








Tank after Evaporust on the inside, before work begins.

[KiwiAlfa156]

Examining the tank there were wide 'ring' patterns of rust bubbles under the paint. A little exploratory sanding revealed rust on the margins of bog patches. So being an unknown quantity, out with the paint stripper.







A bit of work to do....







Not too bad...





Weld spots where the top of the tank has been pulled out. Its been smacked up at some stage.

[KiwiAlfa156]

Phosphoric acid treatment after a good seeing to with P60 grit on a random orbital sander.





After washing a layer of etch primer





Areas requiring filler now really obvious with etch primer. And yes filler sticks to this. Not as good as a 2-pack Urethane Primer, but it is a rust killer.

[KiwiAlfa156]

Got the slapper out and "reversed the damage" as much as possible tapping down the high creases flat





Bog on... Got the basic shape back. Next is blocking back and looking for profile, ripples and pinholes.

[KiwiAlfa156]

I've picked a colour after quite a bit of 'umming and ahhing'. It's not a strict resto, and there is enough 13L on the 1100. I once owned an 1100EZ and a 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth liked the bronze metallic colour that was on both of them. And so went for Mercedes Smoke Silver.

[KiwiAlfa156]

Blade putty fix for pin holes and minor imperfections








Several coats of primer filler and guide coat.








Blocked down and mud guard bottom in satin black.








Base coat in Smoke Silver. Just decals and clearcoat to go

[KiwiAlfa156]

I guess the question is how tidy is the 'tidy' in 'tidy-up'? In reality this project has become about how much can I do myself? And be cost effective.


I did the decals and sprayed some clear. Being acrylic I willhave to wait a while before cutting back and polishing.

[KiwiAlfa156]

Colour in natural light.

[KiwiAlfa156]

Finished the final coats of clear. Did a bit of experiment with gun setting, pressure and material viscosity and got it to lay flat and wet. A bit of orange peel, but ill give it 60 days and then cut and polish.











Waiting for the Katana emblems to arrive to finish the side covers. Will start on the engine tidy up tomorrow night.