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Rescued Kat
OK, so here's the story.
Back in March I managed to pick up a 89 750 for a paltry Ž£200 (About $240).
It was a non-runner, and boy did I have my work cut out:
In May I finally got her home. Non-running, dirty, damp and hadn't been on the road properly in nearly 10 years:
After a quick and dirty (and I mean very dirty...) carb clean, she was running again...
<I'll put the vid in here when I get chance>
So an initial teardown led me to first check the valve clearance (lash):
Boy were they out... By a metric mile!
As I had been tearing down, I noticed the fairing was in pretty rough condition, do decided to repair and respray.
I started on the left side main fairing as it was missing a corner:
and had evidence of a pretty nasty drop:
After some fibreglass work...
More fairing work!
Even the grab handle was pretty rough!
The bike was pretty stripped down at this stage, getting various parts ready for paint (excuse the rogue border collie...)
By this time I had long since decided on this colour, which is a black metallic base coat, with a read tint overlay. Turned out much better than expected.
The opposing colour of the red? It doesn't look much, but I'll come back to it in a few:
Now I could post all the painting pics, but this thread would be incredibly long if i did...
So...
This is the base coat the red goes over...
Without 2k Lacquer:
With:
Remember the white? (out of direct sunlight)
It's not white!
(In direct sunlight)
There's not going to be much left at this rate....
Forks into the Pearlescent cream:
Coming together now
Seat re-dyed to rid of the orange flames and piping.
Fully assembled and decal'd:
An afterthought - The coil Relay mod!
I've obviously missed out A LOT of photos for brevity, but you get the idea. I discovered some real horrors on the way through this project, the bike had been very loved at one point - as the rear wheel is a 98+ affair, and the sprockets were renthal with a DID chain. The carbs were an utter nightmare, and still aren't right, but I have jet needles and needle jets on order (Kat parts in the UK are RARE. Mikuni carb parts rarer still!) The carbs alone have sapped a hell of a lot of time, if you'd like me to elaborate, then shout up!
All in all I've spent about 300 hours and about $700 putting this back on the road, and I've loved every minute of it...
Now all I need to do is ride it more!
Back in March I managed to pick up a 89 750 for a paltry Ž£200 (About $240).
It was a non-runner, and boy did I have my work cut out:
In May I finally got her home. Non-running, dirty, damp and hadn't been on the road properly in nearly 10 years:
After a quick and dirty (and I mean very dirty...) carb clean, she was running again...
<I'll put the vid in here when I get chance>
So an initial teardown led me to first check the valve clearance (lash):
Boy were they out... By a metric mile!
As I had been tearing down, I noticed the fairing was in pretty rough condition, do decided to repair and respray.
I started on the left side main fairing as it was missing a corner:
and had evidence of a pretty nasty drop:
After some fibreglass work...
More fairing work!
Even the grab handle was pretty rough!
The bike was pretty stripped down at this stage, getting various parts ready for paint (excuse the rogue border collie...)
By this time I had long since decided on this colour, which is a black metallic base coat, with a read tint overlay. Turned out much better than expected.
The opposing colour of the red? It doesn't look much, but I'll come back to it in a few:
Now I could post all the painting pics, but this thread would be incredibly long if i did...
So...
This is the base coat the red goes over...
Without 2k Lacquer:
With:
Remember the white? (out of direct sunlight)
It's not white!
(In direct sunlight)There's not going to be much left at this rate....
Forks into the Pearlescent cream:
Coming together now
Seat re-dyed to rid of the orange flames and piping.
Fully assembled and decal'd:
An afterthought - The coil Relay mod!
I've obviously missed out A LOT of photos for brevity, but you get the idea. I discovered some real horrors on the way through this project, the bike had been very loved at one point - as the rear wheel is a 98+ affair, and the sprockets were renthal with a DID chain. The carbs were an utter nightmare, and still aren't right, but I have jet needles and needle jets on order (Kat parts in the UK are RARE. Mikuni carb parts rarer still!) The carbs alone have sapped a hell of a lot of time, if you'd like me to elaborate, then shout up!
All in all I've spent about 300 hours and about $700 putting this back on the road, and I've loved every minute of it...
Now all I need to do is ride it more!
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