[Morgion]

Changed the fork oil, inspected all seals and did the $1 Fork Improvement mod with a twist. Instead of using a solid piece, I managed to find washers that are the exact same size as the one in the fork between the inner tube and the spring. The only difference is that the inner hole is a tad smaller. Stacking 10 of those gave me a pile of exactly 30mm. The great part? They're adjustable. Just stack more or less of them until desired result is achieved. Also cost me 2€ for some 26 of them.





Also painted the forks and clear coated the rear fairings. Forks after clear coat:

[Morgion]

Tried to get the bike running, didn't make it. I sprayed carb cleaner all around so either gas isn't getting to the carbs (air in the lines?) or I screwed up somewhere when I did the coil relay mod. Gotta rewire it the way it was (easy, fortunately) and figure out what's wrong with it.

[da91teg]

damn! i hope you could fired it up soon!

[Morgion]

It's running now, gonna commute on it in a couple minutes!

It's delightfully ugly with most of the fairings missing and some black duct tape here and there

EDIT:

Took it to work and back, then went for a night ride.

Observations:

• The $1 fork mod, coil relay mod and flushing the carbs out with carb cleaner really improved the suspension and throttle response, at least my butt dyno says so
• Steering was a bit unresponsive, found out I had the triple tree upper bolt on way too tight. Loosened, torqued to spec, steering improved
• Engine is making some what is either cam, timing chain or valve noise. Can't remember whether it did that before winter, at least it didn't bother me back then. Will change oil and filter and reset cam chain tensioner, see if problem persists. I will dig into the head later anyway

Here's the temporary front indicators and some black duct tape protecting the instrument wiring with a public apology written on it:




Also her current state:

[Morgion]

Suspension overhaul and de-winterizing is now done as of last update, as is the fuel system (apart from carb sync and idle drop). Bodywork has been shaping up as I go along and will do so until completion. Next step is getting the engine to a tip-top shape. This includes but is not limited to:

• Spark plugs
• Coil relay mod (Done!)
• Oil and filter change
• Valve job

The old plugs:





Left to right 1 to 4. Looking good, although some oil has seeped into the threads of plugs 1 and 4, most likely from the less-than-stellar valve cover gasket job the previous owner did.


Started digging into the belly of the beast, here's all the stuff over the valve cover taken away:





...and after some whacking and cursing and trying to get the gasket out in one piece, I behold the beauty of the inner workings of my steadfast steed:





Visual inspection yielded promising results, particularly considering I'm running out of numbers on the odometer. Actually measuring the valves will have to wait until tomorrow evening since it's way past midnight and I'm tired as hell.


EDIT: I fortunately have only one valve slightly out of the acceptable limits, but I think I can fix that by merely swapping shims around. There are two others that are just barely within the limits, but they'll still be good until at least next year. The one valve outside the limit and the two barely within are all on cylinder #3, does that mean anything?

[Morgion]

All valves have been done for some time now, also changed the spark plugs, now I've run into the issue I posted HERE.

After I've tackled this it's time for an oil and filter change, carb stuff and afterwards the rest is cosmetic.

[Morgion]

Took the carbs out, was left with a crater (red wiring is coil relay mod):




Inspected, cleaned, lubed and reinstalled the cam chain tensioner. Working fine, I still have around 3/5 of the travel left, which means my cam chain has been replaced some time this millennium!




The LED board for the tail light mod came in the mail! (Yamaha R1 rear light assy with integrated blinkers.) The running and brake lights are phenomenal but I'm not a fan of the integrated turn signals, I guess I'll leave the indicator circuit detached and buy some better rear blinkers. Also gotta order one of those brake light modulators for increased visibility.




Here installed, the "glass" diffuses the light nicely and improves visibility even further:




Carbs disassembled, cleaned and inspected, so many little parts!




EDIT:
Carbs now reassembled, floats set and bench synced, ready for action tomorrow!

[Morgion]

Got the bike assembled last friday, synchronized, changed the oil, filter and brake fluid. Crashed it today (tuesday). Fortunately only gonna need new signal generator cover and front brake master cylinder. Also bent the exhaust and gonna need a new temporary blinker for the front and to replace the oil that got out. Also scratched some of the new paint I put on.
Personal damage mainly psychological. ATGATT.

[92xjunker]

[maniac1886]

^^ right! Glad ur OK!

[92xjunker]

Isn't half the fun building it, wrecking it and rebuilding it........

[Morgion]

Pic I took last night after the crash before I started walking the bike home:




The full extent of the damage:

Broke the front brake lever (you can see part of it missing next to the cylinder), also some damage to the reservoir and the master cylinder, ordered a complete assembly from the junkers. Cost 60€. Arrives hopefully at the end of the week.




Broke one of the temporary front turn signals. Gonna merely glue it back together until I can get the front fairings done and the regular ones back in place.




Four dings on the gas tank, the one on the right is also a bit dented. Goddammit I just painted and polished the thing. Pretty easy to fix, though, and the rightmost one gonna be covered by a decal later, anyway.




The signal generator cover has a crack where the oil came out. Gonna pick up a new part tomorrow from the junkers, 10€.




The right exhaust has a nice long scrape on it and the whole muffler's a bit closer to the bike than it was before the crash. Gonna bend it back and slap some more paint on it, I hope there ain't a crack anywhere underneath the heat wrap. Guess I'm gonna find out when I can get it running again.




So total cost 70€ plus some more oil plus the oil spill cleanup bill from the fire dept. (The guys couldn't evaluate the cost cuz they were just regular firemen but they said it "ain't much".)

So all in all quite a successful crash.

[Morgion]

Got the signal generator cover from the junkers (from a post-98 750), this one's a bit scuffed up too but at least it holds the oil inside. Also I like the way the letters are recessed rather than raised. Too bad it's unpainted while the rest of the engine comes black from the factory.




That's easily remedied, though:




Old vs new feat. the full extent of the damage. What's the cracked-off part on the bottom right there for anyway? It has a hole for something and the gasket extends that far but nothing connects to it and nothing seems to have broken off from the engine side.




Started her up and she seems to be running fine.

Also the new front brake is in the mail.

_

[Morgion]

The new front brake arrived (no pics because it's identical to the old one, duh) and got the bike back on the road. Yay!

My next project has something to do with my crash earlier. Will post pics when it's completed.

[Morgion]

T-Rex post frame sliders on a pre

So, as everybody knows, frame sliders for the pre-98 GSX-F are almost impossible to come by unless you know somebody who fabricates them. However, for the post-98 bikes, there's the T-Rex Racing 98-on Katana no-cut frame sliders. As I wanted a frame slider from a proper company (no offense to the guys fabbing and selling their own pre sliders here) with replacement parts readily available, T-Rex Racing seemed like the only option. At $110 a set plus shipping, they weren't too expensive either.




The bad? You have to cut holes in the fairings for the slider pucks. Also, as I found out the hard way, the manufacturing process for the Katana frame changed somewhere along the line, so the post-98 frame is apparently somewhat thinner at the part where the slider base mounts. The slot on the backside of the slider base doesn't fit around the pre frame:




The solution for the fitment issue is to enlarge the slot by some 4mm by grinding in strategic places like so:




Also you have to remove the lower radiator mounts and fabricate some yourself because the clamp for the slider base mounts exactly on top of the bolt holes.




After that it fits like a glove and mounts on the frame with 4 bolts and a clamp piece (all supplied):




The other side with the slider puck attached:




And a front shot showing how far they extend:





I removed the pucks, but left the mounts because the pucks look funny without the fairings in place.
Started painting and modifying the front fairings, hopefully I can get them ready during next week. Pics soon!