750 Stree Fighter Build

[colbudahas]

I appreciate the welcome I received on the intro forum. I am also understanding of the view point for those who feel the Kat frame not conducive to the street fighter look. I hope to change those views by documenting my progress, but those that plan to follow will require welding skills and be willing to take risk. We all make mistakes and have to recover and move forward. I am going to cut the frame up and reinforce it to allow two things: 1) Eliminate the ugly overhang, 2) Isolate and expose the rear wheel. I am also going to reshape the tank a bit to make it join with the frame better. I have done tank work before and it sucks, but if you want it done right...About the bike: I bought it for a real good deal because it was trashed. It ran well, but the top end leaks likes a Prom Date dumped at the dance. The body had screws holding it in place because all the tabs were busted off and it has road rash on the crank cover side....which also has road rash. The fork seals are also shot and the throttle grip and switch cover is all taped together. But hey, most of my builds start off as lemons. Here is the bike: http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1...e/img_0602.jpg

[MEngineer]

Looking forward to this. I am making my Kat a streetfighter, but in smaller steps. First is completely repainting it and some custom pieces.

[colbudahas]

Update 2

Greetings. It has been a while since I have posted but I visited to review some references for my build. I am more of a doer and not so much a talker while I am in a build. However, I am a third of the way to completion and planned to do this in a three segment posting. Since I last posted. I replaced the seals in the engine and cleaned the cylinders and piston heads. Things were pretty dirty. I plugged all the openings and then degreased the engine and wire brushed it down. I soft brushed with paint prep and then sprayed it semi-black. I will post pics of the refreshed engine to my SuperMotors.net account tomorrow. I have also resealed the forks, replaced all the bearings all around with All Balls Racing gear, and painted the forks, swing arm, and wheels Boulevard Black...I love my Concourse HVLP gun. I will post pics of those tomorrow as well. I am currently finishing the top section of my frame modification. I have added two ribs and some sheet metal to close in the space between tank and the frame. My daughter, and engineering student who is also on my SuperMotors.net album building an F150, designed the enclosure. I will also be adding another square tube from engine ribs/radiator supports that will drop down to the lower sub frame below the engine to give it a more finished look. They will bolt in as well so the sub frame will remove as intended and the engine can drop from the frame. The way the ribs just stop, as is, make the bike look too skeletal and incomplete. The final modification will be the rear. I am cutting the rear lower tubes off. I will run another set of tubes about three inches from the top tubes, perpendicular, all the way to the engine cage. I will sheet metal between those tubes as done in front to keep the same theme. This will give the rear tire a more open look. Head light will be old school round 7 inch. Big light. A mini speedo from 12 O'clock labs, and leds for the signals and running lights. The brake lite will be a basic plate light under the tail. I am running steel brake lines covered in yellow from COS and gold levers and grip ends with mirrors. That is pretty much it. I decided not to change the front end because after reading much of the posts, many were hard on this bike being a poor candidate for a fighter. I like a challenge and decided to keep this a pure as possible and use only Katana 750 parts and fab the rest. You can see where I am at currently here: http://www.supermotors.net/registry/26364

[colbudahas]

I have the frame pretty much where I want it minus the "rib extensions". Those I can tack on later this week pretty quick. But from here it I may add one more set of struts to the rear just behind the foot peg mounts at something like a 60 degree angle to keep it tight and the rear wheel open. The remainder is paint prep and then putting it together before exhaust fabrication. [IMG][/IMG]

[Kreylyn]

I have the frame pretty much where I want it minus the "rib extensions". Those I can tack on later this week pretty quick. But from here it I may add one more set of struts to the rear just behind the foot peg mounts at something like a 60 degree angle to keep it tight and the rear wheel open. The remainder is paint prep and then putting it together before exhaust fabrication. [IMG][/IMG]

If you don't mind, before going any further... I'd suggest you reconsider using the stock mounting for the foot pegs, and replace with adjustable SS style.


I'll link another fighter build that did something very similar to see what I'm talking about so it's clear, instead of trying to describe....

http://katriders.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2147085&postcount=75

And the follow up..

http://katriders.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2147263&postcount=77

This will give you a much better open area around the wheel like you have mentioned wanting to have. It will also clean up the clunky stock pegs with something nice looking and adjustable.


Krey

[colbudahas]

Glad I checked back in. I think will check that link right after this... Thanks for the foot peg tip.

Finished all the metal on the frame. I even did the tail custom instead of buying one from another bike and adding it on. I like the idea of keeping it a Kat seat so it is more identifiable to those who own them. I am now doing filler work and the hours of sanding. Soon I will paint. After that, assembly is all that will be left. I am posting this early through this third of the build (part 2 of 3), to show the filler work before the sanding is complete and to show the raw metal work on the tail. I spend a lot of time reworking ideas before settling on this shaping. Fighting my welder was also a pain in butt because the valve in my regulator went bad (AZ is hard on rubber). Using flux core on small work is messy and makes for ugly stuff...I do not own a TIG. Still got the job done and as planned.

[IMG][/IMG]

Tail shot. I used 1/4round bar and followed the bottom of the seat contour around the back of the bike. I tacked it in place. Then I cut the rear of the frame that stuck out beyond the tail, when looking down from the edge of the rear of the seat. After that, sheet metal.



Now I am stuck in sanding misery. Filler takes care of those metal imperfections and gives clean, smooth surfaces. But man it takes some labor...

[IMG][/IMG]

[shpielers]

Really interested in seeing how this turns out

[muffinman]

Interesting..

subscribed

[Million$]

looking good so far

[cupofresh]

WOOOW!! This is great stuff! More Pictures!

[Jae_Rex]

Can't wait to see the end result. Keep up the good work.

[WikedClon]

Amazing work, and great concept

Any updates ? Im really interested in seeing the finished combination of the old seat and new tail design.

Also, curious as to your plan on rerouting some of the wiring that is secured around the tail location.

[colbudahas]

Been pretty busy with the kids cars and travel at work, but I am pretty much done. The only remaining work is lining out the Trail Tech digital dash. However, I am waiting on a set of replacement bar switches because the headlight switch and the kill switch were trashed (left overs from the salvage and I forgot to replace them).


Here is a shot of the superbike bars...



Here is the Trail Tech Vapor dash during install....



By the way, if you want to see the bike from the beginning to end you can visit the build on my supermotors.net profile at http://www.supermotors.net/registry/26364/82971.

The tail with LEDs...



When I get the switches in this week, I will button it up the rest of the way and that should do it. For the record, the frame work was where the effort lay. The rest was finding the right parts and being patient about installation. I will take a few photos of the relocations for things like rear brake reservoir, wire harness, etc. Then I will photo the finished effect. I appreciate the compliments.

[maniac1886]

True street fighter man. Keep up the good work. Too many people take the fairings off, put a round headlight on it n call it a fighter. Im very picky about fighters but this has potential to look damn good.

[colbudahas]

Thanks. I wanted to do a street fighter before I take on a café race. I need a town bike for kicking around while tool around in the garage. This bike was a mess when I bought it. It was an insurance salvage and the fairings were barely hanging on. The forks were bent and seals blown. Everything was gunked up, and the head gasket was leaking like a bloody nose. Everything was in need of attention. The third post in this string has a link to my supermotors profile which has a photo history of the bike build. Pretty crazy it has been less than a year and I have been on travel for a lot of it. Good times.