Valve Adjustment Question, plus General Maintenance Question.

[Phantom552]

Hey all, been a few years! Getting back into the Katana world with an '03 Kat 600. Currently not running as the previous owner let it sit forever. Tore the carbs off, and realized I should probably do a valve adjustment since the history is unknown. Question is, I assume there is a gasket and 4 O-rings under the rocker cover to seal the cover itself, and spark plug tubes. Is there a part number for a set? Can't find anything on Google.

Secondarily, I have the engine-side carb boots and O-rings, carb rebuild kits, an OE air filter, OE spark plugs, motor oil, and a filter, petcock rebuild kit, and a fuel filter, Plus a metric ton of vacuum caps and hose, some brake pads, brake fluid, chain, sprockets, and wheel bearings. Did I miss anything? Any "mandatory" upgrades I should perform while I'm in here?

Thanks in advance, everybody!

[Kreylyn]

Generally speaking, the valve cover gaskets don't need to be replaced unless leaking. No "sets" out there I know of, but easily pieced together by checking the fiche at any online OEM parts seller like bikebandit.com, ronayers.com, mrcycles.com, so on... You can also find OEM part numbers, and search those directly on google shopping for finding best price options.

Brake lines are up for replacement after 4 years. Braided stainless are the recomended upgrade. If your going as far as you have listed, I'd suggest doing a tear down and clean out on the calipers as part of the process. Only need to rebuild if the rubber is showing issues like cracks or rips, but they do collect crap in the calipers that needs to be cleaned out on occasion.

Suspension upgrades are generally going to be the best option for $ spent. Huge returns on that for performance and general ridability.

If US model, a jetkit while in the carbs is a good idea. Factory Pro is generally the brand I recommend. Avoid dynojet. 98-06 models have the option for Ivan's kit also. If your digging into the carbs, this would be highly recommended.

If you want more lower end power and snappier throttle response, an ignition advancer may be a good upgrade. Check your bike's current setup to confirm what advance setting it has.

Good tires, less than 5 years old. My personal preference on a Kat are the Michelin Pilot Roads. Amazing dry and wet traction. Tires older than 5 years have oxidized enough to harden the rubber and decrease the traction potential significantly. No, they don't explode or stop rolling, they just don't grip like they should. Being as that's the primary thing that keeps hard parts off the ground, I strongly suggest keeping up with that.

Don't forget to swap out the fork oil. 2-3 year life on that before it starts going rancid. Something to do even if your not upgrading springs or swapping in emulators.

Those are some other things to consider, certainly not all the upgrade options you have avail. There are also performance options of grinding out the welds on the header, power increase/verification to the coils, HID or other headlight upgrades, and seat options for improved comfort. Finally, depending on how you ride, adjustment on the suspension geometry for the bike may also be a consideration.

Krey

[Phantom552]

Thanks Krey, and yeah molded rubber gaskets are typically re-usable, but after (presumably) 16 years on the bike, I figure they're probably going to leak if I disturb them at this point. May as well just avoid that and install fresh ones from the jump.

Already had the calipers apart and polished the pistons, honed the bore, and threw in new seals and crush washers. The rubber lines look OK, and don't expand at full line pressure, so I think I'll leave 'em be for the moment. Will probably upgrade to braided stainless ones at a later date.

Good call on the jet kit and ignition timing advancer, I'll probably make do with the factory jets and ignition setup for now, since I have the carb kits and jets on hand.... Probably order up the Factory Pro or Ivan's kit in a few weeks, since replacing the jets is just a 20 minute ordeal, and I already spent a bunch of money on bike parts haha.

As for tires, I planned on getting a set before I put this thing on the road. Here in southern AZ, tires are good for *maybe* 3 years before they're hard and brittle. Was actually looking at a set of Pilot Road 4's, so I'm glad to see those are recommended.

Forks are a good point, I'll probably just farm those out to a specialist and have them gone through. Don't really want to buy the specialty tools to do it myself until I feel like it's something I'll be doing more often. Is the rear coil-over rebuild-able also? Or are there aftermarket options?

Dropped the seat off with a buddy of mine, he's the guy behind customcycleseats.com, so I should be OK there. Good points on the exhaust manifold welds and headlights, I guess I'll order enough stuff to get a projector retrofit done and throw an HID kit in there, and order up a set of header gaskets so I can tackle that when I re-jet.

[shpielers]

600 shock is not rebuild able. 750 post shocks are though.
No specialty tools needed to work on forks. A seal driver tool is nice, but not 100% required, you can get the seals set with homemade alternatives .

[Phantom552]

600 shock is not rebuild able. 750 post shocks are though.
No specialty tools needed to work on forks. A seal driver tool is nice, but not 100% required, you can get the seals set with homemade alternatives .

Interesting, I assumed the fork springs would have similar pressure to an automotive strut, requiring some sort of fixture for disassembly. This doesn't appear to be the case, so I'll probably just do the rebuild myself. I have dozens of seal drivers and whatnot, I assume one of 'em will work for that. lol

[Kreylyn]

Interesting, I assumed the fork springs would have similar pressure to an automotive strut, requiring some sort of fixture for disassembly. This doesn't appear to be the case, so I'll probably just do the rebuild myself. I have dozens of seal drivers and whatnot, I assume one of 'em will work for that. lol

Hand pressure for preload on the fork springs... OEM is like 10mm of spacer preload. You can easily push down with your hand to put the cap back on for the forks. 1 1/2" pvc pipe makes a perfect seal installer for the forks too (41mm forks). I have a section of that cut, along with a coupler stuck on it... the coupler is perfect size for the dust seals to instal. cost me like $3 to make that tool.

The rear shock will need special tools, and presurised refill after build. That's gonna need to go to a shop generally speaking.

I've used all balls kits for fork seals, gotten the full set as low as around $25 before. Never had an issue (when properly cleaned and installed correctly).

I'd suggest considering upgraded springs and racetech gold valve emulators. There is a massive opportunity for improvement over the OEM suspension new, much less now that it's so old. Overly soft spring rate, and poor damping/rebound options on the stock setup is easy to over come with racetech help.

Krey

[Phantom552]

Hand pressure for preload on the fork springs... OEM is like 10mm of spacer preload. You can easily push down with your hand to put the cap back on for the forks. 1 1/2" pvc pipe makes a perfect seal installer for the forks too (41mm forks). I have a section of that cut, along with a coupler stuck on it... the coupler is perfect size for the dust seals to instal. cost me like $3 to make that tool.

The rear shock will need special tools, and presurised refill after build. That's gonna need to go to a shop generally speaking.

I've used all balls kits for fork seals, gotten the full set as low as around $25 before. Never had an issue (when properly cleaned and installed correctly).

I'd suggest considering upgraded springs and racetech gold valve emulators. There is a massive opportunity for improvement over the OEM suspension new, much less now that it's so old. Overly soft spring rate, and poor damping/rebound options on the stock setup is easy to over come with racetech help.

Krey

Ironically, I have the nitrogen purge/fill system, but likely lack the tooling to get into a coilover that small. Still, I suppose I'll wind up ebaying one from a 750 and either looking into what tooling I lack, or sending it off to somewhere like racetech and let them mess with it. Just pulled carb #2 out of the ultrasonic bath this afternoon, should have 3 & 4 done tomorrow. then comes the party of syncing & balancing the little guys and tearing the forks down while I wait for the tank to finish de-rusting lol