[ZukiFred]

Wow those rims look 100 times better!!

[meanstrk]

7 April

7 Apr update........

Got off work early today, so I set out to get a few things done. I have spent a few nights during the week prepping and painting the exhaust and mounting up the new chain (to this bike anyways. It came off my 91 due to the swingarm swap). Today I went through the forks and was very pleasantly surprised with how clean everything was inside. New seals and new 10wt oil for both legs and the are back together and good as new!



After the forks were completed, front fender reinstalled, and the refinished front wheel and rotors mounted, I tore into the front calipers. That was one hell of a chore in itself and I probably spent a good 3 to 4 hours on them tearing them apart, cleaning, and rebuilding them. I also mounted up the new brake lines and, after bleeding the lines, now have full brakes front and rear again!

After that, I was ready to call it a night, but that freshly painted exhaust was calling my name, so I mounted the exhaust again and fired the bike up to cure the high temp VHT paint. Ran her for 10 minutes, cooled for another 10 minutes, then ran for an additional 20 minutes to cure the paint. Only other thing I did was to mount the tail panels.

Note the bottle and IV line for fuel........



At this point, I am essentially done with the bike with a couple small exceptions. I still need a fuel petcock and may have one sourced, and I still need the tag light cover. Other than those two items, the bodywork is ready to mount and the bike is ready to ride. I think I will leave it on the IV bottle and at least ride it Saturday!

[nitros222]

Damn looks like a new bike doing a great job

[Micdalen]

Ya gonna ride this one to the rally?

It's looking great, and getting done real fast.

[meanstrk]

Uh oh.......... Starting to look like a complete Katana again!



Found out that the bolts for the mirrors are too short for the aftermarket mirrors I have, so I have to source a set of bolts.

As is sits now, I still need the tag light cover, mirror bolts, and fuel petcock. Other than that, it's DONE! WOO HOO!

[woobie]

Looking good, and you did it under 2 months .

[Micdalen]

Congrats!! Looks great.

[Wingspan]

Amazing transformation! Very nice (and fast) work!

[md86]

And I can't BELIEVE how little you're selling it for after all the work you put into it . That bike will need NO work for MANY miles .

[Dan Dubeau]

Looking VERY good ron. The very first bike I ever rode on was the clone of that one. Brings back some memories thats for sure.

[meanstrk]

Rode the bike today for the first time! Woo hoo! Took some doing, but it happened! First time I tried, It died when putting it in gear. Traced that down to a loose side stand safety switch wire. It also seemed to run like crap, so I installed some new plugs and there was an immediate difference, so after bleeding the rear brakes, I took it up and down the street a couple times feeding it off the bottle.

All that time is paying off it would seem!

[ZukiFred]

Glad to hear that the first ride was a good one!!!
Now that you have her all cleaned up I am realy likeing the White/Red combo..

[meanstrk]

Ordered the last bits I need last night......

Fuel petcock on the way from an EBay find.......
Tag light cover on the way from Braada Jim! Thanks Jim!
Mirror bolts ordered.

Once everything comes in, the bike will be 100% complete again! Only other thing I am entertaining at this point is a seat cover from Sargent if they can accomodate doing an all red one for me.

Now....... What to do with it? My intentions from the beginning were to restore it and sell it. I can easily do that and to be honest, I would almost RATHER do that, BUT.......... my son, who turned 16 last month, wants it bad. For what I have into the bike, why not give it to him instead?

Quandries, life's little decisions, tend to reach out and make you stop somettimes and go, hmmmmmm?

What to do, what to do...........

[steves]

Well, if he helped rebuild the bike (I think I remember saying he was going to help you) and the expense of getting him insured isn't that high, i'd say make him take the MSF and let him do it.

Worse case scenario is that it needs to get repainted and sold, right??

[woobie]

If your son is mature enough to handle the bike, and insurance is affordable I'm sure he would absolutely love having the Kat.

Personally I would be more concerned with the maturity level than insurancerates.