Modding the GSXF (Katana) Fairings

[GSXF09]

I don't mind the way the fairings look now, but I wanted to make something unique. Something that stands out if you will.

I have no skill in molding, but a friend of mine has his own workshop where he can do anything from metals to various plastic molding. He's also quite competent in that area, so he'll be helping me.

This is something I'm hopefully going to be doing something over the winter months if time allows for both my friend and I.

I'm going to include a small picture I drew up in Photoshop, I "erased" the openings on the side, but other then that it's pretty much original design from Suzuki.

If ya'll would like, have at it and see what kind of designs you'd like to see. I'll be back on later tonight or tomorrow with a couple of ideas I have.




(I realize it's not the best looking, but it's a rough drawing. )

Not to double post, but the idea is that I take off the side fairings and have my friend make a soft mold where I can smooth and make my changes to the fairings, then use that as a base for the left and right fairings.

[teddy]

I'm curious as to what you have come up with. I am going to assume you redesigned the side openings a bit in some sort or another. Considering the bike is air/oil cooled, it will need venting.

I have always wanted to extend the belly pan more rearward like most ss bikes...just never got around to it.

[GSXF09]

I am going to assume you redesigned the side openings a bit in some sort or another.

Yes, it will have air vents for cooling, just haven't gotten around to draw them up yet. I'm wanting large air vents on the side, a little disproportionate to the rest of the bike.

The belly cowling as well will be aggressive extending out front a little more.

Something like this is what I'm thinking.

[yngveny]

Sounds like a really cool project.
If you want large vents I would go with something like this.

Not sure how it would look in regards to what will show through the vents though.

[GSXF09]

Hey Yngveny!

That is not a bad suggestion at all, stays with the style of the bike yet adds some style.

Regarding the vents, that shouldn't be a problem as I was thinking about putting some black mesh on the inside to "hide" the interior.

I'm working on the picture now to show you all what I had in mind. Spoke to my friend earlier and he said that he could make the fairings from molds of the original, however he said it might be easier to use a "bolt on" type of fairing. (I'll explain this when I'm done with the picture!)

**Edit/Update**

Here's what I was thinking.



Here's the plan, if I don't end up doing a variation of what you drew up Yng.

I need to include a vent that'll work with the shape I've drawn up above. Something that'll fit without detracting too much from the overall "sqaure, straight" look.

The "snap on" or "bolt on" as I called it was a suggestion of my friends. He said, instead of making a whole new fairing, he could whip up the external part which I just "bolt on" to cover the original fairing. (So that it'd be hidden underneath.) It'd have to be cut so it'd fit with the curves in the existing fairing, something he said he'd help me do.

However, two drawbacks to this. I wanted to keep my original fairings intact and unmodded. (I like to keep stuff original in case I want to go back to it at a later date.) Bolting anything on will mean I'll have to drill and make holes in the original. A big no no in my book.

Also, I'm not sure how it'd look with the original fairing underneath. I've got to put my above image over an existing image of the Katana to see how things will line up. (I'll do this tomorrow as I'm about to head on off to bed.)

I'll update this post in a day and show you all how far in planning the design has come.

[BigFish]

There are a lot of ways of doing this. Here's one trick:

1) Base Mold: Remove the fairing, and wrap your bike in vinyl. Something thin. For example I use cheap (dollar store) vinyl shower curtains that are about 0.3 mm thick. They stretch because they're so thin, but they're not pourous so the next step becomes possible. Test your vinyl to ensure that it is in fact non-porous when working with resin.

2) Fiberglass: Place a layer of fiberglass and resin over the vinyl. Be sure that the vinyl goes from the top most point to the ground so none of the resin gets on the paint. Cheap *poly* stuff is probably better since it sticks to less and isn't as likely to damage paint. Let it dry.

3) CUSTOMIZE: Grab some clay. By some I mean a lot. Put the clay over the fiberglass. Mold it to your specifications. Note: butterknives and credit cards are great for this step, as are large pieces of flexible cardboard and/or plastic.

4) Insulate: Get some Glad "press'n'seal" saran wrap. This stuff is slightly pourous, but won't let much resin through. In order for this to work properly there will have to be multiple layers of wrap. I'd suggest going horizontally, staring at the bottom and working your way up. The layers must overwrap and the bottom layers should be done first so the resin doesn't drip into the layer below it (much like the shingles on a house).

Press'n'seal does sweat a little. It's fine for protecting clay, but don't expect it to protect anything valuable. In an experiment poly resin altered a base coat through a layer of this stuff.

5) Final Fiberglass: Place a layer of fiberglass and resin over the press'n'seal. Let this dry over night and then add more layers for stability. Don't rush this since the weight of the fiberglass and resin can warp the clay below it.

6) Correct Errors: Fill any convex areas or concave areas that didn't come out perfect with bondo or your favorite body putty (get it at the local auto paint shop). Sand this down till you have the desired shape.

Note an epoxy or high quality resin that is compatible with fiberglass is probably best at this stage.

7) Finish Sand. Start with 220, then go to 300, 400, 600, and finally 1000 grit paper. Some people say 2000 grit, which is overkill for me since my spray gun creates a little texture unless the humidity is perfect.

8) Paint it.

9) Give us pics when it's done, or along the way.

Good luck

P.S. This will also work if you want to add to your existing fairing. Catch is you'll need to put some rubber or foam between the fairing and the new piece to prevent the paint from getting scratched. If you want to get fancy (as I do) you can use liquid silicone from smooth-on or some other supplier.

[yngveny]

Will be really interesting to see what you come up with.

I think the boxy addition might break a bit much with the "organic" look of the rest, but difficult to say before you try.

[GSXF09]

There are a lot of ways of doing this. Here's one trick:

...

That's interesting. I liked the idea of getting shower curtains and then making a mold from my original fairings.

However, I won't be the one making the actual molds, a friend of mine will be. I'll pass that information on to him. Thanks.

I think the boxy addition might break a bit much with the "organic" look of the rest, but difficult to say before you try.

Indeed. I'm still going to mess around with the idea a bit, try to make it more symmetrical to the rest of the bike and hopefully make it flow a little more.

But I've had no "me" time as of late and haven't had much time to look over this.

I'll keep ya'll updated as to what's going on.