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For sale: 1998 Katana 750, 18k miles on the odometer. Aftermarket Corbin seat, touring windshield, and Stage 1 jet kit installed. Bike hasn't been started or run in 6 years. Asking price: $750.00.
I saw this deal on a local classifieds forum a couple weeks ago and decided to jump on it. I'd never had any experience with Katanas or 4-cylinder sport bike engines in the past but I was up for the challenge, and for that price I couldn't pass it up. I was lucky enough to be the first guy to e-mail the seller, as there were two other people looking to snap it up as well within hours of his posting. The next day I was driving off with the bike as well as the original seat, saddlebags, unopened front and rear brakes, a new chain, and a shoei helmet to keep as a spare. All in all, not a bad deal.
Now for the details: You can tell this bike was cared for under the previous owner's possession, so that was a plus. The tires were brand-new before he put the bike away in storage. After a good inspection, it was clear it was kept in a somewhat climate-controlled garage - the rubber was still good. No weathering, cracking, or powdering to be found.
The seller told me that prior to storing he completely emptied the gas out of the tank and carbs. I knew this was going to be an issue down the road, but to a quick inspection of the gas tank shows that it was either fogged or wasn't exposed to a high-moisture environment, because there wasn't any rust to be found. Definitely a plus there. At least I won't have to be dealing with too much gumming up in the carbs.
The fuel petcock was completely shot. A $26 rebuild kit was the solution and fixed it right up (I installed the vacuum diaphragm spring on the wrong side of the diaphragm initially, but luckily caught myself before I put it all back together).
Carbs were gunked to hell, which I figured. Couldn't see any light coming through the idle jets at all, and there was a good amount of residue sitting in the bottle of the float bowls as well. I completely disassembled all the carbs and cleaned out each jet with compressed air and some gunk-out carb cleaner. Luckily, the diaphragms and O-rings all over weren't cracked or dried out at all, and the needle valves looked to be in good shape so I didn't bother replacing any of that. I checked the float heights and re-set the idle mixture screws (I believe I ended up with 2.75 turns out. Between this and the float height, this took a lot of trial and error to get right because I wasn't sure exactly what the previous owner had installed for jets).
No dry-rot or cracking in any of the vacuum lines or hoses, also a good sign. I replaced the spark plugs with new NGK plugs just because I was already getting in there and I figured why not. The old ones didn't look too bad though so I held onto them.
I didn't feel like spending the money on a 4-cylinder carb sync tool, so I ended up making my own with vinyl tubing and automatic transmission fluid. The end result was this here: https://imgur.com/TNmlOrI it worked like a charm! I used this to sync the carbs and it all came together.
All in all, I spent about 30 hours or so working on this thing. A LOT of this time was spent troubleshooting, trial and error, and getting things tuned in the carbs just right without having ever really worked on carbs in detail (I scrubbed through a TON of posts on this forum, read through Carbs 101 and 102). The information I got here was invaluable and without it, I wouldn't have been able to complete this project myself. About halfway through I was almost ready to throw in the towel and just take it to a mechanic to have them sort out the issues, but I decided to stick it through with a clear mind and get back at it the next day. I disassembled and reassembled the carbs maybe 6 or 7 times when it was all said and done.
There's a couple other minor things to be replaced (new brakes are going in tonight, along with some chain lube), but all in all I've got a sweet ride ready for the spring that I'm in for less than $1000. Couldn't have done it without the help of you knowledgeable folks on this forum.
Here's how it's looking right now, it needs a good cleaning and polishing after all this work: https://imgur.com/8Ffr8nO
I saw this deal on a local classifieds forum a couple weeks ago and decided to jump on it. I'd never had any experience with Katanas or 4-cylinder sport bike engines in the past but I was up for the challenge, and for that price I couldn't pass it up. I was lucky enough to be the first guy to e-mail the seller, as there were two other people looking to snap it up as well within hours of his posting. The next day I was driving off with the bike as well as the original seat, saddlebags, unopened front and rear brakes, a new chain, and a shoei helmet to keep as a spare. All in all, not a bad deal.
Now for the details: You can tell this bike was cared for under the previous owner's possession, so that was a plus. The tires were brand-new before he put the bike away in storage. After a good inspection, it was clear it was kept in a somewhat climate-controlled garage - the rubber was still good. No weathering, cracking, or powdering to be found.
The seller told me that prior to storing he completely emptied the gas out of the tank and carbs. I knew this was going to be an issue down the road, but to a quick inspection of the gas tank shows that it was either fogged or wasn't exposed to a high-moisture environment, because there wasn't any rust to be found. Definitely a plus there. At least I won't have to be dealing with too much gumming up in the carbs.
The fuel petcock was completely shot. A $26 rebuild kit was the solution and fixed it right up (I installed the vacuum diaphragm spring on the wrong side of the diaphragm initially, but luckily caught myself before I put it all back together).
Carbs were gunked to hell, which I figured. Couldn't see any light coming through the idle jets at all, and there was a good amount of residue sitting in the bottle of the float bowls as well. I completely disassembled all the carbs and cleaned out each jet with compressed air and some gunk-out carb cleaner. Luckily, the diaphragms and O-rings all over weren't cracked or dried out at all, and the needle valves looked to be in good shape so I didn't bother replacing any of that. I checked the float heights and re-set the idle mixture screws (I believe I ended up with 2.75 turns out. Between this and the float height, this took a lot of trial and error to get right because I wasn't sure exactly what the previous owner had installed for jets).
No dry-rot or cracking in any of the vacuum lines or hoses, also a good sign. I replaced the spark plugs with new NGK plugs just because I was already getting in there and I figured why not. The old ones didn't look too bad though so I held onto them.
I didn't feel like spending the money on a 4-cylinder carb sync tool, so I ended up making my own with vinyl tubing and automatic transmission fluid. The end result was this here: https://imgur.com/TNmlOrI it worked like a charm! I used this to sync the carbs and it all came together.
All in all, I spent about 30 hours or so working on this thing. A LOT of this time was spent troubleshooting, trial and error, and getting things tuned in the carbs just right without having ever really worked on carbs in detail (I scrubbed through a TON of posts on this forum, read through Carbs 101 and 102). The information I got here was invaluable and without it, I wouldn't have been able to complete this project myself. About halfway through I was almost ready to throw in the towel and just take it to a mechanic to have them sort out the issues, but I decided to stick it through with a clear mind and get back at it the next day. I disassembled and reassembled the carbs maybe 6 or 7 times when it was all said and done.
There's a couple other minor things to be replaced (new brakes are going in tonight, along with some chain lube), but all in all I've got a sweet ride ready for the spring that I'm in for less than $1000. Couldn't have done it without the help of you knowledgeable folks on this forum.
Here's how it's looking right now, it needs a good cleaning and polishing after all this work: https://imgur.com/8Ffr8nO
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