$300 91 Kat fix up

[smbarker]

was asked to post my project, so here it goes.

What I get to start with.
$300 91 Katana 600
electrical all works. Is one pair of wires off the kickstand i haven't figured out where they go yet.
engine starts up revs to 7-8k then dies almost immediately.
trashed fairings, no bolts, pretty sure some hangers are missing. and some of the smaller fairing parts are gone.
no windshield.
Two spare exhaust manifolds and pipes including mufflers, checked and neither of these manifolds will fit the bike. maybe parts, maybe scraps.
spare engine

Had to connect wires to the engine and clean up some of the prior owners attempts at wiring.

gas tank had none stop fuel running through the lines, checked and the petcock valve wasn't working, have a rebuild kit on order.
Have various bolts missing from the bike, I've ordered more for mounting of the fuel tank and for mounting a muffler.

I'm sure my project list will drag on for a while so keep posted.

Updated with pics, since i got the ever so banner saying the post was pointless with out them

[yngveny]

Sounds like quite a project but you seem to be on the right path

Posts some pics if you can

[1990gsx 600]

[Wild-Bill]

Sounds like a fun project. Nothing like starting from the bottom and working up to something really nice. Look forward to seeing pictures!

[smbarker]

rebuilt my petcock valve today, thank you kreylyn for the awesome writeup on how to do this. http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=96553

I did goof putting the petcock back together at one point by putting the large spring on the wrong side of the diaphragm

One question regarding the petcock that i seem to be blind in finding. when the petcock is in the reserve should any fuel be coming out with out the engine running? I see lots of fuel dumping in the prime position (expected) no fuel coming through in the on (expected) and some fuel coming out on reserve?

Total cost of fix up at this point
$300 for the bike
$10 for random nuts/bolts
$25 for petcock rebuild

[1990gsx 600]

no reserve is just like the on position just when your fuel is getting low so here shouldn't be fuel dumping out if the engine is not on

[Wolfe_UK]

One question regarding the petcock that i seem to be blind in finding. when the petcock is in the reserve should any fuel be coming out with out the engine running? I see lots of fuel dumping in the prime position (expected) no fuel coming through in the on (expected) and some fuel coming out on reserve?

All reserve does is change to draw fuel from the lower feed inside the filter unit. All fuel flows through the same area, but when it drops below a certain level you need to change to the lower "reserve" in order to maintain the flow. But no, they both work on the same vacuum pull from the engine.
Imagine that there's a probable fault with the diaphragm/spring mechanism if you get fuel flow with no suction.

[smbarker]

Pulled the petcock apart again checked everything, made sure i had springs in the right place and corrected my backwards setup of Prime and Reserve, put it back together and it now works perfect for all positions. I did notice when i was comparing pictures of my parts when i took it apart the first time that the large diaphragm spring was on the wrong side so i'm guessing somebody else had played with it before me and not put it back together right, oh well it did need new rings and a good seal on the base.
Next up I'll start the bike up again and see if it behaves better now that it's not getting flooded with fuel, have a sinking feeling that i'll need to resync all the carbs. I'll keep posting updates as i go, and if i get a chance i'll post my petcock pictures as well they won't be pretty since they were done with my phone but they may help others.

[smbarker]

Start off by saying I know next to nothing about exhaust on bikes so I apologize for the stupid question. When I bought the bike it supposedly had a stock exhaust on it, but my understanding the stock exhaust for a 91 Kat was a dual pipe (4x2) and what i have is a 4x1. The guy I got the bike from said he had a slip on that fell off (I'm a little confused as how one just falls off, maybe somebody could enlighten me to that).
My question is with out knowing what exhaust I have on there now is there a way I can figure out what it is so I can research which slip on, midpipe, etc would work? or am I down to trial, error, praying or just getting an entirely new exhaust from the head back?

If there is another thread that would help me please point me the way. Without knowing what I have now (bash head into desk) the other threads I found in the forums don't help me much.

[Christ]

Why not just make an exhaust? Nobody says everything has to be a bolt-on (slip on) part, eh?

[smbarker]

Why not just make an exhaust? Nobody says everything has to be a bolt-on (slip on) part, eh?

I think i found out what kind of exhaust is on the bike. "Suzuki GSX600F Katana '88-'97 - Vance & Hines Supersport Exhaust Systems", but to just replace the slip on is pricey at least more then i want to go for this starter bike for me.
but i do have a couple extra exhausts the guy gave me with the bike one from 1100 the other from a pre-90, neither one fits but i could chop out what I need and weld in the pipe and use one of the two mufflers I have. I played with both the bolt on mufflers I have and neither one mounts quite right almost think i need a spacer under the foot peg or a hanger to drop it down, I'll look around and see what I can do and post pictures once I'm done.

[smbarker]

I think I have the answer by looking through the other forums but just want to be sure.

my understanding is that any pre98 600 kat exhaust is interchangeable with the different pre98 years. example of my bike a 91 600 could use the exhaust from any 88-97 600 kat right? and if I want post98 (98+) exhaust I would need to switch out the oil pan (or dent the exhaust which seems wrong to me) and possibly mod the fairings some. can somebody give me a thumbs up thumbs down on my understanding. I'm looking at picking up either a 90 or 92 600 exhaust and just want to be positive that i won't have another exhaust sitting in my garage that i can't use to go along with the two the guy gave me with the bike that don't fit . wife would kill me if I started collecting to many parts

[1990gsx 600]

yes your right....... goodluck with the killing your gonna collect parts if you eamn to or not everyone says they wont but in teh end they end up with a box of them

[smbarker]

Got my new/used exhaust from a 92. did a quick mount (no gaskets, didn't tighten anything down yet) to see if I had everything I needed. missing bolts for one side under the passenger foot rest but have the spacer and rubber piece, so I'll be making a trip to my local HW store to get the bolt/washer/nut that I need.
one thing that i did notice my old manifold had thinner rings that pulled it all tight to the block, but this new one has rings that are about an inch thicker and the bolts i have only have about a quarter of and inch of thread that will reach the block and that's with out the gasket in there. have a hunch I'll need new bolts to properly mount the exhaust, something about less then a quarter inch thread holding things together seems wrong to me.

[smbarker]

quick project update

got the exhaust all together (new rings, had to order new mounting bolts)
started up the bike and it would get up and run then choke and die, smacked my self for an idiot (almost out of gas) switched to reserve and ran the bike just fine, choke seems backwards from what i expected but figured that out and with the choke backed off all the way bike idles at about 3000 rpm, when cold (haven't had it on the street yet for a good warm up). noticed after playing that the pipes of 1,2 carbs are hot, 3 warm, 4 cold, again this is without a warm up ride but I'm guessing I'll be making myself a carb sync tool in the near future.

Curious if there are any other things i should check before riding the bike the first time other then those listed below.
[x] change oil + oil filter
[ ] check brake fluid --is it better just to dump whats there and refill or just top it off keep in mind bikes been sitting a while
[ ] check the chain (tension/wear) --looks like the battery dripped onto the chain, replace or just clean it up, links still move just looks ugly from what i can tell