my soon-to-be kat fighter

[joe]

hi everybody; i have a 90 600 kat that is undergoing a makeover. Her plastics are old, cracked and crappy looking so I've decided to remove them instead of replacing them. I've looked at other streetfighters and I think this look will suite my bike just fine. I'm not going to go too crazy with this one....I'm going to remove the main fairings and the headlight assembly. She's old (50,800 miles on the OD) and doesn't look very pretty but she still has plenty of life in her. I'll post some pics and feel free to give me some pointers.

Sorry for the poor quality in the images

[mather_builders]

Good luck with your build, keep us posted.

[gobigorange189]

good luck with the build!

[Black_peter]

In my opinion the 600 tail looks best on street fighters.
I suggest trimming the rear fairing a little like I did.

[jdm5770]

good luck with the project

[blackie]

I think a kat-fighter looks best with no *** at all...***-less, with it's seat chopped in half.
Keep the updates coming

[joe]

yeah, i guess mine doesn't really qualify as a true street-fighter since I'm only removing the main fairings and headlight. I too love the look of the rear-end on the kats. It's hard to describe...i like the bike's contours from the rear to the tank and then how the contour "abruptly falls off" at the front. I scored a pair of 5 3/4" headlight housings off of ebay that I'll stick on the forks. I want to keep them as close to the forks as possible. Now I have to find a good source for DOT-approved (cops are sticklers) headlamps. I"d like to find some that have the "diamond cut" backs on them. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about gauges. I really like the acewell all-in-one gauges.

[XKillerEliteX]

looking good

[joe]

here are the headlight buckets I got from ebay:


They seem to be fairly sturdy; now I have to figure out how to mount them. I am also going to etch the chrome and paint them with a flat black paint. Not bad for 30 bucks. Headlamps don't seem to be too expensive either.

[gobigorange189]

so far sounds like its gonna be pretty cool!! keep the updates coming.

[gib3000]

what do you use to etch the chrome ? i need to do something similar with my bike stereo speakers

[joe]

i'm not sure yet, i'm still doing research. From what i've gathered, it is possible to simply sand the surface to allow a primer to attach to the chrome. Alot of people have said that this works for awhile but might cause chipping and flaking later on down the road. I'll let you know what I find out.

I just can't bring myself to chrome out the kat

[gib3000]

it does work for a good long while- ive done it on my own bike-ive never used anything to etch the chrome though -i have heard that etch primer does work -keep us posted on anything you find out

[Black_peter]

what do you use to etch the chrome ? i need to do something similar with my bike stereo speakers

There is stuff called sand paper in a can..

http://www.paintscratch.com/cgi-bin/show_products.cgi?ShowItem=40

[NiteMare]

if you just want primer to stick to it....

i used a twisted wire cup mop on my angle grinder, gave the chrome a good scrubbing with that then slapped primer on ...

paint stayed on those parts for 3 years and was still there as i sold them, there was very little chrome left on that goldwing