[illwillone]

how does the kat in the pic have rear spools,

[scottynoface]

how does the kat in the pic have rear spools,

Looks like he drilled them straight into the swingarm

[il_ragazzo]

um.... why did he cut holes in the engine covers? to cut down on weight? like Homer Simpsons speed holes?

[1FSTKAT]

[fdlr130]

Boy those are a lot of questions:
First the bike pass CCS/ASRA tech this weekend at Homestead Speedway.
The oil plug on top, the oil drain plug and the oil filter are safety wired, or it will not pass tech for sure.
The bottom cowl is from a 2000-02 GXSR600 and is to hold any spills or loose bolt, also pass tech inspection.
Is no holes in the engine cover, they don't make race covers for the Katana's but to pass inspection you need to put cover protectors, but they don't make those either, so they where made of knee pugs. it also pass tech inspection.
Yes I drill hole in the swing arms for the rear spools, is not photoshop and they work fine.
Air Ram, they are there to supply extra Air to the engine to cool her down, when you are going between 10.5K and 11.5K RPMS all the time you need the extra air flow.
Upper faring, they don't make a race upper for a Katana, and I also wanted to keep the looks of the Katana and not to look like a GSXR1000, since those are the only fairings that will fit her.
Tires, Bridgstones BT003RS triple compound
Suspension, Stock, but adjusted by GMD to make her more stiff, and it works, it took 5 seconds of my original lap times.
Break lines are on order and they will be replace next week or before we head out to Blackhawk Farm Raceway for the Team Challenge 75 lap race.
Gearing is stock, since is the gearing that will be use to race at Daytona.
The bike runs on the light weight class, yes the GTL class.

Future mods:
Jet kit
520 conversion kit.

What I got from the bike at the track:
She is slow to take off but once she hits the power band after 9K you need to keep her there, just like a ninja 250. She is fast true the corners, I was able to lean as much as any of my race CBR 600 or Ducati 848 that I have race in the pass, At the beginning I was concern about the corner weight, but after couple of track session and suspension adjustment I realize, I'm not pushing her. To my surprise she was able to take corners just like any other race bike.
The only issue I had was braking power, I had stock old break pads and no race break lines, but I was there to test the bike and push as much as I can, now I know it can go deeper in the corners if I change the break pads for EBC HH pads or any other race type pads.

Overall the bike can be a great race bike for the light weight division, but down here GTL means Ducati's 900, Bimotas 1000 and Buells 1200, you can run with the 748, 749 and sv650 with out a problem and anything below that including two smokers 250cc. By no means she can compete in the middle weight class.

At the beginning everyone was making faces, like that was not place for her to be there, while going to tech every one was staring a making comments, pictures where taken of some of the mods to be send to CCS HQ, I had a letter from the Director of operation at CCS to allows the bike to race on any GTL class after passing full tech.
By the end of the day, I hear comments like " I can believe you pass my friend on a Katana, he is embarrass", "So you are the one rocking the Katana, I could not catch you in the corners", "She looks good out there" and so on.

Fun factor 100%
Performance 80%
Cornering 95%
Breaking 65%
Race Parts 10% (nothing available but muffler and jet kit)

[Kreylyn]

Is no holes in the engine cover, they don't make race covers for the Katana's but to pass inspection you need to put cover protectors, but they don't make those either, so they where made of knee pugs. it also pass tech inspection.
Yes I drill hole in the swing arms for the rear spools, is not photoshop and they work fine.

Engine covers ---> http://www.nrcracing.com/covers_sear...make=5&model=9

Covers are the same for any Oil cooled GSXR or bandit btw, so probably lots of options even if they are not listed specifically for the Kat.


Re-inforce the holes with threaded bungs, or weld on spool attatments for the spools. You will find that the 2m thick soft low carbon steel swingarm won't hold up to repetative use if you threaded directly into it for the spools. Just too much weight. Coupling nuts (8 or 10mm thread) for what ever size spools you chose, works great and takes all of 2 mins to weld on, hit with some spray paint and have it right.

Krey

[teddy]

You need to understand something here so you don't get the wrong impression. Many of us participate in track days, and have been around long enough to see our fair share of posers. I'm impressed you are going the lengths you are to compete with your kat. If I had the time and extra money, I'd do the same for a while til I could afford something lighter/faster. My suggestion to you would be to invest more time and effort on your suspension before anything else. Racetech makes a few parts for the front forks that I would highly recommend you look into. (springs, emulators) Other parts are available on a not so 'on demand' basis though.(preload adjusters can be found, custom made) Rear shocks can be had from other bikes that are better than the p.o.s. stock 600 one. A simple fast swap would be one from a 1200 Bandit, or even a 750 kat with the remote reservoir for finer tuning capabilities. Do that kind of stuff, along with your new brake lines and pads before worrying about would-be go fast parts. For performance, look into a 750 header to go along with that jet kit you want. Most here will tell you to get ONLY a Factory Pro jetkit, others are a waste of time and a pia to tune.

Krey beat me to telling you about the NRC covers...

Hope this helps, good luck!

[scottynoface]

Drilling holes in a tubular swinger and expecting it to hold a 500lb bike, not smart.

[curseboy]

well if you've raced in the past with better bike and you want to race this one you're a braver man than most...

Post videos once you compete, I think the outcomes would be interesting

[loudnlow7484]

Suspension, Stock, but adjusted by GMD to make her more stiff, and it works, it took 5 seconds of my original lap times.

The only things adjustable on stock Kat suspension are rebound in the front, preload and rebound in the rear, right? Do you know exactly what they did to your suspension? It must be more than just adjusting to make that sort of difference, especially since there is so little to actually adjust.

[fdlr130]

Well I'm nor really a poser, nothing bad taken, I started racing in 2005, became florida state amature formula 40 state champion with a CBR600 # 22 and then top 7 riders for the National TC championship, GTO Class with a Ducati 848 # 30 and currently in the top 3 for this year TC GTL national championship running a Kawi 250R #111.
I did Re-inforce the holes with threaded bungs, I know 500 pounds is a lot to hold on those swing arms.
I was trying the get an aprillia rs250 but I never got a call from the seller, so I need it a bike to run the TC that had more power than the Kawi 250R (specially if I was planning to run Daytona), so I ask my wife for one of her bikes and she gave me the Katana, I could use the Ducati but I will be running GTO and loose all my point for the GTL class where I'm currently 3th with a 14 point lead. I only had 4 days to get the bike ready for homestead testing after I got approval from CCS/ASRA, I know I should have better suspension, they told me the same for the CBR and the Ducati and those won several races using stock suspension, the same goes for the Kawasaki. I never had the need for them and I was still be able to keep up with other bikes and even pass them.

Kawi 250R


CBR600 #248 at that time


Here is a video of the Duc in the Dyno before it got ready for the track, is the bike not the girls so don't get excited!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1wDGh80aKc"]YouTube - ‪Moto Tech of Miami Dyno 305-633-5115‬‏[/ame]

[professa_riddler]

I say it's cool. Sounds like you have a plan and hopefully it works out for you. Good luck in your endeavors.

[fdlr130]

In the 80' the Katana was a race bike, At least is what I understood, then it became a sport cruiser because of HP. Well, one of my goals is to see the Katana (the underdog) in the podium at Daytona on the TC national championship trophy award. and everyone else going WTF! that is what you call PRICELESS! lol

[teddy]

I'd love to see it too, bro...the only thing that would make it better would be if it were me and my kat on the podium...

[curseboy]

In the 80' the Katana was a race bike, At least is what I understood, l

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=118396