1984 Katana 7/11

[pete]

Cheers mate! So far I'm happy with how it's turning out.

Drain holes have definitely crossed my mind and I'll look at those once I get the battery tray mounting sorted also and I can work out where the low spots will be for the most effective locations for them.

[katman]

Your doing some really nice work there M8.

[pete]

Cheers Rob!

[gmansyz]

I like your ideas!!!!

[pete]

Thanks! I just hope they all come together in a cohesive manner... she still must look like a Kat at the end!

[pete]

Just a little bit more done last night, got the mounting sorted for the electrics/battery tray. Like the mounting tabs on the rear tray/inner guard I'll probably look at getting the mounting tabs welded rather than just riveted.

Pretty happy with the way it sits though.

[pete]

Well work is still getting me exhausted so zero energy lately for my usual bit of time to work on the Kat at night.


However I did manage to find a dirt cheap complete headlight assembly in the UK with what looks like a good headlight and only surface rust on the mounts/brackets. It's been shipped already apparently so fingers crossed it arrives safe and sound and does look as good as the photos. At less than $80 including shipping I couldn't say no.


I also stood in the shed for a while looking at the seat and tail piece trying to work out the best way of getting started on the fibreglass mould.


Right now I think the best way will be to remove the metal tongue from the seat, then tape and seal the bottom up and use a couple of layers of fibreglass and make a mould of that section. Looks like the trickiest bit is going to be getting that shape right to fit with a tongue and align properly with the seat mount.


I can do this same process to get a mould for the front section that fits around the tank also.


For the pillion part of the seat and the tail piece, I'll use the foam I've got to shape that and I can attach that to the fibreglass mould of the front section so the whole thing ends up as a one piece mould that should in theory work well.


The only tricky bit I can see at the moment is that I'll be trying to replicate the exact (or close to it) shape of the tail piece and it slightly curves under at the bottom and rear.


I'm starting to wonder if it might be better to make the mould in two halves split around the centre of what would be the pillion seat area. That way I could remove the front section of the mould first and the rear section would be able to come forward to make it easier to remove. As long as I tape them together securely while laying the fibreglass I can't see that having any impact on the shape of the piece.


Anyone got any other bright ideas or suggestions? I hope that all makes sense...

[pete]

Can someone confirm for me where the ignitor is mounted on a stock Kat? It looks to me like it mounts to the side of the battery tray as the holes line up perfectly, but I'm not real sure.

Basically I'm trying to work out if I can mount it to the right side of my battery/electrics tray under the right hand side cover and still have enough length in the signal generator and ignitor wiring for them to plug together.

Also, I got as far as taping up the front part of the seat bottom yesterday. I added some cardboard to flatten it out a bit and still have to glad wrap it then add some more tape just to be confident none of the resin or release agents will get through to the seat itself.





Need to get myself some fibreglassing stuff this week as what I have currently has gone off due to age.

[Buffalo Bill]

Looks like you're using duck tape for molding epoxy, I dunno if that releases so good. I do know that epoxy does not stick to packing tape at all. I think it's made of polyester.

[John Kat]

Can someone confirm for me where the ignitor is mounted on a stock Kat? It looks to me like it mounts to the side of the battery tray as the holes line up perfectly, but I'm not real sure.

Basically I'm trying to work out if I can mount it to the right side of my battery/electrics tray under the right hand side cover and still have enough length in the signal generator and ignitor wiring for them to plug together.

You are right.
Here's a picture:

[pete]

Thanks guys!

Bill: Yep that's duct tape, still have to wrap it in plastic and another layer to ensure it's 100% sealed. I'll be using a release agent to ensure the matting doesn't stick to it though. After reading up a bit more on fibreglassing I'll be using polyester resin. It's a lot cheaper than epoxy resin and for this application it will work just fine.

John: Cheers for the confirmation. That should mean my plan will work for mounting it to the side of my battery/electrics tray.

[pete]

Got my headlight yesterday! Lense is in near perfect shape but the frame etc. has a bunch of surface rust to be taken care of yet. For less than $80 shipped I ain't complainin'! The worst of it is near the adjuster screw but I can't see anything that can't be fixed with a wire brush, some rust converter, primer, and paint.







However, something is not quite right with the mounting... with the front cowl on it seems to sit low, yet the holes in the subframe for the top mounting bolts seem to be too low also.

I tried both cowls I've got here and both are the same and I can't see any way that I could've mounted up the subframe incorrectly either.

As far as I know all the Kats use the same subframe and headlight assembly... so am I wrong here and have I ordered something incorrectly? Or is this perhaps not a Kat headlight? It certainly looks right but of course this is the first time I'm looking at one off the bike...







Anyone got any bright ideas?

[SVSooke]

I'm having trouble seeing anything wrong with where the light sits.The assembly looks close if not the same as the ones on the 83^ GS750ES/F bikes. IIRC they never quite seem to be exactly centered to the fairing there either.

[pete]

Cheers Greg... I think I figured that bit out. It looks like the rubber mount on the bottom of the assembly is perished, so it's sitting lower than it should. I don't think it will end up perfectly centred but I think what you're saying is right, they're never really dead centre anyway.

However there's still confusion around the side mounting holes in the headlight housing. The subframe has the holes lower down and they don't quite match up.

The most confusing bit of all is that all the numbers on the headlight and housing seem to match up with other guys numbers over on the KA forum, so the difference is a bit perplexing.

[pete]

So by all accounts over on the KA forum it looks like it's a Kat headlight assembly, just noone's come up with an answer on why it's a little different yet...

After a good suggestion I'm probably going to knock the nuts off the back of the side holes, weld in some steel, and drill and tap new holes to suit the correct position. I have to fix all that surface rust on it anyway so I'm not potentially destroying something shiny and new...