1984 Katana 7/11

[nvr2old]

The seat looks great, Pete. It sets the bar for the rest of it now, ya know..

[pete]

Haha yep Larry it sure does! I just hope I can do it justice! I'm getting excited about the powder coating... once that frame is done there'll be no stopping me! At least until I run out of funds and time again

[pete]

I pulled out the pressure washer yesterday and gave everything going to the powder coaters a once over.

I included the wheels because they still weren't quite clean after degreasing and scrubbing.

Unfortunately the pressure washer started removing some paint so I do need to paint them after all. I'm eyeing off the VHT satin black wheel paint for this and going by various reports on the Interwebs it seems like it's good stuff, especially if you do the primer and clear coat as well.

I also got the old stearing head bearing races out of the frame... and put them back in again. I figured I'd rather know they're easier to get in/out before I get it powder coated rather than risk damaging it trying to remove stubborn ones.

And I started getting the wheel spacers, footpegs, and rear caliper mount ready for some paint as well.

I should have enough of the Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black for these.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

[pete]

I haven't been completely idle the last few days. I got the frame, engine mounts, top triple clamp, and side stand off to the powder coater on Monday.

I also managed to get the shed sealed up as best I could with the simplest option I could think of. Some thick plastic that was lying around, a tarp, some press studs, and some velcro and it seems to work pretty well. After spraying, I can only seem to smell the fumes outside after I've opened the door. Once the door's been shut again they seem to dissipate pretty rapidly.

It's also far more roomy in there than I hoped for once it's expanded as well. Lots of room to move to paint which is awesome.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

The wheels are stripped at last and I started getting the bearings out.

The wheel spacers and sprocket carrier are also getting prep'd.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

I got the two primer coats on the footpeg brackets and rear caliper bracket.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

And I've ordered the swingarm and sprocket carrier bearings which I can pick up tomorrow (TA2530 and 6305 respectively).

[pete]

Three coats of Extreme Chassis Black on, today hopefully should be wheel prep day, then paint for those on Sunday.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

[pete]

I got the wheels and spacers done yesterday.

Sat them in the sun for a few minutes to get the edge of the cold off. The masking isn't real flash so I expect to have some overspray to clean off but I can cope with that.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

VHT primer, satin black, and clear coat done.

I hope it works ok as apparently I don't understand the concept of a thin coat. You're supposed to do 2 thin coats then a medium wet coat, but I reckon my thin coats are more like their wet coat as I didn't get 3 coats on everything and ran out of paint. Worst case is the fun of doing them again I guess... although I suspect it will be fine.

I did however drop the wheel spacer at the top right while turning it around during the clear coat, so I will have to figure something out with that. I have to fix a run on the rear caliper bracket so I'll probably do it with that.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

[pete]

Well I actually finished one thing yesterday... footpegs are all back together. If only I had something to bolt them to...

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

I'll have to bug the powder coater today and find out what's going on, back to work tomorrow and I was hoping to have the frame and bits back by then.

[nvr2old]

Very nice, Pete. The black wheels are gonna look awesome. Love the pink flamingos for an "artsy background" shot..haha!

[pete]

Hahaha gotta have some colour in there somewhere Larry!

Got them unmasked yesterday, definitely a little overspray to clear up where the masking wasn't real flash but that'll be easy enough to take care of.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

[Sam 78 GS750]

Well I actually finished one thing yesterday... footpegs are all back together. If only I had something to bolt them to...

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

I'll have to bug the powder coater today and find out what's going on, back to work tomorrow and I was hoping to have the frame and bits back by then.

Did you reuse the bushings on these foot pegs? If so, how did you get them out and back in without destroying them? It looks like they were removed in your prep pictures... I had to do some serious torching and cutting to get the rubber & metal swingarm bushings out on my bike, and am about to do my pegs... Have been contemplating how to go about it.

[pete]

Nah they're new bushings in the footpeg brackets there. Those didn't come with the bushings so I didn't have the pain of removing them luckily for me. However if you go back to post #396 in this thread you'll see the press I made to get the swingarm bushes out. I heated the arm a bit then used right sized sockets in the press to push them out. One side wasn't too hard, the other was a PITA.

On another note, found some threaded rod so I can install the swingarm bearings nicely... I screwed the first set because I didn't realise they were supposed to be flush with the outside, not drifted in to the inside lip.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

[steve murdoch]

A nice method of setting the bearings but i would then feel the need to whack something else with the hammer.

[pete]

Haha yep Steve... probably best whacking my head after the last effort, although it may break the hammer!

I'm getting excited! Yesterday was quite productive.

Picked my frame and bits up from the powder coater and picked up the new set of swingarm bearings.

I missed being able to put it out in the last of the sun but still got some shady natural light at least.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Very happy with that! The Astatic Red works well with the seat and the powder coater managed to not clog the threads up too much with powder, and nicely maintained the chassis number.

I couldn't help myself last night and had to go and install the swingarm bearings. I put them in the freezer the minute I got them home, so between that and some Coppereze they went in nice and easy with the threaded rod. Didn't even need a spanner until they were half way in or more.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Then I just had to put some stuff on the frame.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Before I do any more I need to get the rear brake caliper mount and that rear wheel spacer I dropped sorted with paint, get the new steering head bearing races in, and put some oil in the forks.

I've also managed to bury all my rubber bits like the tank mount pad, side panel mounts, etc. so I need to dig those out as they can all go on now too.

Hopefully Sunday will be another productive day.

[Sam 78 GS750]

Looking good! I'm at about the same point in my build. Exciting when everything's starting to look shiny and new, and you can start putting it all back together, huh?

[pete]

Cheers Sam, very happy with their work and the colour is pretty much spot on. The excitement is definitely building with bits going on, you're spot on there!