1981 GSX1100 Katana Based Project

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Folks, the 2005 GSXR 1000 caliper bracket now has a bush fitted to suit the 20 mm Kat axle. The K5 caliper fits snug with a few mm's to spare so now I just have to plan the position of the forward torque brace mount, keeping it in the same plane as the brake rotor. For the torque brace I'll use 16 mm aluminium round and tap each end to fit 8mm rose joints. Once everything is in place the swing arm will be sent to have the forward torque bracket welded to the swingarm. The same place that does the ally welding will also be making the new ally axle spacers. Should have it back by the end of next week. Then it is wheels on and starting to look like a bike at last.

cheers.

P.S. The two options to mount the caliper torque brace position:

1) Mount the forward torque brace towards the pivot area of the swinger

2) Mount the torque brace to the frame.

Cheers

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Folks,

A bright new day and a new idea for the caliper torque brace. Adapt the K5 caliper mount incorporating an adjustable slide to allow for chain adjustment and repositioning of the caliper mount. This option has some attractive advantages:

a) light weight - much lighter than 2 rose joints and a length of 16mm ally round and a forward bracket
b) will not be affected by pipes/muffler
c) will have a factory look rather than a cobbled together solution
d) would only require a small tab to be welded to the underside of the swinger and one bolt with a locknut

At this stage I am keen to go with this option.​

Cheers.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Folks,

Fitted the rear wheel today to measure for axle spacers and where the rear brake caliper mount position will be on the swing arm. Should have the details sorted by tomorrow and then swingarm off the Kat and down to the welder to weld the caliper tab and make the axle spacers.

Once all that is done and parts test fitted to ensure all is well, remove it all and send ally parts to be anodized before final installation, and weighing.

Cheers.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Folks,

The DW180 will be using 1985 GSXR 750 wheels, I have the wheels but did not have the rotor side and sprocket side spacers for the rear wheel axle seals. I ordered the two OEM spacers last week however, they haven't arrived yet. I need these as a template for the engineering crew to machine up the spacers in aluminium. Spacers wont arrive until Thursday so a bit of a delay on the spacer front. Will make a start on fabricating the rear caliper mount so it is ready by the time the OEM spacers arrive.

Cheers.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Folks,

today was spent planning the rear caliper mount and where to position the captive tab on the swing arm and then marry that to the caliper mount. Using 10mm flat ally for the two tabs and should finish cutting and test fitting them tomorrow. For ally welding I send those jobs to a local engineering company and hope to have the swing arm and rear axle spacers back next week and then the ally spacers are off to be anodized before final installation of the rear wheel.

After the rear wheel is installed the front end gets a go. I have reshaped the top plate on the triple tree and have had an aluminium stem made to replace the OEM steel steering stem. Replacing all the OEM steel bolts on the triple tree with titanium bolts and the mods done to the plate and stem have reduced the weight of the complete triple tree to 1,920 grams.

After triple tree and new bearing are installed I have a set of forks built by Performance Motorcycle Creative in Japan. PMC replace the OEM anti-dive units with adjustable titanium damper units and modified damper rods. These forks will have the OEM springs replaced with light weight TNK fork springs and aftermarket aluminium fork spring pre-load adjusters. Have not weighed all these parts yet but they are lighter.

Cheers.

 

[Suzukian]

Methinks you should post some kind of a picture.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Methinks you should post some kind of a picture.

Hi John, I agree. Any chance you could help me out and give me a step by step how to using XNViewMP ? There are photos of every part and step taken.

Cheers,
Glen

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Folks, today I sorted out the rear caliper mount by making an adjustable slide plate out of 10 mm ally flat bar. The adjustable plate will be welded to the caliper mount and a 10 mm ally flat bar plate will be welded to the underside of the swingarm. A single bolt will secure the plates together and when chain adjustment is needed, back-off the bolt and the caliper mount will slide to a new position. I will weight the plates before they are welded however, this system will be lighter than using two rose joints, a length of 16 mm ally round, a forward mount welded to the swing-arm and a torque brace forward mount bolt/nut.

Another job done today was set up the chain alignment with a new 520 O Ring chain and sprockets and measure up for the axle spacers to be made in aluminium.

With an 18" X 140 rear tyre fitted and no off-set front sprocket the chain clears the tyre with 7.5 mm clearance. 520 final drive parts:

520 chain - 114 links = 2,135 g.
520 17 T steel front sprocket = 228 g.
520 48 T aluminium rear sprocket = 380 g, Yes, it only weighs 3 hundred and 80 grams.
5 X Titanium sprocket bolts with aluminium nuts and steel thread inserts. = 136 g.
OEM steel front sprocket nut and lock washer = 61 g.

Total weight for final drive parts = 2,940 grams

I have an OEM 630 96 link chain and an OEM new 630 rear sprocket kickin' around here somewhere, when I find them I'll weigh them to see the difference. Given that an OEM 630 - 15 T front sprocket weighs 578 grams on its own I think there has been a good amount of weight dropped using the 520 parts.

Cheers.

P.S. The swing-arm and final drive have been removed to allow the modifications to the swinger and have the aluminium spacers made. When all the parts are ready and installed the DW 180 weight tally will be updated.

 

[Suzukian]

Dude, Open XNViewMP and under "File" Navigate to your picture, there are a row of buttons that allow you to crop the image to cut out what you want to show, then go back to file and click on "Save As", choose jpeg, give the file a name, then save it to a folder on your Desktop.

If you need help getting the pictures from your camera to your computer, you will be using your USB wire, the quickest way, and navigate to the pictures on your phone, and "Copy and Paste" them to a folder on your computer.

Another alternative is to use the PRT SCR button on your Computer keyboard. That will put whatever you're looking at on the "Clipboard", open XNViewMP and click under "FILE" "Import Clipboard" if it fills the screen, double click it, then you will see it small, click the small picture, and you can then edit it. You have to use the program to learn how to work it. It has to be the easiest program available.


If you use Apple products, it's probably pretty much the same but I don't use Apple cr@ap.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Folks, todays job was to adapt the 2005 GSXR 1000 rear brake master cylinder to the Kat frame. Will be ditching the brake fluid reservoir and replacing it with a brake fluid rated poly tube with a breather valve cap. Have replaced the threaded steel rod on the master cylinder with a hollow aluminium rod. For now I will be using an OEM steel yoke on the brake rod until I have the time to make a yoke in ally. Should have the master cylinder sorted by tomorrow and can then compare the weight to an OEM master cylinder and reservoir.

Swingarm is with the engineering shop and they will try to have the welding and spacers done this week before they go on holidays for two weeks. Installed new steering stem bearings today and have fitted the triple tree to the frame. Total weight of the shaved triple tree = 1,851 grams.

Project weight today = 97,857 grams.

Cheers.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

No joy with trying to post images of the project. Have followed the advice provided by Suzukian however, for some reason I am not able to access the images on my iphone via the USB cable connected to my PC. I don't understand what I am doing wrong. Have asked two others for help but they were stumped as well, may have to ask a teenager for help, they seem to know everything about tech.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

There is another way. Setup an account at Imgur or Flickr. I’ve outlined the steps. It’s in my signature.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

There is another way. Setup an account at Imgur or Flickr. I’ve outlined the steps. It’s in my signature.

Hi Ian, thanks for the tip. When I tried to open an account with Imgur I received a notification saying Imgur was not available in my region? Flickr account, does their app take over the PC image files and mix it up like the XNViewMP app did, what a mess that has turned out to be.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Hi Ian, thanks for the tip. When I tried to open an account with Imgur I received a notification saying Imgur was not available in my region? Flickr account, does their app take over the PC image files and mix it up like the XNViewMP app did, what a mess that has turned out to be.

I use Imgur, but did create a Flickr account just to create the tutorial videos below. I know lots of people here use it to host their pics for posting on the forum. It only works with the photos you upload to the Flickr. You can use the Flickr App to upload the pics from your phone to Flickr. But you can't use the app to get the BBCode needed. For that you have to use the full desktop site. -Easy to do on PC/MAC or tablet/iPad. Fiddly to do on a phone.

Flickr on an iPad:

Flickr on a Samsung tablet:

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Ian, thank you for your follow up with two tutorial videos, much appreciated.

No progress to report today, instead a speed bump got in the way today. Turns out the rear caliper mount metal is porous and lacks structural integrity when TIG welded to 6000 series aluminium. Brakes are a bit of a drag however, I am not going to question the concerns raised by the Machinist when he welded the caliper bracket.

I will use the MK I welded caliper mount as a template and I'll fabricate a new caliper bracket from 6000 series flat bar aluminium and then have the Machinist bore the 20mm axle hole and TIG the plates together, problem solved from a material angle. Time wise, not solved, the Machinist goes on two weeks holiday tomorrow so a bit of a delay for the MKII caliper bracket. Could be a silver lining here as I think I can design a lighter bracket to do the job so having the extra time will be a good thing and yes, will take photos of the work.

Yesterday I finished making the muffler can. Used a set of titanium end caps and fitted a carbon fibre tube from an old muffler to the end caps. Baffles are aluminium and muffler packing with the end caps riveted. Complete muffler can weighs 483 grams.

Tomorrows plan is to fit engine cases so there will be a weight update.

Cheers.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Ian, I have watched your ipad tutorial, thank you. Will give it a go.

Cheers.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

I don’t know why you think my name is Ian. But you’re welcome.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

I don’t know why you think my name is Ian. But you’re welcome.

Oops, sorry about calling you Ian when now I know you aren't Ian. I was reading posts and thought I saw one of the other members call you Ian.

Cheers,
Glen.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

No worries, Glen. I believe someone may have referred to Suzukian as Ian (not his real name). But I know it's not Ian. I think that unless someone reveals their actual name in a post or in their signature, it's best to refer to them by their username. Just as Rijko referred to you as Ken, because it's part of your username. An assumption on his part (now I'm making an assumption with "his"). You probably noticed it, but made no mention of it. It's all good. Looking forward to seeing pictures of your en-lightening project.

 

[garyS-NJ]

Hi Rob,

the Kat front guard has a U shaped pressed steel brace that sits inside the front guard and bolted to each fork leg. Without the four bolts/washers it weighs 800 grams. The rear sub-frame I have removed is the steel frame that secures the inner rear guard to the main frame, without bolts/washers = 260 grams.

Cheers.

The mudguard inside brace is actually a fork brace and so you might want something up there.