Building a KiwiKat

[Anonymous]

Hi Silver Machine, Yes I agree about the GSXR engine. I am in Auckland. What build number is your wire? Mine is 11 or 12 from memory. It is standard except for the Harris, an oil cooler, lowered front blinkers and shortened rear guard. I got knocked back for a wof a few months back and had to take the factory braided lines off.

 

[Silvermachine81]

Hi Silver Machine, Yes I agree about the GSXR engine. I am in Auckland. What build number is your wire? Mine is 11 or 12 from memory.

1. How do you find that out, No one has ever told me. :?
2. Some local "Katana Expert's" people (You know, The ones that have never owned one........) think mines a fake, mainly because I got the seat recovered in new blue and grey vinyl as it looked like crap with that filthy/grotty old suede on it .
Anyway, it must be a damned good fake cause its certainly got all the right bits 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Silver Machine. Email: SteveCaudwell@suzuki.co.nz
He is at Suzuki at Wanganui. Send him eng & frame #'s and he will confirm for you. Where are you based?

 

[Silvermachine81]

Thanks for that.
Im in Chch.


Dont forget to check out.....


http://www.katanacentral.co.uk/community/webboard/wb-show.asp

http://www.oldskoolsuzuki.info/cgi-bin/Yabb/Yabb.pl

Page two of kat central has a "show of hands" thread which may help you contact others for future NZ kat events.

 

[Anonymous]

lookin good mate,
I have my kat here in Palmerston north and am always up for a natter or a few beers!

 

[Silvermachine81]

Hi Silver Machine, Yes I agree about the GSXR engine. I am in Auckland. What build number is your wire? Mine is 11 or 12 from memory. It is standard except for the Harris, an oil cooler, lowered front blinkers and shortened rear guard. I got knocked back for a wof a few months back and had to take the braided lines off.

Ive got the original microfiche of the wire wheelers so I dont have any warrant problems.
Just come across all knowledgeable and they will back down in my experience :wink:
Come across cocky and confrontational and they will "GOVERNMENT DEPT" you so fast youre feet wont touch the ground :evil:

1. Hey, Next time you take your carbs off can you tell me what size they are??
Some say 33's some say 36's :?:
2. Is your Headlight fairing Fibreglass or plastic?

 

[Silvermachine81]

I ask you, Has there ever been a better looking motorcycle built :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the comments Guys. Silver Machine, just verniered the carbs, they are 36MM ID and the fairing is plastic.

 

[Anonymous]

im impressed by this build up. I like the bike ,but don't butcher the styling with that tail. I have a GSXR Kat that i have built before it was easier for me to build it with an oil cooled motor.

I liked the front end fab,and the rear end swap.

Good luck with your build up

http://oldskoolsuzuki.info/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.pl?board=aircooled&action=display&num=1048349224

 

[Silvermachine81]

Thanks for the comments Guys. Silver Machine, just verniered the carbs, they are 36MM ID and the fairing is plastic.

Thanks for that.

Mine are 36's too, But all the info on the net says they should be 32's. :?
Guess I better take a look at that microfiche again some day.

Both my front fairings are fibreglass
I have yet to come across a plastic one

 

[Anonymous]

Thats a nice looking bike (the wire wheel as well!)
Good to see there is quite a few Katana supporters from NZ here.
Im kind of a Kat owner, my old man owns a mint condition 82 750 that he's selling me, cant wait to get it.
The first mod would definitely be an 1100 motor slotted in

 

[sidd]

Totally awesome. I am enjoying this thread very much. I was wondering what if any reading/research you did for the design of your lower shock linkage. I'm trying to find some books that explain motorcycle frame/suspension design and the math that goes into it. Your bike looks totally sweet, keep up the good work.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your comments GSX, the 1100 will slot straight into your 750 frame. Only thing you will have to change is the 2 lower engine mounts. The threaded tubes are welded in a slightly different position between the 750 and 1100 Kat frames, so you can easily make up some "L" shaped mounts. Make sure you use steel, (about 6mm will be fine) alloy is likely to fracture with the vibration involved. I believe that the front fork valving is slightly different between the 7 & 11 but I cannot confirm. I think apart from the seat and the tailpiece colours and the slightly different redlines on the tacho, that is about the only differences?

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Sidd, welcome to the forum. I studied all the info that I could find on the various websites and picked out what I thought to be the best ideas. I am a mechanic by trade and have done a fair bit of fabrication work, so that helped. For the rear setup I took the springs off the standard twin shock springs and measured where the swingarm was at maximum stroke both up and down in relation to a fixed point on the frame rails directly above the rear axle, and most importantly where the swingarm sat at normal loaded (unladen) ride height. I was lucky to have a standard Kat alongside me while I was doing this work. When I mounted the new swingarm and shock assembly, I made sure that the new shock (spring off) was in the absolute centre of it's stroke and then positioned the swingarm so that it was at the static ride height as a standard Kat and then made the top shock mount in this exact position. By going through this procedure I have maintained the original swingarm geometry of a standard Kat, and more importantly kept the swingarm relatively in the centre of the up and down travel of the chain through it's suspension stroke. Having said all of this though, I still had to raise the rear shock a little to compensate for the now smaller rear wheel diameter to raise the rear of the Kat to standard ride height. It had to be a bit of a compromise really but it certainly seems to be working well with this set up so far.

 

[Anonymous]

I finally found a CBR 600 F4i rear seat and tail lamp on Ebay. I have made up rear mounts for the seat and tailpiece and welded/brazed them to the rear frame rails of the Kat. I still need to add an extra downtube bracing to the front mount. The tailpiece is now mounted securely to the frame and I have made up a rear hoop assembly to mount the tail light and rear indicators. The hoop is made from the rear guard mount off a GSXR1100 WP/R? unit. It took a few hours making up the blinker mounts and rear seat latch etc and I ended up only using the rear 6" or so of the GSXR1100 hoop tubing. I basically needed the rear number plate/tail lamp mounting part. I still need to fabricate a light alloy undertray to hide all of the innards under the seat/s. The shortened front Kat seat is temporarily made up so as to get an idea of it's perspective before getting it reshaped and recovered.

 

[tfb]

Looks great! Good on you for having a go, as well the guts to go crazy with the hacksaw and weld things up the way you want them.

Mike.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Mike, I appreciate your comments.
The rear seat, blinker and tail light fabrication mounting is now complete. I used GSXR blinkers as I had them handy in the shed, but may upgrade later if I find more suitable units. Next step is to have an intermediate pipe fabricated to mount the new upswept rear silencer.

Small note: if using the CBR600 F4i tail lamp, it does not have a clear segment for the number plate light, so a clear segment has to be fitted to the bottom of the lens (if not using a separate no-plate lamp). You will also need a red reflector to the rear.

I am very pleased with the rear aspect so far. I would like to have had an underseat exhaust system, but there was not quite enough clearance with this combination. What do you think Digger?

 

[Anonymous]

The bikes coming along great!!
That seat unit is looking really good
Are you going to go with the original Kat paint scheme or try something else?
Can't wait to see it once its all done

 

[JatKat]

Hey Kat-kid,

Thats one of THE nicest rear conversions Ive seen on a Kat. It looks like its meant to be on there! Well done mate - cant wait to see it finished.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi JatKat & GSX, thanks for the positive comments. Yes I am going to paint the frame and bodywork in standard Katana 13L. I may run a bright orange stripe over the top lika a Ford GT40 colour scheme, but I will have a temporary run with an airbrush before getting it done properly. Today I went to the local muffler shop and had an intermediate pipe bent up. The 4 into 1 is 65mm (2&1/2") outlet so I followed through with that and welded a 4 bolt flange on the muffler end. Next step is matching up a hugger and get an undertray folded up, tidy up the front ends of the tailpiece where I have trimmed it, get a new front seat cover made. Then paint time.......
I am still running the 750 motor for now and saving my pennies for either a crank for the 1260 or a 1127 R motor.