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The Beginnings of a Little Cafe Racer ..... GS250 Twin ...Cafenated

  • Thread starter Thread starter bhppy101
  • Start date Start date
B

bhppy101

Guest
Finally!!!!

I picked up another Zuki tonight to transform into a little cafe runner. I bought this one primarily to teach the girls (fiance' and daughter 13 yrs old) to ride!....lol

It's a 1980 GS250T Twin. It's got 10,230 miles on it and runs great!!

Stay tuned and watch the transformaton from beginning to end.

First on the agenda is to fabricate and weld some brackets to lift the rear end of the tank....to make the bottom lines straight with the frame... and then build a fiberglass seat "cafenated"..... and then the rest will follow.

She wants me to paint it a metalic dusty blue with a tint of grey and a silver stripe running down the middle.

Heres what it looks like now....fresh off the trailer!



 
should be finished by now?

should be finished by now?

bhppy
i've seen your other post and threads and man do you put out some nice work.:-D anyways what's the story you almost done with this one?:-s you pump them out faster than you can buy them it seems like. :shock:can't wait to see this one in progress and finished.\\:D/ you'vbe got me wanting to do a retro cafe/street fyghter. or just something off the wall. gotta finish the hot rod first though.
be good j.w. napier
 
Thanks for reminding me j.w.!

This one will probably take me longer since its for the girls!!.....hee hee....that was a joke!...lol

Just got started on it tonight while I'm waiting for some parts for my XS500.

I took off the rear fender and the seat.



The first order of business was to lift the tank so that it is'nt so droopy.

heres the before tank shot:


 
I had to fabricate some kind of bracket to lift the tank....so I kept it simple and used some 1 1/4" x 3/16" flat steel. I measured for the bends that I had to create.....stuck it in my trusty bench vise....and pounded the bends in. I know...sounds crude...but it works...lol





Perfect fit!....remember...its always better to measure 3 times before you cut.....just thought I'd throw that in there.... Thats what my woodshop teacher always told us! :)
 
I drilled a hole so that I can put a bolt through the bracket for mounting the base to the stock location.

Propped up the tank and voila....the tank is now level with the frame. I still have to drill another hole to secure the tank to the bracket.

I was thinking of welding the bracket in....but the grade 5 bolts should work just fine unless my daughter gets real good at stunt riding and wants to stand on the tank! 8O


 
I'm trying to decide where to put all the spaghetti....

I guess I'll be cutting out all the side panel and battery tabs off to clean things up in the middle. (but I probably can't do that until tomorrow....cause the neighbors might burn my house down if they hear all the noise after 10pm.....lol :evil: )

I think I need to buy a house where I don't have neighbors.....lol.. They all LOVE the sweet sounds that come from my garage!!

I will also fabricate a battery holder out of angle iron to mount it under the seat.

I also have to weld in some steel to mount the electronics under the seat as well....I need to extend some of the wires so tat I can hide them behind the frame.


 
American Chopper, GS style!

And with a lot more talent, I might add. I quit watching that show after the Black Widow bike, if I wanted to watch a soap opera I'd stick to CBS.

I agree with the previous statement, you can crank out a bitchin' ride! Wonder what you could do with a 1400 Intruder.......:twisted:
 
At it again huh?

At it again huh?

I saw the others and I must say they looked great man.

One thing you might think about is an XR750 styled tail section. The "L" tank makes a good candidate for this style of bike. I thought about going this way with mine but found a good deal on an E model tank for my 550.

Just a suggestion, im sure no matter what you do it will be sweet...
 
byrdman76 said:
I saw the others and I must say they looked great man.

One thing you might think about is an XR750 styled tail section. The "L" tank makes a good candidate for this style of bike. I thought about going this way with mine but found a good deal on an E model tank for my 550.

Just a suggestion, im sure no matter what you do it will be sweet...
Click to expand...

Good call on the xr750 tail byrdman!....but I am mounting the battery in the rear part of the seat so I need a little more room than a flat tracker style seat.
 
txironhead said:
American Chopper, GS style!

And with a lot more talent, I might add. I quit watching that show after the Black Widow bike, if I wanted to watch a soap opera I'd stick to CBS.

I agree with the previous statement, you can crank out a bitchin' ride! Wonder what you could do with a 1400 Intruder.......:twisted:
Click to expand...

WOW!!!....what a compliment!! THANK YOU!!

I do admit to watching the Tuttles every now and then....lol....They are entertaining....especially Mikey!

As far as the intruder....I would love to totally customize a chopper (cruiser)

I just bought a 96 Kawasaki Eliminator...I painted it black for now....But I have some serious plans for this one! I am looking to do a totally 1 off tank.....low to the frames backbone,wide and pointy toward the seat!...mount a rear fender to the swingarm (lowering the rear.....and building a custom snug...moulded seat. I think I'm going to try to do a low drag style cruiser with it. I was very surprized how quick this bike was!
 
Definitely post some pics of the Eliminator when you get around to working on it. Can't wait to see how this little 250 turns out!
 
OK....down to business..

I got a little time today to cut off all the side tabs, battery tray, and seat brackets (braces).

I welded some 1" angle iron to the frame to make a rear battery tray to mount under the seat hump.

This made the rear end more rigid....since I cut off the main rear crossbeam.

I welded another piece of 1/8" flat bar so that I can mount (bolt) the regulator and rectifier under the seat as well as give me a good grounding point to all of the ground connections.

Finally I mounted a tab with some more flat steel so that I have something to mount the seat to. I will have to weld a couple more seat mounts...but I don't know where yet...until I get all the electrics and wiring together. Here's a couple of pics....please dont mind the sloppy welds!!!.....lol... They might be ugly...but they are strong!




 
Back from the holidays...

I started on the seat and smoothing out the tank:





 
bhppy101 said:
I welded another piece of 1/8" flat bar so that I can mount (bolt) the regulator and rectifier under the seat as well as give me a good grounding point to all of the ground connections.
Click to expand...

Just a quick question, will the regulator/rectifier get enough cooling under the seat? Of course, it doesn't get much breeze under a side cover, so this may be a moot point. I've often thought about mounting a computer cooling fan to the regulator to minimize overheating.
 
txironhead said:
Just a quick question, will the regulator/rectifier get enough cooling under the seat? Of course, it doesn't get much breeze under a side cover, so this may be a moot point. I've often thought about mounting a computer cooling fan to the regulator to minimize overheating.
Click to expand...

I won't be putting the side covers back on....so there will be more circulation than before. Regulators are meant too take the heat.....thats why they have lasted for over 25 years....I don't think I have ever had a problem with a reg/rect overheating unless it was going bad to begin with. I wouldnt bother putting a computer fan over yours....it probably wont do much in an open air circulation situation. but I'm sure it wouldnt hurt anything for you to mount one.:-D
 
So what do you do in lieu of side covers? Just leave it open? I was going to have to fabricate some side covers for my bike but a fellow GS'r came through with a set I can paint. Mine were missing when I got the bike.
 
txironhead said:
So what do you do in lieu of side covers? Just leave it open? I was going to have to fabricate some side covers for my bike but a fellow GS'r came through with a set I can paint. Mine were missing when I got the bike.
Click to expand...

I am leaving it completely open so that you can see straight through. It makes for a cleaner look. No wires, electronics, or battery in the center.All you see is motor and air pods.
 
Today I got to finish glassing the seat......adding filler and smoothing it out. I filled the tank badges smooth.....added some clubman bars... Now its starting to take shape. :-D

 
Indeed it is. Nice as usual man! You make it look so easy, I am finding it quite the opposite :-D

Does that tape help keep the styrofoam from dipping? Was wondering why you masked that.
 
bgmart450 said:
Indeed it is. Nice as usual man! You make it look so easy, I am finding it quite the opposite :-D

Does that tape help keep the styrofoam from dipping? Was wondering why you masked that.
Click to expand...


Thanks!!

The tape prevents the fiberglass resin from melting the foam. The chemicals in the fibglass resin eats most foam like acid. Once I'm done glassing....I remove the foam and the tape.
 
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