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what did you wrench on today??

those wheels.....droooolllllll............
Starting to work on a T500 cafe build.


Shouldered Excel 18” rim + Conti Go tires + EBC 320mm disc. Am using the salty_monk upgrade + ’81 GS550T fork assembles.
cafe-T500-1242 by jabcb, on Flickr


Out of pure luck, the disc gold matches the tank badges quite nicely.
cafe-T500-0808 by jabcb, on Flickr


After seeing that color match, we decided to use matching tank + seat stripes, and picked a color that went well with the gold.
Test fit of the custom seat with DOT LED taillight. Blue tape was on the fender so I could mark where to cut it. Fender will be powder coated black.
cafe-T500-0962 by jabcb, on Flickr
 
Two coats of Vitrail stained glass paint and a coat of poly varnish on top.
Et, voila...

yellow-headlamp-01.jpg


yellow-headlamp-02.jpg
 
Removed two seats, three sidecovers and one battery. Was prepared to remove second battery, had my bathroom mat ready to be rolled up and wedged under the rear of the tank to displace it, only to find my mechanic had changed the two sloppy screws and bolts holding the frame crossmember with four beautiful, shiny new Allen bolts. Just have to find the right Allen wrench.

And used jumper cables on a bike for the first time. A bit unwieldy. Surely they make bike-sized jumper cables, correct?

They do, though you can make your own and it's easy and you can make them any length you want.
 
uuuhhhhh..........that's kinda creepy Vince. Probably the response it's supposed to have. Well done.
 
Been working on some rearset brackets to adapt some ZX12 rearsets to the 450.

Borrowed a mate's lathe yeserday to make some 10mm spacers for the swingarm and have roughly cut the brackets out and have drilled and tapped a hole for an eyelet for the brake lever return spring. Will be heading back down Wednesday night to use his milling machine to clean the brackets up.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr
 
Spent the last two days cutting these bookends that I will attach the scroll work I posted about earlier. It's only my second time cutting dovetails and though my inexperience shows they aren't too terribly bad.

Bookends by Scott Baker, on Flickr
 
Changed the alternator on the family car. Took it out last night, picked one up on my way home, installed it tonight. Wasn?t terribly bad, but actually getting it out after unbolting and freeing it from it?s mount was like one of those campfire puzzles with the intertwined rings....
I looked at the old one and there was a cap with two electric brushes on an extended shaft on the back. Interesting. Then again, the last alternator I changed was a 60s era GM externally regulated unit...
Also found some front to back movement on the radiator. It?s a plastic / aluminum type with a couple of posts that are held in place with rubber bushings to hold the top of the radiator in place. The bushings were too big. A few wraps of electrical tape on the posts closed the gap.
 
Been working on some rearset brackets to adapt some ZX12 rearsets to the 450.

Borrowed a mate's lathe yeserday to make some 10mm spacers for the swingarm and have roughly cut the brackets out and have drilled and tapped a hole for an eyelet for the brake lever return spring. Will be heading back down Wednesday night to use his milling machine to clean the brackets up.

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr
Wonderful to see somebody adapting rearsets!!! Good on you Mate!!!
 
Cheers Bill! It's a necessity... I need the 450 to feel more like the Katana so I'm comfortable again :cool:
 
Between morning and evening deer hunts, i assembled a rack of carbs for an 83 V45 Sabre 750S and installed the clutch in my 83 KZ750 L3 that i rebuilt Thursday. Clutch dampners were so so sloppy. Installed the new rubber pucks and did the rebuild per the KZ rebuild tutorial.
 
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Made up bearing carriers for a full width Matchless front hub. OE has taper rollers integral with the axle so when worn currently the only purchasable option is a bearing setup through the owners club - which is very expensive....So carriers to mount 35mmOD bearings in the 1 1/2inch bore of the hub....

The GS1000 frame job looks neat. I simply replaced the steel plates with 8mm alloy on our one. Front mounts the same too. Large OD alloy spacers to spread the loadings help too.

I've done Kawasaki clutches two ways - because here, I couldn't get the rubbers....First, I made up urethane inserts duplicating the OE rubbers. That worked very well but was time intensive. Second time, the rubbers weren't as bad so I simply made up steel outer bushes to compress them then pressed them into place. that's still OK in a 750 racebike after 4 seasons use.
 
Rear wheel re-furbished!

Rear wheel re-furbished!

Finally got time to re-install the rear wheel on the GS1000 after its' refurbishing. Lots of work plating all the items, especially the spokes and lacing the wheel but it was worth it! Now on to the front!

IMG_0313.jpg
 
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