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First time project 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 650R

36K views 88 replies 19 participants last post by  spdu4ia 
#1 ·
Today I purchased a salvage title 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 650R. I have owned 2 bikes before this but I've never really done much maintenance besides oil and spark plug change. So this project is going to be a bit of a undertaking for me.

I have an idea in mind of a cafe/streetfighter style that I'd like to take it, but first things first I need to take care of the basics and get it street legal.

The bike is a salvage title. It seems to be in mostly decent shape. The headlight is gone but the wiring is still all intact, the bulbs and wiring for the front turn signals are still intact as well, but all the plastic is gone. One mirror is still intact, but the glass is gone from the other, but the frame is still good. There is a crack in the metal piece below the handle bars that the gauges are mounted to. The radiator is shot and seems to be leaking slightly and the chain seems to need a good cleaning.

So all that aside, the bike seems to start up and run great! (Until I find more things hidden that need work)

I'm not really sure what I got myself into, but I'm excited to see where it leads me!

First things first I think I need to get a new radiator. I've found them on ebay for around $160, but if anyone has some other ideas I'm all for advice.

Like I said earlier, I'm a complete novice to all of this so I appreciate any advice and support I receive.
Thanks in advance
 

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#57 ·
As with most things in life they never are as easy as they initially seem they might be.

I got an appointment to get my bike inspected by the MHP for the 551 form to turn it from salvage to prior salvage. I've really been wanting to get all my ducks in a row and make sure that when I get up there I dont get denied, so I went ahead and called to speak to an inspector to know what all I need to have done.

I just about had a heart attack when he told me that I needed to return the bike to "Original Factory" condition for it to pass inspection.

If that bike had fairings i need to have all the original fairing replaced.
Along with needing to get an original factory headlight.
:bsflag:
To me that seems like TOTAL B.S.! And this was all coming from the man himself who does the inspections. So right now I'm looking into a few other option to make this work. But if it comes right down to it I'll just ride the bike without registration and accept the $50 ticket if I ever get pulled over. From what I understand in Missouri they are "non moving violations" so I can get an infinite amount without points added to my license, and as long as I pay the fee (if and when I get stopped) I'm fine.


As for the bike itself, the radiator and the bar end led blinkers arrived in the mail today.
The radiator looks fantastic, and there's not a leak in sight.

The blinkers on the other hand are a P.O.S., I guess you get what you pay for. They don't blink and you can barely even tell when they are on in the first place.

I went ahead and took the bike out for the first "real" ride tonight. Feels great to be back on a bike, and it's beautiful weather for it tonight.

I guess for now my efforts will be directed mostly at looking for new (better) blinkers, paint and getting this B.S. Missouri title issues worked out.
 
#61 ·
I asked about making it a custom bike, but was told that for it to be considered a custom there need to be "significant" changes made to the bike. Apparently removal of the fairing or even chopping the tail wouldn't count.

I thought about getting the fairing and the light, but I can't justify spending the time and money on parts that I will just remove immediately after.
 
#62 ·
Spent the night out in the garage again tinkering. I have never been fully satisfied with my gauge mountings. They seemed kinda cheap, and they slightly blocked the ignition. I decided I wanted to move them to above the headlight so I built a mount tonight to do just that.


Along with that I didn't like the way the front looked, especially the space in between the gauge and the headlight, so I have been kicking around the idea of a fly screen, but refuse to buy one when I could make one myself.
I cut out a (VERY) rough idea out of cardboard and put it where I thought it might work.


When I bought the bike the guy gave me an assorted box of "broken" parts, and included in there was the windshield.


I'm thinking I could cut out a stencil, then tint it.
I'm still trying to figure out the best method of going about getting the curve right, and then I'm not at all sure how I could go about cutting it.

Any suggestions....?
 
#63 ·
I would score it with an exacto knife over and over and it will just break along the line. Just an FYI tinting it will be difficult to get even. If you just spray the INSIDE of it with a plain ole gloss or flat black spraycan then from the front it will be shiney and will look better than a half ass tint job. You'r not looking through it anyway.
 
#64 ·
Thanks for the suggestion on painting it, I'll proabably do that instead.
I've come across a few tutorials on cutting windshields, a lot of them recommend using a handhels jigsaw, so I grabbed on eof those yesterday.

Now the BIG question is what shape. The stencil I made out of cardboard looks like a turd! I think it might look better if the top was a bit sharper angle, maybe like the bottom of the orignal windshield is.
 
#67 ·
Tonight was another productive night.
The new handles arrived in the mail, and I got those installed.

I went ahead and cut down the old windshield, painted it black and mounted it to the front. (It looks even worse in person.)

I'm thinking that if I end up hating this my other idea would be to get some kind of white motocross front number plate (not sure what there called)

Put up plastic drop cloths in the garage (It's feels kinda Dexter'ish in my garage now)

And busted out the respirator and rattle cans and started painting.


My only frame of reference for rattle can painting is youtube videos and lots of research. So I'm starting small, and seeing what kind of results I get, then learning from my mistakes.
 
#69 ·
Yeah, I'm having to fight HARD against my instincts to just do it all now so I will have it ready. But I know if I do that I will have a whole bike that looks terrible, instead of just one piece.

From looking at it this morning, I'm already noticing some mistakes. After I primed I didn't sand the piece down smooth enough, because I'm noticing a LOT of imperfections.

Looks like I know what I'm going to be doing today.
 
#71 ·
Thanks RockLee! I read though what you did and it gave me some good pointers!

I got more serious about the painting today. I put down the base coat on the front fender and one of the rear cowls. It looks...ok... there are some blotchy spots, but I'm hoping that after I let it cure a bit and then go over it with 1000 grit it will look a bit better before I lay down the clear coat.


Along with painting those pieces I have been a bit annoyed by the look of the radiator. With it being silver I think it draws a lot of attention and doesn't look very well, so I grabbed some high heat engine paint and put down a layer on it to help in blend it a bit better. I think it looks a LOT better now!


Now I'm working on stripping the factory paint of the gas tank, and it is a PAIN! I have an orbit sander I've been using, bu even that isn't getting the results I was hoping for.
Or maybe I'm just tired and getting lazy! LOL!
I might break down and buy some of that "aircraft" paint stripper I've seen in the automotive section at Wally World and give that a whack. Anyone else had good result with it?
 
#72 ·
90% of a paintjob is preperation, just take your time with it, don't rush or you'd wish you didn't. In the long run in these circumstances taking time is saving time. Because it saves you doing another paint job in a year or so.
 
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#78 ·
I got my new signals in the mail today that I'm going to mount on the side of my headlight mounts.
I think I'm going to assemble it all tonight and see what it looks like just plain white, and then see how I feel about it.
I'll post some pics after I get that done tonight.
 
#79 ·
Couldn't wait any longer, so I put the bike together to see how the white looked. I love it!



Now I just need to decide on the center stripe. I'm running a test piece of bed liner on a scrap piece of plastic to see how it works pulling up the tape, then I'll go from there.
 
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