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Doomed to Fail: The SteamRat Build!

110K views 240 replies 16 participants last post by  spotarama 
#1 ·
It's me again, Margaret!


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back with another build. I call it Doomed to Fail: The SteamRat Build. Why Doomed to Fail? If you have to ask, you haven't seen any of my build threads ever....but I'll give you a hint. I haven't finished a single fucking one.

Whats a SteamRat? The premise of the final look is a cross between steampunk and ratbike. Wouldn't that just be some Mad Max outlands, zombie apocolypse type of build, you ask? Nope.


So here's the break down. Been doing a bunch of planning, and I've got a couple parts on hand I've been dying to install on SOMETHING, I've got some ideas I haven't seen done on ANYTHING (seen similar, but close only counts with hand grenades and nukes), and its about goddamn time I do some fucking work...on 2 wheels.

Here's what I'm starting with:

$20 KZ650 frame. No title, bare frame, cut after the shocks, and has races installed for some AllBalls for the steering stem. Had the 5-0 run the numbers for me, it's clean, I'll have no problems getting a title. I should probably do that soon, before I cut this thing in half.



I'm not even using the entire frame. I'm cutting the backbone off, and cutting the bottom tubes right before they bend up. My intent is to build this into a low slung hardtail.

Parts on hand:
Kz650 frame
pair of aircraft control pedals courtesy of Mongo
wide oval low beam projector from an Infiniti QX4
the overwelming urge to put something together

Things I intend to incorporate into this build:
16hp cast iron Briggs & Stratton single cylinder with electric starter and 20amp stator
pair of springer seats
girder front end
kz750 19/16 wheels
Ford Model A taillight with STOP lense and led board

Everything else:
Whatever comes around and seems like a good idea



Already found a front end, or at least part of it. Next pay day I gotta see what I have left, and go make an offer on it. I don't even care that it's incomplete. I can build around it.



I'm also picking up a my motor from MarksA-C. Gonna need a little work to be usable, but that's fine. I like doing work.


Right about now I wish I still had this one exhaust pipe that was always laying around my stash. Tossed it as part of a massive downsize a year and a half ago (relationship issues....). Damn, it would have been perfect for this.

All my previous builds have been based on complete bikes, this will be an almost entirely ground up build.


I've done all the math, and while this won't exactly be a fast bike, it'll have a proposed top speed of almost 90. In no way do I expect it to cruise at that speed. If I can cruise at 70 I'll be happy. I'm building this mostly for around town and county roads.

16hp Briggs, right angle gear box, gokart/golf cart cvt, 18T/46T sprocket set, and 130-90-16 rear tire. The CVT runs a 3:1-1:1 range, so if anyone else wants to run my numbers, I came up with a technical top speed of 88mph based on the 3k rpm limit of your average small engine. Yes, a lot of times we run them higher, I'll be adjusting the governor to give me 3300-3400 at the top. Much higher and you run the risk of destroying the flywheel.

"OMG, an automatic? Why not just buy a moped and feel the wind in your vagina". Hey, I just might. I only live 2 miles from work, I'm sure the breezed will feel great!

Actually my drive train choice is a budgetary thing. I'd love to stick a manual box behind it, but motorcycle transmissions are expensive as fuck. Plus I want the motor facing forward. If anyone comes across a damn cheap transmission, post it, I'm not exactly saying no to the idea. Just the cost.


That's it for now, I'll post more when I start getting parts in!
 
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#88 ·
Some shit pics, but here goes. Swingarm pivot bolt and rear axle came in today.

A couple washers or seals and this thing will be pretty centered.



Loosely assembled.






The GS stem and triples aren't sitting fully seated, at the bottom, and the upper bearing I grabbed from the yard is a little too tall, so the upper tripple doesn't sit down far enough for the top nut and washer to go on very far. And the front wheel is tight as shit to roll. So with that, here's the current list of things I need to make this a proper roller:

steering bearing kit
front and rear wheel bearings
rear axle spacer (between drum and swingarm)
end seals and/or washers for the swingarm (at the pivot bolt)
kick stand and spring
bushings for the shocks to properly fit the KZ frame and swingarm (posts on the Magna were larger, need to make new metal bushings to go in the rubber bushings and sit to the KZ without slop)
front and rear tires

Beyond that, I also need the following:
front brake calipers, lines, and master
throttle assembly
handlebars
tank
seat
switches & fuse/relay box
lights
foot rests
shifter and linkage
brake pedal and linkage
engine mounts
rear fender
chain

I'm prolly forgetting some shit, but thats most of it right there.

I've got a headlight I want to use, but it may not be so viable. Got a couple other options in mind.

Electrical will be easy. The DR/GN engine technically only requires the CDI and a ground wire/kill switch to run. The switches I run will be a handlebar mount, 3 button pod. 2 momentaries and an on/off. Momentaries for engine kill and horn, and on/off for lights.
Here's the pod:


And the relay/fuse box. Tiny little bugger:


For the foot rests, I still have the aircraft pedals that Mongo scored for me a while back.

I know what kind of handlebars I want to run, and I still want to use some FatBob tanks. I'm trying to see how small of a battery I can find or run on this. The tanks can't sit above the frame, they'll be far too high and will interfere with the steering. I'm planning to mount them at half depth to the frame. The cover panel I make to go over the gap between the tanks will have a quick release so I can lift it, since I'll mount the fuse/relay block under it. If I can find a small enough battery, I'd like to hide it under there as well. Would help make the bike look clean and simple.

So here's a question on that note. I haven't found out if the charging system on this engine is 6v or 12v. The "regulator" or "rectifier" that came with this setup is a little pot looking piece, 2 wires. Not much to it. Here it is below:


If this is 12v, can a lithion pack (A123 cells) safely charge from this? Anyone know? That would be the smallest possible battery I could use, and if I end up with LED for headlight and taillight, power draw will be minimal.
 
#89 ·
I don't know the answer to your voltage/battery questions, but I read online that LED lights will not work on AC voltage. Do you know if your system does have a rectifier on not?

However...I did pop a LED spot light on the front of my XR400 ( strictly an AC system) and it works flawlessly. Veeeeeeeery slight flicker at idle, but it's full brightness. If I turn the idle up a couple hundred rpm there is no flicker at all. Just putting that out there.
 
#90 ·
I have no idea what it runs. Still trying to find that info. I figure worst case scenario, I just dont go out at nights, and recharge the battery every several days so that I still have brake lights. Idk, still working on that lol.
 
#91 ·
That looks like a positive voltage regulator but I'm not seeing a rectifier so it might well be you got a DC dynamo rather than an alternator.

Do you see markings on it like NTE 931 or sth like that?
 
#93 ·
I can post the suzuki part number in a bit. Other than that I'd have to clean it up further and try to see whats under the paint to see if there are any additional markings.

So what parts do you "need" then Dean? It's not like we all aren't sitting on a bunch of misc parts. I know I am
rear axle spacer (between drum and swingarm) for a kz. Here's the kicker. I don't know the year or size of kz that the arm and wheel are off off. Ill measure the gap and post it.

end seals and/or washers for the swingarm (at the pivot bolt)
kick stand and spring

bushings for the shocks to properly fit the KZ frame and swingarm (posts on the Magna were larger, need to make new metal bushings to go in the rubber bushings and sit to the KZ without slop) - these will need to be custom. I'll get dimensions later today hopefully.

front brake calipers, lines, and master for 82 GS850. The '80 GS1000 that I pulled the calipers off of had the wheel mounted to the front of the fork instead of the bottom. The brackets on the 1k calipers don't line up on the 850 forks.

throttle assembly

handlebars - I know what I want, but at this point I'll take any bars that aren't bent up, can always change it later

tank - I've got my old Fat Bob tanks back from Rat, but they're just as funky as they were before. The one side needs an entire section welded in. Might be easier to just find a new pair

seat - anything really. full KZ seat, cut down KZ seat, random Harley seat. Don't matter. Something to bolt in or reshape.

rear fender - I can prolly find something suitable local. I wasn't looking for rear fenders when I was at the yard, but looking back I'm pretty sure there was a fender or 3 that would have worked, so not really counting this as a need.

chain - not even close to ready for chain yet, but it's a future need. I think rat said the existing chain hanging off the 400 was 520 chain. Not sure what the sprocket on the back wheel is, but the rear sprocket is on my list of maintenance items anyway.
 
#96 ·
I was really hoping that axle that I bought had the right spacers. I'm willing to bet if I slot the disc brake rear together, its all there perfectly.

As for the rest, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if you load my car with everything above lol.

I was largely putting together a list so I have a progress checklist. It's cool to see everything coming together. I'm gonna take another trip to the yard, prolly this weekend, and see if I come up with anything else. Still need the horns from a Buick or Caddy, and I need parts for the womans car anyway.
 
#95 ·
No need for suzuki part numbers, I just found the wiring diagram a few pages back. It clearly says dynamo not alternator, and the wiring is a dead giveaway too. How well does the thing regulate can pretty much only be determined for sure with a multimeter and a running engine. The bummer part of those dynamos is they usually put out fairly modest currents, like about 100w worth or so which makes about 8-ish amps at 12v.
 
#97 ·
Worst case scenario, I run the lights off a battery. The 18650 cells pack a hell of a punch, and I'm not really intending to do a lot of night riding anyway.

Hmm....wonder if its possible to convert it to a more modern charging system at all.
 
#101 ·
Payday on Friday. Gonna order all the front end bearings so I can finish slotting the GS front end in.

Meanwhile I'm gonna start working on making brackets to put the Harley tanks where I want them.

Right now the game plan is this:

Finish mounting front end so I have the actual sitting position of the front of the bike
Get a new rear tire, and finish the rear axle (find a spacer or cut the current one down)
Replace the Magna 12.5" shocks with a pair of 9.5 or 10.5" shocks to bring the back end lower, or as low as possible without running the tire into the frame anywhere under travel.
Mount a set of bars (any bars) so that I can verify total clearance as I position the tanks
Mount and adjust seat position relative to the new geometries of the bike
Mount the foot rests, and then make brake and shifter mounts to match.
Once all this is done I can figure out where I need the bars to sit, and find a set I like to match that.

Once all this is done, then I'll work on mounting the engine, order a new front tire, find and plumb up the brakes, etc.

Step by step, it's a game plan!
 
#108 ·
Ok. So my progress isn't near what I hoped it would be. Went out to Rat's again, came home with another bin of parts. Whole load of shocks, couple sets of gauges, set of handlebars, full set of front brakes, rear fender.

Played around a little to see what was gonna work. Fender is good, but may required some trimming, depending on swingarm movement. In the pics, the fender isn't bolted on, but the holes are lined up for mounting. Prolly just need to trim the inch or so where it tapers at the front end and it'll be golden.

Tried installing the brakes, just to find the same problem I had with the brakes from the yard.
As I mentioned before, I pulled the wheel and brakes from a leading axle set of forks, these forks I'm using are bottom mount. Rat has the right set of brakes, just needs to dig them out. No big deal. I'm having fun looking things up with the parts I'm using lol.

None of the shocks will work, sadly. As you can see in the pics, this things got hella fender gap, damn near at stock height. I want it to sit much lower, both loaded and unloaded.

I sat on the bike, held the bars roughly where they would be mounted to the GS triple, they're wide enough, but I'll have to get a couple risers to bring them up and back a little.

For the gauges, I'm gonna be breaking down both of these sets. I'm gonna use the Honda tach with the GS speedo. I was debating maybe just using both GS gauges, but I wasn't intending on hooking up any kind of fuel level sender. Trying to keep all electrics to a minimum since at this time I'm running it off a battery pack. I'd run the full Honda set, but the Honda speedo has the odo external. It could be removed, but not sure if I want to be without an odo. On the other hand....It's a rat bike. If I need to know how many miles I've gone, I can set my phone to track my locations. Now that I think about it......why the fuck I need a mileage counter anyway?

Still need to order my steering bearings lol
 

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#111 ·
I'm probably gonna cut the steering lock off. No need for it. If someone wants to steal my bike, they're gonna steal it. Steering lock isn't gonna do anything about it.

Which set? The reason I'm pulling the gauges apart is because I'm planning to mount them between the tanks instead of on the bars. I'm intending for the entire build to be pretty basic and clean.

I /might/ have an answer to the charging system. Further details later if it pans out.
 
#112 ·
Steering bearings and carb oring on order. I also need to double check the connections on the motor, but I'll probably be ordering a set of weatherpack terminals to redo the connections for the CDI, coil, and kill wire.

Gonna have to go through my bin of car harnesses, start picking out runs of wire. Can't do much else, but I can start building the harness
 
#115 ·
Took it apart, took the frame to the car wash and blasted off everything I could, but theres still sections that will require some serious hard scrubbing.

Came home, got work a little bit. Got the old bearing cut off the stem, installed the new bearing, with a new washer....just to realize how bad I fucked up because the new washer is fatter than the old washer, and I now have ZERO threads available above the top bearing and it's seal. FUCK.

Now to try to remove this washer without fucking up the bearing. I dont wanna drop another 30 bucks for a bearing.....

Beyond that, sat the frame down, set the motor in, talked with Rat about where to mount it. I'm gonna have a lot of space available in front of the motor, but thats cool. The Harley tanks fit to the frame where I want them, with a fair amount of space around the top of the motor. WOOHOO!!! On Rat's suggestion I'll mount the battery between the tanks as high as I can to keep it out of sight. No pictures of the tank position yet, but I'm gonna work on that this weekend.

The motor mounting won't be too bad actually. The lower rear mount on the case can mate to the lower rear mount on the frame, I'll just have to make some A frame brackets for the upper rear mounts, and some more to tie the upper and lower front mounts to the lower front mount on the frame. I figure 3 mount points will be sufficient for a 400cc engine.

Only downside is I'll need a shaft extension for the kickstart shaft. The shaft has room to pivot, but the collar that holds the kickarm will end up hitting the frame, and the kick arm itself will hit the rearset mounts. I'll be removing the rearset mounts anyway, since it's a solo seater. The mounts just unbolt out of the frame.


This is progress! But FUCK, I was hoping to have the front end completely bolted back together......
 

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#117 ·
That extension is an example. I want to see if I can find one that I could slot into a bracket, support it with a bushing or bearing. That was just the first one I found on image search. If I can't find one, I'll see if I can have my machinist can make something. Not sure if he has the stuff to cut internal or external splines though. But I'm also not worried about external splines, just the internal. We can square drive the end and make a custom kick arm.
 
#126 ·
Toss a lower rear mount bolt in it, a strap around the engine to hold it in place, and fire it up! That thing is unkillable, just make it beat a hole in the concrete pad on idle, it gives no fucks.


You gotta understand that before I got my hands on a 2007 Ninja 650R, that engine in a GS500E frame was going to be the "ice training" bike for abusing sportbike geometry in a way that coaxes the absolute limit out of a bullet proof engine on a regular basis, from over revving downshifts to being run on its side as I pick myself up and walk over to the bike, that engine was chosen for a purpose. It doesn't care. About anything.
 
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