[RemyD]

So last friday i got a call from a good friend of mine, we were talking about building bikes and how he just got a TL1000 that he's starting a project with. I gave him the usual "i wish i could build a bike but i only have $500 in the bank that i can spend" he told me about a bike in PA hat he was looking at said he might be able to hook me up, long story short i drove down to PA with him a half hour after that phone call and picked up this 2001 bandit 1200 for only $500 (owner was asking 1600 on CL)
The bike is on a salvage title, but that didnt bother me everthing looked straight and true.

What i've been told the bike has:
Dynojet stage 3 kit
Individual carb filters
delkevic 70 series exhaust
Ebay front clip

plans:
Ditch the ugly plastics
Get it running (cranks but doesnt fire, i think its just old plugs)
Sync the carbs
Install my pro-taper bars. (had ugly clip on bars when i bought it)
fix the wiring nightmare the PO did and make it professional
Fab a new front clip thats sealed and weatherproof for the gauges.
Then over the winter possibly fab up a bobber style seat.

i'm on a tiny budget so i know this doesnt meet some of your guys "street fighter" criteria. But i figured you guys are the ones who actually take apart and work on these bikes so you will have experience based answers and will be able to help me along the way. ill be sure to use the search box a lot before i ask noob questions!

The last pic is how i cut the rear plastic so that i dont have to fab a light bracket just yet, its temporary just to get the bike running and on the road

 

[RemyD]

forgot this pic, of the bike at the workshop where it will be built with the TL1000, a few snowmobiles and a few jetskis!

 

[Wolfman]

very nice platform to start with

 

[taylorjr]

Would love to see a bobbed Bandit.

 

[taylorjr]

Also, tight budget doesn't mean crappy product. Just get creative!

 

[94yzf75fighter]

When your on budget making everything you have or can get to be really clean and simple key. You don't have to drop major coin just make sure whatever you do is clean and everything flows.


Something's you can do without spending money is stripping everything you don't need going through the wiring and shorting/adding wires where you need to so it's all hidden and cleaning everything up.

 

[RemyD]

Made it out to the shop today for a few hours, I reinstalled the rear light assembly with the chopped fairing and like how it looks for now! Also got the Pro-Taper bars installed without any problems. next was diagnosing why it doesn't fire up. I reinstalled the factory airbox with the k&n filter only because it allowed me to reattatch the two vacuum lines to their factory positions on the airbox. Im not sure what the purpose of these two lines are yet but I will research that later tonight to see what purpose they serve and how to properly modify the system to accept the individual cone filters. I had the battery hooked up to the charger the whole time at the shop, and put fresh 94 octane dry gas into the tank. I checked all the fuses and all were in good condition with no signs of bad electrical. I wasn't successful at starting it up today. I think I have a spark issue, so I pulled all the plugs which looked pretty crusty and old so new NGK's will be going in next time im at the shop. and hopefully she will fire up! Lastly I noticed on CARB 4 there is some type of adjustable sensor mounted to the side, the mounting screws were loose on it and it wiggled out of position. I need to look up what this sensor is and how to properly set it for my tune.

 

[Wolfman]

idle sensor

 

[Wolfman]

Would love to see a bobbed Bandit.

check mine

and CamBandits for the best gen 2 chop tail I have seen yet

 

[RemyD]

did my research, the unknown sensor is the TPS. From what I understand this is a potentiometer linked to the ECU. To adjust this turn the key on and the killswitch on, measure the resistance across the two outer pins of the connector, (should be between 3.5K ohms and 6.5K ohms). next measure the resistance between the top and middle pins, this number should be 76% of what the originally measured value is. then adjust to the proper resistance and tighten in place.

next the one hose that comes from the right side of the bottom of the air box, into the box ontop of the head with 4 other hoses coming out of it is; the Pair air supply system. so reconnecting that gives me peace of mind for the moment.

My plan for next time at the shop is to follow the Clymer manual I found to reroute the electrical and mechanical cables, hoses and wires back into the best position, and use my multimeter to make sure every electrical component is within spec.
Then take a compression test just to be sure all cylinders are in good working order
finally install the fresh plugs and hopefully listen to my bike fire up for the first time!

 

[RemyD]

The bandit on a budget made some excellent progress today at the shop! after trying three autoparts stores and even walmart, I could not find the ngk plugs that I needed, or any plugs that would fit the bike for that matter. going to have to order some online. I took the old plugs to the wirewheel, and cleaned the everliving snot outa those suckers. I checked for spark and was surprised to see strong spark on all 4. I reinstalled them and after a few cranks the 1200 roared to life blasting carbon out the tailpipe like a freight train. (hasn't run in 4 months according to PO.) I took it out for a cruise because excitement took over! it rides pretty darn nice for a 500$hooptie! my favorite part about the bike has to be the fact that it sounds EXACTLY like a modified WRX with a big exhaust. next step is to sync the carbs, and get all the components tuned together. (stage 3 dynojet, delkevic exhaust and the individual chrome cap air filters.) I need to research how to properly run the individual filters and what to do with the two hoses that become detatched from the air box

 

[RemyD]

When your on budget making everything you have or can get to be really clean and simple key. You don't have to drop major coin just make sure whatever you do is clean and everything flows.


Something's you can do without spending money is stripping everything you don't need going through the wiring and shorting/adding wires where you need to so it's all hidden and cleaning everything up.

I plan on tucking in as much of the wiring as I can, rerouting it to be hidden behind the frame. its not going to be the fastest or prettiest but I take pride in what I build

 

[a_morti]

The German member with the Ducati tail. Yeh I know 748/916 tail is passé but who cares, it looks right.

 

[ultimate fighter]

check mine

and CamBandits for the best gen 2 chop tail I have seen yet

chris's

steve's

 

[RemyD]

I love that bobber look!!! once this job I am supposed to be getting picks up i'm stealing my friends old single seat off his TL build and going bobber style with my bike!

 

[RemyD]

so I spend some time out at the shop today workin on the bike. I made some backwards and forwards progress on it. the bike unfortunately would not idle today so I have to investigate that problem. but I had a stroke of genius while working in the shop. I love the look of a single seat bobber, but I also sometimes want the functionality of a 2 up bike with some extra space. so I decided I don't want to compromise. I looked at the frame from a side view and realized I can cut the subframe off the bike from its welded position then add tabs to the frame and subframe and be able to simple bolt the original subframe on the bike to look stock. Then I can make a short subframe for the single seat and bolt it into the same tabs on the frame. so VOILA interchangeable subframes to suit my needs! this will be interesting to fabricate.

 

[GSX750_SF]

Rep'd for your build. Welcome to CF!

 

[94yzf75fighter]

If you're going to do the 2 different bolt on sub frames I would suggest storing the battery fuse box ecu and that under the tank and have both sub frames with tail lights blinkers and the same plug so when you want to swap it you can just unplug the wiring on 1 subframe and plug in the harness for the other. Otherwise your simple swap will turn into running wire swapping lights and spending more time than you would want for a simple swap

 

[Wolfman]

not sure about under the tank of the gen 2 tanks but that is where I put most of my electrical