Custom Fighters - Custom Streetfighter Motorcycle Forum banner

Cooky gets Kwakked

8K views 47 replies 13 participants last post by  cookymon 
#1 ·
One of my very earliest childhood memories is of me sitting on the living room floor in the tiny two-bedroom house that I lived in with my folks, my brother, and three sisters. I had a green texta and a piece of paper which I'd torn out from the back of a book, and made a lousy attempt at drawing a Kawasaki Ninja. I liked Kawas because they were green, and that was my favourite colour when I was 4 or 5 years old. This woulda been around 1989 or '90.

Jumping 22 years into the future, we arrive at the present moment. I've had four bikes; three Jappers and one Euro, but no Kwakas. How could this have happened in 10 years of owning bikes? I fuckin LOVED Kwakas when I was a kid. So the opportunity recently arose to buy a heap of junk to sit alongside my other heap of junk in my messy-as-hell garage and finally ride the Kawasaki of my dreams. But the dream has changed slightly - firstly I'm not so enamoured with the colour green, and sportsbikes are no longer the centre of my motorcycling universe.

Today was a significant day in my life. Not only did I experience my first full 24 hour period of Kawasaki ownership, and feel all the pride that went with it, but I also decided to have a second crack at building a streetfighter. And this time I'm going to fight it right and fight til the end.

Here's where today's episode begins:



I bought one very ugly bike, but the registration was renewed only a week ago which means that it somehow passed a roadworthy exam. The assessor may or may not have been on drugs at the time...

So I have some streetfighter essentials to go onto the bike (none of which are pictured as I'm too lazy with the camera).

First up is a set of fatbars and risers. Secondly I have a set of dominator headlights. And thirdly I've got a digital dash.

To start with I drained the brake fluid using my super-neato-brake-fluid-draining-kit (TM). Then I disconnected the brake hose that runs from the master cylinder to the splitter on the lower fork clamp. I measured the length that I reckon I'll need for a new brake hose to reach my super-duper imitation Protaper. Then I added 20mm to that measurement and wrote it down.



Next up I discovered that Kawasaki's robot engineers need a round of thanks for not bolting anything together too tightly. It made the next step rather easy - I only skinned one knuckle and there was no blood so it probably doesn't even count. To get to the point, I junked the front subframe, headlight, mirrors, and gauges.

Now I thought that I was a dodgy fabricator. Time for an aside - I found this bike for sale by searching for "streetfighter" on an Aussie bike classifieds website. Then I sorted the results by price, starting with the cheapest first. The first bike was from the green team (Yay!), was only about 20km away (some places in Aus are over 6000km away, so this was pretty lucky), and was being advertised with rego (major mechanical headache and financial heartache sorted!). I took the bike for a ride, waited a month for my biggest payday of the year, drove a bargain, then handed over the cash. The "streetfighter" part of the bike I can only assume was the general level of roadrash on most parts of the bike, i.e. it had been in a fight with the street and somehow lost its clothes (which is fine, I like my asian bitches to be naked).
The resultant customisation was something to behold. The front turn signals pointed at the ground, the windshield was attached by two pieces of chicken wire, and the brackets for the mirrors were made from a rough-sawn piece of bent steel. Then there's the paint. Rattle can was the method of choice for one of the PO's, and rattle cans are cheap. But it looks like the painter cheaped out further by using only one can for the entire bike. The coverage is so thin and patchy that you can see that underneath the blue rattle paint is the factory blue paintjob! Why paint a blue thing blue and do a worse job than what you started with?

Meanwhile, back at the bike, I finished the night like this:



Tomorrow I'm taking my fatbars into town to have the ends bored out so that I can fit my bar end mirrors. I'm also going to a local shop to have a Venhill brake line made to measure (and if it's affordable enough I'll get the rest of the hoses done). And I've got a few other bits and pieces to pick up so that I can get some proper momentum on this project. I feel much more confident DW on this bike compared to the Suzuki I was stuffing around with, but that might be because it was not a pretty bike to start with (unlike the zuk which was just shy of immaculate) and I've started from the easy end rather than trying to 'fighter the bike from the middle.

Apologies for the excess verbosity and the dearth of photographic documentation of my progress. I'll restore the balance next update, I promise!

- Cooky
 
See less See more
3
#34 ·
Yeah Burt, keeping the tail OE. I'd like to go all out but skills and budget don't stretch as far as imagination. I'm saving my pennies to splurge on my old Gix.


Dr Jelly, you can relax. The can is unmolested and unused except for when I tried to play it like a didgeridoo... Funnily enough that didn't work as the sound was muffled! :doh: The black can in the pics is the stocker and will find its way to the nearest bin once I finish cleaning up the rest of the bike. Got lots of sanding and polishing to do yet and I don't want the new can to get dirty.
 
#35 ·
Just bought these headers off ebay to replace my rusted-to-shit ones. Saved $60 on buying headers of similar quality from wreckers in Oz. Woot!

I was gonna buy a full Yosh system from a fella up in Brisland but after a few weeks of emails and then getting no replies I guess he's found a way of staying in business without actually selling anything...
 
#36 ·
Hello!

I finally got around to do the air box mod, just got one question. I found and rerouted the vent tube into the air box, but there are four more tubes coming out beneath the carbs and the engine. One of those was already plugged and one was still attached to the valve thing, while the other two disappear into the engine somewhere. Do i just plug the other ones aswell? Engine Auto part Fuel line Automotive engine part Carburetor



Sent from Motorcycle.com Free App
 
#40 ·
Hey Cooky how is things going? I have been having a look around here every now & then & thought I would start a build thread for my ZXR 750 in here & came across your thread, What a coincidence you started your build thread here on the 18/09/2012 & I stated mine on the same day on the ASF forum

Also just wanted to mention a better place to get fasteners / nuts & bolts etc too, Bunnings is not really the best place for that, They have some good deals on Kincrome etc tools though every now & then
This place below has or will get just about anything you need in stainless etc too, + they have panel beating & painting supplies & lotsa power tools etc
See the short bloke in there with the pony tail & he will look after you>

http://shop.cdaets.com.au/

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb
 
#43 ·
Well it looks like the jet skis can go away. I think there was more sun than rain today for the first time in a few weeks. I even got some lawn mowing done!

Spent a little bit of time this evening doing a few things which I documented with my new Canon EOS600D, but until I can get those pics onto my tablet I'll just have to describe everything:

Radiator has been removed to get access to the exhaust.

Rusty old headers were removed with the aid of much swearing due to the rusted on nature of every but and bolt.

16 years worth of grime was cleaned off the front of the motor. It was caked on thick everywhere, like a blanket of muck which I'm sure the cooling system will thank me for removing.

New exhaust was given the once-over with some 600 grit, followed by a bit of 1200, to restore a little shine.

New muffler was mounted up, whereupon I discovered that the bolt holes don't match the flange on the end of the mid pipe. There's enough meat to drill and tap new threaded holes but that's a skill I haven't yet acquired.

The rat's nest of wires were relocated from under the headlight to the little cavity between the airbox and the head stock.

The filthy, dirty air filter was given a clean out with the K&N filter cleaning kit.

Fuel cap was given a quick polish and bolted back onto the tank.

That's it. On Friday, with the exception of the exhaust, I'm going to 99% finish this bitch! There is so much more I'd like to do, but the need to go for a ride outweighs any D'ing of W that I could be getting on with...
 
#45 ·
Land vehicle Vehicle Motorcycle Automotive tire Car


How she sits. Apologies for the shit quality webcam photo.

Went for a quick blat this arvo and found that the digital dash reads speed at half of what the speed is, and revs at double. I can sort the speedo issue by using four sensor magnets instead of two, but I don't know what to do with the tacho readout. Not a big issue though.

I knew when I bought the bike that the air filter would need cleaning, so I bought the K&N cleaning kit. Man, what a fucking difference that makes! Coupled with the new pipe it feels like there's 10+ extra HP everywhere! Didn't notice the midrange flat spot at all! :D
 
#48 ·
So this evening I pull up at the in laws residence. My lovely wife's favourite uncle is there, and he's a bit of a petrol head so I thought I'd get his opinion on how loud this new muffler is (according to my wife - it's loud). He said "Let me put it to you this way - Naomi said five minutes before you arrived that you were nearly here. Now it didn't sound like you were going fast but since then I've heard every time you've slowed down, sped up, or changed gears. I'd say it sounds like a cop magnet."

So I guess the volume is about right! :fu: :D
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top