[KANE]

Hello. I have been working on this project when i get the time. It started in Novemeber and I am finally kicking it in high gear. Here are the threads I posted on another forum describing my build up.

The Kane Chronicles Part 1, 11-15-06

Fresh purchase of a $900 dollar GSXR.

As I start tearing the bike down last night I noticed some odd things about the bike. I am no expert on the GSXR series bikes but I saw some components that looked like they may be from the 600cc bike and not the 750cc bike that I purchased. This bike had standard forks and an unbraced swingarm. The 750 came with USD forks and a braced swingarm. This led me to do some research before I continued with the tear down. I checked the frame vin on a vin website and it is indeed a clean titled GSXR 750 frame. OK? So what motor do I have? I noticed the motor had coils in the valve cover for the spark plugs. The 750 does not have this. I measured the carb venturies and they are indeed 600 cc carbs so I took the engine code and looked it up. Yup, I have a 600cc motor also. It looks to me like some one procured (stole maybe) a GSXR 600 sometime ago and either had, or purchased a clean titled 750 frame. So now it looks like I have a legally owned bike with questionable parts. Who knows, maybe someone had a bent 600 frame and just bought a 750 frame because they got a good deal on it and then swapped it all out, I don’t know.

So know it looks like I have a mutt. No big deal though because it is going to look like one when I am done. I checked out the motor some more and it is completely seized. I need to take it out now and tear it apart to see the extent of the damage. If it is just crank bearing and they are scored then I can turn the crank and get some new bearings. Engine building is easy for me so this could be a good thing. I will get some thinner head and base gaskets to bump up the compression a bit also. If the motor is totally trashed then I will find myself a 750 motor and get some displacement that I wanted in the first place. It is all about cheap so the smaller carbs will go on and I might even swap heads to get more low end power due to the higher intake velocity that the 600 heads will allow..

Stay tuned for the next installment of the Evolution of a Streetfighter.

 

[KANE]

Here is part two of the build up.

The Kane Chronicles Part II, 11-25-06

Frame and bouncers:
The bike is stripped down as far as I want to go at this point. I think I will leave the frame polished in order to save some cash. I really want to powder coat it but that’s a few hundred that can go into suspension parts or other items. On another note, I could sandblast the polished bits to give them a cast look. I am really satisfied with the overall condition of the bike. I have a watch on some USD forks on E-bay but other than a look at those factor I don’t really need them. Racetech valves and new springs can put me right where I want to be with the ones I have now. Saturday I went over to Djultimate’s house and bought his 2003 GSXR750 rear shock. It has very little mileage on it and looks new. This should be a good improvement from the old worn out shock I have now. The main issue though is the new shock is 7/8" shorter. I have a few ideas in store to remedy this so my ride height won’t drop. The top clevis is going to get an extension which will also make it ride height adjustable.

Where it stands today.

The new shock from Djultimate

Body, or lack there of:

No update on this department other than ideas. The fat tail is starting to grow on me and might just stay. I want a two tone paint that can slim it down a bit and allow me to have that massive rear storage box for anything I can put in there. Plus I have found some kickin undertails online for a good price which has some cool lights in them. Another idea which I also have a bid on is a 02-03 R1 tail section. I found a subframe for a good price and I can easily modify the mounts to fit my bike. After that everything from an R1 will just bolt right up. This could prove to look real cool. On the front end I am looking for twin 3.5" headlights, sort of speed Triple style. This will go well with the Protaper bars .
UPDATE. I lost out on the subframe for the R1 tail so I think I will leave the stocker on unless I find a killer deal on another subframe.



Motor:

Boy this kid who sold the bike really effed up. I pulled to motor out and took off the head. I fought with it for a couple of days trying to get it to turn over. I soaked the pistons in penetrating oil for two days. After that the motor magically turned over with a wrench for about three turns and then locked back up. OK, now to dismantle and check the bearings and rings out. Meanwhile I find a great deal on a cylinder and piston assembly on E-bay for $50 shipped, so I naturally bought it before the tear down. After all the cylinder walls could be wasted. Apart comes the motor. My buddy Jay takes the starter gear cover off while I am removing the water pump. He says “hey look at this cover”. I find some wear and take a look at the gears by the starter clutch. We found the source of the seized engine. The center bolt for the starter gear backed out and jammed itself into the cover which locked up the motor. I grab the crank on the other side and the motor turn over like smooth silk. Someone must have worked on the starter clutch and never put locktight or even torqued the bolt down. Now I have a perfectly good low mileage motor. Good day for me. We stopped the disassemby and put mostly everything back together. The tranny looks good and I am only going to change the clutch out.

The starter cover.

The starter bolt that seized the motor.

This week will be to order the new clutch and gaskets to get the motor completed. I am going take apart the carbs to clean them and see if they are jetted. I am also going to start designing and building the adapter to fit the shorter shock on the rear. Then I can take the swingarm off to grease the bearings and scrub all the old dirt off.

That is all for now. Stay tuned.

 

[KANE]

Finally here is part three and pretty much where the build stands today. I ahve the next twoo weeks off from work so this bike will see alot of progress coming up soon. I will be sure to post more as I come along with it.

The Kane Chronicles Part 3: The evolution of a Cheepfighter. 03-05-07

It has been a while since part two of this build but I have finally been making progress. The holidays put a damper on funding and other projects got in the way of this one. Plus I just wasn’t sure which way to go with the project and still remain in my $2,500 total build up budget. I am actually having more fun trying to score deals and researching ideas then anything else so there is no rush at all. So here is what I have done so far and also the intend route for the complete build. Unfortunately the bike will not be ready for the GAP trip but that’s OK since I will just suffer on my Italian bitch for the trip. Oh darn.

Frame:
After much searching I ended up having my frame powder coat by the original guy that I intended to use. He does mainly industrial work and has the best prices by far. He charged me $300 to powder coat my frame, swingarm, rearsets, Andy’s (Amajew) rearsets and his rear footpeg assemblies. By comparison most other companies wanted $300 to $450 just for the frame. The subframe is untouched because I still plan on building one from scratch after I get the bike running and the front end is completed. When I assembled the swingarm I noticed that is shifted left to right. I looked up my parts breakdown and noticed two dust seals and both thrust washers were missing. They were not there when I took it apart some someone never installed them. I bought those and some new bearings that got destroyed from removing them for powdercoat.

Motor:
The motor was reassembled after everything got checked out. It has a new head gasket and that’s about it. There is almost no visable wear on the motor. I bought a brand new Factory Pro jet kit on ebay for half price of new ($60) and I also found a Micron header for $40. This should boost the power a little bit. I just need to buy some stainless thin wall tubing to build the connector pipe to the canister. Gearing, the sprockets are going to be ordered after some parts sell on Ebay to bump my funds. Gearing will be aroung 4 up in back and 1 down in front. If I don’t like it then I can just get a stock front sprocket and then it should be fine. This bike will not ever see above 120 mph so might as well gear it to the moon.

Front end:
This part is coming along very well. I found the most kick ass front headlight from a chopper website. It is a single lamp H7 bulb Maltese Cross ($140). This is the most expensive part I plan on buying but well worth the money. The headlight will make or break a streetfighter and I think this will make it. For a mount to the forks I picked up these cool aluminum clamps from Ikea that they use for shelving units ($5). Then I fabbed a plate to go across the legs which still needs to be shaped to look good. GixerJockey gave me his stock steering damper (FREE) and I mounted that above the headlight with a custom mount. A sheetmetal company I know let me scavenge a bunch of free metal for all of my bracketing.
The triple tree is getting some special treatment. I bought the 1 1/8” fat bars and mounting clamps from Cycle gear that were on clearance. The bars were originally $80 and I got them for $20. The clamps only cost $20 also, so score on those. The top triple remains stock with holes drilled for the clamps. The ignition was in the way of how I wanted to mount the gauges so I cut mounts off and smoothed it out. The ignition key is going under the seat hidden out of the way. Now the gauges can sit right against the tree and low. The grips are from Harris with Deals gap logos.
The front fender is most likely going to get chopped up with as little plastic as possible to keep it functional. I also installed my FZ1 brake master cylinder with the metal reservior. I am also custom mounting the FZ1 brakes for better stopping power as the 600 brakes just plain suck wind. The fork got a simple oil change. The right fork was completely empty. The kid told me that his friend installed new seals. I think he forgot to fill one side. I think the front is going to look completely bad ass.

Here is the front. Starting to come together.

The cockpit without guages and the ignition removed

Here is the steering damper that Gixerjockey gave me. Partial install.

Tail and paint:
The tail is not getting touched until the bike is running. It is most definitely getting chopped bobber look and I bought a tail light surround from an Aprilia Mille just like the one on mine. Other than that I prefer to keep this secret for now. Lets just say that the Ducati Hypermotard subframe is a large influence for me and I am building the whole thing from scratch. Paint is still up in the air. One part of me wants to just paint the tank and fender Camo green with white stencils to follow the mean minimal utilitarian look. Another part wants a cool candy with some black striping. In the end the budget will determine this. I can always paint it down the road and just go the spray can green look for this year.

Some of the parts before install.

Home Made sliders that I spun up at work

Powder coted rearsets with some billet footpegs.

MX fatbars and Deals gap grips.

Overview shot of the bike right now. Notice how huge the fender looks. That will change.

 

[dogbreath]

That's lookin nice Kane, keep us posted.

 

[929_adam]

good thread. great pics.

way to squelch all that shiny bs with some black powdercoate :metal:

haha.

def. keep us updated!

 

[kwakanut]

Very sweet project!

Question though, why would you want to pay 750 insurance rates for a 600 motor?

 

[dogbreath]

750 frame?

 

[xraycatj]

looks fantastic. I like that maltese cross headlight.

 

[dogbreath]

I like the colors of your front end, all the different metals blend together well with the headlight. You should keep all that shit up there silver.

 

[spyder]

LOL not for nothin but uhhh..... You wear velcro shoes? LMFAO

Nice bike though man, looks like its coming along nicely.. Real clean too

 

[929_adam]

LOL not for nothin but uhhh..... You wear velcro shoes? LMFAO

bwahaha. i was gonna say the same thing...if it was one of you guys i woulda but i didnt want the new guy to think i was pickin on him. lol.

i want some velcro fuckin work boots! yay thatd be the shit!

 

[dogbreath]

Someone needs a set of bro wings

 

[929_adam]

:honda: :honda:

^theres a good set of wings!

 

[dogbreath]

cept you can get goin very fast with those ones

 

[929_adam]

oooooooohhh.

sorry for the hijack. we're all over the place tonite!

:fire:

 

[dogbreath]

Yeah we should leave this one alone now.

Keep up with the pics so we can look at them and get distracted again, Kane, we like yer bike.

 

[929_adam]

yes we do. its a nice bike...and doing cool things with it.

i have never seen that headlight before. keep doin what your doing...we'll shut up now

(in here at least)

 

[KANE]

LOL not for nothin but uhhh..... You wear velcro shoes? LMFAO

Nice bike though man, looks like its coming along nicely.. Real clean too

HAHA. you are the second person to notice that. Those shoes are being worn by my completely lost friend. They are his shit kickers for working on vehicles.

 

[KANE]

yes we do. its a nice bike...and doing cool things with it.

i have never seen that headlight before. keep doin what your doing...we'll shut up now

(in here at least)

Two things.
1.) You can rag on me and make fun all you guys want. In the web world its all good. I don't take anything to heart.
2.) No need to shut up. That would make threads boring. You guys kick arse!!

 

[dogbreath]

Yeah we make up for being assholes by being full of knowledge. Don't know how Green Lantern makes up for it but he's got his ways.

As long as you keep posting pics of your progess, we won't hate you.