johnr

theres a rather interesting gsx400 on evilbay at the moment, its from the 1980s, so aircooled 4 pot engine, but its in a katana style frame making it look like a 550 katana with a small gsx engine. these were sold at the same time as the kat, and in other markets were actually badged as kats, but in the uk they were just gsx400's.

ahh, good point well made...... ;-)

get a pair of stilsons on the old sprocket, its mullered anyway isnt it so its not a problem isnt it.

perhaps his original broke when the screw fell out........

what are you after, a gs crank or a gsx crank? thers a complete kat engine in the for sale section on here.

273093304427

gsx cranks are bomb proof, i wouldnt lose sleep over it, the only difference strength wise to efe cranks is that they are atom bomb proof. period califab arm and ohlins are lovely things, brakes look like a dangerous lash up. wheels look like 1980's cma aftermarket items, but im pretty sure the cma ones i saw had 3 or 7 spokes.

if you want your carbs cleaning properly then contact yoshijohnny on here and have them ultrasonically cleaned.

Took it out tonight, ran like a bag of shit again. So now I'm having a dilemma, its 2000 miles there and back and as it is, this thing won't make it to town!

Slipping clutch -fixed, airlocking fuel pipes-fixed, too firm rear end-fixed, leaking breather-fixed, lack of speedo- fixed, blistered paint- fixed (bodged for now) Ferry tickets- booked.

this coming weekend sees the eurokat katana rally taking place in denmark in a place called nodagerveg near nimtofte. a bunch of us from the uk katana club are making the trip over for this and meeting up with some of the continental kat guys en route. hope to get plenty of pics for you from the event, of course, anyone in northern europe that wants to come down and join us is more than welcome.

up here for thinking, down there for dancing....

kickstart gs550 you say? is it running on points or cdi? if its points it could be a condensor, or the ignition timing could be out. if its not points then it could be the valve stem oil seals leaking through into the pot, when you said it kills the plug, does that plug not spark if you put it on a different cylinder?

ok, quick update on this, helicoil kit came today, rpaireed thee thread and put the adjuster clamp on, all nice and tight, chain adjusted. fired it up, took it out for a run. fuck me its nice, quick too. a few niggles but it rolls, and its going to get an mot this weekend. and then a 2000 mile round trip to denmark with the katana club on wednesday... nowt like making hard work for yourself eh!....

anti dive is marmite. its part of the experience i suppose. i found that it tends to seize up inside when moisture gets into the space between the two halves. i stripped and cleaned mine and then replaced the circlips with stainless steel circlips. that way they wouldnt seize the pistons cos they wouldnt corode. it worked like that for years afterwards, well in so much as these things ever actually 'worked'

a clever locksmith may be able to reconfigure your existing locks to all operate with the same key.

i didnt want to fit it till id checked that the carbs werent leaking. dont fret, it will be fitted as soon as im back from the mot man!

i probably should mention that im gonna matt black this fucker this week! lol.

i was actually thinking of viz's breakdown when i posted that!

well at least it went fucked before i set off for mainland europe, which is actually in 9 days time!

finally, doh! bugger! this used to have threads in it! not enough meat for a timesert or to drill out to 12mm, so im going to break the habit of a lifetime and helicoil it just to get it on the road.

ok, so spin forwards to today. its done, carbs were sacked in favour of a set of rs38's, new cables and they all work as per spec. all together and ready for the mot man when. bugger! as i put it in gear to take it round the block theres a clunk and the bike lurches, chain goes slack and it stalls. the clutch must have been stuck, but the lurch has spun the ecentric adjuster making the chain go slack. so i loosen it off, set the adjustment level again with the chain tight, but the pinch bolt has stripped, it was on its last thread and thats just come out. so now i need to get an m10 helicoil kit so i can repair the thread well enough for me to go to denmark next weekend for the european kat rally!

jason in the kat club had one with a gsxr1100 motor in it and a stylised orange dragon on metalic charcoal grey paintjob. it was a real piece of work too,

is it deff a gsx 11 and not an efe? i seem to recall that the efe primary drive has a tooth or two different and so whilst it will go on, any attempt to turn the engine over will lock everything up because theres just no clearance.