NotStock

I cut out the bracing today. So much grinding. I chose to keep the front motor mounts, but it's a real pain in the arse. Hindsight, probably easier to cut them out and build new ones. Live and learn - fabrication is more fun than intricate grinding inside corners. More cutting to go yet. Every time I look at the bike I feel like I'm just cutting it into pieces that fit nicely in the garbage. At the end of the day, like the title says, the tire WILL be in the centre of the frame with tons of room for the chain.

I love that thing! I find myself using it a ton now that I have it. The air over hydraulic upgrade was completely unnecessary. It does look cool...

Motor out. Built a motor lifting frame to practice tube notching. I've built one before to lift from the carb flange bolts on zed motors. No easy places to pick up the EFE motor so I had to build a two part cradle type thing. There is going to be a lot of motor installing and uninstalling to build the new motor mounts. This is the only way I know to make that a painless process. Besides, I like fabricating more than I like suffering and manhandling motors. This seemed like a good place to work smarter.

It's gonna get a lot more crooked before it gets straight again. No class sent some instructions on making the frame wider at the pivot. Looked good and seemed straight forward so I'm doing it. I attached some pics of the tool? Fixture? I put together to cope the tube. Maybe someone else will want to give it a go. Fair warning, it's sketchy. When all is in place I will square it up one last time and get to tacking. It will be straight when it's all burned in. I need to cut out the shock mounts and tail bracing to perfectly square the ass end up... so this thing is snowballing. Badly.

For closure, some pictures of the fixed frame. Thanks to no class for the info on how to replace the bent tube. Couldn't get the internal sleeves perfectly centered due to some slight misalignment causing binding, but overall happy with the result. I'll give the tube one last sanding and cleaning, then weld it out and fill the plugs.

Not sure! I've never actually seen them. This is a picture from the PO's shop. The bikes were back in storage when I got there. He has a ton of kats from what I can tell. There are all sorts of amazing parts laying around his shop. For me, a guy who has always wanted a katana and had never seen one, the place was nuts!

Hah! Check no class' build threads. He's got a really nice solution to chain clearance.

Bing. Bang. Boom. Bent. I put a laser on it and all the construction levels I own. I screwed around with the alignment for about an hour and, granted, a mm here, a mm there makes a big difference in the outcome, but the end result is always the same, the tail is out of alignment with the pivot bolt and headstock. The good news is that the headstock, backbone, and pivot bolt seem to be in line. The line hits the front tire in the centre too. Frame is good from what I can tell, just need to repair the bent tube between the shock mount and the pivot. Seems the tube is 32mm od and measured 70 thou wall? Any special kind of material used on these frames? In the meantime, any ideas on how to shove this frame back into square before making the repair? Heat? Hydraulics? Hammer? Pry bar? Right now I don't own a torch or portapower, but I'm always looking for an excuse to buy tools.

Well guys, I've got a bent frame... I'm not happy about it, but I'm 99% sure it's the case. The problem was always a known issue, but I underestimated the scale. My rear tire, a big, square edge drag slick, is 16mm out of alignment with the centre of the tail light. I have no real datum to work from, but I know I can't sneak the chain any closer to the frame, front sprocket is aligned with the rear sprocket, and I'm still 16mm off on the rear tire (offset right when staring at the back end). Seems to me that the tail has been shifted to the left by the damage. This is consistent with the dented tube. The rim is 5.5 inches from a 93 gsxr and I plan to run a 180, not the slick. My my question is, how wide of a tire can you run while maintaining the tire on centre? Should I be able to centre this tire up? Or is everyone running a bit offset?

Nice, thanks! I actually have a stock cooler setup, but I've got it in my head that I want to build the type coming off the oil pressure switch with the AN line running around the side of the motor.

Forgot to mention, I identified the carbs, they are 33 smoothbores.

Perfect! Thanks, that is convincing enough for me. Let the surgery begin.

Any specific reason you picked 125mm of travel as your goal to work toward?

so, if the forks are from a teapot, are they worth keeping? Or should I be shopping for front ends?

What shocks are these? They look like zrx? If so, what is your distance from the pivot point of the swinger to the mounting location? Thanks!!

Too funny, this is the second reason I joined OSS, to see if anyone had info on moving the shock mounts. Current plan for me is based on a picture of (I think) a Yosh bike. looking at it, it seems like they were shooting for a shock angle (to the swinger) of between 40 and 45 degrees. With a 12.5" shock and a 19" swinger, they had to move the shock mount down about 3" from the intersection of the top tubes. This is all rough measurement based on that bike having a 17" wheel. If that wheel isn't 17" then all those measurements are garbage and I don't know what I'm talking about. It looks to me like sanctuary does about 2.5" and 50 degree shock angles. Anyone have any thoughts on all this? What drives these decisions? I haven't got the first idea of how to set up suspension so my plan was to copy people who knew what they were doing... Watching this one closely!

Ok, good to understand that the oil feed is lost when going big block, making a top end feed necessary. Leaves me free to go ahead with the oil cooler feed change without worrying about losing the top end oiler option - I have no need for it. There are a couple reasons I want to change the oil cooler feed. I really do not like the lines coming up from either side of the front of the block. I love the look of the lines wrapping around the motor. The additional cooling is maybe a thing, but I just like the design better.

It was a stock ignition based on the igniter and other equipment on the bike. There is a dyna2000 and coils in the mail though always wanted to try one out. My KZ runs a dyna S and I have another with a distributor drive. Thought about trying my luck on Eblag for a magneto drive setup, since the bike doesn't have a charging system, but I don't know the motor that well, they are stupid expensive, and it wouldn't really fit the bike's look (unless I kept the slick), so dyna 2000 it is. Sad to say, but I believe the cams are stock under there. Valves may be oversized though. I'll pull the cover and let you all have a look. I'm away for a week, but I'll do it next weekend. While on the subject, do you guys have any thoughts on the "super bike" style oil cooler setups? The ones with the AN line running around the motor? I love the look, but again, I don't know these motors that well and, unless I made the fittings, it seems like I would be giving up the option of the top end oiler setups. Not saying I am opposed to building the fittings, but I need to understand the oil path first.

It was an outboard bearing support, but the PO felt it was worth a lot of cash and didn't include it in the trade. I have started designing a cover in fusion 360 to replace it. No bearing support, though.

It is total loss, but I will be going back to a generator. All I want out of this build is a bike for the street. I have a lot of love for the modifications done to older race bikes, and building is most of the fun for me, so I'll be putting together a laundry list of little changes for this frame and motor once I know what I have and what needs to change.

Completely understand, won't happen again.

I take it the 90s katana stuff is nothing to write home about? Thoughts on a better swap? I was thinking a B12 front end to keep the regular forks, but get into some 43mm running gear. I also like the 6 piston calipers. I've used that front end on another build. Looks like rake and ground clearance would be ok with the lost height.

Hah, figured that would raise some eyebrows. It's a combination of a few things that probably won't make sense to everyone. I hate the clevis mounts on the current swinger. I wanted some more length in the rear. I hate farming anything out if I can do it myself. After some destructive tests I am not comfortable with my own structural welds on aluminum, but very comfortable with tig welding on steel. All of it added up to a need for a swinger with a narrow pivot point and the same axle diameter that is made of steel. The 08 katana arm fits the bill and is readily available. Once you cut the junk off, it's not crazy heavy and I can very easily modify mounts and play with geometry. If I was more comfortable working with aluminum, the result would be lighter and better, but this works well for me. Make a few stainless bushings and it slides together similar to the bandit conversion that seems to be popular. Sorry about the garbage lighting in my shop.

Hey Guys, Let me start by saying the Katana like thing I have bought has consumed me. I am just coming off building a turbocharged KZ1000 and am now throwing my efforts into the Kat. This is the only "katana" I've ever seen, let alone owned. I've wanted one for years and have never even seen one up for sale. The reason I hesitate to call it a true Kat is that its an 1150 motor in a 750 frame with gsxr wheels and unidentified suspension parts (but I suspect they are gsxr as well based on a conversation with the PO, but he wasn't firm on that). The frame appears to have been hit by something too, messing up a tube near the passenger peg mount. Perfect for me because I won't get all precious about it and lose sleep over removing a bracket or two. Pretty liberating compared to the H2 that was going to be my next project if this Kat hadn't come along. I really need help both figuring out what I have and where to go with it all. Not looking to be spoon fed, but I'm having trouble finding info on the differences between this motor and the stock 1100. I would like to understand parts interchangeability and that sort of thing. Any articles or helpful posts would be good. Even just an idea of what to search for! Also, if you guys recognize the forks or rear brakes, I'd love to know what they are, if only to replace the pads. Hoping to get a bit of discussion going here to help sort out what I'm looking at. The bike is an ex road racer turned drag bike, so its a real mash up. I've already swapped in a 2008 Katana swing arm and I'm considering a B12 front end swap, but this isn't the spot for that discussion. I'll start a build thread if I feel like I can keep it full of interesting content. Thanks!