9 Attachment(s)
Restoration of 1989 Kawasaki GPX 600R
Hi Guys,
I am new to this forum and just wanted to introduce myself and my current resto.
I have been riding bikes since I was 10, road/trail and have been riding mainly a 1988 Honda VT250F that I did a full restoration on back in 2006. That bike has since been sold and am now working on restoring a 1989 Kawasaki GPX 600R that I picked up for cheap.
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I got the bike about 6 weeks ago and have been assessing what I need to complete the resto. Mechanically it is in pretty good nick though it was sitting outside in the weather for a few years and not started for just as long. It looked an utter mess and thought I would be in for a can of worms.
When I picked up the bike the clutch would not dis engage when in gear, not an UN-common problem with a wed clutch.
After dropping the old (Very Old) oil and water, flushed the system and charged the battery, filled with fluids and discovered an electrical problem. I thought that the wiring loom was cactus due to its age and storage. Only 10k on the clock (Not sure if its gone around) Multi meter out and found that there was a loose connection on the ignition switch. Re-soldered and starter would turn over, though the fuel tank was full of rust so off came the tank and all the fairings.
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Feed fuel to the carbs and turned it over. Wouldn't start but fired a few times, checked the choke and the lever was missing so manually pulled the choke rail on the carbs and she fired up. No knocks running smooth once warm, though once the cooling system pressurized the radiator leaked like a sieve..
Found a radiator on eBay in the US for a good price. Came 2 weeks later which gave me some time to strip the bike and clean it.
The radiator arrived today! No leaks so pretty happy with that. Filled and started it up, came up to temp and let run for about 20 mins. Unexpected thing happened, the clutch was working now so I decided to take it for a quick test ride (On a property so all legal) Gears were a bit still but loosened up after a few changes up and down.
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The front brake master cylinder was seized, found a replacement on Gumtree for less than a re-build kit. Hope it gets here soon. The drive chain is covered in surface rust and all the rubber o rings between the links were brittle so have to find a new chain as well, should be one on eBay.
Now that the bike is running and I know what I need to get it running and roadworthy I am turning attention to the fairings, choosing a color scheme that is a bit brighter than the plain black, grey and white. Thinking about blue, white and red with a new set of decals off eBay. I want to keep the design close to the GPX of its day so it will take some time to get it right. I have seen a 1989 GPX online that I like the look of and will go with something similar to this.
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You can see the fairings are in a terrible state though they are mostly complete with little cracks to be repaired. Next step to sand back all the paint and prep for painting.
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I will post more as the project progresses. Please feel free to comment, I would appreciate the feedback!