Waltari's 1982 Suzuki 1157 Katana Project

[zx12argh]

Deffinate gem in the rough - if i squint it looks pretty damn hot ;)
Whats the plan for this one?

[waltari]

I'm in Portland, Oregon and the bike was in Abbotsford, British Columbia. It was about a 600 mile round trip and took all day/night to get up there and back (of course that included stopping at a good pub in Seattle).

The motor is definitely gone and will be replaced with an oil cooled lump. She'll get most of the same treatment as the first one but I may also pull some molds and make some carbon bodywork. Had many thoughts of monoshocking it but since I have another complete zrx1100 arm in the shed and a set of shocks, I'll likely stick with that.

The rear tire has definitely see better days and has rot along both sides but believe it or not, it held air lon enough to roll it off the truck. The wife is thrilled to have another bike in the garage.

[NZSF1]

The wives are always trilled to have more bikes in the garage! But you can never have too many. Go the KATS!

[TurboKat]

Is there any way of getting the pics that were once attached to this thread back?

[Gix11]

Nah Darren. He had them all hosted on some website in the states and that has since gone, so that means the photos have as well.

[Gix11]

Just emailed him. Maybe he'll show up?

[TurboKat]

Thanx Si, fingers crossed.

[ozzy1100]

Don't hold yr breath lol
Try looking that bike up on the oldskool permormance
Forum they might still have pictures

[TurboKat]

Yeah, I tried that - no joy :(

[ozzy1100]

Buga

[Watto]

Think he sold it readin between the lines

There are a couple of pics here http://www.coroflot.com/matthewcastor/portfolio1

Some comments about another fella on katrider? http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127606&page=2

[TurboKat]

Cheers Watto.

[waltari]

No, the 1157 katana hasnt been sold. The katriders thread referenced aboved was referring to the custom 95 gsxf I built and sold back in 2005. Si tracked me down over at customfighters so now that I have new web hosting, Ill work my way back through this thread and try to populate it with the appropriate photos.

[waltari]

This is the Custom GSX600F I had built and sold. Apparently it changed hands a couple times, received a good trashing, and very little love. It's now for sale once again up in Seattle now http://seattle.craigslist.org/kit/mcy/4169150200.html. Apparently the guy on katriders bought it and was in over his head on repairs. He's trying to sell it after having it for less than a month or so. Sad to see something you put so much work into destroyed by others.

http://dogsville.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/suzuki-gsx600f-frankenkat.jpeg

[GammaBoy]

Hey Waltari - thanks for re-populating the pics!

[TurboKat]

I used the GSXR to GSX motor mount dimensions off Old Skool Suzuki when I machined my first set. They placed the motor centered in the frame side to side and front to back. The plates lined up for the most part though the rear dimensions were off and two of the holes had to be oblonged for them to fit.
Hey Waltari, ^ that's from page 3 of this thread, I know it's a big ask to remember back when you set the motor up but you mention the rear mount dimensions being off. I'm doing the conversion ATM using the OSS drawings & I've found that most of the mounts are spot on except the bottom/rear which is 45mm hole centres by the drawings but they didn't fit so I re-made them @ 35mm centres - do you have any notes from the build to confirm this?
Also, the bottom middle (under engine) mount plates splay outwards at the top when I bolted them to my frame & are not square with the frame or the engine casings - it looks like I need to make a thin, wedge shaped round spacer to mate the mount up & I was wondering if you encountered the same issue - I have tightened the through bolt all the way & it all pulls in straight & flush with a few grunts but I'd rather not put the engine case under that much stress.
Anything you can remember would be a bonus, I'm going ahead on it anyway but it would be good to hear if you had any more tips or traps I need to know about.
A few extra motivational pics of your wouldn't hurt either... ;)
Oh yeah, thanks for putting the pics back up too.

[waltari]

I don't recall there being any splay on the lower mounts. The only thing I recall is using the factory tapered nuts when bolting those mounts up (http://www.ronayers.com/CRANKCASE--C507118.aspx see part number 24 for what Im referring to) though I'm not sure that's what your talking about. Honestly, I'm afraid I can't be much help as it's been quite some time since I had fit the motor to the frame and I totally ditched the idea of using the OSS mounts because of the fuel tap and header clearance issues. I basically wound up throwing out the first set of OSS mounts I made and just made wooden templates as I went along that I later used to machine alloy mounts from.