Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

I suddenly feel like a pussy for putting off getting a new camchain for the gsx for so long

Looks like fun Gos

Luv the old RX1000. First bike I ever rode was a RX with GPZ900 engine. Watch the single throttle cable though. Mates RX spat me off full throttle at walking pace when throttle locked.

Good so see plenty of 'tooling' going on Gos, but we haven't had updates on either the 12 or the 500 tripple race bike?

mike-s wrote:.....I suddenly feel like a pussy for putting off getting a new camchain for the gsx for so long ....

now is the season to be getting into it mate - yeh its cold, but better to be in the shed now instead of summer....

bonester wrote:Luv the old RX1000. First bike I ever rode was a RX with GPZ900 engine. Watch the single throttle cable though. Mates RX spat me off full throttle at walking pace when throttle locked.

I'll be keeping an eye on that mate ! The throttle on this bike has a push/pull arrangement with 2 cables though ? Maybe there was just a cable missing on your mates RX ?.

photomike666 wrote:..Good so see plenty of 'tooling' going on Gos, but we haven't had updates on either the 12 or the 500 triple race bike?....

not too much happening on the MFP12 at the moment Mike - although I did pick up a few more bits from the local dealer recently, and he also did me a great deal on the main aluminium fairing bracket.... - I still have to pay the bastard off, because its still not *cheap*......but way cheaper than it should have been. Rego only recently ran out on the 12, so it has been having a break from active duty.....including active duty being *applied* to it !!

The triple is a 750 - and it has had a bit done recently too, I just haven't done much of a story about it yet. Laurie Smith - our local suspension guru - recently did a number on a set of H2 forks for me, fitted valve emulators, h/d springs, straightened one of the staunchions which had a very slight bend......they feel heaps good now, and give me a well-sorted P4 front-end. The only thing left is a good ignition system......stand by, I'll kick off a story on the triple soon enough.


Back to the RX - weekend just gone, did some more degreasing and cleaning to the last few major components which had not been done - centrestand, clutch cover, and some smaller bits. Also degreased and cleaned up the rear suspension rocker-arm components - these were really dirty and needed a lot of elbow grease to get to good condition.

The wheels are now over with PC, and he will be doing a number on those with 2-pack gloss black. I have decided to keep the OEM look with the wheels, so they will just be all black with no highlights.

A lot of the smaller engine components got a prep and a couple of coats of engine enamel as well - cam-cover, clutch cover. Other smaller brackets also got a 2nd coat of gloss black, so they are all done now. Most of the smaller bits are done now, the wiring harness is ready to go, all the plastics (battery box, inner guards etc) are all done - the aluminium sub-frame has also been prepped and painted in gloss black, so it is finished as well...........

Basically - once the frame and engine cradle get blasted and powder-coated............it will be time to start bolting everything back together ! I should have these bits over at the shop later this week......and back next week.

I think the most expensive part of the entire exercise...........will be the cost of the new tyres !

I'll bung up some more pictures this weekend........

bonester wrote:
Luv the old RX1000. First bike I ever rode was a RX with GPZ900 engine. Watch the single throttle cable though. Mates RX spat me off full throttle at walking pace when throttle locked.

I'll be keeping an eye on that mate ! The throttle on this bike has a push/pull arrangement with 2 cables though ? Maybe there was just a cable missing on your mates RX ?.

Hmmmmmm that answers an old question for me! (1994) Bodgy prick musta left one off! To give you some idea of his mech skills, I sold him my gpz250R after I wrote it off and he fitted GPX forks to it which were smaller in diameter than the GPZ triples. He cut pieces of aluminium coke can to use as shims in between. No wonder it rode like shit afterwards....

bonester wrote:...... He cut pieces of aluminium coke can to use as shims in between. No wonder it rode like shit afterwards....

serious ?? that is some dodgy shit right there mate !

I have seen the odd clip-on handlebar shimmed out to suit a fork-leg, but that was with a 1-piece aluminium shim of slightly less than 1mm wall thickness that was actually made for the purpose..........not a number of thin shims packed inside each other !! Recipe for disaster......

pretty quiet weekend in the 4th, I took the frame and engine cradle out to the powdercoaters on Saturday morning.....and that was it ! Both items should be back next Saturday, and then the re-build can commence. I will hopefully also be heading down to the coast for work next Friday, and can pick some bits up from my old mate Kawi King ! He is also in the process of doing up an RX at the moment, and has a lot of bits I can use.....

The last remaining job.............a lot of work to do to the fairing panels......

got to love a good project to sink the teeth into...awesome!!!

have patience young Obi Streak-o-PelicanShit . Pics are on the way.....

Been busy again this weekend with a few more hours being spent on this build. The frame and engine cradle will be ready for collection on Wednesday, so I will be able to get busy with starting to put everything together next weekend !!

On Friday, I picked up some bits down at my mates place from the South Coast - Kawi King. This included a 4-1 exhaust system, which was a bit of a bonus really, old mate didn't think he had one, but found this system during the week for me....

In these photos, I have done a number on the 2 left hand header pipes - all 4 looked like the 2 right-hand pipes before I started with a wire brush in the drill, and a bit of time with the polishing mops on the bench grinder........





In this close-up, you can still see some of the pitting in the front of the header pipes. I won't be able to polish this out, as it is a bit deep. But by and large, I am pretty happy with the results so far. It won't be a new exhaust system, but it will still look tidy enough......




This system is not like your usual 4-1 with a collector box - it is a 4-2-1, with quite long sections behind the 4-2 collector sections on either side. Also - these sections cleaned up pretty well, and are finished in that classic 80's exhaust finish - Black Chrome !! I couldn't believe this was used........This is a Laser full system. Many years ago, I knocked up a 4-1 for the old Z750 - it looked almost identical to the Laser exhaust above.....with a 4-2 on either side, and a long link pipe to the 2-1 join under the r/h side of the motor.....worked pretty well.

Here are some before & after shots of the muffler. It was in good nick with no dings, but very dirty.....

Before


After


The muffler looks almost brand-new now. I still have those other 2 header pipes and the collector section to complete the detailing on - then the exhaust will be all completed.

Here are some of the parts that have been detailed already.....

Cam cover and sump


Clutch cover, rear brake stay, battery box bracket, upper triple clamp


Rear subframe, lower fairing bracket, left & right hand footpeg assemblies, sidestand and front coolant pipe



Anyone contemplating a ground-up rebuild like this one (its not a restoration, just a tidy re-build) - then you really need to consider doing this sort of thing with all the fasteners, as you pull the bike down......sandwich bags in 2 sizes. These things are just gold !!

Engine fittings


Frame fittings



There are still a number of engine parts to be cleaned and bagged up yet. This box has sump bolts, tensioners, rubber carb manifolds, exhaust manifold clamps......all sorts of little things.



There are also a couple of boxes of frame parts left to clean up - all the inner plastic bodywork, mirrors, body brackets, fairing indicators - all sorts of stuff. These are the last 2 boxes of stuff to be detailed or replaced.






And so the build continues.......once the frame and engine cradle are back, I can start putting everything back together. There is still a lot of work to be done with the bodywork - in fact this will probably take longer than everything else so far, as I have to rebuild a lot of damaged front panels with fibreglass, then prep them for PC to do a number with some nice gloss black paint. At least the tank is in good nick, and only needs a basic prep for painting !!

You've got more patience than me Dave. Best I manage is take it off, wash it and put it back again.

tracked down a decal set for it yet?

Lurch wrote:.....tracked down a decal set for it yet?.....

Corvus had already got one of those as part of the stuff he bought - it was inside the manual !! The stickers are a complete set of tank & fairing stickers, very happy about that it is one less issue I need to worry about. He also got a complete engine-rebuild gasket kit, which has all the required gaskets and o-rings ( and there are plenty of those little bastards ).

I better get that rear shock out to Laurie, so he can check it out for leaks etc. I don't want it rebuilt, but it does need a new rubber boot fitted....