And so it begins ... Another bike building project

[79XS11F]

No, it's rarer that that. It's a 83 GS750SD Katana (Canadian version). Less then 200 were ever produced. It's my next project bike to restoration. It is however, exactly the same rolling chassis as the GS1100 with the smaller engine.
Rob

[Thee_oddball]

No, it's rarer that that. It's a 83 GS750SD Katana (Canadian version). Less then 200 were ever produced. It's my next project bike to restoration. It is however, exactly the same rolling chassis as the GS1100 with the smaller engine.
Rob

ahhhh thats why i could not figure out the color (83,1100 were blue and white) , very nice find!!

[petejw]

Hey Rob,
Looking really good,
hang the parts in the oven, once they heat up the
paints becomes soft prior to drying hard.

[79XS11F]

Well, the wheels will not fit into the oven with the door closed so I baked the rear wheel for 2 hours with the door closed as much as it would go. The front wheel is in there now with the door open even wider. If nothing else, at least the paint will be dry and hand-able without doing damage to the coating. All the other parts will fit in OK They will go in the oven in about an hour and a half.
Rob

[Big Daddy Funk]

Very Rare Bird

That Katana is a rare bike and from what I could see, seems to be in excellent shape. Hope you post here as a project as well.
You have excellent restoration skills my friend and I know how much time and money it takes. It definitely shows in that XS, squeaky clean and a real head turner. Are you planning to dyno it for final tuning? Looking forward to a full set of completed pics. Congrats. Rick

[79XS11F]

Yes the bike is a complete unit except for the exhaust system which I will likely never find. A lot of other Parts are however still available for it so I have already changed out all plastics and grommets. Even the fairing is NOS. Have a replacement set of forks with the anti dive not messed up. I know of only 2 others like it in North America from the North American Katana owners association. It will be a different project as compared to the 11s. My hop up bike that this thread is about is meant to be a daily rider so the restored 11 can see minimum use. Club runs show and shines maybe bike shows. It would be interesting to Dino it but that type of service is not common place in Ottawa and therefore rather costly. We'll see.
Rob

[Big Daddy Funk]

100 horses?

If you can get down to this area, just let me know. I have a friend with a state of the art Dyno (he's a drag bike builder) I'll twist his arm and get you two pulls for under $100.00cdn. You get HP & torque curves and A/F mixture ratios from 0 to redline. They can also read a bunch of other performance enhancements with it. It's a great tool for getting the most out of the money you already have in the bike.
I wouldn't be surprised if you have a big bore kit, aftermarket cams, adjustable cam sprockets, flowed head, headers and the chain drive conversion that you could break into the 100 HP area. Thx Rick

[79XS11F]

Because it will be a daily ride I have not gone that radical with it. Enhancements include ... 1179 kit, DIY exhaust side porting, polished combustion chambers, Kerker 4 - 1 headers, K&N POD filters With jetting kit, Thunder products Dial-A-Jet system, Performance clutch, Both inside and outside kick starter system removed, NOS Crank & rod bearings, Oil cooler, Accel coils & wires, Steering Damper, Fork Bridge, Reinforced frame, Chain drive kit, Solid engine mounts, EBC Pro-lite rotors and new pucks, SS brake lines all round, BT45 tires, Progressive shocks and fork springs plus air up front, HID lighting, driving lights, Air horn, All SS hardware, All balls wheel bearings, Low rise handle bars, and likely a list of other cosmetic things I am forgetting. And of course every thing has been cleaned / refurbed as necessary.
This project has been 2 -3 years in the making. The history of both bikes in photos and text blogs is on "my space". There should be a link in my signature. I'm rather surprised to see that simple site getting 15 to 25 hits a day and questions from all over the globe. It's really amazing how much attention these 11s can still draw after all these years.
Rob

[79XS11F]

Does anyone know off hand what the torque setting of the rear wheel mounted final drive is. I'm referring to the female part that has it's 6 studs pass through the rubber crush drive grommets of the back wheel. there's no spec in the manual?
Rob

[John]

The item you refer to is the clutch hub, and it usually isn't removed. I would just get them gudentite, and don't worry about it after that. Just be sure to pack the splines in the final drive, where the clutch hub mates to it, with grease.

[79XS11F]

The item you refer to is the clutch hub, and it usually isn't removed. I would just get them gudentite, and don't worry about it after that. Just be sure to pack the splines in the final drive, where the clutch hub mates to it, with grease.

Thanks John, I guess I will check th manual for torque settings for that size nuts and go with that. They were in deed tight to remove. Suppose it won't hurt to lock tight them. The chain drive sprocket slides into it in the same fashion that the original drive did so those parts will be greased. I just discovered another bearing in the end of that unit that will need to be changed. That's 3 wheel bearing in total for the rear wheel.
Rob

[79XS11F]

The Rear wheel is Complete and ready for rubber ... Interesting set up.
Rob

[79XS11F]

Puttered around in the garage on and off today and got the callipers and front MC rebuilt but I’m still waiting for shoes and of course front wheel installation before I can really set them up and finish them. I temporarily Hung the fronts just to get them off the bench. Rebuilt the switch boxes and started installing the handlebar gear. It’s coming together bit by bit. Can’t really see it in the photos but the high heat paint has “ambered” a little on the parts that would fit in the oven with the door closed. If I do this sort of thing again I will not bake it. Time for a few Ryes ...
Rob


Throttle side


Clutch side


Front callipers

[79XS11F]

At last it's starting to look like a motorcycle

I got my tires installed and wheels balanced yesterday, received additional hardware so now things are coming along nicely. i can see the light at the end of the tunnel :-)






Rob

[Big Daddy Funk]

Head Turner

Truly sweet. Great craftmanship and a ton of patience. Love to see that bike up close. Rick