Katana 400 intervention begins

**sAsLEX** · 27th September 2007, 03:53

Originally Posted by Jim2

I only had one screw left over and I know exactly where it should go.

And no spare holes?

So where is the arse of it?

**James Deuce** · 27th September 2007, 07:07

I have a spare hole (eek) even!

The arse is all there. It's quite amazing how the seat completes the bike.

**Hitcher** · 27th September 2007, 08:57

Originally Posted by Jim2

It's quite amazing how the seat completes the bike.

Wasn't that a line from Jerry McGuire?

**F5 Dave** · 27th September 2007, 09:25

Good when a bike starts to come together & the anticipation of riding it is escalating.

**Paul in NZ** · 27th September 2007, 10:06

Thats looking NICE mate....

You going to do the headers?

**James Deuce** · 27th September 2007, 10:13

I'm not sure I understand the terms of reference for "do".

Replace? I planning to. In fact crazefox said to me only last night, "I know a guy..."

It's all about contacts.

I finished reassembly this morning.

It looks marvelous.

A nice new front tyre in the correct size, will be going on Saturday morning.

Hopefully the lads can see if they can weld up the exhausts too.

**Paul in NZ** · 27th September 2007, 10:23

Sorry - they looked a bit brown in the picture.... From memory they were a black chrome finish similar to moto guzzi ones which was not quite as durable as one would expect and I assumed yours had corroded as well.

I searched a fair while before i found a cheap way of replicating the finish but it was not fabulous and needed repainting annually. HPC coating is the answer of course but it's not cheap. The best alternate I found was a base coat of VHT matt flame proof paint with a coat of their clear satin over the top. It can be cleaned by using a cast iron stove polish - messy but a bottle lasts yonks.

**James Deuce** · 27th September 2007, 11:11

I may need your help with that one Kemo Sabe. It sounds like an excellent plan and we should do Lunch to procure the correct elements and communicate the process to that Jim fella. I should do that as a short term fix, but I want to get some stainless headers made up as I'll be riding the bike in the rain (gasp).

I forgot to mention. I broke one of the plastic locating pins off on the right hand side panel. Plastic welding here we come! I have a kit from when I fixed up the CBR600. I think I was too excited.

**F5 Dave** · 27th September 2007, 11:51

That's a drag those pins, esp after paint. What I like to do is run a countersunk bolt through from the outside & either make it look like it should be there or sticker over it, ideally fill & paint over it, but the bolt can then thread into a carefully drilled hole in the pin & glued.

**crazefox** · 27th September 2007, 13:58

Originally Posted by F5 Dave

That's a drag those pins, esp after paint. What I like to do is run a countersunk bolt through from the outside & either make it look like it should be there or sticker over it, ideally fill & paint over it, but the bolt can then thread into a carefully drilled hole in the pin & glued.

or bring it to me and i have it fixed in a few min

**James Deuce** · 27th September 2007, 14:07

Done - alright tonight?

**James Deuce** · 28th September 2007, 00:38

The plan was to finish assembly and hoon around to crazefox's place to sort the broken pin.

However I had the usual post assembly dramas, the major one being leaking carb O-Rings. CRC and a screw driver had that sorted, but I'd had to rip the tank off in the process, so I canned the trip to crazefox's and re-booked for later.

The moment of truth involved trying to decipher the fuel tap (I STILL have no idea what it's point at really) to prime the carbs, then juggling three hands to adjust choke, throttle and hold the starter button down. 30 seconds later and that raucous guttural roar is back! Yeah Baby!

This is where I made my first mistake. I turned it off instead of going for a ride. There was a bit of clicking next time I thumbed the starter and then it all went dim.

Out with the charger, inside for an hour of nervous fidgeting and then back out to the gargre - brrr, brrr, brrrr ,putt, putt, brrr, putt, blup, bluppppppp, bwaahhhhh, blippityblipptiy. On with the gear and off down the road.

I got 100 metres down the road and then realised that the front suspension and steering had been assembled by me. Save me Jebus!

This frozen panic only lasted as long as the next approaching vehicle however, and once I'd unbitten my tongue I couldn't believe the difference in steering and suspension manners. The first mission was gas and air for the tyres.

Prepay Gas Station. Luckily Eric at BP Melling took pity on me, hung onto my eftpos card and let me just fill up and then pay for it. I reckon that could be a goer at most prepay stations if you asked nicely.

Air. The suspension had felt bouncy to say the least, a series of bumps creating a standing wave from headstock to taillight, causing an alarming porpoising effect. The front tyre was at Rantydave levels of atmospheric depletion. 16 PSI. The rear was better at 22. 36 front and 42 rear fixed that. Phwoaar. Old school stability and suspension that soaks up the normal bumps of the average road.

Speaking of tyres the Conti TKV 11 on the front of K'erst is an example of why ignoring the manufacturer's recommendation about sizing is a gamble at best. I gently pootled around the hills. I'm right to the edge of the front tyre which is both too tall and spread flat. There's 2.5cm chicken strip on the rear Sport Demon. The proper tyre fitment is a 100/80x18. On it is a 110/80x18. The BT45 is going on to the front wheel on Saturday. Until then I have to control my angle of dangle instinct. It isn't easy!

Thank you for putting up with this extended remix of bike resurrection.

So far the team of experts and I (the token non-expert) have painted the bodywork and redone the decals, rebuilt the headstock internals, replaced the air filter, and replaced the fork stanchions and redone the fork seals including dust seals. I've had to free up rust welded drain screws in carbs, buy an impact driver to shift rusted bolts, and generally try to undo someone else's lack of TLC.

All up I'm just a smidgen under my $3000 budget, but I'm about to go over this by about $300 when I rebuild the front brakes. Way short of the normal estimate of what you THINK you need to spend, double it, and then double it again, and that budget management is entirely down to nudemetalz, crazefox, MSTRS, and TSS. Lets not forget Schrodoco, even though they think I'm a PITA.

As I said at the beginning, this bike is meant to be my daily transport and as such it will be a rolling restoration. The exhaust system needs urgent attention and I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and head for Cycleworks.

I still can't believe it works! I even beat a car that goes pssh away from the lights and delivered him into the loving attention of Mr Plod whom I'd spotted just up the road. Not bad for an old fella.