What the heck did robin1731 buy now??!!

[robin1731]

A 1984 Kawasaki GPZ900. It's ugly and a little rough. No title and no key. I did get it running within an hour after unloading. Sort of. I will need to pull the carbs and go through them. I bet they are fugly inside.
I'm thinking of turning this into a Street ET bike for drag racing. I figure I'm at the track already with the drag bikes. They run street ET too. It someimes pays $1000 to win. I'm hoping to have less than $750 in thei when I'm done. Maybe even less.

[Neil]

That will be a cool project ... be watching for updates.

[gregforesi]

Robin,
Kawasaki says that the green is their #1 selling color.
I understand that there is no accounting for taste. I know you don't want to put a lot of time or money in it.
But could you PLEASE paint it. Having it a color that doesn't hurt the senses won't slow it down one bit.

[robin1731]

Robin,
Kawasaki says that the green is their #1 selling color.
I understand that there is no accounting for taste. I know you don't want to put a lot of time or money in it.
But could you PLEASE paint it. Having it a color that doesn't hurt the senses won't slow it down one bit.

No worries. None of my Kawasaki's are lime green. I'l probably just rattle can it. Maybe go with red. My fast bike is red but it also has some white and black on it. Painted with a sort of waving checkered flag. Yeah, I'm going to see how cheap I can get this done. The tires are good. Needs a chain. And I finally got the gas cap off (no key) and the tank is nasty rusty inside. Carb cleaning won't cost anything. I know a guy . It did have aftermarket rearsets on it that I already took off. There is some interest for them on a cafe site I'm on. If not there they go to ebay. I'll get some back that way.

Oh, and before anyone ask's, I paid $250 for it.

[gregforesi]

A very good price. With a little luck you might get $150 back for the rearsets alone. That will pay for a lot of rattle cans.

[Oldewing]

Nice score Robin.

[robin1731]

Nice score Robin.

The kid started at $400. I had him down to $300 befroe I ever left the house. Drove about 75 miles to look at it. Told him I'd go $250. He said no. I don't think he though I would walk away after driving that far. I did . He called me back the next day and asked if I'd go $275. I said no, too many small issues. He called the day after and said he would take the $250, he needed the money. I love it when a plan comes together.

[Oldewing]

Now that's a drag bike of yours I might ride



Greg(been 12.16 on one,and that's fast enough for me)Jones

[robin1731]

Now that's a drag bike of yours I might ride



Greg(been 12.16 on one,and that's fast enough for me)Jones

I might have a hard time staying awake on this one. It's been a long time since I ran a bike with no wheeie bars though. It will take a little while to get that back. This is just going to be a fun bike though. Nothing real serious like the other two. I'm trying not to let that happen anyway.

[Bigphillip79]

I see a lot of donor parts for a beastly wing.
Front end, exhaust, fairing, rear sets, seat and tank.

[robin1731]

I see a lot of donor parts for a beastly wing.
Front end, exhaust, fairing, rear sets, seat and tank.

Not unless it was a real POS. Which it ain't .

I got it running and it sounds pretty good really. I'll have to run a switch on the fan. It didn't come on but works. A switch on a race bike is easier to remember. I have to turn switches on with the other bikes before I stage so I'm used to that. Bled the brakes and clutch. Now the front brake drags a little. I'll go through that whole system and eliminate the anti-dive while I'm at it. I'll just shorten the front a little and stiffen it up at the same time. Besides the brakes kits now and a chain that is all it really needs to go down the track. The brake kits whill hit the budget harder than I wanted but I'll still have less that $400 in it.

[robin1731]

I have been able to get a little done on this. I had to rebiuld the front brakes. Looks like I'm going to have to make new lines too. I eliminated the anti-dive so the lines aren't long enough. I think I have enough braided line to make these.

I also lowered the front end two inches. I did it the proper way, not by just pushing the tubes up into the triple tree. Here a a couple pics so you can see the process. It's pretty easy once you see how it's done. You can make your own spacers or you can purchase them. This is the same way I did the ones on my Wing. I just didn't make the Wing as short. Except fot the USD forks this is the way to do them all. The only thing with doing it this way is that it will stiffen the ride some too. The longer the spacer you use the stiffer it gets. That also means the cap just gets that much harder to put on.

First pic shows the lowers already removed. You can see the damper rods sticking out


This pic shows the damper rods removed and the spacers added. I used 2" spacers on these. You can also see some 1" spacers laying beside these.


This pic shows the damper rods reinstalled. You can see they are shorter now than in the first pic.


It really is that easy. You take the damper rods out from the top after you remove the springs. This is also a good time to check the bushings and replace the seals. I didn't worry about seals on these becasue I am running no fluid in them. These are stiff enough they are at full rebound even when sitting on the bike. You have to hold the brake and push pretty hard to get them to compress. This is going to strictly a drag race bike so you want a fairly stiff suspension.

[Oldewing]

Neat stuff.

[bob]

A little off topic, Robin. I'm in the market for a bike lift and was looking at the Craftsman model you have there. Would you recommend it?

[robin1731]

A little off topic, Robin. I'm in the market for a bike lift and was looking at the Craftsman model you have there. Would you recommend it?

I like it. It is the aluminum one. A little more expensive but much lighter than the steel. I had that bike on the center stand and on that lift. Did some pretty major josling around getting the fork caps back on and it never even thought of coming off. I do have a table lift too that I usually use. But there was a customer bikeo n it. The pic with the damper rods has them setting on that lift.