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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:06 pm
by rngdng
I like it! I have the same taillight on my VFR, but upside down from yours. I don't have a picture.......lost in a hard-drive crash. Keep it up and keep the pictures coming!!



Lane

Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:45 pm
by tz375
Thanks guys.

BTW, has anyone noticed how heavy some of the GT750 parts are? For example the riders footpeg mounts weigh a ton and have huge heavy steel bolts to hold them on.

Even the gearshift lever is ridiculously thick and heavy. I guess that Suzuki wanted all the parts to look correctly proportioned on the heavyweight.

So, since I'm trying to get rid of weight, I'll spend some more quality time with the angle grinder and Dremmel and maybe I can get my local machinist to drill out some of the hardware.

Titanium axles and hardware might be a neater solution, but that's not on my shopping list right now. Maybe when I remember to buy a lottery ticket. :lol:

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:01 am
by chainsaw
tz375 wrote:Thanks guys.

BTW, has anyone noticed how heavy some of the GT750 parts are? For example the riders footpeg mounts weigh a ton and have huge heavy steel bolts to hold them on.
Even the gearshift lever is ridiculously thick and heavy. I guess that Suzuki wanted all the parts to look correctly proportioned on the heavyweight.

So, since I'm trying to get rid of weight, I'll spend some more quality time with the angle grinder and Dremmel and maybe I can get my local machinist to drill out some of the hardware.

Titanium axles and hardware might be a neater solution, but that's not on my shopping list right now. Maybe when I remember to buy a lottery ticket. :lol:

you gotta remember, thats the way it was so many years ago. These were not the plastic era bikes that are made today. when these bikes went down, you bent the part back into shape and rode it. I would guess bikes today, it breaks and you replace it. It would be great to shave off a lot of the weight and it has been easier to do by putting our engines into modern frames. I really like that idea and wish I had money to do that. maybe some day...

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:31 am
by Suzsmokeyallan
Good ideas on this topic but expensive with using titanium. The best thing is to look at the total package and see how you can shave off weight in small bits from all over the bike thats not important.
However if keeping the bike looking stock is not important then you can go all out for lightness.
Modern wheels, brakes and suspension components are way lighter, even minor things such as switchgear from modern bikes is also a weight saving.
Alumium handlebars, plastic H.L bowls also shave weight as does the current style of hollowed out bolts.
Again, those footpegs you spoke of changed out to alloy rearsets and so on cuts weight in ever small bits but it helps.
With some minor mods to the bike its possible to loose at least 50 or so pounds and it still look reasonably close to stock.
One easy lightening mod would be to change out the forks and discs/calipers to an early 80s suzuki model cause those GT rotors weigh a TON, plus you'll stop better as well.

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:31 pm
by tz375
The front disk are already a pair of super light Honda CBR600F41 which have the same bolt pattern, but used 6mm bolts. Calipers are SV650, bars are big 1.125" alloy fat bars. Headlamp shell is long gone, gauges replaced with trail-tech vapor, alloy rims, fiberglass seat, small battery, removed battery tray, wiring panel etc.

Footpegs have been substantially lightened and so has the gearshift lever. Footpeg bolts and axles will be gun drilled, but there's no rush. I should replace the wheel bearing spacers and other wheel spacers with aluminum items too at some time. Shock nuts are aluminum, light rear shocks etc.

Gear shift levers before and after
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Left peg before
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and almost done
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I also removed the pair of lower radiator mounts and substantially lightened the cast iron motor mounts while I was at it.

Steel fenders are also in the recycle pile, but I did add a fork brace from Fast from The Past.

Starter is in the bin along with the associated, button, wiring and solenoid, and clutch.

I have looked at the alternator rotor and gearshaft, but they are not going to be easy to slim down. I got a few grams off the kickstarter gear drive but I need a aluminum kick start lever. Got one today that i think could be made to work

Points cover is 3 inches less wide, the starter gear is severely lightened, points shaft is gone and will be replaced with a 25mm long sleeve nut to take the electronic ignition rotor. And of course the exhaust is a Strader 3 into 1 which weighs nothing.

If I have a few titanium bolts in one of the sets of race kit spares I may fit some just for fun, but that is a very expensive route to lightness. I rarely use them on race bikes, but i usually have bolts and axles drilled out and non-critical bolts are replaced with Aluminum. I do use Titanium sparingly in things like brake bolts.

Target weight 400 pounds ( I just pulled that out of thin air. It will weigh whatever it ends up weighing).

My other GT has the YZR tank, R7 carbon/kevlar seat, GSXR ssupension etc. This one is just to use up surplus parts and is almost stock by comparison to that one. :roll: :lol: :lol:

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 5:04 pm
by tz375
Yesterday I managed to fabricate a simple and reasonably light mounting for the oil tank that Suzukidave suggested. I ended up with the 1.5 quart tanks so i could add a complete quart if it gets low.

The bracket uses the front section of a stock battery box/tool tray which was "slightly altered" and to that I welded a strip of thin sheet steel fabricated into a tray that cups the bottom of the tank. I think it will work.

It needed a hole in the floor to let the oil feed pipe through, so I drilled it with a stepped drill, opened that up with a Dremmel cut off wheel and then punched a socket through that to leave a raised edge like a punched hole that you seen in aircraft. Looks almost acceptable (from a distance).

Pictures to follow.

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:45 am
by tz375
I loaded a few pics at the bottom of this page, of the oil tank mount. It's really simple.

http://pinkpossum.com/GT750/phattrakka2/p7amiddling.htm

and I updated the first page of this saga too

http://pinkpossum.com/GT750/phattrakka2/

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 3:31 am
by johnakay
well this would be a good starting point. get rid of the blubber. its amazing what the diffent would be as re-performance of ya bike :wink: :lol: :lol:
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 4:25 am
by Suzukidave
Nice job on the oil tank mount :D

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:53 am
by tz375
Thanks Dave.

Johnny that's not a waist. It's a waste - of time and food and a life. When I was racing back in a galaxy far, far away, I remember seeing riders like that who had spent a (not so small) fortune on Titanium parts and it seemed to be a complete waste of money.

I once told a fellow racer that I just saved $2,000 on titanium. He looked at my bike and couldn't see any Ti and asked what i was talking about. So I told him I had just taken a dump and that would have reduced overall weight by more than a couple of grands worth of Ti. :roll: :wink: :lol:

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:51 pm
by tz375
No pics, but I finally managed to get the bottom end of the motor back in one lump. Now I need to port the cylinders, bore and hone them and we're good to go.

I also added a pair of small LED Arrow shaped rear indicators and wired them in with that LED tail lamp and the combo seems to work.

The new Electrexworld combined Rectifier & Regulator arrived yesterday and I managed to slide that in above the battery under the seat. Hope it doesn't get too hot. I also need to be sure that it is on the auxiliary orange (switched 12v) circuit and not on the ignition line.

Image

I decided to dump the gear indicator and went with an older style gear change cam with neutral switch and of course the body of the switch is cracked so I need to find a replacement. Just got one from Bike bandit

For the moment I've gone with a Dyna ignition in a stock wide points housing. Of course I had already modified the starter clutch to lighten it and had to back track to drive the points shaft.

The aluminum kick starter looks wicked. I can't tell if it will work until the motor is back in the frame.

Then I'll be able to finish off the side covers :roll:

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:06 am
by tz375
I took the easy way out and slipped the bottom end of the motor back into the frame. Then I'll have to slip the barrel on without breaking and rings- that may be a challenge.

The wiring is subject to a continuous improvement program and soon it will be right. For example I use a few crimp on bullet connectors which I'm already replacing with motorcycle specific connectors from Tony at oregon Motorcycle Electrics.

I had bought a set of polished engine side covers off ebay some while ago and now i stop to look at them I see that they are filthy inside and not so good on the outside. So I cranked up the bench grinder with 8 inch loose polishing mop. Started with red rouge and then changed to white rouge to bring up the shine.

Now I need a base gasket or two from Cometic and after that I have to decide what I'm doing with the cylinder head on this one. The plan is a CR below 13:1 but that may not be possible. This should be fun.


:roll:

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:38 pm
by tz375
So the latest trick was passing all the handle bar switch wiring through the bars. It took a while and a bunch of new connectors, but the wiring is now safely INSIDE the fat bars.

No ugly wiring on the outside.

First drill holes in underside of bars - warning - you do this at your own risk.
Image

Then carefully deburr the holes being very careful that there are no sharp edges to chafe the wiring.

Then I turned the bars upside down and drilled holes where I wanted the wires to come out. the holes are just forwards of the 6 o'clock position so that the wires have a straight run past the front edge of the top triple clamp.

Image

Those holes were opened up slightly to make them large enough for all the wires I was planning on stuffing in there.

Image

Then I threaded the right switch wires and the brake switch wires through their holes

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That's much neater
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Repeat on the left side (viewed from below)
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The wires can almost be seem if you look carefully at just the right angle from the front of the bike. Form any other angle they are invisible.
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But I don't have a decent clutch lever. I tried one from an FZR400 which looks fine, but points the cable back too far, so I'll see if I can use one of those trick unbreakable (yeah right) MX type levers that pivot away.

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 1:50 am
by rngdng
Nice work. I used an R6 taillight on my VFR project. Good choice.



Lane

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:33 am
by Suzukidave
Thats a very clean and trick way to tiddy up the handle bars for sure :D