GS550 Katana Cafe Project.

any advice on how to get this carbs out be great !!!!!!!

Most carbs are held in place by the air-cleaner at one end and flexible rubber mounts at the other (engine) end. Looking at your first picture I can't see anything stopping you undoing the jubilee clips at the engine end and once the airbox is out of the way simply sliding them off the cyclinder head. Don't forget you will need to disconnect the throttle cables and possibly the choke cable if fitted, but that will probably be easier if the carbs are free to move.

Yeah i got it took awile but ended up using some hot water on the rubber parts to loosent them up
as they have been sitting for the last ten years...

Thanks for your help on this mate

I know you're probably going to clean up the head and carbs, but when it comes to refitting a little smear of vaseline (not grease, it will rot the rubber) on the inside of the rubbers makes them a lot easier to fit, both to the carbs and the head, dont't forget to put your jubilee clips on first either, number of times I've fought a set of carbs into place, stood back to admire them and.......doh!

I was wondering if anybody has any experience with spray painting an old Fuel tank , is this worth doing yourself or sending to a proffesional ?
The tank is in okay condition ...
what is the prep proccess

cheers TW

thanks good advice , I wanted to ask you have you had any experience with spray painting the tank , or do you recommmend leaving this
to the experts ...

cheers TW

I also have one other question ... with my bike it has the air filtter etc this is all old and to be honest
does not seem to be doing anything what are the complications if you get rid of this ?

As it woulld clean up what is really messy ...

cheers in advance

Ok, spray painting with 'rattle cans' (aerosols) is realtively easy and can provide good results providing you follow some simple rules.

You will need paint stripper, primer, your choice of top coat, wet'n'dry paper, 400 for basic prep, 1200 for between coats, a mask, goggles (all available from Halfords) and somewhere to spray.

Preparation is paramount, if the old paint is sound you can just rub that back. If like mine, it's chipped, scratched or has rust bubbles for a good finish you should strip the old tank back to bare metal and thoroughly degrease it.
Only spray in a warm, dry area, the cellulose thinners used in most spray cans reacts badly to dampness and forms a hazy white 'bloom' which never fades, so preferably a dry garage with heat.
Wear a mask and goggles, it doesn't appear so but this stuff is invasive and you get a shock how much crap comes out when you blow your nose after spraying without a mask (voice of experience!)
Use light coats of primer first, don't be tempted to give it 'one good coat' it will sag and run and cause you more work.
Leave each coat a good few hours before flatting down with 1200 grade wet'n'dry.
When applying the colour, again, light coats flatted between each application will give you a better finish than one thick one.
Your final coat doesn't have to be a mirror finish, once the paint is thoroughly dry and hard (a few days at least) you can use a light compound such as T-cut to bring out the shine. Alternatively you can use a couple of coats of clear laquer, vital if you're applying transfers or graphics.

I've just done the tank on my CB750, I'll try and get some piccies posted in the next day or so.

As for your air-filter, no, you can scrap it, but you really need something to keep the crap out of your carbs, K&N do a good range of individual after-market filters, or you can go the Bellmouth/Venturi tube route.

Just remember your bike is set up to run with a restriction on the air flow i.e. the filter, if you increase the air flow you are weakeing the mixture so that needs to be compensated for either by adjusting the carbs or fitting bigger jets.

pauliexjr wrote:

I know you're probably going to clean up the head and carbs, but when it comes to refitting a little smear of vaseline (not grease, it will rot the rubber) on the inside of the rubbers makes them a lot easier to fit, both to the carbs and the head, dont't forget to put your jubilee clips on first either, number of times I've fought a set of carbs into place, stood back to admire them and.......doh!

Or use red rubber grease, either way, it's a good idea.

Hi Guys

I have got to a huge hurdle and any advice will be great ..
After taking the carbs of and takeing it to the experts they have told me that
that one of the carbs is stuffed and i need to find either a set or one to preplace
this one .....
Im not to sure which way is the best way to go ?

I also had another problem with what they said maybe rust from the tank
what is the best way to fix this problem , the tank seems to be in good condition.


once again any advice will be good

cheers TW

Set of carbs on E-bay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/suzuki-katana-gs550-81-carbs-amazingbikes-/220825183857?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item336a34e671

Tank is a bugger, best bet (for my money) is either source a new one, again E-bay or do a web search. If nothing available you could try putting a couple of hanfuls of nuts and bolts in your tank and giving it a really good, long shake to scour the internal rust out, then flush it and use one of the propriatory petrol tank sealers, Tank Cure, Kreem, Tapox etc. to coat and seal the inside.

Mate just wanted to say thanks so much for your advice has been great !!!!!!

In the last few days there has been lots of people saying that they have never
seen or heard of a suzuki katana gsm 1981 550...in Australia and to be honest im a little lost
as some are saying it is not a 550 but maybe from a 650 ?

By looking at my earlier images that i posted do you know what model this is
as everbody is giving me different info ..


Sorry to bother you again with more questions .... but i have plenty more to go hahahahahaha

cheers mate will buy ya beer one day

I promised you some more details on my tank, unfortunately I didn't take pictures as I went along, it only occured to me to create a photo log some way into the job!




As it started out. The original tank had a locking flap over the filler cap which didn't suit the cafe racer look I was aiming for.





I removed the flap and brazed a short length of pipe over the existing filler neck (after flushing the tank to get rid of petrol fumes!) I then cut a hole in the flap and slid that over the new nfiller neck and brazed the flap to the tank and neck. I then ground down the braze and filled and sanded the area before stripping the tank right back to bare metal





Four coats of primer and 4 of topcoat and the tank is beginning to look half decent.





Just put my decals on it and given it the first of 3-4 coats of laquer.The Monza style filler cap will be bonded in place once the laquer is hardened and polished. This was all done with aerosol cans and a fair bit of elbow grease!




Bike now mocked up with tank and shortened seat unit.

As Paul said...... I am so dragging my heels you all put me to shame

Finished cutting the frame. I'm going to start trimming the fibreglass tank and seat unit tonight.

I want to start grinding the sharp bits off the frame but my grinder died last night.

Man that tank looks so good , I have started sanding mine down , its not in to bad condition ...
I have also fixed my carb problem it was best to buy a new set ( well second hand ) and found that i can use 650
ones so this is great news ...will post some pics soon

The project continues to creep along slowly.

I've started to paint some parts, but first, I had to build a spray booth (of sorts).


Prepped and sprayed some parts using etch primer.


These parts are going to get wrinkle black or a hard wearing allow paint.

Nice work guys ... looking good ..

I wanted to ask a question if you have a petrol tank and i must say the tank is in good condition pnly a few chips
here and there , what is the best way to tackle this ? Im wanting to repaint the whole thing but dont know if i need to strip the whole thing again to bare
metal , as im doing no bogging etc etc

cheers TW

kinetica wrote:

Nice work guys ... looking good ..

I wanted to ask a question if you have a petrol tank and i must say the tank is in good condition pnly a few chips
here and there , what is the best way to tackle this ? Im wanting to repaint the whole thing but dont know if i need to strip the whole thing again to bare
metal , as im doing no bogging etc etc

cheers TW

Probably best to ask in the technical forum.

kinetica wrote:

Nice work guys ... looking good ..

I wanted to ask a question if you have a petrol tank and i must say the tank is in good condition pnly a few chips
here and there , what is the best way to tackle this ? Im wanting to repaint the whole thing but dont know if i need to strip the whole thing again to bare
metal , as im doing no bogging etc etc

cheers TW

If you look further up this thread you'll see piccies of my tank, sprayed with aerosol cans from Halfords, perfectly acceptable but I did strip the whole thing back to bare metal and took my time. If you look further back still there's my simple guide on what I did and how.

You can get good results providing you're not trying to be too trick and you don't rush it!

If you still need a swingarm i have a jmc style one going spare

Hi Guys

Hope you are all doing well I have been busy working on my project electrical what a head F#####
I have now managed to track downa new / second hand pair of carbs now they are black and dirty
etc have done all the internals so will run sweet , but now i need to know the besat way to either strip
of the paint and get back to metal ? Or best way to clean and repaint ?

Any advice will be greatly apreciated

cheers GUYS

PS i dont really want to take out any internal part to make this work

Welcome back bud, thought you'd dropped off the planet!

Are your carbs actually painted? I would have thought Nitromors or take them to a water vapour blast company. Not easy, but then I've never come across painted carbs before, it would surely stop you getting to the various adjustment screws?

Let us know how you get on.
Paul

nahh just been busy in the shed will get you some pics ... she will run this weekend maybe if all goes well!!!
yeah it looks like sombody did a home spray job they are all chipped i will look into getting this done as you suggested

cheers TW