Kawi2strokes.com Forum

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1973 RD350, 1979 RD400F, 1984 RZ350, 2014 Suzuki Vstrom 1000
CHRIS AND JEFF ARE THE MEN

ok...so I had the Hybrid's engine covers powder-coated the same color/sheen (black semi-gloss) as the frame and swingarm,

Identical to how I did the Green '72 H2 and the KH750. (wow, I guess I like black engine covers? )





thing is, this bike has much more "blackness" than the KH or Green H2, so much so, that it started to look like I just threw a bunch of semi-gloss black paint at the whole thing.

I have always like the "look" of the Gauge Pods on the '72/'73 H2's (and H1b), so asked my powder-coat guy if he could just go over the black with wrinkle?. He said that he could, but it would be ultra thick and that he would prefer me to strip all of the PC off of the covers using lacquer thinner or aviation stripper...

Nah.. I'll try something else first.

Harley Engine Paint!!!


So I headed down to the local "boutique" to pick up a can... Actually 2, just in case I experienced failure.

I about puked blood when the broad behind the counter said "that will be $48.00"... FOR TWO RATTLE CANS!!!!!

Whatever, I've already committed and it was still under $50.00 right? (I had to tell myself something to justify wasting that much $$ on paint)

I learned long ago that powder-coat makes an EXCELLENT primer. Scuff it with 220, degrease, and heat it up under a heat lamp (or oven if wife is gone) and shoot it.

I've got to say that this wrinkle paint is VERY VERY difficult to work with. Extremely sensitive to coat thickness, heat, tack coat duration, etc.. So in a nutshell, it was smart to buy 2 cans. (still convincing myself I made the right decision )

After a bunch of practice, I figured it out, but hindsight being what it is, I would have been about $45.00 and 5 hours ahead by just stripping the things to bare metal and having them re-powder-coated.

Whatever.. it turned out cool and it broke up the monotony of the same sheen/color everywhere.

Yeah anything HD = Hundred Dollar (I know since I own one) but I gotta say all the HD stuff I buy from them is high quality and you get what you pay for.

The wrinkle finish is for the Knight Train line of soft-tails that are really popular.

I do a lot of fabrication projects with the krylon "hammer finish" rattle can stuff - like that a lot.

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This is true. Where I grew up the hills were so steep and long, when your ball rolled down the hill you just said "screw it"...

Man, that wrinkle finish would look amazing with gloss black cylinders.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.

Nicely done. I used wrinkle finish black on my case covers because they were so gouged up that I couldn't buff them out and with regular paint, the gouges would still show up. The wrinkle paint hid it all.

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"Sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whiskey, and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested." ~ Hunter S. Thompson
76' KH500 Cafe
80' SR500 Street Tracker
02' SV650 Race Bike

weird but sound good

Soak in a pan of gas for a day or spray it down with gum cutter.

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74 H2B with reeds and 34mm carbs
75 S3A Ram Air with reeds and 30mm carbs
73 S2A (wife's bike)
71 Yammi RT1B
83 HD Sportster
03 Yammi R1
06 Kaw 750 Vulcan (wife’s bike)
12 Yammi vstar 250 (wife’s bike)

Today I knocked a bunch of stuff off of the "to-do" list.

I'll start with the Handlebars. Last year when I bought the Tarozzi fork brace from Jim at Fast From the Past, I also ordered a set of medium-rise Tarozzi's clip-ons. I love the adjustability of the bars. They give you 4 different mounting options, in addition to infinite adjustment of pullback and rise... and they're reasonably priced.
Unfortunately, when I had the fork tubes Ti-Ni'd, the chrome on the handlebars stuck out like a shiny sore thumb. So thanks to the guys at Fast Five Cycles (Cory in particular), I was able to sneak the handlebar tubes in to be Ti-Ni'd as well....

aaaah that's much better.





I've spent a bunch of time trying to figure out front turnsignals as well to go along with the integral rear signals in the brake light... I've used the small aluminum billet signals on 4 or 5 bikes, but I needed something "difern't" on this bike. There are so many options out there nowdays it makes your head spin.
The main criteria is that they needed to be LED's and small...VERY small.

Or, if not small.... how about something that disappears when not flashing?




and ON!................ L.E.D.'s are sooo cool.....






Once I get the speedo/tach figured out, I can build the wiring harness and completely button-up the front end......

oh effing sweet.

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They always run best right before they stop for good...and it was just running great...

H2 Carbs.... easier than I thought it was going to be!

First off, I installed these adapter blocks (German knock-offs of the Denco blocks) that I purchased from Looney Cylinders last year.


It was pretty straight forward, but I had to do a bit of "clearancing" on the top of them.. as they touched the bottom fin and wouldn't allow the blocks to be tightened all the way to the intake face of the cylinders.
I used a paper H1 intake gasket (with 3-bond on each side) between the adapter and cylinder, and then just a smear of 3-bond on the rubber H2 intake manifold bolted directly (no paper or stupid phenolic gaskets) to the block...

Then just popped the H2 carbs into the manifolds.
I did have to clearance the little "bulge" on the right carb floatbowl so it wasn't rubbing on the cases, but that was it, everything else has plenty of room




In mocking it up (in my head), I was under the impression that I wasn't going to have enough room between the petcock and the left carb top. Then I realized that I am an idiot , or that Aylor is a GENIUS (or both). Reason is, I come to find that the bung he fitted to this fiberglass tank is the EXACT same NPT size as a Pingel MINUS the adapter nut!!!



I thought I was going to have to use an "adapter" and THEN the adapter nut on the Pingel just like you would on any triple ..... By not using the adapter nut, you screw the Pingel directly into the tank and therefore gain a TON of head-room!....and now the cable clears everything just fine.. Phew!




Now that all that was sorted, I JAMMED a UNI-Filter in there and thought.... NOPE! Far too tight between the outer carbs and the frame rails. There is no way that is any good for "flow"

I learned on the Denco H1 and Denco H2 that intake runners (elbows) made a HUGEMUNGUS difference in low end rideability and really wanted to figure out a way to get an intake runner in there.

But wait? I wonder if I could rig something up using a stock 3-into-1 H1 intake???

SUCCESS!

When building the airbox for the KH750, I bought a metric crap-ton of rubber elbows, etc off of ebay trying to "design" something that looked "factory". Much of what I bought didn't work, but I hung on to all of it....
Well, wouldn't you know it? I actually had a large diameter elbow that PERFECTLY matched the large hole in the stock 3-into-1 rubber boot
I also had some large offset K&N's that I got off an H1 roadracer 10 years ago.. The filter will be replaced with new, but this should actually work pretty well. It has MORE volume than a stock airbox, and more filter area.






I love using up old stuff.......and making it looked like it was planned...