Arnout's Katana..

If ever..
the 750 Kat I bought Much like my GSX this Katana is originally a 750 that got dealt with a bigger engine. As 750 Katana's are cheaper to come by then 1100's I decided to look for a small Kat as a start for the new project.
Also because I intended to completely rebuild the whole bike and especially the frame and rolling gear the most important parts were the bodywork which looked fine to start with. detailed sketch in Photoshop Before taking the bike apart I made the effort to make a complete sketch of what the bike should be looking like and specified all the parts needed intending to stick to it till the end of the project.

the Kat frame all braced and painted Armed with this plan I started collecting the bits while dismantling the Katana further. Most of the ideas for the frame were already present before I got the bike and are a step up from the frame bracing I did on my GSX. Apart from modifying the ThunderAce swingarm to make it fit the rest of the building process was pretty straightforward. In the meanwhile I had collected all the part that were needed so much like a model kit I could just put the pieces together knowing everything would fit because I had worked out everything beforehand.
the finished bike outside da house Mainly because of the limited (no) budget I had choosen from the start to focus on the rolling gear and just have a working bike. That's why the engine was to remain mostly stock (apart from things that didn't cost any money and I could do myself). So the next plans are to get some more power from the engine. As my GSX is in the process of getting some bigger pistons fitted there will be some "left-overs" still good enough to be hand down to the Kat. Also some refinement in the appearance department will take place making the package complete..

Click here for further info on the Kat project..



Latest pics..



Original Specs..

    Cylinder head
    • '81 GSX1100ET head
    • Ports worked on (intake to match manifolds, cleaned up)
    • Guides ground down to match ports
    • Compression about 1:11 (guestimation)
    • 28,5 mm Manley intake valves
    • 24,5 mm Black diamond exhaust valves
    • PM valve springs
    • Ports worked on (enlarged, cleaned up)
    • Gasket face milled down 0.8 mm
    • Megacycle cams #385-35 (250 dur. 108 LC's)
    • New rockers (genuine Suzuki)
    • Cometic graphite head gasket
    Carburation
    • Mikuni RS38
    • K&N clamp on filters
    Exhaust system
    • Mac headers
    • Much modified Marshall muffler (now adsortion type)
    Cylinder block/ Pistons
    • '85 1100EFE block bored to 75 mm
    • Wiseco K1285 piston kit (1261 cc)
    • Home made copper base gasket (0.5 mm)
    • APE cylinder studs
    Bottom end
    • '81 GSX1100ET cases (modified to accept EFE block)
    • Stock ET basket with heavy springs and stock hub
    • GSX750 clutch springs + shortened spacers
    • Afam 10 mm offset 17T sprocket
    • GS750E oilpump gears
    • Setrab 13 row oil cooler
    • Mocal oilstat
    Electrics
    • Stock ignition
    • Dyna 3,0 Ohm Green coils
    • Dyna leads
    • Stock katana instruments and switchgear (GSX-R600 throttle)
    Rolling gear
    • '82 GSX750S Katana frame heavily braced
    • Braced steel engine mounts
    • Modified side stand
    • '89 Suzuki GSX-R1100K forks with spacers
    • Clipons on top of yoke
    • Much modified YZF1000R swingarm with twin shock mounts welded on
    • RK 530 LFO chain 118 links. JT 43T rear sprocket
    • White Power L325 SAVP-T twin shocks made to own spec
    • TRX850 front rim (17x3.5") milled out bearing seats
    • FZR1000 Exup rear rim (18x4.5")
    • R1 "blue spot" 4-pot calipers mounted using
    • Custom made CNC-ed adaptors
    • GSX750F "katuna" master cylinder
    Bodywork
    • Stock Katana
    • Recovered seat
    • Bandit 1200 front mudguard
    • Halfords paint
    Dimensions
    • Wheelbase - 1490mm
    • Caster - 68 deg.
    • Weight (no fuel) - dunno..
    • Weight distribution - dunno either..
    • Power guestimated at rear - 130 HP ??


More older pics..

Copyright ©2024 Arnout's motorbike www.GSX1100.com