Hobie's new Katana (Or: We need a montage!)

[Aerik]

Cool, I'll check it out. Thanks

[jporter12]

I just got tired of wrenchin' instead of ridin'....... So I got smart & bought a Honda

I was running out of stuff to fix on the Kawi, THAT's why I bought a Hon-duh! It IS an older Hon-duh though, so we'll see how it is once I get some of the wrinkles ironed out....

[Aerik]

Those 80's Hondas are a blast once you get them fixed up- they hadn't figured out things like brakes or handling yet (but not as bad as the KZ's from the same time period). I learned how to ride on an '82 V45 Magna- Damn I loved that bike.

But they can definitely be a headache to work on.

[jporter12]

It's a '92 Kanatuna........

Today's 250's are probably faster

Funny thing about that is the Ninja 250, through '07 is the same as it was back then!

[Mr Anderson]

Funny thing about that is the Ninja 250, through '07 is the same as it was back then!

You mean 08 - 09 body changed but same old engine.

[Strictly Street]

I tried to convince Hobie to leave it pink and put curb feelers on it, but he just accused me of trying to turn everything into a '70s Cadillac. Oh well.

:lol:

[Fonzie]

I was running out of stuff to fix on the Kawi, THAT's why I bought a Hon-duh! It IS an older Hon-duh though, so we'll see how it is once I get some of the wrinkles ironed out....

Ummmm...... Yeeeahhhhhh

Comparin' wrench time on a 2004 Kawi to a 1985 Honda ain't exactly apples to apples

Well..... Actually..... Maybe it is!!

[max power]

Respect. You guys are bringing the dead to life.

I have some flat black sitting around if you want to murder that pink.

Good call on the murder-paint: That was already the plan. We actually have a little bit of flat black around already, and Lloyd's going to get some for Kermit as well. We're also going to use this high-heat black paint we found somewhere on the pipes.

Hell yeah, flat black it! Katriders should have plenty of carbs for sale.

[jporter12]

You mean 08 - 09 body changed but same old engine.

They DID change the engine, but not drastically. So yeah, pretty much the same, and I think it actually DROPPED a couple horsepower, but from what I've read has more low end.

[jporter12]

Ummmm...... Yeeeahhhhhh

Comparin' wrench time on a 2004 Kawi to a 1985 Honda ain't exactly apples to apples

Well..... Actually..... Maybe it is!!

Nah, pretty much apples to oranges, as the Kawi needed mostly cosmetic stuff, and the Hon-duh needs more mechanical stuff, THEN the cosmetics.

[Mr Anderson]

They DID change the engine, but not drastically. So yeah, pretty much the same, and I think it actually DROPPED a couple horsepower, but from what I've read has more low end.

Yep it can only go 100mph max for me. Once I hit that it stays there. Its not my wiehgt either.

[jporter12]

I haven't tried any more than 90 or so on the 04, but the needle does slow way down on it's climb! It does pretty well getting up to about 80 though!

Keep us updated the the kanatuna!

[Aerik]

We have the bike running now. I'll post a real write-up after Raincheck sends me the last bunch of pics. It's been an interesting week.

[DGTL GRL]

I hate the color pink but I kind of like the looks of that bike.

[jporter12]

We have the bike running now. I'll post a real write-up after Raincheck sends me the last bunch of pics. It's been an interesting week.

Waiting......

LOL Just anxious to see how it turned out! Is it street ready yet?

[jporter12]

I hate the color pink but I kind of like the looks of that bike.

Ya know, it doesn't look bad that way! I'm not one that would want a pink bike, but the way that one is, it's not bad! Are the graphics under the clear coat? If not, just peel them, and have a red Kanotuna, or "Stay away from Coshocton Bike"

[Aerik]

I still don't have the pics from Raincheck, but I'll go ahead and summarize the week's festivities since you're interested.

Armed with a parts list written in Sharpie on a piece of cardboard, we set off to hunt down everything we needed.

Our first stop was Cycle Search, all the way up in Dela'Where?'. Unfortunately, they didn't have a lot of compatible parts on hand, so we grabbed a rotor and a throttle cable and head back to Columbus.

Reluctantly, we headed to the Rice Paddy. To our surprise, they actually had what we needed, albeit with the usual problems that earn them their sterling reputation. They had one tank for the bike, which they were asking $250 for. After pointing out some sizeable dents and a fair amount of rust inside, they magnanimously dropped the price to $200. In the interest of getting the thing together fast, we took it.

We got a front master cylinder for $75, although yesterday I found I had won one on ebay for $16. Oops.

The Paddy also had a set of carbs. Instead of the usual $150 most places charge for a full set, they wanted $200 plus a $25 core. This, they claimed, was because these carbs would be fully together and ready to use. "Fine," we said, "whatever, we'll take 'em." Of course, we had to come back and get them the next day, because they weren't assembled yet.

Ugh.

So anyway, Hobie and I go back the next day and pick up the carbs, then stop at MPS (a small shop that always has good service) and picked up a tank cream kit and some odds and ends. An Autozone battery, and we were on our way.

Well, we had to go back and exchange the battery, but whatever.

We installed the carbs, and hung a gas-bladder- it fired, but ran strangely and flooded out. A few more tries, and then Hobie decides to double-check the carbs.

Upon opening the bowls, we discovered that the wonderful people at the Paddy had apparently just started the main jets into their holes. Two of them were floating in the bowls, apparently having rattled out. The others were only barely in the threads at all.

Fucking wonderful. Assholes.

So, after going through and fixing all the terrible half-assed assembly, we put the rack back on and fired it up. It sounded mean as all hell. Awesome.

Getting excited, we cleaned up the tank (the quick way, fuck a 24-hour acid soak). Using a handful of nails, sockets, and rusty razorblades, we took turns shaking that noisy bastard for like half an hour. After dumping it out, we tub-washed it with the leftover gas we had used to try and clean the original tank. Because we didn't ahve all the tank rubbers, we used hose clamps for spacers. Using the original cap assembly (which I had rebuilt, because it was seized when we got it), and the original petcock (which I had tried to rebuild, more on that later), we put it all together and fired it up.

No joy.

After diddling everything we could find, installing/ removing the tank a few more times, and cursing a lot, we decided that it was not getting fuel. Thinking that the petcock was just totally fuckered, I took it back off and began tearing it apart, primarily just to have something to do while we were thinking.

On the part of the petcock, where the knob attaches, was an o-ring with a turning valve thing behind it. During the initial rebuild (during which I got carb cleaner sprayed in my eye and we actually had to use Astroglide to get the stretched-out o-ring assembly back in-- yes, Lloyd got pics of that), I hadn't realized that the valve part was removable.

Upon tearing it out, we found that the openings where gas comes down from the tank were completely occluded, gunked up with the same nasty shit that was in everything else.

More than hour of carb cleaner and pipe cleaners later, it was open again.

Another reassembly, and crossed fingers time:

GREAT SUCCESS!!!

After giving it some time to make sure it was actually giong to stay running, we threw the seat on and let Hobie take his victory lap. This, naturally, was followed by a victory burnout at like 4:30 am (/facepalm). After riding it myself, though, I understand: that thing is fuggin fun!

In the course of all the diss/ reassambly, we found that this thing looks fucking awesome all street-fightered out. So, even though we spent a couple hours taking the vynils off, we're leaving the plastics off for now. I think he's planning to flat-black the tank, and flat-red the fenders, and call it a day.

Like I said, pics will be forthcoming. Lloyd took them on two different cameras, so we have to wait for him to get them all gathered up and either sent to me or posted here himself.

[Mr Anderson]

Nice work.

[Cheech]

Excellent work. Sucks that I found this thread now, it's possible that you'll have some donor parts from a 02 Katana at Cycle Search that's about to be totaled out. Brand new jet kit on the carbs, I installed it myself.

[Aerik]

Appreciated, Cheech, but the model went thru some drastic changes around 1997. Some things are the same, but an awful lot got changed just enough to be incompatible.

[max power]

Motor and carbs should be the same.

[Cheech]

Oh believe me, I know. There are some interchangeable parts, but the big stuff that you needed like tank, carbs, and so on are no good to you. There is an excellent howto on KatRiders.com about a FI swap for a 92 Katana, I happen to have bought the throttle bodies necessary for this if you wanted to play around with them. At this point I'll let you have them for nothing, you'll just have to get a Megasquirt and a ton of solder. Perhaps a fun winter project.

[Cheech]

Motor and carbs should be the same.

There were some motor changes I believe. There were definitely some carb changes, the carbs from the pre's (88-97) are completely different than the post's (98-06) I believe they are the same diameter, but good luck getting the cables to match up...

[Mr Anderson]

[Aerik]

Hobie says the FI stuff sounds like fun; if you're offering, we're taking. We're always down for projects.