Just a little snip… I promise it won’t hurt

Things that have already been completed include:

• Cut off rear fender.
• Removed extra fasteners, front fairing mount, any existing fairings.
• Reroute the clutch cable inside the frame.
• Painted the exhaust can flat black with some high heat paint.
• Cut off the strap hooks on the back.
• Cut the wires to the fuse-box in order to reroute the cables.
• Made air intake grills.

Here is the right intake grill.  As it sits on the inside of the frame, under the tank, I didn’t bother with a polished job.  Also, since the grill is sandwiched between the airbox and the frame, I didn’t have to worry about mounting (I just have the grill peened over the vent to give it enough spring tension to stay on by itself).

 

Suzuki mounts the fuesbox on top of one of the air induction tubes that run between the front fairing and the frame of the bike.  This leaves a lot of wire to be rerouted.  The wire in its wrapped state can be pulled through a space between the frame and the engine.  The fusebox is a little too big.  I decided to mount the box under the passenger seat, and would have to exent the exising wires to do that, so cutting was inevitable.

In this picture, I’ve already removed the fuse box, and started rerouting the wires.

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Here is where I started

Here is one of the first pictures taken of my bike when the project started. 

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The bike had been sitting for a couple of years, with gas still in the tank.  When I pulled and drained the tank, I couldn’t believe how much rust actually came out; I’m not talking rust colored stale gas, I mean actual rusty metal.  In talking with a co-worker, I was lead to POR-15 (http://www.por15.com/), a product to seal gas tanks, and protect various metals.  They offer a kit for small engine gas tanks that runs about $50.00 with shipping.

Before you embark on this task make sure you beg, borrow or steal a disposable pump, some rubber gloves, and a heat gun.  Cooerse one or two of your not-so-smart friends into helping with the promise of beer and manly bonding, as I did this alone and it proved interesting.

The first step in sealing the tank is to remove the pep-cock or in my case the fuel pump, and anything else that you don’t want permanently sealed, such as the gas cap.  You’ll then have to seal the pep-cock hole so the fluid doesn’t leak out.  I worked with the tank upside down, and used Gorilla Tape to seal the gas cap opening because it was easier to work with the fuel pump opening, and I could get a better seal on the gas cap opening. A bicycle inner-tube, or some other piece of rubber and a big hose clamp would have been much nicer, as my tape leaked often. 

You’ll then step through the products; marine cleaner first, then metal etch, then the POR-15 (which is like a paint).  The marine cleaner removes the film from the tank that is left by the gasoline, and also works some on the rust.  The metal etch does more to clean off the rust, and alters the Ph level of the surface of the tank for adhesion purposes for the POR-15.  Throuh each of the steps the liquid in the tank will have to be agetated, rolled around, shaken, stirred, etc…  (here is where your not-so-drunken (you don’t want them to drop the tank) buddies come in, I suspended my tank with rope from the rafters).  Each of these volitile steps is suppose to go for at least 20 minutes.  Then the stuff is drained, and the next is put in.

When you get to the POR-15, the tank has to be completely dry (thus the heat gun, but don’t go crazy, you don’t want to ruin your paintjob).  POR-15 is basically thick silver paint.  With the shape of my tank (very thin on top to allow for the air box), it was tricky getting every spot covered.  I would hold the tank in one position for a few minutes to let all the liquid pool, then quickly flip the tank over so the liquid would land on a hig spot that I could not otherwise get the liquid to flow over.

Once you’ve coated the tank, you need to remove any excess, otherwise it will harden in your tank forever.  make sure you clean out any holes that you need, such as the path to your pep-cock.  I bought a cheap siphon pump at HarborFreight and used it throughout the entire process (with the flanges on my tank, it’s impossible to thruoughly drain all the liquid.  After pumping out the POR-15, I through the pump away.  The tank cures for something like 4 – 7 days, and then you’re ready to go…

Because my bike sat for so long, I pulled the fuel pump apart and cleaned it out.  I was again surprised at how much rust came out.  A word of caution, fuel pumps are not cheap (I think mine cost about $550.00 if I needed to replace it).  And what’s worse, is that, at least with my bike, I couldn’t buy just new seals, or just a new pressure regulator; I had one option according to the dealership, buy a new pump.  I did find Ron Ayers (http://www.ronayers.com), a great site for OEM parts, and much cheaper than the dealerships!  There I could at least get a few more part options and about  20% chaeaper than the dealership.

My sweat and toill left me with a shinny reward.  I now have a clean silver gas tank with no rust.

Awsome site

It seems the streetfighter scene is most popular in Europe.  Here is one site that has a lot of pics and references (if you can find the ones in english). http://www.streetfighter.nl/

One ot the pics is of a modified GSXR.  Notice the tail section and the raised handlebars, so characteristic of a typical streetfighter.  I like the shaved front fender (where can I get one in the States?), and the fact that there is no instrument cluster at all.  Turn signals on the bar ends are clean, and the aftermarket rear sets look nice.  The bold on head lamps are a good $250.00 investment, but don’t really tie into the look of the bike.  It’s a good start, but most certainly not polished.

GSXR Streetfighter

A little more imagination, and some simple tweaks would carry this bike a lot further.  Notice that the bottom triple tree is stock (you can see the mount on the left side for the stock stabilizer.  If you look closely at the exhaust, you can see the flange for the bolt on can.  This is a stock exhaust without the can (the owner didn’t even cut the pipe for a cleaner effect.  The stock brake reservoir is prominent on an otherwise clean front end.  A nice low profile billet reservoir would be a huge improvement, or at least paint the thing and re-mount it a little lower on the bar .  Another thing that commands your attention when looking at this bike is the label on the radiator cap.  A quick coat of heat resistant flat black paint would be a cheap easy fix (but perhaps the owner needs a reminder that the cooling fluid gets hot).

I am critical of these things as they are already things that I’ve identified while thinking through my bike.  I must say finances won’t allow me to get a custom lower triple tree, but I can most certainly look to low cost cosmetic fixes for some of the other things.  I like the aggressive positioning of the GSXR, so expect to see my stock clamp-ons still attached as opposed to the typical streetfighter raised bar.

In the beginning

I thought it would be good to start with a frame of reference, so here is what the bike looked like when it rolled off the dealership floor.

2001 Suzuki GSXR 750

And so it begins…

I’ve started this blog to document the transition of my 2001 GSXR 750 into a streetfighter.

This bike was in a wreck back in 2002 and has sat around in my garage while I searched for parts on ebay.  After acquiring most of the plastic that I needed to put it back together, I had the realization that should have come six years ago…  That this bike looks better naked!

Through this journey I hope to document my actions and resouces.  I need to go on the record here and identify that I am not any type of mechanic and do not pretend to be mechanically inclined.  Most of what happens here will be first from the grace of God, then from research, trial and error, and hopefully some luck added for good measure.

I look forward to constructive criticism, suggestions, advice, and resources.  If you’re a die-hard street racer and thing this project is a discrace to your race inspired lineage, I ask that you don’t be a hater, keep an open mind, and most of all, keep your comments constructive.