heres where I am at on my bike Im building for next season..........800CC Vulcan Kawasaki. home made belt drive- [still water cooled-] [all concealed under gas tank halves]
Choprods, you ****!!! You got all kinds of cool projects going, dontcha??? That custom Vulcan-based scoot is gonna be KILLER...big vee-twin that'll run forever! Can't wait to see how this one shakes out...DO keep us posted!! (In fact...that bike is SO cool, you won't NEED the distributor and carb off your 2.8 motor after all...right??? I mean...you'll be too busy buildin' your chop and drivin' your truck!!!) You do good work!
I'm not trying to be a **** here so don't take this the wrong way. But.... One of my pet peaves out jap bikes is the fact that you have to tear the whole bike apart to just to work on one thing. With that being said, do you have to pull the whole engine to do any head/cylinder work? Its nice lookin though
Having worked in many a shop of all kinds. I have to say there is not a bike brand that doesn't have some screwed up **** about it. There are things about Jap bikes, Harleys, and Ducatis that bother me. I prefer the Italian marks to the others, but that's my preference. I wouldn't say that Jap bikes are any harder to work on than Harleys. Just my .02
Fasporty- I have had many motorcycles over the years-I ten d nowadays to covet the ones that need the LEAST maintenence....hence the Kaw.It is about a 30 minute job to install all you see here including removing tanks wiring and cooling system. in the empty frame[not too bad]in my opinion.-Zman-I agree -If they need internal work -its about 6 of one and half a dozen of the other when it comes to that bad news..I feel like this should be a trouble free bike.
No need to defend what you are building...it's cool...I've owned a ****load of different bikes and the best one is the one I get to ride...when I want...where I want....at whatever speed I desire.
I like building stuff. I had never built a bike- this is my first attempt.I always liked the dependability of the metric cruiser but hated the radiator out front in sight. water cooling I have nothing against...it just looks like a bosshoss if you see that radiator in front,to me. I cut the bottoms out of the new 7 gal tanks and rebuilt them about 3 inches higher,[should still hold more than 3 gals-gas]to allow for mounting the radiator and fan and electrical wiring there. also it has about two inches extra air space and two openings on either side of kneck for intake air- the fan is a puller mounted under radiator above front cyl head. fill kneck is visible at kneck when tanks are installed. I added about two feet in length of cooling hoses [all are "hooked up" in pics]to add a quart to its 2-1/2 quart capacity- so in theory the 3-1/2 quarts should aid the cooling enough to overcome relocation.....we'll see....its a work in progress.
HI ZOR-THESE WERE some tanks I found on the bay- made in mexico- 100.00 a pair! I cut openings at frt near kneck for air intake......also I cut open the fake extensions and made them a functional part of the tank....
[ QUOTE ] HI ZOR-THESE WERE some tanks I found on the bay- made in mexico- 100.00 a pair! I cut openings at frt near kneck for air intake......also I cut open the fake extensions and made them a functional part of the tank.... [/ QUOTE ] Not to question your motives by any means..... but since you opened up the extensions, where is the fuel pick-up...still up front? If so, bad idea.
Cl***y56-I opened them up to add a pint of fuel to each side tank. I filled the stock pet**** hole on one sid and the crossover tubes harleys had at front of tanks. I then welded in bungs at the center of each tank bottom. the ends you mentioned ARE lowest point for sure-I figure the moisture or sediments will end up there....and an oc***ional braking action would push any fuel forwards if it got incredibly low on fuel. I first thought I'd put the line fittings there as you suggest in the lowest part[extensions] -but because of the settling of any debris or water would most likely end up there I changed to this plan......I need a cool lookong in line filter now!!!
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