Another 81 GPZ. Losing the fat.

This is the current project. It's actually running and mostly done for now, but I'm in the tuning stage and getting a little rain delay, so I thought I'de start posting the photos. I started on the frame a month and half ago, but didn't do much else until the last two weeks. I'm just about at the point of being able to ride it.

The frame was an old race bike my buddy sold me with three engines. I'm using the one good 82 motor he had which was never raced. The race motor is out to pasture.

The frame was a mess. It's had sections welded and replaced several times, but the biggest problem is the kickstand mount was hacked off.

So I bolted on some bracing to hold the frame position while I removed the bad section. There is a piece of rod tying the two motor mounts together so their distance won't change. It is visible in the after photos.
That way, hopefully the motor mount will not move relative to the rest of the frame.

Then chopped out the bad.

Snagged a section from another wrecked (unfixable) frame.

My buddy Travis is a metal fabrication contractor. I do his electrical work and he does my welding. Miller Synchrowave tig. Beautiful work. I painted it right away so it wouldn't rust, but it was so nice it was a shame to cover up the weld. I didn't even have to touch it after he was done.

This bike is getting a solo-seat. Battery and starter will be eliminated. Steering damper. Work shocks. Work springs. Home made rearsets. Electrical will be almost bare minimum. Hopefully, I'll have about 30 to 40 pounds off of the thing.

I mocked up the tail in cardboard.

Then I photoshopped some paint and a seat pan.

As you can see in the photo, I shaved all of the tabs (some were mangled anyway). You can also see how the subframe was hack-welded on. It's a crappy mig job. I don't know who welded it. Bottom line is, the sub-frame is all out of whack. I used some pipe clamps and 2X4's to get it straightened. Most of the critical areas (swingarm to steering axis) are now straight. It's going to take some trickery to get the tail and subframe to "look" straight. The shock mounts are a little off, but there's no fixing that without major work. I'll see if it affects the handling before I undertake that job.

That's all for now. I have to get outside and start tuning. Here's a green look.

That thing is going to be very cool. I think the solo seat will look very trick.
How will you start the bike with no starter or kick?

It's going to be a good ol' Flintstone special. :laugh:

I look forward to seeing this one come together!

I just taped my harness tonight. I wound up keeping stuff like the emergency lighting device and just relocating everything.

I'm keeping my starter, too. I'm too damned old to be pushing my bike, hahaha!

Miller Synchrowave tig

I want one of those, but unfortunately so do a lot of other people and it keeps the prices way up there

Bet it will be a gorgeous hot rod 550 when you're done

Hey Lou when you photoshop paint on a bike is it fuel resistant?:laugh: Just kidding the bike is coming along nicely.