TOPIC:

It has been awhile since I posted any pictures of my “Brillo Pad Special”, I picked this bike up last year for $75.00 and then sold off the luggage rack and windshield for $80.00. After a little bit of scrubbing what I originally bought as a parts bike looked like it had some promise as a nice rider. It didn’t take much to get it running since I had a nice clean set of VM 24 pumper carbs I had just picked up off Ebay to put on it. Even though the jetting was all-wrong, at least I was able to take it around the block to make sure that there were no major problems.

The rear shocks were toast so I picked up a set of 2000 500 Vulcan shocks which are 2” shorter than stock off Ebay for $29.00 shipped. Once I got them installed I liked the stance it gave the bike and they appear stock as well. I also bought a 79 650 B that came with a nice custom paint job that I decided to put on this bike.

Over the winter I parked it in my front room and when I was bored, or ambitious I would work on whatever I felt like doing. Wound up pulling off both wheels and polishing them up as well as both lower fork tubes. I hated the way the bulbous stock turn signals looked so I replaced them with small units from Lockhart-Phillips that make it look a lot more up to date. I found a stock seat on Ebay cheap so I bought it to use for now, future plans are to either replace it with an LTD type seat or have a custom seat made to mimic a Corbin Gunfighter seat.

In January I bought an 83 KZ750 L-3 and since the exhaust that came with it was in less then desirable condition I wound up buying a stock stainless steel exhaust from a 2002 ZR7-S for $106.00 off Ebay. However due to the fact that I would I would have to lose the rear pegs and also have to deal with issues concerning the oil cooler lines I decided to try using it on the 650 C-1 instead. After mocking it up I decided it would work better on the 650 and retain the quiet sound I was looking for. It was basically a bolt on installation except that the split keepers from the 650 were too long, I had planned on just cutting them down but a member here was needing a set so I just sold him the stock ones and ordered a set of shorter ones from Kawasaki. I still need to fab up a bracket for the rear mount but that shouldn’t be a huge deal.

Over the winter I pulled the original carbs all apart and cleaned them up, the bike seems to like them much better than the later pumper carbs I originally had on it. I still need to do the WG coil mod and I also have to get a new rectifier since the old one started smoking last week. I also plan on replacing the steering stem bearings with tapered rollers and while I have the front end apart I’ll blast and repaint the upper and lower triple trees. Also I want to replace the fork ears with a head light mounting bracket from a 1000 LTD since I think the turn signals will work better with it.

I took it for a short ride yesterday and man does it run smooth. I still remember my first ride on a 650, it was a green 77 B model back when they were brand new and the one thing I will always remember about it was the sewing machine like smoothness. I took that bike down a side street in Cleveland and before I knew it I was going 80 mph, I had to really give the brakes a test to get it stopped at the end of the street. This bike has that same kind of smoothness, more so than the 81 650 CSR I have. I’m thinking once I get everything all dialed in and any bugs worked out I’m going to spring for some new boots and go back to the stock airbox, the pods are just too noisy, they do make it much easier to work on though.

Enough dialogue, here are some pics.



Post edited by: The Gringo, at: 2007/06/14 09:49

Another

Another

Sure Changes the look of the rear end

cool,gotta love spare partsB)

now i know who had that bitching flame job on his tank!
the can is a little big for my taste but to each his own.
but for $75 you did better than i did.

damm sweet looking bike you got there!

Very nicely done!!!!!!
Ride safe.

Thanks for the kind words guys. I agree with you Steve the can is a bit larger than I'd like it to be. I stared at it while I had it held on with zip ties and rope trying to decide if I liked the new look, it took me awhile but it eventually grows on you. The best thing though is that it is real quiet.

Post edited by: The Gringo, at: 2007/06/14 09:51

Very nicely done. I love it.

NICE! Way to go Gringo.
Did you drill the rotors yourself or did you swap them out with another set?

Looks great. Lovely job.

DANG !!! And I thought I got a deal @ $175.00 for a running H2. I need to take some lessons from you;)
Nice bike. It sure doesn't look like a "brillo pad special"
So what will the Mrs. Gringo be riding ??
You better have something for her to keep her happy:whistle: And before anybody puts that comment in the gutter I was talking about BIKES !!!

~
Pat