Qwiksand's 1999 Rebuild "Suzacati-Davidson"

Qwiksand · Oct 1, 2009

I've had this bike since 2004. I got the mod bug and started with little updates here and there, fender hack, acerbis headlight, etc.

I really loved this cyclops headlight, but it has since been done to death. Notice also the pristine moto-sliders!

And, of course, tank protector decals FTW. I like this curvy view of the 1st gens.

And so I rode it like that with minor updates to mirrors and so forth until winter 2007. I upgraded to a 2001 gsxr1k front, modded race tail, custom cherry bomb muffler (yeah, it's loud) and the coup de grace- bedliner paint job. I was still rockin the cyclops headlight too and loving it- lots of looks, no one really knew what it was.

And so it went until one not so fine afternoon, where I sent her skidding down the highway. Not sure exactly what happened (major concussion, blacked out most of the day), but what I gather from the police report and damage to bike is traffic came ot an abrupt stop and I locked and tucked the front end (highway repaving probably didn't help my situation) and low-sided on the right side of the bike. She came to a stop with a bumper smack to a cargo van- no damage to the van, but it snapped the left clip-on on my bike.

And this is what she looked like when I got her home.

JC whitney cherry bomb muffler is quite robust; rashed, but intact and functional. Little rash to the race tail, tweaked rearset and slider (slider held, second low-side on this side, engine/frame undamaged!)

I was hard enough on the brakes to do this with my nuts...walked like a cowboy for a couple days.

Front end was tweaked, turns out the forks are relatively straight, but the lower triple is bent.

My ghettofab subframe also took some damage, german-fighter style.

And my damage! Reverse Bennet's fx of the left 5th metacarpal and small radial styloid fx.

Hacked and modded cast.

And so the rebuild begins. Nothing that hasn't already been done, but I'm going for a modern cafe fighter look. Planned mods:

-k6/k7 600/750 GSXR Front w/ carbon fender
-Ducati Monster Tail w/ carbon cowl
-V-rod headlight
-Modded sv1k bellypan
-Feshen motor paint, 03 cam swap, Ivans carb kit
-Tyga exhaust?
-tank/bellypan color to be determined- I'm partial to black, but not going the bedliner route this time
-PC frame/swing
-race rearsets
-keyless ignition
-custom Vapor gauge mount

And how she sits October 1, 2009

Qwiksand · Nov 1, 2009

Started work on the subframe. I'm using 3/4" square tubing as the main rails and 1/2" round in the middle for the strut bolt support. I bent a piece of 1/4" steel rod for the seat hook/latch area at the front.

Tail light mounting bracket

I don't have any pics of the stock tank pivot, but I found that I could consolidate the tank pivot and the top subframe mount to keep things simple. I need to weld a couple washers on the round tube spacer to keep the tank centered, but I think this should work well with the monster seat. Also, a major bonus, I found that by directly bolting the 3/4" tubing to the outside of the subframe mount on the bike gives me the exact spacing needed to mount my ducati seat- I love unexpected short cuts, almost makes up for those unexpected ****-ups!

I'm going to be using adjustable rods for the subframe strut supports. This is just PVC pipe with the rod-ends stuck inside so I could figure out what length I need to order.

I've got the tail light mounted here as well.

With the seat on it from the side

Another angle.

Overall, Im happy with the progress for the first day. Still need to clean-up the subframe (read: grind down my ugly welds to something resembling acceptable), but the majority of the structure is done.

Qwiksand · Jan 24, 2010

I seriously need to get better at this update thing, been over two and a half months!!

I've been doing alot of shopping, but not a lot of building. The rear struts came in and look excellent in raw aluminum.

Stripped all the paint off the motor. I would have liked to keep the original black, but it was pretty weathered/delaminated from an ill-advised cleaning attempt with some kind of purple degreaser stuff. This aircraft paint stripper stuff works almost instantly.

2003+ intake cams arrived.

Doing the cam swap, couldn't have done it without this post: http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=154847&highlight=sv650+cam+swap

Got the Tyga muffler.

Though there won't be a whole lot of muffle going on...

I got a great deal on a full Leo Vince exhaust minus the silencer, but this gives you an idea of how I'll fab it up.

So I quickly slapped the major parts on it today just to get an idea of how it will end up looking and, hopefully, finalize my frame/swingarm powdercoat color choice. Here she is with the new (new to me anyway) tank, GSXR wheels, v-rod headlight, carbon front fender, carbon ducati monster cowl. SV Racing rearsets and Leo Vince exhaust.

These two pics show the adjustable rear tail/seat height. I can adjust angle with the two struts. Here it is in low, nut-friendly position.

An here it is in a more fighteresque position- it could go higher, but I'm not really into the super high tails. Plus, going much higher starts to bend the seat in a funny way and casues the seat fabric to wrinkle and bunch up.

I've got to get some better pics of this mock-up in the daylight so I can paly aroudn with some different photoshop color schemes.

Qwiksand · Feb 24, 2010

February 24th, 2010 Update

I really hate painting. Scratch that, painting isn't so bad, it's the prep I hate! I was seriously contemplating leaving the motor in it's raw aluminum state after the strip, but then I started to see what the oxidation was going to do to it and it started looking pretty rough again. So out came the scrub brushes, wire wheels and elbow grease. Six cans of brake cleaner and 2 cans of VHT Satin Black Case Paint later, this is how it sits.

This is the paint I used.

This stuff won't fully harden/cure until it's heat cycled so I'm sure I'll have to do some touching up during the rebuild since it is still a little soft and easily scratched. Everything else that can be bolted to the motor is going to be powdercoated gloss black (valve covers, water pump cover, stator cover, etc) and the stuff I can't powder will get painted with some VHT gloss black (starter motor case, cam chain tensioners, etc.). I plan to replace alot of the side cover bolts with stainless socket cap bolts as well. Here's how I'm keeping track of my engine side cover bolts.

And here is the pile of parts going off to powder. The frame and swinger will be done in a satin black, while everything else goes gloss black.

Qwiksand · Mar 7, 2010

March 7th, 2010 update

Got the parts back from the powdercoater. $600 total for everything you see; satin black on frame and swing, gloss black on everything else.

Qwiksand · Mar 12, 2010

March 12th, 2010 update

I've got more parts than time these days, so this rebuild will probably stretch out a bit. Today I pressed in (read as pounded with a hammer and finished off with some all-thread, washers and a couple nuts) the swingarm bearings and attached it to the frame.

The motor with a couple shiny new powdercoated pieces and ss bolts.

And the very beginning stages of mounting the motor in the frame. It's so much easier to mount the frame to the motor than the motor to the frame

.

Qwiksand · Mar 15, 2010

March 15th, 2010 Update

Since I've got the covers off already, now's a great time to do the shift star upgrade. I got all the info from this thread: http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166018&highlight=shift+kit

This upgrade uses the shift star, detent arm and spring from the 2005+ sv's, essentially making the shifting process smoother and more precise. It should help the false neutrals I'd get when I tried to shift too quickly without enough force on the lever.

The new stuff is on the left- larger shift star lobes, heavier spring, ball bearings instead of bushing on the detent arm.

This is also the first time I've ever looked at the clutch in this thing. Everything looks/calipers out well. A gratuitous shot of the clutch side with basket and shifting mechanism removed.

I had to spend some time putting the clutch side cover back together since I removed everything and had it and the water pump cover powdercoated. New o-rings and RTV and everything seems to fit well- hopefully all oil and water tight. I also installed my snazzy new Woodcraft clutch cover with stainless steel slider plate- another bling improvement, but it should also eliminate the clutch cover oil weep I had with the original plastic cover.

And how she sits after this morning's wrench session.

Qwiksand · Mar 16, 2010

March 16th, 2010 Update

Time to put the forks on. I got a new top bearing kit from Zoran at TWF racing and I picked up a set of All-Balls for the lowers- these are both tapered roller bearing set-ups and the races are significantly larger than stock. The top bearing kit from TWF is necessary to adapt the smaller diameter first gen upper steering bearing to the GSXR tripple.

To install, I flip the stock bearing races and use those to pound the new races in initially. Then out comes my trusty all-thread bearing press to finish the job.

These are the SV Racing rearsets I picked up from Blair.

With the forks on it's starting to look like a bike again.

And, of course, I had to see what the silver tank looked like on the black frame.

Qwiksand · Apr 12, 2010

April 12th, 2010 Update

Went through the carbs. Used a rebuild kit (gaskets, float needles) and Ivan's jet kit (150 mains, adjustable needles) as well as new TES and slide needle diaphragms, filters, hoses, etc.. There was a little varnish, but nothing too terrible. Worst part was the enrichener plugs (choke circuit) at the carbs end- the springs had rusted and made quite a mess in there.

Once carbs were installed back on the bike, I was anxious to get her started since she had been sitting for about 6 months and I've fiddled with way too many parts to start tracking down errors! I rigged up an auxillary fuel bottle and lo and behold, she started! Major worry down, at least it runs.

What a mess all the wiring is right now.

Ran into a little snag with my fuel tank pivot assembly. I used the tank that was on it from the wreck to test fit, but it turns out it was a bit scrunched from the impact so using the front subframe bolt as a pivot does not work for the new, unscrunched tank.

Not a problem, I just hacked and modded the original tank pivot assembly to fit the new subframe.

Then it was on to sorting out mounting points for everything that needs to go under the seat. Still a ways to go, but I know how I'm going to do it (or so I think right now).

Once I finalize these mounts I'll be cleaning up the wiring.

Qwiksand · Apr 20, 2010

April 20th, 2010 Update

Time to finish up the subframe. Started out with this today and added a battery tray, seat mount latch and starter relay/fuse box mount.

I'm using a stock ducati monster seat latch mechanism, but I wasn't sure where it needed to be height-wise in order for the latch to work on my subframe. I bent up a seat latch mount that could be raised or lowered before welding to get a perfect fit.

With the ends trimmed and the holes marked for drilling. This also shows the seat latch mechanism- very compact.

With the mounting holes drilled (the middle hole is to allow clearance for the seat post). The post that attaches to the seat can be seen here as well.

After a bit of fiddling with the height, it turns out I wasted about an hour today making a raisable seat latch mount with the bends. I ended up flush mounting it the rear of the subframe. By adding a washer under the latch mechanism, the seat clicks in perfectly.

On to the battery tray. Initially, I wanted the bottom of the subframe to be completely flat. It turns out there's just too much crap to hide/mount under the seat for this to be possible. I'm using a very small battery I custom built from a Dewalt tool battery, this allows me to only need an approx 7/8" battery tray and keep the majority of the subframe bottom flat.

With the battery tray tacked in showing the clearance with the seat. There's plenty of room to the left of the battery to pass the necessary wires back to the fuses/relays/computer.

After tacking on the fuse/realy holder, the subby now looks like this.

With the component locations sorted, time to start modifying the wire harness. I added a bunch of Anderson connectors to the fuse/relay box to make mount/dismount easier. These things remind me of legos.

With all the undertail bits mounted, minus the battery.

Getting the subframe to this point and working out under seat part locations took WAY more time than I anticipated, but I think I've got a set-up that will be easy to plug-and-play now and be at least a little tidy looking.

Qwiksand · May 10, 2010

May 10th, 2010 Update

Installed 520 chain/sprockets with gear I got from Blair at svracingparts.

This little chain breaker/riveter works very well.

I took a few more pics of the posterior latch system. The undertail has not been made yet so there's still a mess of wires exposed.

I've got two monster seats and cowls. I've been using a beat up seat and plastic cowl for the mock-up and I've got a nicer seat and carbon fiber cowl that will go on the finsihed project. Problem was the beat-up seat and cowl I've been using for mock up only has one mounting bracket, so I had to make another one- here's what I did.

The stock bracket.

Covered in painter's tape and cut the edges to match.

Transferred painter's tape pattern to scrap sheet metal.

Cut the pattern and drilled the holes.

Matched the bends and installed, not bad for a mock-up beater seat.

On to mounting the v-rod headlight. My stock top triple with ignition hacked off. The little black box with toggle switch is my temporary ignition system.

I used this bracket to get an idea of how far out I'd need to space the headlight for it (and the wiring attached to it) to clear the head tube and fairing mounting brackets attached to it.

So I pulled the top triple off.

Got a scrap piece of 1/8th inch steel. I only had 3" wide on hand, so I needed to tack two of these together to get the width I'd need.

Used the top triple as a pattern and traced it out on the steel.

Cut the straight lines with a cut-off wheel, but I had to resort to drilling a ****-ton of little holes to get the curved lines and center hole since my biggest drill bit is only 1".

Qwiksand · May 10, 2010

May 10th, 2010 Update continued

I went through a few grinding bits, but I finally got the curved edges somewhat smooth.

Mocked it up to ensure fit.

Then I scored the end I was going to bend and beat it into submission.

Added some weld to strengthen and stiffen.

With the light mounted it ended up looking a little to high for my taste.

So I started playing with a solution to adjust the height, this is just a template mock-up. The finished product will hopefully look more like a mini cowl- haven't finshed it yet.

Qwiksand · May 25, 2010

May 25th, 2010 Update

Please note the "build-off" and deadline reffered to in this post refer to the 2010 fighter build-off over on customfighters.com that this bike is entered into.

Where did all the time go? As usuall, time was short and the to-do-list long. This build will be "done" tomorrow, but it will not be finished. I've had to put several parts of the project off in order to get a finished product online tomorrow; here's what I've been up to:

Got some LED turn signals from superbrightled.com and mounted them to the radiator side cover things.

I also picked up a couple 3/4" LED's off ebay for the bar ends.

I added another point of attachment to the headlight mounting plate, this part bolts to a flat spot on the upper triple and makes for no movement of the headlight plate.

I also quickly made a mounting bracket for the vapor gauge. This part mounts the vapor unit and is what the vrod headlight actually bolts to.

The headlight mounting plate is a good start, but I'm going to build another one that will have the vrod mounting point below the top triple and keep the top triple flat and clean- ran out of time to do that, but I'll keep an updated build log post build-off.

This is the nicer seat I have with the carbon rear cowl installed.

I still need to shave the seat to eliminate some of the nut-crunch the angle is inducing. I have a brand new vinyl seat cover to go on as well. I'm also planning on matching the frame angle with the seat angle by cutting some of the seat plastic. I haven't stripped the seat yet to see if this even possible.

Still need to shorten my mid-pipe and attach it properly (being held on with hose clamps and saftey wire right now).

I also need to cut and remount this tab. This is a 2gen exhaust I mounted to this 1gen bike.

Qwiksand · May 25, 2010

May 25th, 2010 Update continued

The under seat wiring needs som TLC too. I underestimated the amount of space I need to run some of the wires, so some are just lying on top and don't have a permanent home yet. This will be fixed when I finish the fiberglass undertail- I'll build a small channel under all the electronics to run the wires.

I also did away with the ignition key and also the jimmy-rigged switch and installed a remote ignition switch. According to the manufacturer, this has a 150' range. I was thinking about using RFID, but the extremely limited range (unless you spend major bucks) changed my mind. Now I can turn the bike on and off with a key fob remote. Also seen here is the LED turn signal relay and the ignition relay that the remote box powers.

I built a quick and dirty undertail from 22g sheet steel, but I've yet to finish and paint it so please ignore the surface rust! I moved the regulator/rectifier to this spot to increase air flow to it and also free up some seat space for the other electronics.

I started the fibergalss undertail, but this is far from finished.

I had to add a little paint to the headlight mount bracket, so I won't be able to attach that today. Stay tuned for "completed" pics and video tomorrow.

Qwiksand · May 26, 2010

May 26th, 2010 Update

Modifications/Parts List:

1999 sv650 Naked
GSXR 750 front end
GSXR 750 rear wheel swap
Ducati Monster Seat and Carbon Cowl
HD V-rod Headlight/Mounting Bracket
Custom Subframe
Vapor Gauge Kit
Vortex 1.5" Rise Clip-ons
SVRacing Rearsets
Leo Vince Exhaust/Headers
Tyga Moto-Maggot Slip-on
LED Turns/Tail Lights
Remote Ignition
Moto-777 Levers
Dewalt A123 Battery

Qwiksand · May 26, 2010

May 26th, 2010 Update continued

Multiple full-bike pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Qwiksand · May 26, 2010

May 26th, 2010 continued

Some more detailed pics:

Qwiksand · May 26, 2010

May 26th, 2010 Update continued

And a couple vids. I couldn't find my **** GoPro this morning, so you'll have to make due with a few from my digi cam and one from the contour HD (I think there's some grease on the lens of the contour, sorry about the blur).

Coolpix vid of the remote ignition in action: YouTube- remote ignition.AVI

Coolpix vid of left turn: YouTube- left turnsignal.AVI

Coolpix vids of right turn: YouTube- right turnsignal.AVI

Coolpix start-up- motor was cold on this one: YouTube- coolpix startup.AVI

ContourHD start-up, motor's a little warmer in this one: YouTube- contour HD startup.MOV

Qwiksand · Jul 26, 2010

So I finally got around to moving the 2g Leo Vince exhaust mount.

I picked up a 350mm Delkevic carbon can from ebay. The finish on the carbon fiber is less than premium, but it's an alright muffler. SIGNIFICANTLY quieter than the Tyga I had on there, but still plenty of bark with the choke tube out. The aluminum flat bar muffler hanger will be replaced with a custom-bent piece of steel round bar- should be much less conspicuous.

Started fabbing up a new headlight mount. This one will drop the light down for a more aggressive look.

It's 1/8" plate steel. Used my tried and true "drill a sh*t ton of little holes and grind the **** out of it" method to cut the holes and cuves again.

Scored a line with the cut-off wheel and then beat it into shape.

Welded up the score line and tacked a couple nuts to the back side for the headlight to bolt to. I've got two mount points to choose from- headlight is bolted to the higher of the two in the pics below.

Not painted yet, but you get the idea.

Couple pics with the new exhaust and the lower headlight- lighting's crap since it's in the garage. I also cut a flyscreen from my old cylcops headlight and threw it on there, not convinced I'll keep it yet.

Qwiksand · Jul 30, 2010

My butt dyno research has been confirmed, she is running lean across the board.

The set-up as dyno'd today:

Ported (desnorkeled) KN Filter
15 pilots
150 mains
3.5 turns on AF
Ivan's tapered needles, on 2nd notch.
Full Leo Vince exhaust (from a 2g) with 350mm carbon fiber Delkevic slip-on (baffle removed)

How does it run on the road? Feels lean...takes a long time to wind up. There is part throttle surging at the 3500-6000 rpm range. If I run it to redline in 4th and then back off the throttle, she stumbles and misfires getting back on the gas. Plugs were a little whiter than tan, but not pitted or heat deformed.

The plan:

17.5 pilots
155 mains
2.5 turns on AF
Leave needles on 2nd notch, adjust as necessary to cure mid-range surge.

I also have 152.5 and 160 jets on hand, but the dyno guy suggested trying the 155 first.

What do you guys think? Post here if you have any comments for the tune: http://forum.svrider.com/showthread.php?t=129513

Qwiksand · Aug 2, 2010

I tore into the carbs to change the jets and found a bit of rusty residue in the float bowls already so I pull the float valve seats to check the filters. Please note these were cleaned and overhauled approx 3-4 months ago- all new gaskets, float valves/seats, filters, hoses, etc. This is what I found in the filter bosses and stuck to the filter screens. One of the pilot jets was a little gummed up as well.

So then I try to track down the source and find this:

Looks like I got a bad batch of fuel line. This is 3/16 inch SAE 30R7 spec line, according to the outside print and had been on the bike only 3-4 months. I had two sections of this hose on the bike- from the tank to the fuel pump and from the fuel pump to the carbs. The after pump line was the worst, completely delaminated with rubber chunking off.

I'm sure this didn't help my tuning situation.

To update:

- All fuel lines replaced with 1/4" Gates rubber XL fuel line that feels/looks like higher quality than the ones I removed.

- Carbs cleaned.

- 17.5 pilots/2.5 turns on the AF

- 152.5 mains

- 3rd notch on Ivan's needles

Results:

- Not alot of time to test, but this feels MUCH better. Smooth power delivery, great throttle response.

- I need to play a bit, still gonna try the 155's and switch up needle postions, and then I'll get back to the dyno to confirm butt-dyno.

Qwiksand · Aug 25, 2010

A big thank you to all those that voted her SV of the Month! I'll be sure to get some better "glamour shots" and a bit of a write-up for the main page.

When I was at the dyno, I heard the distinct sound of a wheel bearing going bad so I ordered a kit from All Balls. Here's the stockers pulled out, but I didn't take any pics of the new ones.

I picked up a "blind hole bearing puller" from harbor freight (on sale for $32.99) and it worked like a charm. I wish I would have had it when I was removing the swingarm bearings.

I finally got around to installing the front galfer stainless lines and new pads. Since I had the mighty vac out already, I also installed the rear brake light pressure switch and wired it up, but no pics of this.

With them installed and zipped to the forks, they're much less noticeable than the stockers. You can also see I ditched the flyscreen in these pics.

Since I ordered the galfer lines from Blair (sv-racing-parts), I also picked up the little woodcraft reservoir mount he sells. It's pricey for what it is, but it really cleans up the bar. Side note: I HIGHLY recommend blair/svracingparts- very fast service and he's wuick to make your order right. Even when you're the one who screwed it up!

I hacked and zipped the stock GSXR mount on here:

And with the new billet mount:

Yes, that is a carbon fiber cover for the brake reservoir and I know it's gay as hell, but I could not resist!

After a rude meeting with the concrete floor (thought the kickstand was fully extended when taking it off the rear stand, but I was wrong), my barend mirror had seen better days. here it is super-glued and electrical taped in place.

So I picked up another set off ebay. They're not great quality and they disintegrate even in the most minor crash, but they are cheap and they work.

Qwiksand · Aug 25, 2010

Almost forgot, I also got rid of the aluminum flat bar exhaust hanger. This is 3/8" steel round bar bent to shape with 1/8" plate ends to mount it.

Qwiksand · Aug 30, 2010

I did a lil 360 walk-around in the sunshine today.

Qwiksand's 1999 Rebuild "Suzacati-Davidson"

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