Almost Done!

Let there be light!

New mirrors



I am getting closer and closer to getting rid of all the dents and scratches on the body work and just put a fresh coat of matte black paint onto the frame and rear suspension.  I'm supposed to receive the new seat and new front suspension clip today so hopefully I can add the front wheel and install the seat this weekend! Looking better and better!

Painted and installed the spedometer and ignition

Began sanding and priming the gas tank and rear fender

Installed rear brakes, but am having some issues with them not working.  It's probably not a good sign when the break pads just fall off....:-)  I'll figure it out this weekend.

Sanded off the rust from the exhaust pipes and painted over the joint due for uniformity



Installed rear brake and foot brake pedal.

I installed the rear axel, tires, and brakes this weekend as well as bought some new replacement parts and oils.  I purchased the new seat which should be arriving in a week or two.  I purchased new grips, a new brake, new spark plugs, and now am waiting on some of the parts to arrive before I can make any more progress.  I'm waiting to receive some fork retention clips that were purchased last week.  The old ones were covered in rust and were very brittle.  It was a fun weekend, but I ended up stripping two important screws on the bike so have been delayed a bit in getting those little buggers out of there.  Here are some of the latest picks. 

Next step...
clean and install the carbs, replace the stripped screws, and install the fork once I receive the new clips.

I started doing a little painting and priming.  I am going to need to do a lot of surface finishing.  There are a lot of scrapes, dents, and rust so that'll definitely take a lot of time.  I'm going to first try and get the thing running.

Wednesday, May 25th

I love the brake light design.

Super sexy seat....ordering a new one tomorrow

I began assembly of the front shocks.  These things are tough because you have to be super clean, there are lots of springs, screws, bearings, and rings to align correctly.  I still am not exactly sure how to constrain the shocks to keep the tire from shooting off if I were to get some big air (which hopefully will never ever happen :-))

Monday, May 23rd

Cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning.  This bike is covered in grease, paint, dirt, and who knows what else.  Here is some of my progress on degreasing all the parts and starting to get the engine clean enough to paint again. 

You can actually see the metal wheels now!

My New Project!

Well, it has been my dream since I was very young to own a motorcycle.  When I was about 8 years old, Christmas was coming up and I was writing to Santa to tell him what I wanted to for Christmas.  I wanted this little miniature motorcycle that I could ride around the yard, but I didn't know how to explain it to him.  Instead of writing a paragraph trying to explain what I wanted, I ended up making my first descriptive drawing of my life.  Drawing what I'm thinking has been in my blood since day one and the motorcycle was my first ever true communication drawing. :-)  Who knew I'd end up drawing and designing products for the rest of my life.  Either way, I'm off of school for the summer so I have some freetime.  I started looking for a fun summer project that I could work on and I stumbled upon this "beauty".  I have recently moved to a new townhouse and I now have a garage, yard, basement, etc. so I have plenty of room to house a motorcycle project.  So, here it is...a 1990 Kawasaki 550 Zephyr in about 1000 parts and ready to be dominated.

$550 for everything, including the lift and replacement parts.  Not bad for a summer hobby.

Here's what the bike looked like before it was disassembled...

Let the fun begin!