KTM restoration

[Wingfixer]

I did a complete restro on the DRz a few years ago. Tore it down to the frame and powder coated it RED! It was a pretty rewarding project but since then it has become a bit of a garage princess.

Painting it red still won't make a Suzuki as fast as a Honda....


BTW, nice write up Jed; good luck with the build.

I don't recall seeing your Honda in front of my "RED" DRz all that often.

[juddspaintballs]

I had my wife go to Harbor Freight while I was working yesterday and pick up a tap and die set since I didn't have any metric taps at all. I got a free tape measure too!

I was lacking thread cutting oil. I read on Practical Machinist that bacon grease is a good substitute for thread cutting oil (way better than WD-40, PB Blaster, bearing grease, etc.). Fortunately, we keep a container of bacon grease in the fridge for cast iron cooking, so I scooped a spoonful onto a paper towel and took it to the garage for tapping a few holes.

I used the M6 tap to tap the gas tank mounting stub and then I welded it onto the frame perpendicular and square like the original.



I also cut up a piece of metal and made two tabs that I could weld to the frame for the skid plate to mount to rather than using the aluminum clamps around the frame that destroyed the paint on it over time. They look uneven because they are. The holes in the skid plate are offset for some reason. The M8 tap worked very well for tapping the holes in the tabs. The bolts I'm using to show it assembled are not the bolts that I'll be using on final assembly.








Now, off to the powder coating place.

[juddspaintballs]

$180 for sandblasting and powder coating.





I have my modified muffler internals all pieced together, now I just need to repack it. There will be a screen in the muffler for spark arresting. I bought a piece of perforated metal pipe for the internals and I welded the ball and socket end on one side and made a slip over joint on the other side. I'll wrap it in screen and then muffler packing and I should have a quieter than stock exhaust for about $40. I still need to strip and paint the can in VHT paint.

[Bucho]

Looking real nice Jed

[juddspaintballs]

Brent found a desert race 3.5 gallon tank on eBay for me for a couple hundred bucks less than the 4 gallon tank I wanted to buy from Safari. The upside is that the desert race tank is a factory KTM part. I'll probably buy a new petcock for it and clean it up a little bit so it looks new. To go along with the new tank, I found a brand new OEM tank for this year bike that fits best with the desert race tank. My stock seat would have a gap at the bottom between the tank and the seat.





I got another email from the engine guy (Dave Hopkins) today. The crank is back together, it sounds like I needed a new connecting rod, the bottom cases are back together, the piston is in, the cylinder recoated and installed, and he's just waiting on the valves to come in before he buttons it up and ships it back to me. He'll probably want a lot of my dollars. Fortunately, I just finished up a pay period with 72 hours of OT on it (that's 168 hours of work in 2 weeks, you lazy bastages!).

I'm really looking forward to having this bike back together exactly the way I want it.

[beejaytee]

This bike is gonna look so good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[juddspaintballs]

I splurged and spent way too much money, but I bought a semi-used Big Gun Mike Lafferty exhaust system for my KTM. The header pipe is new and converts it to a single pipe instead of dual pipes like stock. Supposedly it's ceramic coated, too. The muffler is slightly used, but appears to be in decent shape according to the description and pictures. There's a couple different silent inserts for it, too.

I wound up needing a new header, so this solved the muffler and header problem together and it cleans up the dual pipe look.

Here's a picture of the kit before it arrives here:

[Madizm]

Looking awesome. I'm jealous. Mine next??

[juddspaintballs]

I'll gladly help you, but my requirement is that it's got to be in my garage and you have to work on it too.

[juddspaintballs]

My exhaust might be lost in the mail. It hasn't moved in days and it was supposed to arrive on Friday.



And I finally got an invoice for the power plant. I should see it in a week or so.