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1500 Drifter Project
Here I go on a new project for the winter. Yes, it’s
a Drifter...again, but this time a 1500cc. The bike is an ’02
that I picked up state-side in the summer. Casual efforts to find
the right Drifter for my next custom project paid off. The search
took time. I found plenty of ’99s but wanted to move up a few
years to a model with lots of engine chrome - my kind of eye
candy. I already have a ’99, 800 Drifter blacked-out model.
It wasn’t long before chrome
fever hit me and I added a bit of shine to that engine (flat
silver paint just didn’t cut it)!
The ’02 Drifter came to my shop with minor damage - broken back fender
(plastic). It had suffered the slight mishap at a stop sign. An inattentive
driver had run into the back of the bike. No damage to any other part
of the machine and thankfully it wasn’t dropped. Would be a
cheap and easy fix if all I wanted to do was replace the fender and
blinkers...but I have other plans in mind.
So I found a good used fender in New Jersey (landed here for $360
Can.) and ordered new rear blinkers, fender support bar, and the
bushings, bolts, etc. from www.partsharks.com. Very good service
and the best price I could find on new Kawasaki parts. Figure I saved
over $500
The body parts will be heading out of the shop soon for new paint.
The colour scheme will be two-tone, similar to my 800, except different
colours: Tropical Turquoise and Indian Ivory with a pin stripe. Sounds
like summertime. The solo tan-coloured fringe seat, and white wall
tires (of course) will give the bike the retro style that I’m aiming
for. Baby ape bars, driving lights and maybe a hand shifter? And some
light exhaust mods. This time, I’m going to try and run the
handle bar wires through the bars, along with the brake and clutch
lines. Wish me luck on the brake and clutch lines (LOL).
Looking forward to getting started :)
Easy Exhaust Mod
I love the look of the stock fish tail
exhaust but it doesn’t offer much in a quality exhaust note. Seeing if
I could improve upon on it somewhat I brought out the hammer and chisel. LOL.
Basically what I did was to remove the fish tail pipe, which is just bolted on,
remove the rear two pipes and one support plate. Bike sound pretty much the same
except has a little deeper exhaust note. I did this on my 800 Drifter which gave
me a louder exhaust note (much better then this one) but not offensive. I’m
not into loud but do like a quality exhaust note.
More Exhaust Mod pics
Seat Mod
I wanted a retro looking seat for this project
and found one at www.Classicleathers.com. It’s a tan-coloured seat.
I’m not a fan of the brown seat, and when you look at the pics of
with the black tins it doesn’t look that great. But imagine the tan
seat with tropical turqoise and Indian Ivory, I think those colors
will work. I fabricated some brackets for the seat as it came with
only the front bracket. It’s hard to mount the seat without a seat
support so I made one that I could bolt the seat to. With the new
seat support I was able to mount it to the bike frame. Being long
legged I wanted a tall seat height of 31". Same as my little
800. I want the seat springs just for show as the bike already has
suspension, so used long bolts through the springs to adjust the
height of the back portion of the seat. Very comfortable for short
spins up and down the road. I also fabricated covers to hide all
the under seat stuff (battery, wires...). In the pics you will see
a cardboard template. I’ll cut the template in plexiglass and paint
semi gloss black. In some of the pics you will notice stock handlebars
and in some of the later pics the baby ape bars are installed. Notice
all the handlebar plumbing around the bars (wires, brake/clutch line)
...ugly for sure. Stay tuned for progress on the bars. I’m
going to install the wires and brake/clutch lines through the handlebars
if possible.
More
Seat Mod pics
Handle Bars
Well I finally have the handlebars finished.
You will notice where I cut the holes in the bars to run the electrical
wires, brake and clutch hoses. I added chrome grips, levers, master
cylinder covers and chrome brake hardware and the chrome switch
housings. I’m pleased with it so far.
I priced a complete handlebar with master cylinders and all internals, hoses,
wires and throttle at around $1800. I’ll only have about $350 tied up.
No internal throttle this time. I would need to have 1 1/4" bars for this.
Maybe on my next project. I’m trying to do this nicely
but on the cheap. :) In one of the pictures you will see two
holes I drilled through the top triple-tree clamp to run the
wires through.
More Handle Bar pics
Wheels
I sent the spokes and rims away to be
chromed among other things. The original wheels (or hoops) were
already chromed and the front one I could have lived with, but
the back one due to the fact it’s hard to get at for cleaning,
was never cleaned and rusted badly along with the spokes. I have
cleaned a lot of spokes that looked not so great and turned out
very nicely once I worked my magic on them, but I couldn’t
do anything with these ones. What happens is the brake dust which
is corrosive will eat at the cadmium plating finish on the spoke
and also on the chrome rims, if left on long enough. Once through
the plating you have a dull steel spoke that will rust. If the
wheels had been cleaned once a year at least this would have
never happened. If you look closely at a few of the first pics
of the rear rim you can see spots of black rust. I did get if
off but it was too late. Damage was already done with pits and
tarnished chrome. The last pic is one of the wheels all back
together
More Wheel
pics
Frame
In these pics I had to touch up the frame.
In the rear as you can see there was surface rust. Lucky not deep
as to create pits, except for the swing arm. I sanded the complete
back haft of the frame, masked it off and painted. Very pleased
with the turn out. The swingarm was rusted more severely in certain
areas and had created pits. I first try removing some rust with
my air tools but couldn’t get into the pits, so off to my little sand basting
cabinet. I just sand blasted the rusty areas and sanded the rest. I block sanded
the pits with very course sand paper working up to finer grades and successfully
removing all the pits. Now don’t get me wrong the pits were not super deep,
it’s just that they would show through the new paint. I
was looking for a smooth, like new factory finish.
More
Frame pics
Gear Case
Lots of elbow grease.
LOL. Notice in the first couple pics the tarnish on the aluminum
gear case, once again never cleaned or polished. I use a small
polisher and some (top secret) alum cleaner/polish. Happy with
the results. :)
More
Gear Case pics
Home Made Stuff
In the first pic I’m putting the forks
back together after receiving them from the Chromer’s. Notice
home made tool to drive the fork seals in. Not pretty but works. In
the other pics I’m making some “block off plates” so
that I can remove the pollution stuff off the cylinder heads. Those
are the thicker black boxes with the pipe on the end. I’m trying
to clean up the space around the cylinder heads for a less cluttered
look. I just use hand tools and a chop saw. Not prefect but you won’t
see them. Yes it would have been nice to have a milling machine to
make the edges prefect but it’s not in the budget at the moment.
:)
More
Home Made Stuff pics
Different Stages
These
are pictures of the Drifter in different
stages of completion. The ones taken outdoors show a little test run
in the driveway before I sent the body work away for painting.
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