Kawasaki vulcan800 bob

Hey guys,

So, after wiating out the winter, and FINALLY getting a riding day in this week (Happy Valentines to ME!) I am ready to start. Sold off some music gear, though not enough to pay someone else to do the work. I am not the most comfortable with mechanicals, at least not yet, and since i live in a condo, and they frown on OIL CHANGES let alone rebuilds in the basement, it will all end up being simple bolt on replacements. I am going with Blue Collar Bobbers nice and convenient kits, at least thats the plan as of now.

The plan.
-Remove bags and windshield
-debaffle stock exhaust (would love a custom or at least drags, but $$$ won't allow it)
-order in replacement parts
-Send tank and fenders to powdercoater... I am still waffling between flat black and Flat army green... I like green better, but i can't help thinking that the black would be more "sale-able" down the road.
-Remove fenders and hide/sell/scrap em. I am considering keeping them in case i want to sell it in the future and return it to stock, but Iam not sure yet
-I would love to powdercoat and de-chrome all around, but i think its going to have to wait until next winter. The work i have planned shouldn't take TOO long, and i should be back riding it by march.... There is a warm spell on the way, so I am going to ride a few days this week, but then its back to the bus for a few weeks... Hopefully by the time i iget everything together, it will be warm and sunny!

Heres a pic i snapped last week when i was considering selling her to get a harley... don't mind the dust!!! (Need to buy a cover!)

I'm stoked for this build. My brother has a VN1500 that he won't let me tear to pieces...so I'll be living vicariously through you!

Had a nice few days of riding last week. warm enough to ride to work, but too cold to wrench.. brrr!

Parts are ordered. Front and back fenders, seat kit and new signals all from Blue Collar Bobbers. Still considering wrapping the exhaust, but I am kinda lazy.

Decided on flat black for paint/powdercoat. I think it will be easier to deal with in the end. Side panels are faux chrome at the moment, which i can live combined with the flat black. I can rattle can it flack black easy enough if i want.

I am working out a deal with a buddy who lives in an industrial unit... he'll let me work on the bike in the warmth, and I'll just need to help him move some heavy stuff around (arcade machines) but it will be worth it.

nice KZ build by the way Bruno!...

I've owned 4 different homes, condos and houses, and every time my #1 "need" is a garage.... and I never seem to buy a place with a garage... BOOOOOO!

Thanks man, any updates? Been riding a bit? It's still just a little cold here and it looks like we are going to get another 3-5 inches...ugh.

Sorry for the slow updates.

Tank is off and with the new fenders at the powdercoaters. Weather here has turned cold again, effing snow!!! so I am not in as much a rush... here's the pics so far.

nice! what color you going with!!!

Sorry for not being a good updater...

Tank and fenders are back from the coaters, flat black is the color for this ride.

Tank is now getting an internal coating at the radiatior shop... at this rate, it powdercoated on the outside, rad shop is quadruple coating the inside.... It better be happy!!!

Figure i get teh tank back this week and i can bolt together my changes for now. It's more a bolt together bobber this time, but it's easing me back into wrenching my own bike. I was at a spring bike show the other day and started looking at hardtail rolling chassis kits... had to slap my hand a few times!

why are you coating the inside of the tank? is it covered in rust? or leaking... if not there is no real reason to coat the inside

I had the tank powdercoated, the "less than stellar" powdercoating guys i used soaked my tank in an acid etching bath to take off the logos and the foam on the underside... I dunno how long it sat. Then since it was baked, I was assured i should get it coated, since they baked off any protective coating it had... Also, when i was washing out the tank once i got it home, there were some chunky bits with a bit of a rust color. Had it coated internally, they found a small hole starting and fixed it. which brings me to todays fun

So, It's been 8 years or more since i owned a bike, and probably 12 years since i really "HAD" to do any of my own work. my last few years of riding, my ex (she was my wife then) made really good money, so we weren't hurting for funds. I hadn't picked up a manual for my last bike (Sportster) I just rode it, and brought it back to the dealership every month of so for the myriad of electrical problems.

Anyways, Divorced me has a lot less money, things are really tight, thus bobbing this bike instead of buying a Sportster 48 and stripping it down. I got the kit parts from Blue Collar since i am easing my way back into doing my own work.

Anyways, short story long, got the tank back, brought it home, changed the front fender to my newer smaller sleeker model, put the tank back on and fired it up.... it leaked at the petcock. I tried tightening the bolts, it helped a bit, but I was worried the petcock might have been dammaged sitting in a bag for the last few weeks (I know, i know, that was dumb of me) Anyways, I go to my local bike shop on my shakedown run (it's 2 km up the road) and they tell me they can look at it... IN MAY! they are currently booking for may 17th or something like that, and if i leave it there, they have a week lead time to check it, then order parts (apparently the fact that they are a kawi dealer doesn't guarantee they'll keep regularly used parts in stock...) Anways, i was told, leave it here TILL mid may, or make an apointment for mid may,

My bike is my only source of transport, it's KILELD me having nice weather and no bike! THe bus sucks when you see people roaring past.

I went to band practice, got home and decided to lay beside my bike and commune with it... I finally reasoned i didn't prep the area the betcock mounts to, since it may have had some goo unevenness and powdercoating uneveness. So i drained it again, took out the petcock and cleaned up the mounting are better... I re-assembled and crossed my fingers, it started up good, and the leak SEEMS to be gone... so I am a happy little monkey again.

I took a quick iphone pic, my less crappy camera needs a new cable, so I can't take any pics from there until later int eh week when i get to the computer store.

Heres a quick photo of how it's coming

ON another note, it's damn dark in my parking garage, gotta take a better look in the sunshine about how to take off the damn windhield.

So, It is rideable again, I can ride it for athis week and next weekend when i have a couple of days, I am going to change the rear end. Bobbed fender, side mount license and taillight, new smaller turn signals, new seat.

Than on my list is new fork seals/oil since it seems to have gotten soft in the front (and i am a big bastard)
after that i may consider exhaust options. what i WANT is a smaller, black or wrapped (or both) simple exhaust.... also gotta consider spraybombing the side panels

to be honest... it sounds like that coater had no idea what they where doing or talking about... acid etch? should always be blasted or the metal is not cleaned correctly... chemical stripping is a process we use in the shop but not acid etch... your stock tank has no coating in it... if it did and they baked it... it is ruined and there is no way to seal it the crap in there will alway flake off and clog your petcock... let me know if you have any questions

Yeah, after the fact, I realized he knows nothing about bikes... A younger guy I met at a bike show. He does a lot of import car crap. I wasn't looking for "cheap" work, but i had trouble finding someone local, that does pickups. since all the coating places were far out of town, and I am a bike only sort of guy. Needless to say, I think i've learned my lesson. SHEESH. The tank is ok at the moment... maybe he used chemical stripper and CALLED it acid, cause he apparently knows nothing. Looking at the powder job, it's not the best job... but ah well... live and learn.

Nothing else done yet. The leak is taken care of 100%, haven't gotten to any of the other changes... the mounts for the windshield are rusted up, which is annoying... we'll see what happens as it progresses.