99 SV650 Brought back from the dead (again)

[The FNG]

the bike started out as a 99 SV650 naked, and totally screwed up! the previous owner used it as a stunt bike- he claims he just "commuted on it". bull$hit. the rear sprocket was huge, the subframe was bent, the front end was ghetto (96 ZX6R), and the bikes overall condition was just plain $hitty. it had obviously been kept outside-every bolt on it was corroded. but, i saw a cheap bike with a clean title, that had some potential. here is the shot of the bike as bought from ebay:
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/2290463-sv-3.jpg





and the crappy tank...

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT0826.jpg



signs of motorcycle abuse...


http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT0838.jpg
and more abuse...

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT0843.jpg

[The FNG]

what you can't see are all of the cracks in ALL of the plastic, the corrosion inside the gas tank, the messed up countershaft, the obvious scrape/drag mark on the left side of the tail, and lower left fork leg, the extremely HACKEd wiring harness (which was "in one piece, with no cuts at all"...yeah, right!), and various other pains that would reveal themselves as the project went on. oh yeah, the bike was finished in a horrid krylon grey metallic, with runs!

let the transformation begin...

okay, i know this looks like a hack-job... but it works! when i got the bike, i took it out for a spin or two. it backfired like nobodies business! it was supposed to have a had "a jet kit" (not sure what kind, what stage, etc), but that info wasnt good enough. i bought a set of newer '02 carbs with a resonable jet kit, and they were in MINT condition. it looked like the owner of the carbs never took the bike out. it was a steal for only 60 bucks. so i put the carbs on, get them sync'd, and take it for a spin. it runs better, but just dies above 6500 rpm. wtf? i searched on the forums like crazy, and came across several articles on air starvation to first gen SV's. so, i raised the tank with spacers, and "opened up" the airbox. the idea was derived from the article titled "snorkelectomy". enter the hole-saw! yep, laugh if u will, the dang thing worked like a champ!

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT1994.jpg

[The FNG]

so, now i have a good-running bike with no gauges, a $hitty front end, a tiny rear tire, and just looks butt ugly!
next step, new wiring harness... okay, not NEW, but definitely NOT hacked, and in real good condition. i stripped the whole bike apart, from front to back, and got to know the inner workings of an SV. pretty simple and straight forward. i just laid out the harness, and wherever i saw a plug/connector i just did a one-for-one swap. old for new. it only took an hour or so, aside from the kids poking around every 5 minutes after that, i happily detached the acerbis cyclops light assembly off of the front. who the hell would put such a piece of $hit on the front of their bike?! it's still sitting around the garage if someone wants it. anyway, off with the ZX6R front end... POOF! on with the '01 GSXR 1000 front end from Chris Baker's SV (www.bayarearidersforum.com). he opted for the later model GSXR front end with the DLC and radial calipers. also, on goes the newer SVS tank and tail pieces- in blue, natch...

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/97478c85.jpg

the forks...

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT0828.jpg


front end bolted on...


http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT0814.jpg

[The FNG]

as some of you may have already noticed, the bike came with a couple of nice things...like OSF adjustable rearsets, gsxr 750 rear shock, and an M4 exhaust. i would have bought these for the bike, had they not come with it already.

next step is to get rid of the whimpy rear tire... i bought an adapter kit from www.twinworksfactory.com to mount a CBR F3 wheel on the back. very easy, very straight-forward install, which allows for a 180 out back. here are a couple of shots...

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT0815.jpg


http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT0857.jpg


http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT0856.jpg



after the front end was completed and the rear wheel finished, i decided to change back to the stock gear ratio. no big deal, just a simple sprocket swap...yeah right... upon removal of the countershaft nut, i began to pry off the front sprocket...and pry, and pry, and pry, and ruin a puller, and pry, ruin a screwdriver, and pry, hold a propane torch to it, and cuss, and pry...

[The FNG]

it was then that i decided that something might be wrong. enter my job. i am a helicopter guy in the army. i went to the hangar and got with our powertrain guys, to see if they had something that could help. they gave me a puller designed to remove shafts that seized in rotor-head assemblies. if this didnt work, nothing would! i took it home, and it popped the sprocket off with no problem. remember when i said the bike was stored outside? well guess what happens when rain and condensation and stuff get into gear and spline teeth? corrosion, major-a$$ corrosion! the sprocket was literally seized to the splines of the countershaft. as it came off the shaft it took pieces of the spline with it. ugly, very ugly. with a little filing and grinding, the splines are fine. i put on a light coat of moly-grease just for good measure, and then installed the new vortex sprocket.

here is a crappy pic of a screwed up countershaft...


http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT0811.jpg

[The FNG]

so now we have a good gear ratio, good back wheel, good front end...time for bodywork. i had to buy the SVS mounting brackets from www.bikebandit.com, as mine was a naked SV originally. the brackets took a couple of minutes of head-scratching to figure out which one went where, but ended up okay. i sourced an entire SVS front end from ebay, and proceeded to bolt it on. at the same time, i set the naked SV gauges (also from ebay) in place, and used a big-a$$ zip tie to hold them on to the bike. yes, it too is ghetto, but effective!

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT0879.jpg



we have bodywork, gauges, front end, rear wheel...but no speedo. the stock SV speedo drive doesnt work on a GSXR front end. back to the forums. i learned all about hall-effect sensors, dwell time, etc. and with the help of Jim at www.svrider.com, was able to get a nice bolt on kit for the front end. so i finally have a working speedo!

here is the (dirty) front end with speedo sensor attached. note the magnets in every other rotor hole. cooooooooooool....

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT2087.jpg

[The FNG]

well, that brings the bike up to now. the only 2 things i have left are a rear vortex sprocket (hardened black finish) and a gold RK chain. which i will install as soon as work, life, kids, etc gives me time!

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT1594-1.jpg

[The FNG]

i had enough time to remove the rear wheel, pop off the old sprocket, take off the old chain, and fit the new sprocket on.

here is the sprocket mounted. its blurry cuz i had the boy in my arms while taking the pic
(wow, the bike is DIRRRRRRRTY!)


http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT2081.jpg

so out with the old chain, in with the new RK 525 OXSBOSSXXOBBO... or whatever the hell the RK description is!

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT2084.jpg

here is a better shot of the sprocket's teeth:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT2095.jpg

[The FNG]

here is what a set of nekkid SV gauges look like taken apart. next step is to fabricate a bracket that will mount them to the SVS front fairing stay. hmmmmmm...

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT2145.jpg

oh yeah, got the sprocket and wheel back on the bike. next step is to get rid of the extra slack in the chain by borrowing a chain breaker/master link riveter from a local bike shop.


http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT2148.jpg

[The FNG]

pulled apart the front end to start the mock-up of the naked gauges. my plan is to use a piece of 1/16" aluminum and make a "dashboard" to mount the gauges to. hard to say how extravagant it is going to be. here is the cockpit with nothing...

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT2154.jpg

here is the cockpit with an old OEM windscreen for fitment

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT2161.jpg

[The FNG]

the "dashboard" will be mounted to the stock locations that normally allow for the gauge surround (black plastic piece) on an SVS model. here is a close-up of one of the screws...

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/PICT2176.jpg

[The FNG]

Quote:
Originally posted by 1FastF4i
That's awesome man. Nice work!

For those interested in such an endeavor, would you mind sharing how much the project cost you thus far, including the inital cost of the bike?

lets see here...

bike- $2200 (includes $400 delivery from PA)
'01 GSXR 1000 complete front end- $700 (plus shipping from CA)
'98 CBR F3 rear wheel- $31 (kah-ching!)
F3 cush drive-$30
F3 brake rotor- $25
'02 SVS tank $250
'02 SVS bodywork (complete incl. fairing stay) $400
'02 SVS carbs $80
'02 SVS headlight assy-$30
'99 SV wiring harness- $25
'99 SV naked gauges-$400 (they are in mint condition with only 3500 miles)
OEM SVS body mounts- $15
stainless steel metric hardware- $30
RK 525 chain-$120
Vortex front and rear sprockets-$90
Zero Gravity double bubble windscreen-$15 (kah ching!)

bike came with- OSF adjustable rearsets, lolipop blinkers, GSXR rear shock, M4 exhaust

almost EVERYTHING (bike incl) was bougt from ebay... thus, why some of the prices above are so low (or high in the case of the gauges)

this brings everything to just under $4500. not too bad considering all of the performance enhancements gained. plus, it just looks dang cool!!!

[The FNG]

Thats all I could salvage from the original thread that I started years ago. Lets see how long GSB can last this time :(

The bike has since been sold to Bill, and he did a great job of adding the finishing touches it needed.

I kind of put it on the back burner as soon as I bought my GSX-R.

Hmmm, a GSX-R "how-to" thread ... ???? hmmmm

[The FNG]

Found some more pics of when I changed out the old, roasted, stock clutch and springs with a new complete Barnett kit

new stuff pre-soaking in oil

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00485.jpg

not sure what is old and what is new here

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00488.jpg

open side

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00489.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00490.jpg

[The FNG]

new stuff going back in

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00494.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00495.jpg

new spring on left. thicker windings, but shorter height.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00496.jpg

[The FNG]

new springs going in

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00497.jpg

new oil

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00498.jpg

done, and back on display for the garage to stare at

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00500.jpg

[The FNG]

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00524.jpg

thats about all i could come up with relating to the old SV. If anyone has any other SV transformations, put em up!!!!

[highside]

Nice work and very nice write-up!

[Woodk61000]

Joseph did the gsxr front swap on his bike too. Looks cool and handles much better.

[The FNG]

The handling is night and frikkin day! Granted, I changed every aspect of the suspension, with little to baseline it off of.

Easy mod with great benefits

[billbillw]

Pete,
I can't believe you resurrected this thread again! Isn't this twice now that your original thread has been killed by a forum crash?

I still have all the pics from the mods I did, but I don't really think that I have the time to writeup everything again. Busy with two kids ya know.
I'll just give the cliff notes:
After I bought it from Pete, I took off the naked gauges, replaced them with proper S guages, swapped for LED backlights, put a new wiring harness on (again), new front tire, replaced the bent subframe, new rear sprocket (for lower gearing), gel seat, correct mirrors, cowl panel, etc., repainted the gas cover, stripped and repainted the front fender (what a bitch!), repainted the front wheel, rewired the hall effect sensor, new turn signals, replaced clipons with higher TL clips with new gel grips and bar ends, new SS brake lines, new regulator/rectifier, shock swapped for ZX-636 shock, new fuel petcock, plus loads of cleaning/maintenance, brake bleeding, etc.
I've got a more complete build diary at the SVrider forum. Most of what I put on was from Ebay or SVrider forum as well. I sold the naked gauges and all the extra parts and ended up not having to fork out all that much to get it in this shape.
Here are some of the finished photos.
Sadly, I actually sold this bike at the end of last summer. We witnessed a bike crash right in front of our eyes one night and after that, my wife was freaked out about safety, so in the interest of staying married, I sold it. At least I took the money and put down on a fast car. She doesn't seem to mind that my car can do 160 :)

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f94/billbillw/SV650/svmods0171sm.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f94/billbillw/SV650/svmods0172.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f94/billbillw/SV650/svmods0174sm.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f94/billbillw/SV650/svmods017sm.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f94/billbillw/SV650/svmods014sm.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f94/billbillw/SV650/PICT0002.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f94/billbillw/SV650/PICT0008.jpg

[The FNG]

YOU FRIKKIN SOLD IT????!!!!!!! Dude, I wouldve bought it back in a heart beat!
...that just blows...

[billbillw]

YOU FRIKKIN SOLD IT????!!!!!!! Dude, I wouldve bought it back in a heart beat!
...that just blows...

Yeah, sorry dude. I had it listed here and on Craigslist. It sold pretty quick. I guess you were not really keeping up with the forum at the time. I didn't really profit much, but I got my money back out of it.

[The FNG]

Yeah, sorry dude. I had it listed here and on Craigslist. It sold pretty quick. I guess you were not really keeping up with the forum at the time. I didn't really profit much, but I got my money back out of it.

super...

[The FNG]

:suzuki: SV650... RIP

[redciv1]

Excellent work. Nice little project. I am thinking about looking for a SV for WERA twins racing. I really can't afford to buy another bike now, but a project bike might work.

[The FNG]

It was probably the funnest bike i have owned in my 20 years of riding. Very linear power band from bottom end, all the way up. Parts are plentiful, and the bike is easy as hell to mod and/or repair.

[The FNG]

One more shot of the clutch replacement with better resolution.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/tl1000pj/IMG00474.jpg

[The FNG]

best damn bike ever