This is getting a bit ridiculous... Picked up a lower mileage ST3 for a great deal, off the wife of a former race buddy who passed on, sadly. 24,000kms, fired right up after sitting for awhile. As soon as I got it home I went to work: Hope to create my own 851 replica similar to the ST2 project featured here and in Performance Bikes magazine before it went off the air...
Some more work on a provincial holiday resulted in some progress: It was mostly a lot of removal -- the front countershaft sprocket was last installed with about 3000 foot pounds of torque. I was getting nowhere with my impact gun, and heat, so I gingerly cut into the sprocket with a dremel tool and it finally freed itself. Remember -- TAB WASHER. Sheesh. As is common lately, one of the clutch slave cylinder allen bolts stripped its head on removal, but an easy-out handled it. I test fitted an exhaust bracket I had - it looks the mufflers can be oriented in a more sporty position quite easily (they sound great). I also spent some time test-fitting the 900ss fairing stay I had lying around. It will need to be significantly modified to bolt to the headstock, but as I have no access to a 3d printer or a milling machine, my solution will be steel. My current clip ons (risers) won't work. The next plan is an alloy swingarm, and a set of Monster s2R forks (fully adjustable) and an ST4 top triple clamp (as the monster forks are shorter). Forks and swingarm inbound...
Start the process to fabricate an adapter to mate the 900ss fairing stay with the ST3 frame. Some 3/4" square tubing, some 1/2" OD round (which the M8 bolts slide into nicely), and some careful measuring and drilling. Looks like it should work in principle. As a bonus, the side "ear" of the fairing bracket mounts to the coil bracket very conveniently! Center everything... While admiring the S2R1000 monster forks (full adjustability). Thought I'd go for something more "period" than GSXR forks or something with radial mounts. These are much shorter than the ST3 legs. I'm 99% sure an ST4 upper triple clamp will work with the shorter forks. And crack on with the welding. The old acetelyne torch comes in handy again! That should work. I'll wait until I decide on the bodywork (from where/whom, not what) before I drill the mounting holes in the adapter.
Following!! I've been thinking of doing the same thing after blowing up my ST2 on track in early July - thinking though and doing are two completely different things as I have way too many projects already... Might just be easier & cheaper to buy a track bike and part out the ST...
The aluminum rear swingarm showed up. I took some time to clean it up, and mock up the location of mounts to be welded for swingarm spools. I can't weld aluminum, so if I do proceed I'll need to take these to my welding guru to do. Might just leave them off and use the "pad" style swingarm lift (although I much prefer spools!) I also went 2 for 3 on the calipers. Turns out one of the front calipers had some torn seals, so I guess I need to spring for a set of brembo brake caliper seals. Will get 2 sets I suppose, as it's always good to have a spare.
Rear swingarm on -- took the opportunity to clean up everything and re-grease the swingarm pivot bearings in the case while I was at it!
As a few more parts trickle in, I'm plugging away at my project. A quick glance at the prices of new or used aftermarket rearsets reveal they are either quite thin on the ground, or obscenely expensive. Some research showed that both the monsters and the STs shared the 70mm mounting spacing, so I was able to pick up "just the rearset plates" from my favorite Japanese source. However when mocked up, they actually moved the peg location a few mm closer to the swingarm pivot -- opposite of what I wanted. So it was time for some CAD -- Cardboard Aided Design. I made some adapters out of some 3/8" alloy plate I had handy. I moved the peg location up an to the rear, as befits a racier rider stance. This is all done by yours truly, without a mill. Some careful measuring and my handy drill press got the holes marked out, and then some quick access to a bandsaw and a sander (not mine) got things serviceable. I'm waiting on some chinese pegs and levers off of ebay to test fit. They might work well enough to keep, but if they are crap at least I have a proof of concept to buy some more expensive items from driven or woodcraft. I have also been upgrading the wiring. Rather than buying a set of "custom" starter cables, I make my own with high quality 6ga welding wire (bought by the foot) and some eyelets. I've soldered in a pigtail for the reg/rec -- I plan to use a mosfet one, wired directly to the battery. Compared to the stock one -- already stiff and maybe brittle, despite being thinner gauge than what I'm using to upgrade. Also did the lead from the starter to the solenoid. I was able to re-use the protective boot. Also upgraded the ground strap from the neg battery terminal to the engine. I've removed the plastic battery bracket -- I plan to make a pattern one in aluminum, so I can mount an antigravity 801 8-cell lithium battery. A fraction of the weight of the stock lead one, and will work with an aftermarket reg/rec. Random googling has found me some neat paint schemes -- although the bodywork hasn't even been finished or shipped yet...!
Surprisingly my ST4 top triple showed up on the weekend -- I guess that's the competitive nature of shipping services. Once I had the bike up on the front paddock stand (weight off the forks/wheel) it slipped right on. Result! Checked clearances between the tank and bars, and the fairing stay, and nipped things up a bit tighter. Glad I have the riser clip on brackets, as one the fairings have showed up I can make some more adjustments. Even a neat little m5 bolt to perhaps mount the bracket for the brake and clutch master cylinders. Quick test-fit of the ST3 guages. They should fit OK once I've fabricated some tabs to mount a backing plate.
