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2003 Kawasaki KDX220 Restoration....ahem...
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Joined: 22 Oct 2007
Posts: 508
Location: Stafford, UK

PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

2bims wrote:
I actually forked out for a proper scalpel this time...rather than the cheap set from Poundland...world of difference...blade clicks firmly in place...and mighty sharp...


I have a load for modelling use. A large box probably costs less than cheap ones from Poundland!

2bims wrote:
its always best to say your finished JUST when you think it could be improved a little more....as that point forward can ruin matters..


Yep, very much so

Katy
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2bims



Joined: 03 Apr 2010
Posts: 7289

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 7:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well....Summer time is almost here......weather wise that is...and a Bank Holiday approaching promising to be dry......as I'm coming out of winter....the diet has been going strong and today alone...I've lost 2Kgs....that's 4.42Lbs in old money....and its all courtesy of the Postman....Or rather Yodel

Yup....My new FMF stinger alloy end can has arrived...all the way from California....and...despite my initial reservations....it made it all the way here clearing customs and arriving at my door without that annoying "please collect from Post office and pay taxes...that we've paid on your behalf...for which we require an additional £20 on top of the customs and VAT charges"

Yep...Ebay international shipping promises to include upfront all customs and import charges...so the price you see is the price you pay...Hhmmm...wonder if they could do that with complete motorcycles and not just Parts and accessories

Old and new end cans.....New can 1Kg...Old steel can...3Kgs....Hence the 2Kg weight loss...teehee....Thus i deserve a big Fat curry takeaway tonight as a result of my weight loss efforts

Item spec says repack after every 10-12 hrs to retain noise reduction....already the parp parp brap brap noice seems increased....so I have 10hrs of wragging to ride to disentegrate the insulation in the end can to fully release the sound....looking forward to that







Just waiting for my Sticker kit to come from Russia...and it will be complete...and I can change out the old Rad guards for the new ones with KDX logos on...And then decide if I put the full sticker pack on...swingarm, fork lowers, F & R mudguards etc etc
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pkay



Joined: 16 Dec 2016
Posts: 150
Location: Brizvegas

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 9:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That looks sweet - I have a KDX200 with it's original pipe still on in - its truly minging and I can hear the ponies being strangled when I ride it. You've got me thinking....... Shocked
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pkay
SB6, YB7 and many other assorted Euro and Jap bikes and one Triumph.......
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pkay



Joined: 16 Dec 2016
Posts: 150
Location: Brizvegas

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 9:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That looks sweet - I have a KDX200 with it's original pipe still on in - its truly minging and I can hear the ponies being strangled when I ride it. You've got me thinking....... Shocked
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pkay
SB6, YB7 and many other assorted Euro and Jap bikes and one Triumph.......
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2bims



Joined: 03 Apr 2010
Posts: 7289

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 10:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Parts and pipes still available....Front header also...which is Nickel plated shiney shiney...Gnarly FMF pipe they call it...from California though....my front pipe was like new after I cleaned and sprayed it...and even after burning out old oil residue/carbon etc...very little came out...a testamount to the little use the bike has had.....I joined up on a KDX/KX riders Worldwide Facebook page...very helpful folk on there...just viewing what they do would get you back into your kdx...free downloads for workshop manuals also

Header here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gnarly-Exhaust-Pipe-for-KAWASAKI-KDX200-1995-2006/311876607013?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

I think if I was going for a new front header...I'd have one made up conical style like Geekay has done for his RGV250 engine in a Suzuki RM250 Chassis....
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2bims



Joined: 03 Apr 2010
Posts: 7289

PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 9:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ooppppssss.....Have I overdone things??????/

From growing day by day my fondness for hooning around on a zinger 2-stroke KDX....The new sticker kit from Coldest Darkest Russia finally showed up in the post......

After many hours in the midday sun applying new graphics...I now have a new admiration for the vinyl wrap profession....hard enough doing individual plastic bike panels...I'd hate to have to do a whole car!!!

Not quite sure what I've achieved here...may take some getting used to for sure

I've applied new stickers to different spare panels,mudguard, number boards, rad scoop guards (baring the rear mudguard)...so can always go back to the "pure clean look"...or just maybe it will take me some time to get used to the new look....Or Am I just getting old and think it over-cluttered and fussy???

Previous look



And cough cough...the "new Look"...may wing the bike down to the local secondary school and see if a crowd forms....I'm sure my local bike hang out would shy away from such hooliganism....



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Bud977



Joined: 03 Mar 2013
Posts: 525
Location: Sydney

PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Blingy stickers look great - if it was a modern bike. Old school bikes need more subtle classy graphics.

I used to hate putting graphics on the kids MX bikes. I got good at it, using Windex and a heat gun, but can't say I ever enjoyed putting stickers on 3D curved panels.
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2bims



Joined: 03 Apr 2010
Posts: 7289

PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 10:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd have liked to have put original "KDX" in a vertical line Stock stickers back on...but couldn't find anyone selling them....these were the "subtlest" versions I found....got better as I went along but ultimate patience is required...being a Bimota owner and time-to-time fixer of Bimotas...Patience has been more tested previously than by a few mere "stickers"....Used my hair drier.....not that I have hair or dry it with a hair drier...bought simply for sticker application/removal and for heat shrinking electrical cables...and warming up items prior to rattle can spraying.......

Loads of blingy "monster energy"...skulls, skeleton sticker kits in the USA but post and tax and import duty hits UK buyers...Post is too darn dear from USA....USA would profit by halving their postage costs....more folk would buy from there....Why is it cheaper for me to buy from Russia, China, Australia postage wise?????????....ONLY if I have given up all hope for some bits for bikes do I buy from USA...Shame really as theres LOTS of KDX stuff for sale in the States........their loss....and mine...boohoo
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2bims



Joined: 03 Apr 2010
Posts: 7289

PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud977 wrote:
Blingy stickers look great - if it was a modern bike. Old school bikes need more subtle classy graphics.

I used to hate putting graphics on the kids MX bikes. I got good at it, using Windex and a heat gun, but can't say I ever enjoyed putting stickers on 3D curved panels.


Whats "windex"?...Is that window cleaner?...Apply before on panels or on stickers??/...tell me tell me... Laughing
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quikduk



Joined: 13 Aug 2016
Posts: 287
Location: Southern California, USA

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2018 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think it looks fantastic.

BTW, if you ever need custom bike graphics, look at the following sites as they will custom make them for you.

Motocal

bikegraphix

Decal works

Fusion graphic

There are so many places now that will custom make or replicate graphics for you, especially dirt bike graphics.

They sometimes cost a couple hundred dollars but some are as thick as 20 mil.
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2bims



Joined: 03 Apr 2010
Posts: 7289

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2018 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cheers QuickDuk......I did have a look at a couple of places....but at my age now I really cant decide or design.....so I tend to narrow things down with "I like the look of that" and buy that...hence fascination for Bimotas.....persons far more skilled and gifted in design than I could ever be or was...I used to be able to throw a colour scheme together to paint and decorate a simple room...now...with age...if I try...people say "what the heck were you thinking???"...and I tend to agree with them and just shake my head...hands in pockets...shuffling and looking down at my feet in a daft dog way that knows he "got it wrong again".......getting used to the graphics though.....I did mention in another thread....KDX and KX off road stuff is all over the place in USA...less than 1% of that over here....as they try area by area to shutdown off-roading for "dem pesky bikers".....and I'd buy more stuff from USA...but not until your darn postal service halves its postal costs.....I can shift cheaper from all of Europe, Russia, china and even Australia for half the cost or less than anything from America...and then we get hit import charges, VAT charges and our post service charges £20 as they pay their "estimate" of the charge on your behalf....and of course you pay that estimate also before they release it....so things can double or quadruple in price over the actual cost of the item....rules out all stuff I'd like...and narrows it down to "if that's the only country that has what I need".....shake up furball head and get him talking to the brits...I'd love to ship more stuff from USA....
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Bud977



Joined: 03 Mar 2013
Posts: 525
Location: Sydney

PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2018 9:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

2bims wrote:
Bud977 wrote:
Blingy stickers look great - if it was a modern bike. Old school bikes need more subtle classy graphics.

I used to hate putting graphics on the kids MX bikes. I got good at it, using Windex and a heat gun, but can't say I ever enjoyed putting stickers on 3D curved panels.


Whats "windex"?...Is that window cleaner?...Apply before on panels or on stickers??/...tell me tell me... Laughing


Yes, Windex is that thin blue window cleaner. You spray it on the panel and it gives you time to move the graphic around until it evaporates and sticks. Otherwise, if the graphic sticks in the wrong spot, you have to pull it off, and then the graphic stretches and then you start swearing because the job is now even more difficult....
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2bims



Joined: 03 Apr 2010
Posts: 7289

PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

More bits and bobs and trinkets added to KDX recently.....prepping her for the forthcoming Mcr Bike show if they'll let me in...

Wanted a bash/skid plate for her....but with it being an "old Skool" some 20 year old bike theres not much stuff out there.....Found one by "works connection" in good Ol USA

as advertised on ebay



I thought nice....but thats not a KDX200/220...moreover its a KLX250...so I went straight to their website and found that the one for the KDX looked like this...



A bit "plain Jane" I thought...its just a piece of flat alloy plate with one hole drilled for the sump plug.....Item was some $80....plus $35 for shipping...plus UK import tax and VAT and post office charge of $18 for paying customs charges...All in it would have been almost $200 landed here in the UK and evidently I would have to wait....

Just a "piece of alloy plate"...Hhmmmm...Courtesy of PaulDB1 I was led to "All metals" in Trafford park.....a piece of 2mm Grade 1050H14 (bendable) alloy plate was procured...at a total cost of £5....good start...but they couldn't cut it to shape...just press straight lines.....But...I made up a template of sort of what I wanted



Ran up to Pauls to use his Pillar Drill.....Which was a bit like cracking a walnut with semtex...such a beastie his machine was...cheers.....and using again Pauls gear of an angle grinder and cutting disc...the early required shape was procured



Item was easy to bend using mere weighted hand pressure over kitchen roll top edge....

and a little judicial use of a rubber mallet



Cardboard template was then temp fixed in place with 4 No. Rubber lined 25mm dia "P" clips...ebay procured and delivered next day for the princely sum of £3.....So I'm in at £8 now and some go go juice driving around

Plate polished up nicely





Holes were drilled in areas of frame rails where P clips would fit....6mm mushroom heads used...was going to recess the holes and use taper head SS bolts but I didn't have enough in my Bolt box....and couldn't be having mix and match



2 pack epoxy was used to rubber line the upper face that touches the frame to cut down on vibes or rattly noises....utilising a good Old 99p neoprene rubber Ikea table mat I had lying around



And Bob is your uncle as they say



Plate extends behind and up behind the header pipe which is a bit overkill but could help to stop crud on the engine....nicely drilled to aid heat cooling





Not really visible when on the bike...bit its there for a purpose as I "forrayed" off road on it for the first time last weekend....





Hole to remove sump plug and change oil in right place..phew...so now its fitted it can stay on



I even cobbled together a knock off cheapo chinese "KTN" sidestand extension plate also....which took more work than the bashplate given how wrong they designed it....



And off road she goes....start of the trail...so still clean...I dont post pictures of "dirty" bikes...you all know that...

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brian



Joined: 22 Aug 2011
Posts: 3769
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome job on the bash plate Steve! And with the best part of 200 quid spare to spend on other bling Wink

The little green machine is looking great Cool
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2bims



Joined: 03 Apr 2010
Posts: 7289

PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 10:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Winter is long......so I found more tat to buy and bolt onto the KDX

Anodised billet footpegs, foot brake lever...clevis pin to rear brake master...new factory racing ally cover to flywheel in place of plastic cover....new gear lever...sprocket cover...cable guide....Green rad scoops...front mudguard alloy stay...new computer...etc etc etc....



























































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