The Phantom Cruiser
 

"Phantom Cruiser"? Lol honestly I don't know if there really is such a thing, but it works in various ways. I'm making this bike for my wife, not to say that I won't ride it. Its a currently blue 2006 K5, made in Spain. I got it at 35,900 Km. The only thing's I've done is add saddle bag, change the oil and draw the finished product on a napkin.
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First thing I'll be doing is adding a bit of go - K+N high flow air filter, megaphone muffler, rejet the carb, exhaust wrap cover the rusty looking headers. Maybe 16 tooth front sprocket. We ride 2 up and sometimes on highways. I'd like a 130 km/h top speed and a couple of extra ponies, nothing crazy but at the moment Its maxing out at about 115 km/h and the motorway is safest when going 110 km/h. I'm starting this next weekend.

Most of the treatment is going to be in the show department. P3 Phantom Purple (Ford Falcon BA-BF) Paint with phantom pin striping or air brushing. Chrome will be going black plasti-dip. Its rusty and is quite far gone, plus its an extra layer to the whole phantom cruiser thing going on, going very minimalist on the chrome.

Custom rear fender maybe from a VL250 or I find another GZ front guard and plastic weld it to the current rear one. I like how the front one flares out a bit at the bottom and I'd like to have something like that on the back. The guard and paint are probably the last things I'll be doing.

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The FZR is my bike. I did up 2 and half years ago as you can see its a tidy running bike and I'm not just all talk. It has custom fairings and an Aprilia RS250 tail and I have an 2008 R1 headlight fairing I plan to put on too once I figure how to mount it all up. I painted it Snowflake pearl with Celestial and Winning Blue, Mazda colors in single pack lacquer.

Anyway that's all I'll say about that as this thread is dedicated to the GZ. Which is a far less ambitious build and having already done up one bike I can say that this is going to be great fun and I'll enjoy it as much as I did with my one.

On Saturday I cleaned the carb. Which seemed clean anyway, some dirt in the bottom of the float bowl. Next time that carb comes out the 120 main jet will be swapped with something bigger. Will be doing the needle shim mod too.

Once the carb was done it was time to start "decrustifying". Most of the chrome trim has surface rust. My wife wanted something different and mentioned black before I could ask her, fine by me its kinda what I wanted to do anyway. It gets expensive and hard to find non rusty bits and I like painting/cutting/sculpting on cheap used beat up plastics.

I used a wire brush and then cleaned it as best I could then sprayed it up with some plasti-dip. Came up ok all in all.

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This will be fixed when I give the bike a respray. Paint is generally good - scrapes on guard from the bike going down. On top of the tank there is paint fade.
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...pszud0aya9.jpg

Having a think about what to do with the corrosion on the engine cases. Polish it, black it or metal cast purple. I'm thinking purple myself. Will be using white exhaust wrap for the headers.

Anyway here are the rear shocks, the trim on the rear fender and the handlebars in plasti-dip black
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And then all back together. Perfect day - warm and no wind at all.

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Boy that ocean air sure does a number on metal. Do the cars you drive present the same challenge?
Big improvement just blacking out the chrome.

A black rust proof paint might be the ticket in NZ.

I've had some minor corrosion on my "plastic classic" Car, 1989 Mazda 626 GT - aka Ford Telstar TX5. Mainly in the rear arches some by the windscreen. I've treated it all with Por-15 years ago and so far no problems.

My family car - 2006 Ford Falcon wagon has next to no rust. Slight surface on a couple of doors due to a below average repair but its nothing that rust killer can't fix.

The silver Nissan is my inlaws - I was house sitting for them when I was doing the bike. They let me drive it around. I missed my cars - both are lowered, just regular low with nice tyres. The Nissan just was not my thing at all, too high and a CVT that felt like it belonged in a scooter (nothing against scooters - that's what got me into bikes!)

I'm hoping I can do some parts shopping this weekend for the GZ. It needs a really good clean up so I'll get some muck-off and see how the frame is. Hopefully its good enough to just need some touch ups,and doesn't need to have everything stripped for a full paint. But if so, not bothered I did all that with my Yamaha.

Yesterday I did a few small things the main one it needed was the needle shim. It seems a bit happier now.

Found a hole in the header which I'll fix with some exhaust cement.

White heatwrap on the headers which looks better than rust.

Flaming chopper mirriors which are not mounted properly because factory mounts are rusted solid.

Purple Dupli-Color metalcast paint (looks anodized) On the upper engine shrouds. Looks funny because I need sandpaper to fix the corrosion on the lower cases but once done it should be better.

Couldn't find a GZ250 front fender but I have a VL250 front one coming. It will be a cut and plastic weld job and it will be going on the back.

I have a slash cut 16" rear muffler coming too. I want to get it welded if I can but depends on how much as this is a diy fun low budget build.

Waiting on the HFA 3503 Air filter. And then it will be time to get some jets. And some steel bracing so I can make my own saddlebag mounts.
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RCC, is the hole in the header at the very bottom? There is suppose to be a moisture drain hole to prevent rust build up.

Yeah it sure is. I didn't realize that,good thing I didn't gum it up. Has another leak just past the heat shield which hopefully is fixed with the new muffler

So I have everything performance wise apart from the jets. Found a guy who will weld the muffler for $60 (NZ). Finding part numbers for the jets is proving a hassle. I'm following Jamie's thread, so looking for a #140 and #145 main jet http://www.gz250bike.com/forum/showthread.php?t=551 And sticking with Stage 1. Needle clip is already moved. Can't do much until I have the jets sorted out.