So my drz is (was) a 2004 DRZ400SM that was like this:
Shortly after I bought the bike, as a DRZ450SM, the engine seized. During the rebuild it turned out that the bike was in fact a 420 and not a 450
. Jurgen aka LeCap did the rebuild, I instructed him to replace the head with an Athena 400cc head and piston kit (Athena heads have bigger water channels and this stay cooler)
During the rebuild LeCap decided it was ok to weld a damaged crank and reuse it without telling me which resulted eventually in the crank coming apart and causing the engine to seize
So I decided to take my time and rebuild the bike into a full blown dirt version, I was planning to race the bike in the Botswana 1000 next year June.
Pic of the welded crank failure
Had a long back and forth with him and eventually decided it wasn't worth the effort to peruse any legal action as most of our correspondence was via phone and not email
Any how so I decided I would replace every single part in the engine that was even remotely out of spec or had any damage, I had Mario from DirtRider do the rebuild and I have nothing but praise for his work. He is a meticulous master in his craft.
I bought new oil seal kits, gasket kits, Wiseco timing chain, Hot Rods +4mm stroker crank & main bearings. The head was skimmed & barrel honed by Angus from RedLine engineering. Andy660 put me onto him and he does a hell of a good job.
During the rebuild Mario noticed that my water pump needed to be replaced as well as the starter clutch bearing, though its no wonder he picks up issues when you consider this is how he inspects an engine pre-rebuild
The engine is all done and ready to go, with the exception that it is currently dry and and will remain so (under plastic wrap) until the bike goes for its run-in and dyno tune ( In cape town only ever use Julian from SuperBike Solutions aka wrench on the forum)
Some details on the engine as it is currently:
Athena 400cc cylinder head kit, including piston
The head has been ported and gas flowed by TBR (Tim Bosson racing)
HotRods +4mm stoker crank
HotRods main bearings
Wiseco timing chain
HotCams intake cam
All bearings, oil seals, pumps & gaskets have been replaced
Every component is withing its ideal running specification
The auto cam chain tensioner has been changed out for a manual one
cam chain sliders have been replaced
shims changed over to hotcams shims.
In terms of every thing else changed on the bike:
motard wheels have been changed to standard DRZ400E wheels
Both front and back have new AllBalls wheel bearings
Both have the original motard brake disks
Both calipers have been stripped, repainted and serviced. new seals
Brake lines changed to braided hoses
The radiators have been reconditioned and straightened by radiator king
The hoses are to be replaced with silicon radiator hoses (still has to be fitted)
The frame has been stripped to bare metal and checked for stress indicators or rust, then repainted in 5 layers
Swing arm bearings have been replaced (oem), neck bearings have been replaced (AllBalls)
the front forks and rear shock has been serviced and checked by SuperFoxi (best place to go for any suspension work in cape town) Also got the front fork boot dust guards from him.
The electrics have been rewired by Krogs (again only guys to use for electrical work in Cape Town) They also fitted the brand new trail tech Vapor with (dont have any pics of it fitted but this is what it looks like)
I sanded and sprayed all of the plastics (with Krylon fusion) in a matte white and sealed with a gloss finish
Added a IMS 17L Fuel tank, also sprayed but the paint doesn't bond well.
Added Zeta hand guard to the Zeta Hand guard bars
The bike has Zeta fatbars, Zeta two finger unbreakable front brake and clutch lever
I added bar end mirrors, which are clamped on the inside/under of the handle bar. they are convex so they work well
I have a full set of flush mount bright LED indicators
The bike has a new battery, small LED brake light, custom aluminum luggage rack
Seat has been recovered
Foot pegs replaced with wide off-road pegs (it needs a spring fitted)
Air Filter if a TwinAir
The Exhaust is a Yoshimaro-RS2 with full header
The header and heat shield has been ceramic coated in mate satin black (Franky from PoweKote)
The headlight has been changed to a H4 HID
Grips are brand new foam grips, great for longer distance
The CDI is a Yoshimaro racing CDI as such the rev limit has been raised to 11000 rpm
some pics:
I was planning to mount a fairing to the bike for the Botswana 1000, SuperFoxi sells them and would have done all the work mounting it. I would have done the cutting and molding. to get the fairing to fit the tank. this is NOT included with the bike
The bike still needs a chain slider and an oil line spacer, I am having MildDog (Adam) get prices on that for me.
The engine run-in and Dyno tuning still needs to be done by Wrench (Julian @ Superbike Solutions) which will cost around R2000 together.
The reason I am considering selling it that I have moved to Vietnam for an amazing job back mid October. I figured I would ship the bike out here once I had worked out the red tape...... turns out the red tape of fucking insane. Both from a risk of having the bike taken away by the cops here and the cost of bringing it in I figure I am going to be better off selling her
Have a few toys I am working on out this side but this zook was my baby.
Before I left SA i signed over full power of attorney to a good mate whom can facilitate the sale if needs be.
Topic: The DRZ Thread (Read 55278 times)
