Edit: since this is becoming a build thread, I'll start going back and adding any important details of how I've gotten to where I am now. For now, I'll replace the starting carb pic with a pic of the bike the day my dad dropped it off. He's getting older and riding less. He needed some space in his garage, so I was the lucky recipient of the bike he rarely rode.

Seat, tank, carb, battery box, air box muffler and header all off yesterday.

Today I rejetted the carb to 50/150, and cleaned it as well as possible. First question: I read something about a white spacer and a washer mod, but couldn't find details. Wut y'all talkin' 'bout?

Got the K&N cone filter dry fitted to the carb.

I was looking into removing the rear fender, but didn't have anything to label the electrical wires, so I stopped. Second question: what's the thing that looks like a heat sink between the fender and seat? Does that need to remain?

Cognito Moto rearsets came in, so I'm looking into building the rearset brackets. Planning to get bar and tube stock, make all the pieces and have a custom metal shop down the street do the welding.

Last question: Anyone have suggestions for a battery box?

Thanks Gary...

Started the winter project I'd been asking questions about over the past few months.

Trying to do a scrambler/brat style seat (see pic of it laid on bike). I've got the seat loop and seat, just need to figure out what to do once the rear fender is off. Moving the foot controls, and maybe an 18" rear wheel are all that's planned other than that. Hopefully done in time to ride again when it warms up.

Ok, now that I see what you are doing, why not build an electronics box for the battery, R/R and start solenoid that you can mount under the seat. All you need is some .032 aluminum, a workbench bending brake and some pop rivets.

That rear fender assembly is about 40 pounds and worth eliminating if you can. The bike will have a nice clean look without it.

@Slowlane, love the battery idea. Seeing the picture doesn't do justice for the size. Size, weight, and orientation flexibility, make that an obvious choice for my application.

@Gary, I'd thought about getting a piece of stainless used for kitchen backslashes and doing the same thing. It's .02 thickness instead. Is that a bad idea?

@Mike, thanks. That's helpful. I got the carb kit from lancer and am guessing that's what the 3 random washer were, lol.

“@Mike, thanks. That's helpful. I got the carb kit from lancer and am guessing that's what the 3 random washer were, lol.”

The 3 washers are to replace the white plastic spacer, use 2 or 3 depending on the needs of your engine, depending on whether your engine is stock or modified and the altitude of your location and your weather.
Your exhaust system is a major factor as well. The better it flows the more fuel needed if you have a heavy throttle hand like mine is from time to time.  
It happens.  😎🏍

On page 5 of my DRZ build thread (linked below) you’ll see the under seat electronics box I made for this build. I was able to fit a Battery Tender branded LiFePO4 battery in this box that is about the size of two stacks of playing cards in size. This little battery spins the bike up perfectly.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1484061156/60

gtenginerd wrote on 01/19/21 at 18:48:03:

Can the r/r be mounted to the bottom of the box?

It most certainly can. That's a great spot for it.

Good start there.  General rules are that you want create a straight line of some sort with the seat and tank.  In a perfect world the end of your seat or some other part of body work will line up over the rear axle.  This doesn't mean that you can't take liberties, these things lead to a better looking bike.

I didn't use the stock rear brake cable.  I found a set of pegs and controls from an XS400 and just made them fit.

I more or less stole all of the best ideas I could find on here and made it as simple as I could.  I broke it down into smaller chunks and made sure it was operational along the way.  I didn't touch my stock forward controls or kickstand until I had the seat and tank in place.   I didn't do the seat and tank until I had the suspension done.  I did most of my jetting before I even started my build.  The worst thing to do is take everything apart and not get it put back together.