gtenginerd wrote on 02/08/21 at 16:17:00:

Lincoln makes a good welder.  My question was more about whether you use gas or flux core wire in your machine, apologies did not being specific.  Gas will give much cleaner welds, but costs more.  Thanks for the photos, they answered my other question, about whether you were cutting the frame or not, and whether your subframe was going to be bolted or welded on.  Great photos and progress, thanks for sharing!

Great progress, it's coming along nicely! Looking forward to your next update, keep the pictures coming!

I meant to ask you this before, what seat are you using? It looks good!

@edub: Tuffside Seat with upswept tail and rear band stitching.
https://www.tuffside.com/2-Tone-Universal-Brat-Seats-p/tuff_uni_flatseat.htm

@Gary: I went down a rabbit hole on the connectors and naming...long story short, the aviators are recent chinese design (withholding comment) adopted by folks here doing custom usb cable design. They've worked well for me so far.

Update: Not much progress. I actually went backwards some. I made an aluminum plate with a mount for the connectors and it works great. The issue was I got too excited and didn't double check everything before going out for a ride. The new license plate mount didn't have enough clearance with all the travel the new rear shocks provide, and I hadn't gotten locknuts for the screws holding it. Mid ride I heard something and looked down. The mount was dangling right above the tire from the electric cable. Pulled over, disconnected electrical using the trusty new aViAtOr ConNeCtoR   and came on home. I ended up heating up the aluminum bar stock I used for the mount and bending it to get the extra clearance. Put it back together, turned the key and saw smoke come out of the license plate light. I should have check the connection to the light after the stressed from dangling. The wires were stripped and shorted out. No license plate light atm.   on the bright side, I love the bike. It's really fun to ride and I can't wait until I can get the rearsets on.

Brake line this weekend, rear wheel gets here next Friday. May enjoy it/ride it some before trying the rearsets. Replace the tires and put on rear wheel and do rear sets in a few months.

The only question I have today...could I have screwed something up when swapping the front springs over to the racetech springs? They're stiff as can be and almost hurts to go over railroad tracks. I put the right amount of fork oil and cut spacers as directed.

Gary’s asking the right questions, of course! I’ll have to re-read your posts, I don’t recall if you got the cartridge emulators or not.  They are adjustable, which may help, but the spring rate is a critical first step, before playing with damping rates.  Did you measure your static sag after installing the new springs? If so, what did you get? This may help experts much smarter than me help diagnose the issues.

Looking good overall.  Sorry to hear about your clearance issue, but it’s good the damage wasn’t worse.  I thought that might have been one of Craig Chappell’s Tuffside seats.  They look really well made, although I’ve never sat in one. Is it reasonably comfortable?

gtenginerd wrote on 03/05/21 at 11:06:06:

@Gary, They are Model # FRSPS3234080 - 0.80 Spring Rate. I'm 175#, 180# after a long weekend. I called and talked to their technical sales guy and gave him all the info and he said for my weight I should cut the spacers flush with the top of the tube. No cartridge emulators...yet.

I think RaceTech suggested the wrong springs. I used the FRSP S2938070 springs on my bike. I too weigh 175-180 and the part number I noted are 0.70kg/mm springs. I also think the FRSPS32340XX might be a bit too large...but the S2938070 series only goes up to 0.75kg/mm - so if the tech miscalculated the rate...that would lead him to the larger spring. The ID of the fork tubes is 33mm and you have installed 32mm springs. For reference the OEM springs are 29mm (as are the part number I've used). Anyway...

When you spoke with Racetech, did you tell them that your Savage was much lighter then the OEM bike? Just by loosing the rear fender assembly you shaved about 40 pounds from the bike - that is significant. My cafe racer weighs in the 295 pound range, and 290-300 seems to be fairly typical of the genre'.

I think the preload suggestion is a correct starting point...for springs of the correct rate. Edub asks the correct question, what is the static sag and race sag. You should see about 35-40mm of race sag and 10-15mm of static sag. Read post #4 of my suspension set-up thread => http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1498156004

My suggestion, return those springs for the part number I noted above. Preload with 15mm. I would use a larger air gap then the OEM suggestion of 75mm. I would suggest 100mm for now, and 140mm after you install the GVE's.

3 inches of static sag? Something is very wrong. Are you sure you had 15mm of preload? The OEM springs are 394mm in length. The springs you installed are 340mm in length (FRSPS3234080). Did you cut new spacers that were at least 54mm (2 inches) longer than the original spacer?

Based on the diameter, free-length and rate - I would replace those springs with FRSP S2938070 springs. BTW, I just checked racetech's site and they now offer the 29380 series springs in rates from 0.70 up to 0.95 kg/mm.

BTW, more bad news, those fork stanchions are pitting and need to be re-chromed or replaced. They will eat through your fork seals in short order. You can try polishing them with 00 steel wool, but they look a bit too far gone in my opinion.  At the very least, polish the ones you have, and when the fork seals fail you can install new tubes with the seals.

Put your new springs next to the old ones, that's how much longer the spacer needs to be.