Z1100ST Resto +

[Z1parR]

Design is good Ralph , but for me a darker blue

[Ginger Bear]

Just need some blue lights to go with it.......

[RALPHARAMA]

The colour of the new blue isn't dissimilar to the candy on the side panel. The blue if the tank was just quickly fudged in Photoshop.

[RALPHARAMA]

Jak came round tonight and persuaded me to stick some petrol in the carbs and press the magic button. She made a huge amount of noise, but sounded pretty sweet

[RALPHARAMA]

I've spent pretty much all of Easter working on other people's bikes ... but the money will help me finish this project Completely re-wired a ZX6-R cos Bike "Care" in Bristol burned out his loom and fitted a brand new genuine Kawasaki main harness to an ELR for a new club member. Also Had to fit a difficult helicoil etc etc. Nice bike though ... I want one

It seems ages ago, but I had to buy a new battery, as was proved when I tried to start her The way this project has gone I was never going to get away with that one I spose. Cost me an arm and a leg as it's like a bloody tractor battery



The Harris finally came back from from being re-plated, but I'm disappointed with the quality of the plating.



And the bloody baffle came back not plated at all - I gather from Jak that this is par for the course with Harris comp baffles We are not amused It's now in Mikey's safe hands



As with everything on this project, the cutting of the masks went pete tong - my vinyl cutter fucked it right up, so I got a mate to re-cut them for me.



Having fitted the exhaust, I realised that I hadn't made a stop for the centre stand, so got busy with the jig saw and a bit o 3mm 316 plate. I made a card template first to ensure it would work and then transferred it to the stainless.



I then blew some sparks at it with the TIG and finished it with a satin mop.



Here's a couple o pix of it in place





Having paid good money to have two tail light brackets powder coated, I finally changed my mind and used an old Z1A tail light and bracket I had in my stash. It was a bit poxy, but it cleaned up to an acceptable standard.



I emptied the last of a rattle can of primer over the bracket after giving it a glass bead shower. I had intended to two pack black it, but I really couldn't be arsed to set up all the gear for one bloody bracket, so I chucked it in the van when I went off to paint the rest of the stuff.



After ages of looking, I finally found someone with a nice warm spray booth willing to hire it to me for a few well used notes. My old mate Johnny Hopkins came along to see how the untalented and unprofessional go about painting bike bits In the booth they had all sorts of gear for hanging car doors and stuff which we great. The lighting was much better than the booths I have used in the past, but most importantly it was warm



I remembered painting all the parts myself, but John seems to have photographed some bald bloke



I stuck the masks on over the silver base coat the night before at home ...



... and then sprayed the blue base coat over that ...



... once I had covered all the parts with base coat, I had to remove all the masks, which was a seriously fiddly job ...



... looked OK, mostly ...



... with the final coats of the base coat, I just lightly dusted the surface, as Jak suggested, so that the flakes of metallic stick up for a really good sparkle ...



... then it was onto the 2 pack clear coat, which is properly poisonous shite so John wedged himself into the corner away from it's evil mist and less photos were taken I never remember to take any when I'm painting ...



... Once I had finished painting I flicked the magic switch and the booth became an oven and baked the paint so that I could take it home. Fast drying doesn't help the finish, but as I was painting on the Thursday, I couldn't have collected my work 'til tomorrow, so baking was the only option. The following day I flatted with 2000grit, compounded and polished the paint and I am pretty happy with it. It's not up to the standards of the likes of Hutchy, but I've seen far worse produced by so called pros and even bike manufacturers

Here's the finished tail light ...



... and here's of the whole bike ...





I haven't fitted the front mudguard as I have to take the front tyre off, yet again as apparently the heavy duty inner tube I fitted isn't suitable for road use

Today I restored the fuel tap and sender unit. I had to get the old chemistry set out to re-plate a few bits I've ordered some silver tank badges from a fellow in the States. I must decide what to do about the seat. I have the base finished - I welded that up the Christmas before last ... but the foam is shite and I'm not really sold on the cover I got. Problem is that they weren't popular bikes, so the chances of getting a new or even pattern foam is close to nil I would imagine

[tlc]

That's seriously impressive stuff Ralph.

[HARRY4448]

I am very impressed with your determination and perseverence with all the many issues you've been facing.
I definately wouldn't have been able to deal with all the awkward problem solving you've managed to overcome.
Love the photos of the spray job. I wish I had a spray booth like that. Maybe a bit smaller though.
One the size of a downstairs loo would probably do me.

Very very impressed.

It seems as if its nearly on the road.

[Z1parR]

Great prep work there Ralph , and that bald bloke made a good job with the top coats too

[steve bowdler]

Very nice Ralph look forward to seeing it in the flesh at the SW rally better than that HD of yours

[paul doran]

Ralph You are nearly there
the end result will be worth all the aggro You have had

[Big Fluff]

You're going to get so much attention over that shaftie Ralph. Very well done mate, you've never let anything beat you on this rebuild.
Look fwd to seeing it in the flesh, or on the club stand!

[Fred the Zed]

I'm getting all nostalgic.. I bought an imported Z1100 shaftie with 3.5k miles on it in 94...absolutely mint example. By the time I sold it 18 months later, I'd crashed it, blown it up, learned how to wheelspin it at 70 in the wet, boiled the brakes, had it completely sideways (two up) at Windy Corner on Mad Sunday and put another 20k miles on it. I then sold it for £50 more than I'd paid for it. Those were the days!

Fred

[Ginger Bear]

I'm getting all nostalgic.. I bought an imported Z1100 shaftie with 3.5k miles on it in 94...absolutely mint example. By the time I sold it 18 months later, I'd crashed it, blown it up, learned how to wheelspin it at 70 in the wet, boiled the brakes, had it completely sideways (two up) at Windy Corner on Mad Sunday and put another 20k miles on it. I then sold it for £50 more than I'd paid for it. Those were the days!

Fred

I think this must be the one Ralph has ended up with...

[mikey]

Saw this in the flesh good friday (what was good about it i don't know)
but the pics don't do it justice it truly is stunning looks like a brand new bike

[RALPHARAMA]

The shaftie continued to give grief all the way.

Mikey did a wonderful job of chroming the baffle end. Apparently it doesn't matter if race baffles rust so there's no need to plate them

When I started it, I realised the ticking sound that I had heard when running with no baffles wasn't a leaking header, but emanated from the alternator Also there was an entirely un-related problem that there was no power from the AC phases coming from the alternator. SO I ordered a new gasket, a new set of windings, and with full pessimism, a reg/rec. On this bike anything that could be fucked, has been fucked, so assuming that the reg/rec was still living was probably too optimistic.





It turned out that the lumpy bit on the edge of the rotor was catching the cable guard bit. I modified the cable shield and it cleared OK.

Finally I got my new shocks and a new seat foam. Making the seat was a bit challenging , but I managed it OKish; it's not quite straight at the back, but it'll do. It's defo comfortable

The new shox are gorgeous - they're supa sexy.

I took her down for MOT on Thursday and she flew threw. I had a carburation problem where she wouldn't come off the throttle. At first I thought it was an air leak, and then I though perhaps the slides were sticking. I wound the pilot screws back out a bit and raised the needles and she is much better now. With soo few miles on a new motor, I'll have to be patient and let her bed in. She gives a good puff of smoke on start up which clears straight away which pisses me off considering I replaced all the guides, most of the valves and fitted viton stem seals She pulls like a train and the handling is far better than I expected and she is well comfy.