Project Z900 A4 - Restoration - Pic Heavy

Pigford · #91 PostAuthor: **Pigford** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 6:04 pm

What make are the tyres :?:

Hinckley · #92 PostAuthor: **Hinckley** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 9:36 pm

Bridgestones, I don't care much for the Avons and I couldn't get Michelins.

Hinckley · #93 PostAuthor: **Hinckley** » Mon Mar 16, 2015 1:19 pm

March week 2.2 update.

Much fun was had over the weekend.
Being too busy during the daytime I found something else to do rather than sleep on Saturday night/Sunday morning!

I had already done a rear wheel dry fit when I measured up the rear sprocket, so installation was a doddle.

I did take some pics of the chain riveting process but they got deleted by accident - needless to say all went well with no drama's.

Chain alignment tool takes the guess work out.

As it happens the marks on the swing arm did align with the tensioners - but better safe than sorry.

Chain guard was fitted with the polished stainless bolts and washers - the guard is the original - so has 39 years of patina!
Rear wheel torqued up - split pin in - chain tension checked.

Job being a good one it was time for a brew and watch Lewis win a fairly boring Grand Pix.

'Yawn'.....

Grand Prix over the rear brake got fitted up and adjusted.
Brake arm and Wear indicator are the originals re-chromed, bolt is a polished stainless item.
Brake rod is a PMC stainless kit.
Torque arm is the original re-chromed, fitting kit is a PMC stainless one.

I then made a start on the Disc's - the nearside was the original and a bit rusty - the replacement for the missing offside was in better condition but a touch later in date.

Both discs were thickness checked - both well in spec.
There was slight surface scoring on both, none were particularly deep so deemed acceptable - no need for a skim.

It was too early to fire up the compressor for the blasting cabinet so half an hour with a wire wheel had to do - the surface rust came off quickly.

With a bit of masking - a coat of Bright Zinc Spray will stop the rust returning - the over spray on the pad area will get wiped off by the pads leaving a neat edge.
I have used clear lacquer for this job in the past - but I have found the modern namby pamby formula we get now peels off in no time.

As this bike will be used and may well get wet - the Zinc Coating is not going to be cosmetically pleasing to the eye - but it will be practical.

All threads were yet again cleaned prior to assembly - all bolts lubricated with alumslip.

Tiredness was beginning to creep in - I found myself torquing up the nearside without fitting the speedo drive!

I couldn't initially find the torque figure for the disc retaining bolts - so I did them the book figure for M10 x 1.25 which is 30lbs/ft - spot on - get in there!!

With the both discs installed - I called it a night/day....

I grabbed a couple of hours kip before embarking on yet another busy day.
Late evening was the only Zed time yet again!

I removed the oil cooler to find the oil cooler take off's are both facing the same direction so I am unable to loop them like I did on the Ltd - so It's back to a standard set up - without one to hand a quick scout on flea-bay showed 16 Euros for a new one from CMS was the way to go.

I then opened the large expensive box from Dave, Ooooh shiney - no gaskets in the fitting kit - bugger! add a set to the CMS order - more bloomin parts.......

In an attempt to at least get something done I asked the wife to help fit the front wheel - for some reason she refused - it was a bit late but really! - sometimes I just don't understand how a woman's mind works......... :roll:

Such Fun

Royalratch · #94 PostAuthor: **Royalratch** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:02 pm

Nice work.

ZedHead · #95 PostAuthor: **ZedHead** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:25 pm

You should have got the copper gaskets Alex. I will send the with the tacho blank tomorrow.

Dave

Is Vic There · #96 PostAuthor: **Is Vic There** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:52 pm

ZedHead wrote:You should have got the copper gaskets Alex. I will send the with the tacho blank tomorrow.

Dave

That's nice of you Dave.

Well done with the resto, luv your work.

Jay1969 · #97 PostAuthor: **Jay1969** » Wed Mar 18, 2015 12:29 am

Excellent attention to detail Alex, does the chain alignment tool do the same
job as the laser chain alignment tool?

~Jay.

Hinckley · #98 PostAuthor: **Hinckley** » Wed Mar 18, 2015 10:31 am

Royalratch wrote:Nice work.

Thanks

ZedHead wrote:You should have got the copper gaskets Alex. I will send the with the tacho blank tomorrow.

Cheers Dave :beer

Is Vic There wrote:Well done with the resto, luv your work.

Thanks, much appreciated :up

Jay1969 wrote:Excellent attention to detail Alex, does the chain alignment tool do the same job as the laser chain alignment tool?

Thanks

They both do the same job - I would imagine the laser would be more accurate as it would go further up the chain - the rod is quite short but I find it long enough - and better still it was cheap!

Hinckley · #99 PostAuthor: **Hinckley** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 2:39 pm

March week 3 update.

Been busy.......

I've been looking for a decent fuel hose for a while.
The usual suspects are too fat - or too thin - or just plain wrong!
So I measured the Id and OD - 6mm Id Hose would do :up

Found this smart looking cotton overbraid hose 6mm ID - Fuel rated - it fits a treat!
Hose clips in the pic are too big - I have ordered some micro clips.
Another item ticked off the list

So, Saturday saw the front wheel go in - with bit of help from the wife - thank you dear XXXXXX

Using a syringe and some silicone hose - the bleeding process began.
Took around an hour to get 99% of the air out.

With a nice firm lever - I left it with some tension overnight.

Sunday saw another couple of goes at bleeding each side - jobs a good un :up

Tick!

Next: Exhausts:
Using hi temp silicone to hold the gaskets that had arrived from sushi - thanks Dave :up

Stay - Stay - Doh! - Stay.....

I squared up the headers - nice and central in the roses and clamped them up.

Both pipes each side came together naturally, no meaningful gap between them, both mount holes lined up well.
The rear connecting hoses between the pipes fitted a treat.
Rear mount bolts lined up exactly on both sides...... both bolts slipped (Oooerr missus!) in without having to touch the pipes.

However there was a gap between the silencers and the rear mountings - exactly 10mm each side.
Both pipes would pull in to the mounts, but this would put tension on the headers - and make the gaps to the axle wrong - bugger!
Some investigation showed the exhaust mount location measurements were spot on, when the frame was jigged they were checked and found to be 280mm centres which they told me was the book spec - Mmmmmm - Bull S**T!!!

After many hours of research I found out just how much trouble these mounts can be with alignment.
I had already measured some other bikes to see what measurements were the norm.
And I found - There is no norm........

Fearing a world of hurt was lurking round the corner - I inserted a bit of threaded bar with some nuts and washers and gently pushed them apart.

I wound them out to 20mm over what I wanted - then wound them back - measurement came back at 286mm.
This gave me 4mm more offside and 2mm nearside.
I wound them out 30mm over and this time it came back to 290mm.
Breathing a sigh of relief and not wishing to push my luck any further by at best cracking the powdercoat - I stopped there.
So I ended up with 5mm more offside and 5mm more nearside - Peachy

The pointer shows where I started. A very risky thing to do - but it paid off.

Pipes back on and we now have a 5mm gap each side as expected.
With this gap, the nearside gap to the axle bolt looks spot on at 20mm.
So wherever they got the 280mm book spec from is probably wrong - or there is a possibility the Doremi pipes have a touch different mounting thickness which would explain why the mounting bolts are at least 5mm too long.

I added some washers as approximate spacers and torqued them up.

Offside looked a tad wide at 5mm worth of washers, the rim measurement came up a tad over at 174mm - so a 4mm spacer will be made.

Nearside looked about right at 5mm worth of washers and gave a rim measurement of 170mm - so a 5mm spacer will be made.

Offside Axle nut to pipe gap was a touch big at 25mm, confirming a smaller spacer is required.

Even lubricated with rubber grease (easy jimmock

) the side stand bung was a pain in the arse to fit - next time I'll fit it before installing the pipes.......

As with the centre stand one..... square peg - round hole comes to mind......

So, now we are looking a little more like it...

Headers now sit right and are equally spaced to the frame rails.

This was a huge sigh of relief as the offside frame rail was bent by a careful previous owner when he fell off.....
Those who have the chromed tubular engine protectors that bolt onto the engine mounts may want to think again - the covers will be easier to replace than straightening the frame! - all that force has to go somewhere!

The offside pipes look a touch too far out - such a lot of fuss over such a small thing

Off the centre stand for the first time -

Off the ramp this weekend - YAY!!!!!

Oh! and I'm definitely not going to mention the blocks of wood under the side stand.......... Yes mate it's definitely for a A4...... lying little scroat......

Such Fun

Jay1969 · #100 PostAuthor: **Jay1969** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 5:27 pm

What's up mate? Who's upset ya?

~Jay.

freddyz1r · #101 PostAuthor: **freddyz1r** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 5:41 pm

Wow, now thats what I call precision :shock:

Very ingenious but simple solution with the threaded bar :up

quality as always :bow

cheerz freddy

Hinckley · #102 PostAuthor: **Hinckley** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 5:54 pm

Jay1969 wrote:What's up mate? Who's upset ya?

~Jay.

Thought I was in quite a good mood considering I did my usual two steps forward - and one step back routine.......

Frightened me self to death when I went to put it on the side stand - I really thought it was going over..... :shock:

I even managed to thank the wife for sitting on the seat - holding the back down so I could slot the front wheel in - C'mon girl - get your arse up ere! (pat pat on the saddle) it was funny :lol:

I must be a bit sick to enjoy doing it so much though, each to their own I suppose - at least it's interesting and I keep learning/forgetting/re-learning :up

Jay1969 · #103 PostAuthor: **Jay1969** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 6:01 pm

I'll put t'kettle on :roll:

~Jay.

Hinckley · #104 PostAuthor: **Hinckley** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 6:12 pm

freddyz1r wrote:Wow, now thats what I call precision
Very ingenious but simple solution with the threaded bar
quality as always
cheerz freddy

Thanks freddy, though most would call that 'obsessive compulsive disorder' :lol:

If the truth be known - I just wanted them to be a mirror of each other and be balanced.
I was extremely grateful to the God of Luck that both hangars moved out equally and didn't snap off or the like - Thank you Lord - Thank you!!

What do they say 'invention is the mother of necessity' - I think it literally translates to 'what have I got that will get me out the poo'
To encourage the spontaneous knowledge and wisdom - copious amounts of tea and a bit of neighbour annoying tunes on the stereo usually does the trick :wink:

Pigford · #105 PostAuthor: **Pigford** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 6:48 pm

That's why they were all ditched, for 4:1's :wink:

Project Z900 A4 - Restoration - Pic Heavy

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