Z1OwnersClub GB

Following on from the section New Here? here is my bike story, bought last year here in Germany. After reading some of the incredible projects and the amazing technical skills displayed here on this site, I have to point out I have no welder , no lathe , no garage and a limited budget !
My aim is not for a perfect original B2 but a very clean useable one with a few mods.
Originally I thought it would be a rolling resto but after a very short amount of time and a big oil leak it became obvious that a lot more work was needed.
After removing the cam cover I could see the exhaust cam had run dry
their were no valve clearances on the inlet side and a few cam cap threads had been stripped.



Worse was the streched cam chain the brittle guides and the worn pistons on last oversize. Lots of black goo was also present .



Next I turned to the chassis unfortunately not much better.
Steering head bearings shot ( What a pig to remove from stem )



Front fork seals leaking oil on to brake pads
Worn bushes in the forks
Bent rear engine mount which meant I couldn't remove the sprocket cover
Filed away caps on forks / front wheel spindle due to stripped threads on the studs
Leaking rear shocks
All on a bike with a new TUV ( german mot valid for 2 years ) that the previous careful owner had owned for 11 years !!

The electrics worked and were ok apart from a bit of loom tape and a couple of connectors but the coils had seen better days



At this point I nearly put the whole lot for spares on E bay.

But I didn't .

The engine was stripped and taken to a Kawasaki specialist to be fitted with a Wiseco kit and generally checked out and I started in the cellar on the rest of it.



I decided to put the original wheels and swing arm back on it and as the frame and paintwork was actually ok it only needed touching up cutting back and polishing.



To be continued.........

That will be a thing of beauty.

You said

Put the original wheels back in

So did it run on different wheels and forks ? If so, what happened to them ?

Cheers,
Greg

Hi Richard,
Glad to see you resisted the temptation to sell her for spares- I'm sure she will be back to her former glory before you know it. Good luck with the rebuild, I'm looking forward to reading the thread!

Keep at it Richard it will be worth it in the end. Nice to see a few of the early GPZ1100's being restored.

I just put my B2 back on the road its not a mint bike but
its tidy enough

so I know where You are going with this good luck

Nanno,
Yes it did have other wheels on it when I got it . I must be one of the few people in the world who took an 18 inch front wheel off and replaced it with a 19 inch !
There was a reason ,firstly the rear wheel took a 180 section back tyre and the bike ran an offset front sprocket and everything was all much too close with the chain run ,frame and tyre for my liking . Also I didn't like the look of the Fischer wheels much , a little bit like Astralites but not my cup of tea .



Finally I had seen a few go on E bay for reasonable money and with money tight I bunged them on to see what happened. I nearly fell off my chair at the end of the auction when I got €760 for the pair which would help significantly with the engine rebuild.

That's exactly what I wanted to say, those special period wheels go for super-silly money in good ol' Germany. Especially as Fischer is a) as rare as hens teeth and b) it's quite easy to get them in the German papers.

But judging by the picture they were in quite nice nick to be honest...

Cheers,
Greg

Ok update on my project.



Collected rebuilt engine but had to completely dismantle rolling chassis again to get it out of the cellar. That was everything in pieces because I wanted to lay the frame over the motor.



And with a bit of help from the wife



Then heave it upright get it onto the centre stand and it looks a bit like a bike again



Next forks and wheels



After a real struggle with cold hands and hard rubbers the injection and
electrics are on !!



Not so keen on original rear mudguard so made up new section and kept original uncut



Bought some Konis on ebay to replace leaking originals



Unable to help my sad obsession bought a B1 in boxes very cheap. Now beginning to realise just how many parts are not the same as on a B2.
Never mind I am nearly there with mine and it will come in useful for spares.




My brother has now joined me in my madness. I found his B2 that he sold in 1992 on ebay uk and of course he had to have it back so that is also in pieces being rebuilt



All I need now is a few more days of this super weather and I should have mine running.
Wish me luck.

Good luck with the final push to the end Richard and keep the pictures coming.

Well done mate,bike looks fantastic.Good to see your brother in on the act as well.

Good to see so many people interested in the later air cooled bikes these days . It wasn't long ago they only had a very limited following ( apart from the R of course )

Looks fantastic Richard, nice to see GPZ's and J's being restored and kept in their proper colours as so many have been "Lawsoned" over the years. Don't get me wrong I love the Lawson bikes but nice to see some originals

Good luck Richard. I'm watching with interest.

Keep it going Richard nearly there now!!

That's looking very good.