Project Z 1000 St x 3 ?

[Vendetta761]

Right, I thought it best I started off a project thread as I know I will need all the assistance I can get and this will be the best way to move forward.
Please bear with me , I will write a bit of history so you can see where I am coming from and where I would like to get to.
I will also try to grapple with photobucket and will update as often as I can with progress.
I now have 3, yes 3, Z 1000 Sts, ( I bought another one from ebay this week, just cannot help my addiction). I have had 6 in my life but various reasons have made me sell or buy them, however I got my first one in 1990.

She was a bit of a rat but I was just bursting with excitment just to have a Z 1000 at long last after years of wanting one so anythign would do for starters.I did her up best I could, went round Europe 3 x, put on a Marshal, then a Yoshi then a Harris, got knocked off several times, rebuilt her, she was fast and well used going from 20k miles to 45k with new cam chain etc and £1000 + spend on head and valves.

I have not managed to digitise any pix of her then but this:



is the last picture I had of here before I sold her in 2007, she had been sitting out side in the rain for the winter while I was in hospital, . She had been temporality rebuilt just so I could have a bike on the road after a head on smash with pissed Cortina man, so she was in a bit of a state and well neglected.
I had no money and had to get somewhere to live so I sold her as seen on Ebay for £650 .
About 3 years later I was back up and running and had some spare cash so I wanted a Z again so bought this:



Which was a US import and a runner and it put a smile on my face and I was back on the road, it needed some work but I was happy to throw myself and some money at it.
I started looking for parts and bits on ebay as I was not yet a member of Z1OC . After looking for some ST bits, this came up:



Hold on , I recognise those Marzocchis and that Harris and those crash bars etc, this was my old bike! I had to get her back!

Bored you all enough for now and i have not even shown you where I am now!
Suffice to say although I can do a bit of mechanical work [ although you would not have guessed it by any of the previous photos but please bear with me] I want to do this properly now so this project will be my ideas and wish list, tempered by opinions of you wiser Z heads and using [ from now on] only club people and their services or those recommended by them.
I am too old and too busy to do all the things I want to do on the bike and would rather pay someone who knows what they are doing than not do it very well myself. When I say this is a resto / rebuild /project I want to be clear it will be others doing most of the work and getting the credit for it, I am not one of those people who says I did this and that when I did not.

[Ginger Bear]

Interesting tale so far 'V'.

I think a visit with biscuits could be on the cards.

[Vendetta761]

Very likely GB as I am a great fan of your creations, Ralph has already received his Jammy dodgers as promised, biscuits go a long way in my world.

Anyway there I was with a US import in ok condition and my old trusty steed in a right royal mess as the person I had sent it to had tried to do some sort of conversion as could be seen by all the white bits off a Z650 /900 ? and had then left it in a wet barn for another 2 years so it had got even worse ,as if that were possible.
I thought I would sell on the US import and spend the money on my faithful Z, so I did the import up as best as I could in the time allowed having swapped as many of the good bits onto my Z.

Here was the import before I sold her:



So I started work on my Z , christened by my biker mates as Olive for some reason, stripped everything off and just then I got a call from Ferret of Elektrical fame. I had called him 2 years earlier to help with the U.S import and he was now in the neighbourhood and free(?). I thought Olive could do with the best treatment so booked in for a complete rewire, top to bottom.

Sorry no pixs but he did a top class job, a little pricer than we had originally discussed but fair considering the replacements required.
Whilst this was going on and I was scouring ebay for parts [still had not found Z1OC again ] and saw an old ratted ST in Norwich that someone had tried a Mad Max job on and thought I would buy that for bits and bobs as it would work out cheaper [it had an almost brand new Harris on for starter].
So back to 2 x STs again, my Olive with new wiring, things were looking up. .
Then I got a letter form the DVLC saying my Z was not what it appeared to be and the reg number was not mine and it needed to be re registered on a Q plate. 6 months of letters, phone calls and toing and froing later it transpires that my Z was a ringer and all the years I had ridden her, registered her, been nicked for speeding, had her stolen,recovered, repaired etc had never revealed that the frame number was dodgy. It was the same as another bike in Guilford that had just been registered with the same reg plate , I got the paint off the headstock and the frame number did look a little suspect now I looked at it closely. Bugger and blast !
Q plate was NOT an option so that was that, my engine and all the lovely new wiring would have to come off the bike and onto the frame of the Mad Max bike.

Then I thought if I am going to all this trouble, I might as well do it properly and go the whole hog, powdercoat the frame, get the engine rebuilt, new /restored as much as possible etc etc. I had to work out what sort of look I wanted as it was never going to be back to standard so i tried a couple of options out with the bits I had 1st.







finally settled on something like this:



I know those Brembos on the front are not right but they were what was on the MadMax doner bike so they will stay until I find replacements.
I got the lump out the frame , just, wish I had joined Z1OC as if I had I would not have broken my finger and it would have been a lot easier .
I sent the engine off to Royston at REPS racing in South Wales as this was the onyl person I knew down here at the time and he had done some work on my US import which was very good and he is a top bloke into the bargain.

I had seen the light joined Z1OC was beginning to read threads, projects and ask questions and recieve kindly answers, thanks to all.

I welded up the rear frame with a new section to replace what had been previously chopped and repaired the rear shock mounts where it had rotted away and then packed the frame, yokes etc of to Griffs for powder coating in Satin Black.

Front forks have gone off to REVs suspension services for rechrome ,servicing and painting.

[Z1parR]

Good tale Adam , by the way nice pics mate

[freddyz1r]

Keep it up V.
This is gonna be my new late night reading

[Vendetta761]

Thanks both , will get a bit better shortly I hope!

anyway, 1st batch of not too shiny things gone of to Mikey for his amazing shiny treatment [ fab collection of bikes by the way Mike, specially the GPZ 900 you asked me to tell Ralph about ].

Then looking on ebay again for a couple of bits and bobs and this turned up, in Bristol, just around the corner so I had to get it didnt I ?



It seems to be all there, is running on 3 but I figure a carb strip and ignition service may be all it needs, 31k on the clock..
So , back up to 3 Z-STs now.
Jammy Dodgers and 2 sets of carbs gone to Ralph @ VDUK for a strip and rebuild whilst I try to sort the brake callipers out .The Marzocchis were looking old and V tired so these have gone to Ralph as well to see if he can do his magic, perhaps they can rise again but they look pretty far gone.
Does anyone have a spare set of Marzocchis they might want to trade as the new Z may want a pair ?

New ST [ now to be known as V-Z due to reg plate etc] has strange carb set up, all my previous STs, ever, have all had petrol feed into centre of carbs [ in between 2 and 3] but this has a T split that feeds between 2&3 and 3&4, same carbs but maybe off another bike?

More Pix to follow shortly..

[Ginger Bear]

Carbs could be Z1000A1 with fuel feed like that.

[sanderz]

Keep it up V.
This is gonna be my new late night reading

Same here, stick with it and keep posting

[Vendetta761]

Right, where are we?

ST No.1.
Frame is back from Griffs, engine still with REPS waiting for parts from Z-power, forks with REVS, some dull bits with Mikey getting the shiny treatment, Marzocchis with Ralph @ Vison but they may be too far gone so I will put an ad in Wanted later. The rest of the bits are all there, the tank, side planels and tail piece waiting to be painted but am unsure of the right colour, White, Olive green or something else? got time to think about that one but suggestions welcome.

ST No 2. " Olive"
Frame is a right off, swing arm and bevel box and some other bits salvageable, Engine ok, still in frame awaiting a possible frame from Geoff if I can sort out pick up [another Wanted thread ?]. Tank , side panels and tail piece all in poor nick, was thinking of a Burgundy red, is that an original Z colour? Forks are pitted, brakes are ok except for the front master cylinder which appears to be weeping from the viewing window, how do I get that out and back in ? Rear shocks ok but old and tired , again Marzocchis would be good..

ST No 3.
I bought this with the idea of having something running this summer until one of the rebuilds of No's 1&2 were ready but after initially running on 2/3 , I now cannot get her started at all.
I have swapped the carbs and then noticed the kill switch action was a bit soft
and so I took it off for inspection and :


there was nothing inside. I am going to swap Olives one tonight and see if that makes any odds but I fear the rest of the wiring needs to be sorted properly. About time I bought a multimeter and found out how to use it me thinks.

[Vendetta761]

Ha ha, look what arrived today!


Z1parR kindly traded his spare ST frame and lots of lovely ST bits to add to my collection. ( thanks Geoff, several beers I owe you too!)
This means I can transplant Olive into Z1parR's W reg Z frame and Olive will live again, a phoenix from the flames!

Lovely white wheels may force my hand for Z No:1 rebuild, frame is powder coated black, white wheels , tank and panels, maybe with a black stripe ?
I was going to put the tidy black and grey tank [ same as Jeffs ]and side panels from new V reg Z on

I think Redbeard bagsied Olives old frame for some project which he is welcome to , but now I have 3 bikes in the garageand no room to move!
Best get something moving....

So :
ST No.1. Engine is back from REPS in 2 weeks and that can go into satin black frame from Griffs and it can have the white wheels for now to see how it looks.

ST No.2 (Olive) will be parked up next to No.1 and all the new wiring will be transplanted to No.1. Engine will then be transplanted to Wreg Z frame along with running gear and 2nd hand Marzocchis I am bidding on on ebay.
Olive ex frame then to go to new home.

PLEASE TELL ME IF YOU ARE BIDDING ON ANY MARZOCCHIS so we dont start a costly bidding war? Happy to back down if i know its a Z1OC member.

ST.No.3 ( VZ), still wont start, swapped coils, kill switch and carbs so am now looking into points as there is a spark on each plug, perhaps the timing is out.

Hope to have a bit of time over the weekend to get stuck in so will update next week.

[Redbeard]

Yes please Adam, I'm still after Olive's frame as and when you are ready to let it go. Enjoying the thread by the way. And burgundy red was standard to the ST, there was also a dark green and black/grey.

[Vendetta761]

Been too hot to do much and I am doing double shifts at work to try to pay for all this so been a little busy, however:

ST No.1 No change, still awaiting engine back from Royston.

ST No.2 ( Olive) No change

ST No.3 (VZ) ,still not firing up, cleaned carbs, plugs, swapped coils, HT leads now thought I would take a gander at points and this was there.

.

Not what I expected, its a DynaS and I have no experience with these, Z1OC threads say they may or may not burn up coils and the ones on VZ are not Dyna so I may swap Olives again to see what is what, really need to get some tuition on a multimeter as I am a bit blind here, the plugs spark but maybe not enough or at right time?
Have asked Ralph if he can help as he is just around t'corner and has a strobe.

ST No.4 (WZ0 [care of Z1parR] , thought I would dress her up a bit while waiting and too hot to do much else.:

Bare frame:


Z650 ? tank on top of lugs:



Z 650? tank below lugs:


Knackered 900 /1000 ducktail:


Z650 ? tail:



Short seat Z 650? tail:


Think I like this last one best, starting to look right and by Mr De Havilland's words " if it looks right it normally is", think WZ will be a sort of fastback type thing, in a class of its own eventually.

[Al]

Odd but i genuinely prefer the first photo at the top of the page.

Do you have the Dyna 'S' set-up / install details?
There are quite a few mechanical checks you can do with the 'S' setup that will make a difference. The most important of which is the measurement of the distance between the embedded magnet and the face of each pickup.

They like clean too.

Advance and retard functioning correctly and strongly too?
If you take it apart have a look to see if the thrust washer (shim) is still in place behind the moving part of the mechanism and atop the baseplate.
They can split resulting in false confirmation of the A&R units working correctly.

I have heard people say that they need to be seperately earthed at the baseplate but i didnt so cant confirm this as a genuine benefit.

By the look of the position of the pickup plate i would say the timing is probably near enough.
Wear in the A&R unit gives a progressively more and more retarded 'zero' point leading to retarding of the pickup plate. Eventually you will find yourself 'dragging' the holes in the pickup plate to compensate.

Needless to say; the pickups need to be exactly 180 degrees apart.

If it bangs in the carburettors and pops at the same time in the exhaust when trying to start it; reverse the Dyna connections to the coils or if easier, lift the rotor with magnet out of the mechanism and turn it 180 degrees and replace it there.

If youre doing electrical tests there is a trip hazard when the magnet happens to be exactly opposite the relevant pickup.
It will give a different reading than you would expect. For me this falsely confirmed the death of my first Dyna 'S' when in reality it is a matter of varying resistance at that point.

Install instructions available here. DS2-1 i think
http://www.dynaonline.com/skins/downloads/Default.aspx
http://www.dynaonline.com/skins/downloads/Default.aspx





AL

[Vendetta761]

Thanks Zorded, nothing odd there, that was Olive is her final phase, fast and well used but left out in all weathers due to no alternative at the time so side panels had been nicked and replaced with mismatch ones as you can see.

Glad you like that best as so do I, my body shape just does not fit high bars so Vincent flats were the only answer, very comfy for long tours around France and Germany thats for sure and far easier to hang onto and control at high speeds..

Thanks for Dyna info ,very, very, much appreciated will get onto that tonight and at weekend and see what I can move forward

[Vendetta761]

Right, a day off and 1st chance to get into the garage for a long while!
Engine ready for pick up from Royston @ REPS today so making some room in the tiny garage now stuffed with 4 x STs.
Thought I better make W-Z into a rolling chassis just to be able to make some space:



Some tweeks required, clip ons are wrong, still trying to find a set of 40mm i/ds ones that look right, any suggestions anyone?

I now have 2.5 sets of Marzocchis Stradas, my old set that are seized and knackered, going to go onto fleabay for spares and another recon set that are great apart from idiot me tried to press in a replacement nylon bush [could not find rubber/steel so bush man recommended this] and then cracked the eye in doing so. Crofty has [thank you] sent me some more Marzocchi spares and i am saving up for Mr Dorans spare sets so I hope to be able to cobble 2 sets together if at all possible.

Off to get rebuilt engine and see if my neighbour can help me lift Griffs powdercoated frame over and into place.....