Z650 restoration
Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:53 pm
Had my new bike delivered on Saturday, mainly in boxes, but at least the engine and the wheels are in the frame! The engine's been painted, which saved Ralph the job of taking it apart - or so he thought - but having taken the points cover off we discovered that someone had "filled" what we can only assume was accident damage, with something akin to hardened chewing gum! At first Ralph thought we'd be looking at buying a new bottom end, but then he put his old aircraft engineer's head on and "fettled" new bits of ally, used dozens of rivets and plastered it all over with some "proper" filler. Whilst this was going on I put lots of bits of rusty metal (foot pegs, brake, gear lever etc) on the wire wheel. They've come up a treat and I've put the first coat of black paint on them. Also took the carbs off, and having been shown how to strip down one, stripped the other three myself. Unfortunately the disposable silicone gloves which Ralph uses are two sizes too big for me, so I had to resort to the old fashioned bare hand and Swarfega method. I will have to get some gloves - cheaper than a daily manicure! Next job is cleaning and polishing the carbs (unless Ralph gets bored and decides to do them for me!)
Ralph took photos and assures me he'll post just as soon as I get this thread started!
Ralph took photos and assures me he'll post just as soon as I get this thread started!