Restoring a z650 - first restoration and breaking the rules.

[mothra]

Thanks Pigford - it feels like it's taking forever, but when you bundle up a load of progress like that it feels good.

I need to have it done April so I can come on social with you lot...

TLC, I promised a centre stand! Actually, that proved a pain in the backside, I had to track down a replacement, but I really wanted one. In terms of exhausts I'd bought a reasonably good condition OEM 4:2 to replace the Motad 4:1 that came with the bike, but then having seen GuyZeds bike I ignored the perfectly good two exhausts I had to buy a new Marving which is ready to go on - I just need to have the bracket chromed as it's a nasty black at the moment.

[mick znone]

mothra, you have inspired me. ive always been shy of splitting four stroke engines. what you have done there is bolody fantastic. my first z was a 650, i loved it. paid £650 for it, only to have the police take it away, it was stolen. but that was karma. looking forward to seeing the bike together

[mothra]

Right, here is how it looks:



Not too different to last time, so it feels like I've done nothing, but here's what I've done over the last few weeks. I think one thing that interesting from the list is the enormous amount of help I've had from various parts of the Z1OC:

Handlebars mounted, with all controls (Clutch lever was a nightmare as should have put it on before threading the wiring through the bars....)
Added Mirrors
All the engine mounts put in and tight; it looks nice with polished stainless bolts everywhere.
Rear fender and tail light polished up a treat; and fitted - looks brand new.
Starter Motor was beyond polishing, so I painted it with high temp engine paint
Carburettors stripped and cleaned (under the dirt, they had been painted, looked awful) and now in ultrasonic bath
Alternator cover with right internals and upper case Kawasaki found, cleaned, polished and on bike
New oil pressure switch fitted
New oil drained, missing oil filter spring correctly fitted, new oil added again (whups)
As we know, the petrol caps just (jan 09) started being remanufactured, which meant I got a new one a lot cheaper than having the old one chromed.
Found and fitted a front mudguard (thanks Guy) – it’s not right, but I’m out of cash and it was cheap – it’ll do nicely...
Found, polished and fitted the front sprocket cover (needed a new one after dismantling a clutch actuator unsuccessfully) (Thanks Jez)
Clutch cable fitted and lubed – feels about the same weight as my GSX-R
Chain Riveted – this was more difficult than it should have been thanks to my stupidity.
Gears now selecting OK
Found NLA (no longer available) carburettor grommets in germany and ordered them (thanks Amir)
Pillion pedals fitted to new brackets (old ones just bolted straight onto the frame).
Pillion pedals removed from new brackets, big washers found to stop brackets tearing up rubber, refitted to brackets, fitted to bike
Replacement chainguard discovered to have wrong brackets for the bike, third chainguard sourced from ebay
Third chainguard also has wrong brackets, but a big cutout around the shock absorber solves my clearance problem
Original chainguard from bike dremelled to give a big cut out where the shocks go like the third chainguard
Chainguard powdercoated (for a second time)
Chainguard fitted
New bolts for rear calliper arrived, too much thread (would have chewed up the dust boots), so more new bolts ordered.
Aluminium spacers made for new coils so clamping them to the bike doesn’t crack them (Thanks again Guy)
New coils fitted
HT leads cut to length (scary) and crimped
Electronic Ignition fitted. (That took me a while to work out – you have to remove a points cam from the advance/retard assembly, but no one tells you what it looks like) (Thanks Chris)
Completed basic wiring circuit (earths, battery and ignition) so headlights/stop lights/indicators work
Rewired the rear of the bike (I’d moved the indicators from the taillight to the frame)

Basically all I have left to do is to:

Refit the rear brake (waiting for replacement bolts to be made), fit and fill the brake lines
Exhaust fitted (waiting for brackets to come back from chroming)
Carburettors rebuilt (only got them back at the weekend)
Finish off the electrics (waiting for some leads to the coils, but the middle of the bike is a bit of a mess)
Ignition timing/Carb balancing

Oh yeah, I also have to dismantle the clocks as somehow I put the (carefully labelled) indicator idiot lights the wrong way round. D'Oh.

Looking at the list of stuff to be done versus stuff done, I should be ok for the Ace. But I've done that huge long list of stuff without really crossing much off. So I'm pretty scared it won't get done. I've booked next week off work to break the back of it - I want to get the carbs rebuilt and on and ideally finish the brakes and start the bike... hahahahahhaha!

[Ginger Bear]

Looking good Mothra, I am also hoping to make it to the Ace, just need to MOT me bike, then put a few miles on her to make sure there are no reliability issues!!
keep up the good work & the pictures.
What you gonna do when it's finished

[GUYZED]

He will probably kill me for saying this, but what the hell:-

Buy a Zed 1/900/1000 and start all over again

[mothra]

Yeah, we were talking about this last night at the bucks meet - whenever anyone asks me if I'd sell it, the answer is always 'Not until I finish the next one' :-)

God knows when I'll have the cash to pay for a z1 though.

[Mick Hayward]

Hey Mothra

Just looked at your posts

Superb. Like the notes about the wheels and clocks its surprising what you can achieve if you set your mind to it and how much money you can save. Its all too easy to just throw money at a project and hey presto its finished. Keep up ther good work and post pictures of the completed 650.

Regards

Mick

[Dodgy Z1B]

Looks very nice but I may be totally wrong are the coils upside down.

[mothra]

Ummm. They might be. Not seen a set installed anywhere. Do you mean back to front? Haven't wired them in yet, just got the wires to do that today (Thanks Guy). Can anyone help me avoid an expensive mistake?

[mothra]

OK. Im stupid enough to have put them back to front, althought to be fair the instructions are minimal to say the least. Surely I'm not thick enough to have put them on upside down? i.e. if I put them on top of the mount brackets, they are going to foul the tank?

Someone put me out of my misery....

Stu

[Ginger Bear]

Hope this helps Mothra, it's from my Z1000, not Z650.


Please notice heat shrink on spacer to avoid shorts!

[tlc]

Hey Stuart and good to meet you last night.

Yes the coils are upside down and will only foul the tank if they are physically larger than original.

By the way I hope your HT leads fit once you turn the coils over

Don`t fret either as I thought my O rings were missing at first until I cleaned the brake bolt housings and saw them there

[Taffus]

they look like dyna coils to me . According to my clymer manual they should hang underneath, they are facing the wrong way thats why the HT leads are fouling on the head cover (from the picture)
I have the z65o assembly and preparation manual (pdi) Ican lend it to you if you want or maybe scan and send? pm me if you want it

[mikey]

Looking very nice mothra see you and your bike at the ace.

[Dodgy Z1B]

The coils are the right way up according to the parts fiche but are facing the wrong direction. They should hang down the way. And leads point to the rear of the bike.