Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

[Stew]

Thought I might start a new thread about the bike and its restoration





This was the bike as It was when I went to have a look at it in Liverpool in Sept 2012, I put a speculative bid on it and got it for a grand, it looks really good in the pics and in fact it was in really exceptional nick for a bike produced in 79'. the frame has been powdercoated at some point and apart from a couple of small points where the coating has been rubbed down theres no rust on it. Period bits that came with it included a Guilliari seat and Alfa 4 into 1, it was bought as non runner but the owner reckoned it had a good strong engine and local bike engineer reckons he's not far off, I dubbed it the overtime bike cos the only time I could do anything with it was when I got an overtime shift any way Ive added a few things to it since then and I'll update the thread when I can sort out photobucket, thanks for having a look

EDIT: forgot to add that the Mrs bought me this bike from her redundancy money when she got a new job, thanks love

[Blade]

Nice project bike Stew

Excuse my ignorance on kwackers but was that model also called a zeypher or something similar ?

What are your plans for it ?

[Stew]

No it was just the Z650, there were various different models mine's the B3 variant, but there were cruiser styles as well, the model ran from77' through to 83' but my other Z650 which I sold last year was an F4, built in 83' but registered in 84, as far as plans go Ive got the tank, side panels and duck tail off for re-spraying at the minute, plus Ive got a set of Marzocchi Stradas in getting serviced at KAIS in Atherton, on top of that a full electronic ignition system with Dynatek coils and Taylor leads plus uprated progressive fork springs. The thing about the Z series was that everyone knows how cool the Z900 was and they are getting 10 k plus for them, at the other end of the scale was the Z400 which was woefully underpowered but slap in the middle was the 650 with a superb chassis and plenty of useable power, so a good all round package with approx. 64 bhp on tap and good handling, I'm hoping to get a few more pics up soon of what Ive done recently.

[Spudda]

Great project .... Im waiting for my mate to part with his CB450

it was bought as non runner but the owner reckoned it had a good strong engine and local bike engineer reckons he's not far off)

did you get it running yet ??

[Stew]

Yeah I did I ordered a new battery from Tayna and gave it a good 24 hrs to really get the juice in then put it on the bike, gave it a few kicks to get a bit of oil around the engine and applied full choke, fired up on about the third go, it was rough though and very loud, it wouldn't tick over and ran for maybe 30 secs or so for maybe 3 or 4 times, got the carbs ultrasonically cleaned soon after but not attempted it again, I got a new tank for it, well newer anyway and sold the original with the F4, I took it into the man cave today so I can get prepared for taking the wheels and forks off, I want to powdercoat the wheels and fit new bearing plus I'm going to have the stanchions powdercoated at the same and Ive sourced some new sliders too, its all go

[Perkles]

Love it,my cousin who I ride with has an xs1100 same era bike sounds great and still goes likevstink

[Blade]

Sounds great Stew. What colour is the respray ? Did you sat you were getting something different.

[Stew]

I'm going for an Eddie Lawson theme, not a replica as such more of a nod in his direction, the biggest problem Ive had is actually getting hold of a decent nose cone, but not so sure it would work anyway because the original tank of the KZ1000's were more rectangular then the more rounded lines of the Z650 tank, I may well track one down and have a look.

[Stew]

Great project .... Im waiting for my mate to part with his CB450

it was bought as non runner but the owner reckoned it had a good strong engine and local bike engineer reckons he's not far off)

did you get it running yet ??

Is that the black bomber CB450 ? meant to be a great little bike, go for it

[Stew]

Love it,my cousin who I ride with has an xs1100 same era bike sounds great and still goes likevstink

Oh they do, I have this theory that in the real world even older bikes can mix it pretty well with more modern stuff, theyre certainly heavier, softer and maybe not as quick but how often do we have modern sports bikes on the ragged edge ?

[Monty]

You just need to save up some pennies for one of these now Stew

http://silodrome.com/bell-bullitt-helmet/

[Kwacky]

Fantastic engines on these bikes.

[Stew]

You just need to save up some pennies for one of these now Stew

http://silodrome.com/bell-bullitt-helmet/

Argh my eyes

[Stew]

Not a lot to report on the bike this week, I managed to get it into the shed which was a lot harder than you'd think due to its weight and then got up on to a set axle stands under the frame, Ive only got maybe 3 or 4 inches to play with on the front end before it fowls the left hand wall, still, if you've ever seen some of the spaces that Japanese enthusiasts have in Tokyo then I cant complain, anyway spent a bit of time replacing and fitting a few new grommets for the side panels then took off and cleaned and painted the bracket which holds the Reg/rec, starter solenoid etc, tbh that didn't totally work and the paintwork may need to be done again with hammerite or something more durable, anyhoo I'll post more stuff as I go along, thanks for the comments and the interest
Stew

[Blade]

Looks good Stew.

That garage looks busy and tight for space I know from experience how much more difficult that can make even a small job.

Enjoying see the transformation taking place in your photos

[Stew]

To be honest although I haven't much room its usually a bit tidier than that, at least at the start of the day anyway forgot to add that I took the old generator cover off and replaced it with a new black version, that meant getting the old windings out and transferring them over, two min job I thought.....wrong, had to drill the screws out in the end, no matter its all a learning curve and its keeps me of the PS4 as well, hardest part is trying to get down low enough to see some of the underneath parts without my staffie thinking I'm playing and wanting to lick me all over as I'm down on the deck now off to order a pair of new coils for it coutesy of the lovely wife

[Blade]

Pmsl about your playful assistant.

[Stew]

Pmsl about your playful assistant.

Yeah he's a good assistant, knows nothing about bikes but always good company

[Blade]

Good company is all we ever need

[Stew]

Well, got the front wheel and forks off today, bit of a pain really trying to work in such a confined space, added to the fact that I couldn't get one of the axle clamp nuts off from the bottom of the fork leg, got the wheel off ok and then the forks but still couldn't get the axle nut off, then stood up too fast underneath a shelf and nearly demolished the shed I hit it so fecking hard and at that point I decided to call it a day, that was after I'd pick up all the stuff from the shelf now all over the floor, need to sort out the space situation.