Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

From a simple respray to a full blown rebuild or restoration, post some pics in here so we can all admire your work.
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Stew
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Stew »

Blade wrote:Good company is all we ever need :)
And here he is, smiling as usual, possibly because he knew what was coming next...basically as Ive removed the front end the bike is now short enough to move through 180's so I have more room to move and refit the forks, what on earth made me think the bike would balance on the centre stand while I jacked it up to remove the axle stand is beyond me, anyway it all happened in slo mo, first the bike started to slide forward then it gathered pace and jumped off both the bottle jack and the centre stand and proceeded to crash on to the shed floor, all the while I'm lying there on the deck with nearly 450 lbs of bike just about to land on me if it tipped sideways, a moments silence was interrupted by the crashing sound of various jars of nuts bolts etc exiting the shelves and crashing to the ground at my feet, and that's why he's smiling....little sod ;)


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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Kwacky »

you silly sod :D
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Stew
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Stew »

Kwacky wrote:you silly sod :D
I know, (facepalm) still, on the bright side I did get my shocks back from Kais suspension today and picked up some bits n bobs for the electrics including a pair of Dynatek coils, Dyna leads and some plug caps, that should keep me happy for a while, until the next shed calamity anyway :D

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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by kiwikrasher »

Stew wrote: , until the next shed calamity anyway :D
A man after my own heart, I've been away from the forum for a while Stew but as Monty will attest, that story is usually my form! (wasntme)

My nick name at one job was actually "Calamity".... (blush)
Happiness is not a destination. It is a way of life.
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Stew
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Stew »

kiwikrasher wrote:
Stew wrote: , until the next shed calamity anyway :D
A man after my own heart, I've been away from the forum for a while Stew but as Monty will attest, that story is usually my form! (wasntme)

My nick name at one job was actually "Calamity".... (blush)
:) and theres still plenty of damage I can do yet (facepalm)
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Blade »

Looks good Stew. What did kais do to the shock ? Was it just an overhaul or have you had them modified / uprated ?
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Stew »

It was a service, cant say Im too impresed, they had em for a while but theyre home now , just need to get hold the bushes to match the bike and we're in buisness, biggest problem i'm going to have is getting hold of decent loom, I though it was ok but its 34 yrs old and probably goosed, Ive sourced some fancy coils and leads and now need to get hold of a new electronic ignition system but my credit card is taking a hammering at the minute and I think I ned to slow it down a notch, still ive enough going on to keep me happy for a while.
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Blade »

TBH I can't say that I m that surprised about your comment in relation to Kais as I've heard many horror story's over the years about them.

What exactly did you find unsatisfactory out of interest ?
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Stew
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Stew »

well they had the shocks for 6 months in the end, fair enough I told em it wasn't a rush job but 6 months ? plus some of the paint was chipped on the bodies when I got them back, I went to them because my original shocks got wrecked by a local Warrington outfit and I had to buy a second pair and someone suggested Kais, wont use em again
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by jlawie »

Should of spoken to Hagon. Amazing helpful and friendly guys. Might be worth a call about the bushes even
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Stew »

Yeah I think youre probably right, will drop them an email I think about the bushes and see what they can do
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Godzilla »

Don't talk to me about Kais.
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Blade »

Godzilla wrote:Don't talk to me about Kais.
And you always spoke so highly of them in the past :x ;)

All joking a side too many horror story's come out of that place and some of the things you told me were shocking.

@Stew - FYI I got a really good service from Reactive suspension over near York. Gareth is extremely knowledgeable, helpful and really knows his stuff.

If you need anything else I would highly recommend giving him a call.

http://www.reactivesuspension.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Stew
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Stew »

Blade wrote:
Godzilla wrote:Don't talk to me about Kais.
And you always spoke so highly of them in the past :x ;)

All joking a side too many horror story's come out of that place and some of the things you told me were shocking.

@Stew - FYI I got a really good service from Reactive suspension over near York. Gareth is extremely knowledgeable, helpful and really knows his stuff.

If you need anything else I would highly recommend giving him a call.

http://www.reactivesuspension.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Just checked their website out, some of the stuff on there is very nice, god knows how much the fork coatings are but they look very sexy, thanks for the link :)
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Blade »

No problem Stew glad he had something you liked.

There not as local as Kais but no a million miles away over in York. When he did my forks I dropped them off with him and went into York for some lunch for a couple of hours and then collected them a couple of hours later. He even charged me less than quoted as some work we had discussed didn't need doing in his opinion once the forks were opened up for inspection and not many people are that honest and trustworthy.
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Stew
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Stew »

Not done much to the bike in the last few weeks, can safely say the last 3 weeks have been pretty bad in some ways, anyway, the bike wont fix itself so I decided to strip the forks with the intention of either getting the sliders powder coated or painted and fitting the new stanchions, it was all going swimmingly until I realised that half the innards from one fork was missing and even more from the other, to cut a long story short I'm now trying to trace two sets of internals for a pair of 35 yr old forks, how hard could that be ? actually I was pointed in the direction of Cornwall Kawasaki and spoke to them who are hoping to try and track some down for me, if not I'll have to buy another set off eBay and hope all the internals are in them. Also I'm hoping to get the wheels and yoke powder coated and fit new bearings all round, its getting there but its going to be next year realistically before I get to ride it I reckon.
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Blade »

Do any other forks fit ? Might be a chance to upgrade.

Or could Maxton offer new internals ? I know they custom make stuff and deal with classics as well as modern bikes.
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Stew
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Stew »

Yeah I might have to go down that route, hopefully I'll get a call re the internals and I can crack on, problem is new forks usually mean spacers, different wheels etc, I suppose its do'able though, ah well, all part of the fun of restoring an old bike I suppose. :)
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Blade »

Have you rang maxton Stew ?

Now the TT is over I think this could be exactly the kind of work they would be happy to undertake as they are very good with bespoke stuff and one off's. Plus there work would be a performance upgrade over OEM stock, better braking, better feel, better tyre wear etc...
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Re: Stew's painfully slow Z650 project

Post by Stew »

No not spoke to them yet, still hoping Cornwall Kawasaki get back to me but I cant see that happening right now, may well give Maxton a ring in the week, Ive other things I can get on with, the wheels need sorting, powder coat or paint ? that is the question..
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