Topic: Terry's Kawasaki ZZR1100 "Bring it back to life" project.

[spotty]

Many hours and a sore back later the engine is in the frame

Had help from Geordie from the local CFA and Mrs spotty and eventually it went together

At that point it was time to clean up, lock all the bikes and trolleys to each other ( open carport kind of security ) and get ready for dinner with folk from one of my other passions, the great dane club, what a wild and whacky bunch they are..... 

Hopeful of getting at least the exhaust sorted tomorrow before I have to take me mum shopping

What a social life I do lead.....

[Terry in Australia]

Good job Spotty, and yep moving an engine from your dungeon down to your carport is something that I'm glad I wasn't involved in, it was bad enough dragging it up there!

[spotty]

Let there be pipes

And more fcuking cracked bodywork

[RAFster122s]

Gee what kind of trade did Terry make with you?  A pretty beaten bike...squids treat them harshly.
I cannot believe the number of YouTube videos of guys doing stupid crap on their bikes and wrecking them.  Surely they do not expect an insurance company to cover their bikes when they are acting like hooligans.

Glad you are bringing it back to life Spotty!

David

[spotty]

having got some time on it this weekend i realised its been over a month, i'm a bad zzr owner

i've been waiting for the rest of the hydraulic pipes to turn up and mrs spotty to release me from gardening duties and finally....

i got the new ( proper length) top brake pipe fitted, new clutch hose, new colour coded banjo bolts ( green , what else could they be, they've got to match the hoses) all done

fitted the radiator and oil cooler, having  a great day here.....

time to hook up the radiator hoses, no problem there

time to hook up the oil cooler lines, oh dear....fcuk

most of them are just about accessible with all the rest of the stuff on except for one tiny little oil pipe which lives halfway along the motor underneath just behind the exhaust pipes

first i thought i might be able to get to it if i took half the engine cradle off, tried that and then remembered the cradle is one piece for both sides of the motor, took ten minutes to undo , two hours to get it back together

so then off comes the radiator, oil cooler and exhaust, hooked up the little oil pipe only to discover i don't have enough banjo washers of the correct size for the rest of the oil pipes, so now i have to wait for them, and just to be awkward theres 2 different sizes

i also just realised that the oil feed to the heads ( which should definitely be attached before you put the engine back in the frame, as i found out the hard way) may have been installed without seals or washers so now i've got to take that lot back off again to check. you can bet that if i do take it off there will be seals, if i don't take it off then it'll piss oil cos i didn't put seals in...

so all in all 3 steps forward, about 15 back

bollocks

i would have posted this in the pissed off thread but it'll just make me more pissed off

[RAFster122s]

Do you need to chant ZED is my friend, ZED is my friend...
Would that help? Or, merely piss you off even more?

[spotty]

a couple of pints of cider should put my distress to bed

i must admit i had heard of horror tales on these bikes before i got one, crappy plastics, shyt bracketry, overly complicated but they came from a mech mate of mine who prefers vintage harleys so i just poopooed his tales as coming from a technophobe...seems he may have been right but i shall persevere

[754]

 Not so bad to get paid to work on it. For free for myself  i prefer simple  or to abbreviate ...sohc..

[MRieck]

a couple of pints of cider should put my distress to bed

i must admit i had heard of horror tales on these bikes before i got one, crappy plastics, shyt bracketry, overly complicated but they came from a mech mate of mine who prefers vintage harleys so i just poopooed his tales as coming from a technophobe...seems he may have been right but i shall persevere

Your friend is right on target.

[PeWe]

This bike will hit the road 2020?
I was close to write spring 2020 when I realized that your seasons are the other way down there.

[spotty]

Hoping before Xmas this year

Getting some stuff done tomorrow

[Terry in Australia]

How'd you go Spotty? I'm only asking because I actually did some work on my bike project today, so I feel like I have a right to ask?

[spotty]

I've only just got home from king of the hill near Yass in NSW, which was a vintage hill climb for UK and US old sh1ters
Windy, dusty and thoroughly amusing
A few jap choppers in the associated show including a very nice 750/4, apart from that mostly just antique boat anchory sort of stuff

[Terry in Australia]

Nice! Thats a hell of a drive for a bike event though, I bought the Z1000 drag bike from a guy who lived near Yass, I drove up and back in the one day, the Territory is a comfortable mile muncher, which is good because the return trip was just shy of 1000 miles. Still worth it though, I love that black beast.

[spotty]

so a nice day off on monday gave me some quality time with the big Z

finally got all the oil lines installed including one that defied logic, it was a short metal pipe that i could only find one hole to bolt it to, however an hour later after consulting all 3 manuals i have it occurred to me to actually orient the pipe the same way it is shown in the book and hey presto...theres the other hole, bastard thing

so , all bolted up, radiator and oil cooler back on and onto the next job

the throttle won't return so first thing was airbox and carbs back off to make sure the problem isn't with the carbs, all good so carbs back on and onto the cables

now i have mentioned before that the throttle cable set up on this bike is beyond stupid, its just an engineering solution looking for a problem, why they couldn't use the same sort of set up that everyone has used for the last 50 years is beyond me. the two cables go into the side of the throttle switch block and the return cable is held in place by the pull cable end and the both go through a 90 degree turn inside the switchblock

so after half a dozen pull aparts of the switchblock and no joy i actually checked the cable routing through and round the frame and then put the cables where they should have been in the first place...success...not bloody likely

so another half a dozen dismantalings and still no joy so i left it at that point in favour of some alcoholic inspiration juice

and yes the cables are lubed and have no tight spots of grab in their pull

this weekend forecasts much rain and sh1tty weather so hopefully i'll get this cr4p sorted and get onto new and more exciting bits

oh yes, after i'd installed the rad and oil cooler i realised i'd forgotten to put in the shroud that goes above the radiator, luckily its sort of rubbery rather than hard plastic so with a bit of luck i can just sort of squeeze it into place

and i still keep finding more bits of plastic body work and shrouds that i have no idea what to do with

i can see why people turn these things into sheepbiters, screw bodywork

[Terry in Australia]

Good job Spotty, I'm looking forward to the first firing! (and hopefully not a fire.....)

[spotty]

well, another weekend goes past with some progress

had another few goes at the non returning throttle and still no joy there, might try just running the pull cable and see if that fixes the problem

oil cooler and rad back off again to put the little shroud on, managed to break it in half but it will still work as its sort of held together by the rubbery element of its existence, also remembered to connect the fan to the wiring while i was there

while i was looking at bits of electricity i noticed there appears to be an extra wire pushed into the connector block that comes from the igniter box ( power commander ), where it comes from and why its there i have no idea but it will have to be looked into, terry did have it running so i guess it must be there for a reason but it does look a bit dodgy

its slowly getting closer to fire up but i'm not going to put the airbox/ducting or bodywork back on until its going cos if it leaks any of its bodily fluids or doesn't start at all it will be much easier to diagnose if i can actually see where the leaks etc are coming from or need to get at elec bits

decided the tank is completely rooted, the closer i investigate the bigger the holes get and the more rust pops out of it
found another one for a reasonable price, however its in italy and the vmax needs registration before i can justify spending a couple of hundred more on this one

[Terry in Australia]

Good job Spotty, and as you're gonna fire it up with no airbox connected, be aware that it will idle OK, but won't rev cleanly, because the lean running CV carbs need that "bolt on choke" that is the airbox connected before it will rev. I regularly piss myself laughing when some newb builds a cafe racer/bobber/brat/POS and thinks there's something wrong with their bike because it runs like sh1t with pods after they've taken the airbox off, not realising that CV carbs need that restrictive airbox to meter the fuel/air mixture correctly.

[spotty]

yeah, i'd figured that but just to get it running and check for leaks and such it should be ok

gotta find those breather things and sort the throttle before i can put more of it together anyway

[Terry in Australia]

yeah, i'd figured that but just to get it running and check for leaks and such it should be ok

gotta find those breather things and sort the throttle before i can put more of it together anyway

Have you got onto any of the ZZR1100 FB sites? There's a really good one in Britain, John McElvie is their spare parts guru, I bought the crank from him, so he'll have those other bits mate, and he's very decent price wise. They can also show you the correct cable layout, etc.

[34barab]

Terry did not leave any Rust-oleum with the bike?
Something like this

I'm a little late to the party, but I have a related question.  Is this the type of paint to use to cover bare spots on original 71 CB750 swing arm?  I just want to prevent future rusting on these spots.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, any paint would be fine, but that stuff would be better again.

[spotty]

and for a quick update from me, with the xmas break coming up and mrs spotty buggering off to thailand for most of it i should be at least able to sort the bodywork, and hopefully get me a new tank, i have a lead on one, just got to save up some beer tokens

then work out the breathers off the top of the cam cover, i have an idea for them

[Terry in Australia]

and for a quick update from me, with the xmas break coming up and mrs spotty buggering off to thailand for most of it i should be at least able to sort the bodywork, and hopefully get me a new tank, i have a lead on one, just got to save up some beer tokens

then work out the breathers off the top of the cam cover, i have an idea for them

What's Mrs Spotty doing in Thailand without you Mark? I love Thai food, if I was you I'd be sneaking over there as well!

[spotty]

She usually spends Xmas travelling, not stressed though, she likes to sit on beaches or wander through sites if cultural significance, I'd want to sit in bars there would be conflict
And I get time at home to drink beer and play with bikes
If she stayed home there would be gardening and that would piss me off