Well my new "Sheltered workshop" is proving to be quite comfortable on a cold winters day. Don't get me wrong, depending on the wind direction it is still cold (for Oz) but the 20 feet of "walled in" section has reduced the misery to a much more tolerable level. The only light in the patio was a single 75w globe which isn't real flash for working on engines, and as it's quite dark by 5pm now I needed more. I remembered some lights I'd bought several years ago that for some reason were set up inside a cabinet in my garage? Two have a nice bright light, while the other has a heat globe, and I can't for the life of me remember why I'd installed them, and a solar fan inside a stainless steel cabinet, but regardless, with some rednecking involving cable ties and a length of threaded rod, I was able to fashion a light gantry above my bench, which proved to be particularly useful for illuminating the entire bench, which would have been handy if I'd popped off a circlip or other small projectile and needed to find it.
1428 engine build 3 Jun 2020 2 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Speaking of circlips, I needed to remove the Moriwaki pistons. Someone had punch marked the crowns with 1-4 saving me a job, but messing with my OCD at the same time, as I've always considered piston #1 as being on the left (alternator/gear change pedal) side, whereas in this case, #1 was on the points ignition side, which I'll need to remember for reassembly then the Z1 cases arrive. The Moriwaki pistons were interesting, all in good condition with only very light scratching and no signs of blow-by, but what interested me was the number of compression rings, per piston. In my sheltered motorcycle life of rebuilding/hotting up mostly CB750's, of all the aftermarket pistons I've seen, I don't remember seeing any with only one compression ring? Interesting.
1428 engine build 3 Jun 2020 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Anyway, with the pistons removed, it was time to think about splitting the cases. I decided to grab the 1428 cases and transfer each screw from the 1100 cases, so that tomorrow I can take them down to my garage and clean each screw on my wire wheel attachment (carefully, after my incident with the clutch plate last year) and be able to put them back in the right holes. I bought the 1428 cases bare, so not one screw came with them, but "Oink" is sending me out several pounds of Z1/KZ1000 screws/nuts/bolts etc, so I can use these ones on the 1428, and "Oinks" on the Z1. Will you just look at the size of those holes?
1428 engine build 3 Jun 2020 3 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Speaking of holes, I did find some damage that I hadn't noticed on the 1100's cases that the PO had repaired with either weld or JB Weld (I haven't looked hard enough to decide which) and a couple of tiny screws which would be disappointing if I'd intended to use those cases which of course I had until the Z1-B came along, so now it doesn't matter so much, even though there was no evidence of oil leaks. I'll take a closer look tomorrow in the daylight.
1428 engine build 3 Jun 2020 4 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I dropped the oil pan, and found a couple of small chunks of metal and what looks like a piece of O ring sitting in the sludge. I'd be worried if I didn't have a good supply of gearbox bits, once again thanks to Oink, and the PO as well, who'd given me a pile of spare gears and bearings etc that he'd dunked in a 1 gallon plastic bottle of sump oil with one side cut out, like a redneck oil change pan, that I had to carefully pack into the back of my almost new car for the 500 mile return drive when I originally bought the old drag bike. I'm hoping that whatever is shedding bits is something I already have, but if not, Oinks my new best friend, and he'll have whatever I need.
1428 engine build 3 Jun 2020 5 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I removed every other bolt I could see, but as it was getting late, and once again, I was getting drunk, I covered everything up with a bed sheet that my wife kindly donated to the sheltered workshop (while reminding me not to get too comfortable as it's still her patio........) and headed inside for some vittles. Tomorrow looks to be a half decent day according to the Bureau of Mediocrity app on my useless Samsung phone, so I hope it doesn't turn to sh1t overnight, not that it really matters, dust storms are few and far between in Melbourne this time of year. All going well, I'll have the cases split, not to transfer the "guts" but rather, to compare back and forth from one set of cases to the other when I turn the mechanical jigsaw puzzle I have in a large plastic trunk into a workable gearbox, with no missing clips, pins, washers or any other necessary accoutrements. Wish me luck, I think I'll need it..........
1428 engine build 3 Jun 2020 7 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
