Topic: Terry's new Kawasaki Z1B build, the OCD special...........

[Terry in Australia]

Ahhh, right, that makes sense Brian, last time I thought I made him a fair offer on a K0 with a K2 engine in it, he wouldn't budge, but he dropped the price by 30% with no bartering at all today.

[grcamna2]

Terry,
When you mod those piston down from 13.5:1 CR to the lower numbers,do you have a certain way of lowering the CR precisely,shaving-down the domes ? I ask because I'd like to learn how to do that. thanks,Bill

Thanks Bill, I did a bit of research and found a set of 1428 pistons that were 10.5:1 and they looked exactly like mine except that the high domes were missing. I had a look at the APE sight and saw that the domes of the pistons need to be a minimum of 4mm thick, so I measured mine, and less the domes, the crowns were still 8mm thick, less a couple of mm for the valve cutaways. My plan is to machine up an 83.5mm Holder in my lathe so I can chuck them in nice and tight, and machine off most of the dome sections of each piston, then weigh them, and if they're within 5 grams of each other, that's good enough.

By doing this, I can get rid of my home made spacer plate, and use APE's top cam chain guide. I may lose a little BHP, but it should make it easier for the electric starter to crank the engine over, run a little cooler, and be happier on pump gas. Being the eternal optimist that I am, I can't forsee any disasters, but who knows? I'm sure there'll be a plethora of unqualified opinions forthcoming (and not just mine) but I won't know until I try it.

OK Terry,thanks.
Do you have a pic of the piston(are we speaking about Moriwaki pistons ?)so I can see ?

[754]

Just giving the top a haircut is easy,  redoming or bevelling gets tricky..
 Lucky you are not doing valve cut outs..  I did a few sets of 4 valve Harley piston cutouts, those were fun.
You should start making a piston fixture for the lathe, I try to hold them by the ring lands...way safer..

[Terry in Australia]

Just giving the top a haircut is easy,  redoming or bevelling gets tricky..
 Lucky you are not doing valve cut outs..  I did a few sets of 4 valve Harley piston cutouts, those were fun.
You should start making a piston fixture for the lathe, I try to hold them by the ring lands...way safer..

Thanks Frank, yep, just waiting for a chunk of 6061 round bar to make a "clamp" for the pistons so I can hold them in the chuck firmly while giving them a haircut. I'll re-purpose the clamp into a couple of ring compressors for when I assemble it. I ordered it on the 2nd of this month, from a shop 20 miles away, and it still hasn't arrived, which sucks. There's an aluminium supplier locally that I buy stuff from, but they don't like selling small pieces, and I don't want to buy a 10 foot long bar..........

[bear]

A couple of days ago a bike dealer a couple of states over advertised a very rough CB750F2 for $2500. after he had no takers, I offered $2000 if he included freight to my place. Things must be a bit tight at the moment with Covid-19 etc, so was surprised this morning when he said he's take my deal.

Would that be a bloke called Robert Awcock in Coffs Harbour by any chance?

Our assumption was correct Uncle Tez.
My bike has finally landed in Brisbane and I was emailed my shipping invoice yesterday.
I got a phone call this morning from Rob asking for payment today.
I asked him if things where a bit tight and he said he still had more than eighty vehicles marooned in the US and nothing was moving.
Poor bastard.

[Terry in Australia]

A couple of days ago a bike dealer a couple of states over advertised a very rough CB750F2 for $2500. after he had no takers, I offered $2000 if he included freight to my place. Things must be a bit tight at the moment with Covid-19 etc, so was surprised this morning when he said he's take my deal.

Would that be a bloke called Robert Awcock in Coffs Harbour by any chance?

Our assumption was correct Uncle Tez.
My bike has finally landed in Brisbane and I was emailed my shipping invoice yesterday.
I got a phone call this morning from Rob asking for payment today.
I asked him if things where a bit tight and he said he still had more than eighty vehicles marooned in the US and nothing was moving.
Poor bastard.

Well that's good news Brian, and I can tell you he's quick, my effing F2 (new build thread starts today) was picked up on Friday from Coff's Harbour, and was delivered to my place in Melbourne at 5pm yesterday! Won't be long now mate!

[bear]

We'll see. It's still got to jump through all the hoops with customs. so fingers crossed.

[Terry in Australia]

We'll see. It's still got to jump through all the hoops with customs. so fingers crossed.

Well all the best with that mate, when I bought my K0 from a member here in the US, I had it flown out, and I hired an import expert at Tulla who filled out all the forms for me and charged me 260 bucks, and it was done. Aqis came out, took a look at it, gave me the thumbs up, and they loaded it into my truck. I hope yours goes as easy.

[spotty]

are they still giving people sh1t over possible asbestos in or on the bike ( brakes/clutch/gaskets etc) ?

[bear]

It seems to depend on where the entry point is and what sort of relationship your agent has with customs at that point Spotty.
In a word yes but its patchy.
When I actually have the bike in my possession I will post an account of my decent down the bike import rabbit hole.

Cheers,
Brian

[Terry in Australia]

It seems to depend on where the entry point is and what sort of relationship your agent has with customs at that point Spotty.
In a word yes but its patchy.
When I actually have the bike in my possession I will post an account of my decent down the bike import rabbit hole.

Cheers,
Brian

Wow, now I've got a mental image of Brian looking like Winnie the Pooh, (who is a Bear, after all) stuck half in and half out of a rabbit hole..........

Brian down the rabbit hole by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[spotty]

well good luck, hope the bikes not in too many de-asbestosised parts when you get it

[bear]

Minus brake pads/shoes only at this stage.
So we'll see.

[bear]

It seems to depend on where the entry point is and what sort of relationship your agent has with customs at that point Spotty.
In a word yes but its patchy.
When I actually have the bike in my possession I will post an account of my decent down the bike import rabbit hole.

Cheers,
Brian

Wow, now I've got a mental image of Brian looking like Winnie the Pooh, (who is a Bear, after all) stuck half in and half out of a rabbit hole..........

Brian down the rabbit hole by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Well his ass is about the right size.

[Terry in Australia]

It seems to depend on where the entry point is and what sort of relationship your agent has with customs at that point Spotty.
In a word yes but its patchy.
When I actually have the bike in my possession I will post an account of my decent down the bike import rabbit hole.

Cheers,
Brian

And after 60 years, he's still my favourite Bear Brian, so when I think of you, I'll think of him.....

Wow, now I've got a mental image of Brian looking like Winnie the Pooh, (who is a Bear, after all) stuck half in and half out of a rabbit hole..........

Brian down the rabbit hole by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Well his ass is about the right size.

[RAFster122s]

It seems to depend on where the entry point is and what sort of relationship your agent has with customs at that point Spotty.
In a word yes but its patchy.
When I actually have the bike in my possession I will post an account of my decent down the bike import rabbit hole.

Cheers,
Brian

Wow, now I've got a mental image of Brian looking like Winnie the Pooh, (who is a Bear, after all) stuck half in and half out of a rabbit hole..........

Brian down the rabbit hole by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Well his ass is about the right size.

Glad you can laugh at yourself Brian, forgive us for laughing with you.
Good luck getting the bike you have been waiting for so long. I hope you are pleased with it after you get it and have time to clean it up.
David

[bear]

Thanks David.
I'm looking forward to the project.
I'm very hopeful the bike will fit my expectations.
I think my biggest hurdle will be convincing the bureaucracy to give me my motorcycle licence back.

[RAFster122s]

Terry, I know you like your Ginger Beer whilest building or after building a bike. Saw this Whiskey themed Advent Calendar and you came to mind. Not that you are an Advent calendar kind of guy but 24 different whiskeys, one a day to enjoy sampling.

https://flaviar.com/advent-calendars

[Terry in Australia]

Terry, I know you like your Ginger Beer whilest building or after building a bike. Saw this Whiskey themed Advent Calendar and you came to mind. Not that you are an Advent calendar kind of guy but 24 different whiskeys, one a day to enjoy sampling.

https://flaviar.com/advent-calendars

Thanks David, it looks great, but you're obviously more wealthy than me, those 24 vials equate to 1 x 750ml bottle of whiskey (about 1 US quart) for ONLY........... $225 USD! Not this little black duck, I can make 300 litres of ginger beer (317 US quarts, or almost a years supply.....) for that much moola............

[RAFster122s]

It's only money Terry... won't be your normal garden variety selection.  But, like you said...way way too much money.


A little humor for you Terry. Hopefully not offending you.

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, no offence taken David, Terry is short for Terrence (or "Terence" with one "R" in my case) but I worked with a guy called Clive Dick when I was a young corporal. Clive was an infantry corporal who'd done at least one tour of Vietnam during the war and although a gentle giant, was as tough as nails. I said to him once, "Geez Clive, you must have copped a lot of crap with that surname when you were a kid?" and he replied, "Well Terry, I learned to fight very early in life, long before I joined the Army........"

[Terry in Australia]

Well after 16 months, I'm back! OK, so I haven't been too lazy, there's been a CB750F2, K0, Auto, Suzuki T350 and 500 restoration since I wandered away from the Z1 build last year, but because 2022 is the 50th anniversary of the Z1 I need to get this thing finished ASAP so that I can ride it to some of the 50th anniversary celebrations.

One thing that's changed since 2020 is that I've decided not to use the Lester wheels. To be honest I can't remember why, but I have a pair of original Z1 wheels now, so today I thought I better organise some front brakes, as I knew that they'd have to come from the US, and as we all know, international shipping is as slow as a wet week in (insert the name of worst place that you've ever visited...........)

You should never look at stuff on Ebay when you've been drinking, but considering that I do a lot of both, I let my guard slip, and as soon as I saw a shiny complete dual front brake setup for the "Sofa-King Low" price of only $852 USD, I hit the "Buy it Now" button. I continued to scroll down and realised that there were a lot of other "Repro" calipers going for like 150 bucks, and while I did get the MC, both calipers, all the hoses, hard lines, hose brackets, bolts etc, $852 (well $795 plus shipping) may still  have been a little too extravagant?   

I went back and read the ad, and realised that the kit I bought wasn't just repro parts, but refurbished OEM Z1 calipers! Woohoo! I saw a couple of pretty rough looking OEM calipers that one seller was asking 500 bucks for, so suddenly mine looked like a bargain!

Terry's Z1-B front brakes 23 Dec 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's Z1-B front brakes 23 Dec 2021 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

https://www.ebay.com/itm/294398711482

Anyhoo, 'Twas the night before the night before Christmas, so I better not make any more extravagant purchases until after the old fat feller has squeezed down my chimney, or whatever is gonna happen in only two sleeps. More soon.  

[ken65]

Looks like you had a win there Terry. When I got my H1, the caliper was wrong. Turned out to be from a Z1 and didn't fit proper. I listed it on ebay for X amount of Dollars or to swap for a H1 caliper. A few days later , a fella from north QLD way offered me a fully refurbished H1 caliper in exchange . YE HAW.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Ken, yeah I was lucky that I spotted it in my drunken haze, while I have nothing at all against repro stuff, I was glad that the main items at least are OEM, and I can just bolt them straight on.

[MauiK3]

Is the 500 Done?