Topic: Terry's Kawasaki Mach III 500 build. Let the smoke begin.....

[jgger]

Wow, big spread in pricing.

Either that or the exchange rate of Aussie bucks to 'Merican greenbacks is outta control!

[Terry in Australia]

Martyn sent me a message saying he’d only do it if I provided new conrod kits (rods, crank pins, bearings etc) so I did a pricing exercise and it looks like, with labour I’ll be up for around $2K.

$2K? screw that.  Charlie Smith rebuilt my H1 crank, it was only around $350. He doesnt insist on new con rods but does check them and mine were fine.  The crank seals were def shot, burned a hole in one piston

Yeah, as much as it'd be nice to have an "As new" crank going in it, I think that the worst that could be wrong with it is the seals (particularly the centre seal that needs the crank disassembled to get to) so $2K (around $1300 USD at the moment) is a big ask. If it is stuffed, I'll see who else will consider replacing just the seals, and perhaps the bearings, if necessary.

Anyway, still moving forwards, I picked up the frame and swingarm from the powdercoaters yesterday. I was surprised that they only charged me $480 for everything, but Michael said that he'd given me a big discount and the usual price is $700. I told him that I need to get the '69 frame powdercoated too, and he said he'd do it for $480 as well, and seeing how cold the weather has become so suddenly, I think I'll get it done in the next couple of weeks.

Mach III Tuesday 11 April 2023 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Mach III Tuesday 11 April 2023 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

What's not so great is that he powdercoated over the frame number! Fcuk! I'm going to have to somehow sand the powdercoat off so it's legible, because there's no way that our version of the DMV will register it if they can't read the frame number. It really is inexcusable, these guys have been doing bike frames for years, and every one has a frame number, so I'm not sure what happened, considering that they masked off all of the bearing surfaces and otherwise did a great job. I'm not going to jump up and down as I'm otherwise happy with their attention to detail, but I'll certainly let them know that I want the frame number on the '69 frame masked off.

Speaking of the '69, I dropped into Trevor's place to pick up the '69 exhaust system on Monday. Thanks mate, that was very generous of you, I'd hate to think how much it would have cost to buy one, even if there was one available. Trevor suggested that I paint it as the chrome is pretty tired, and I think I will, I just can't decide on whether to paint it black, or silver. Black would look pretty cool on a white bike though.

As previously mentioned, I'm building a CB750 (836) engine for Dion as part of our horse trading for parts and paint. I ran into a roadblock on the weekend, I was sure I had a new camchain in a tub somewhere, but couldn't find one. I looked on Ebay, and apart from the "Unknown quality" cheapo Chinese ones, the only DID or OEM chains available were going for stupid money, over $200 AUD! I remembered that I had the phone number of an OEM Ebay seller who I'd bought stuff from before, and luckily he had a NOS camchain, going for $130 AUD (around $90 USD ) so I collected it yesterday. If I was building the engine for myself I probably would have just thrown in a cheap chain, but I don't want something to go wrong with an engine that I build for someone else.

Mach III Tuesday 11 April 2023 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[Stev-o]

Martyn sent me a message saying he’d only do it if I provided new conrod kits (rods, crank pins, bearings etc) so I did a pricing exercise and it looks like, with labour I’ll be up for around $2K.

$2K? screw that.  Charlie Smith rebuilt my H1 crank, it was only around $350. He doesnt insist on new con rods but does check them and mine were fine.  The crank seals were def shot, burned a hole in one piston

Yeah, as much as it'd be nice to have an "As new" crank going in it, I think that the worst that could be wrong with it is the seals (particularly the centre seal that needs the crank disassembled to get to) so $2K (around $1300 USD at the moment) is a big ask. If it is stuffed, I'll see who else will consider replacing just the seals, and perhaps the bearings, if necessary.

Anyway, still moving forwards, I picked up the frame and swingarm from the powdercoaters yesterday. I was surprised that they only charged me $480 for everything, but Michael said that he'd given me a big discount and the usual price is $700. I told him that I need to get the '69 frame powdercoated too, and he said he'd do it for $480 as well, and seeing how cold the weather has become so suddenly, I think I'll get it done in the next couple of weeks.

Mach III Tuesday 11 April 2023 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Mach III Tuesday 11 April 2023 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

What's not so great is that he powdercoated over the frame number! Fcuk! I'm going to have to somehow sand the powdercoat off so it's legible, because there's no way that our version of the DMV will register it if they can't read the frame number. It really is inexcusable, these guys have been doing bike frames for years, and every one has a frame number, so I'm not sure what happened...

That is unfortunate.   Your "DMV" wont accept the labels that you can buy from Brett? [but the '69 did not have one]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363473698154?hash=item54a0b87d6a:g:2BIAAOSw~VBb~W8s

I'm spoiled in Texas, never have to worry about such issues as vintage bikes [or cars] dont require any type of inspection

[MauiK3]

Can you mask off around the frame number and use a bead blaster to gently abrade the coating off?

[PeWe]

Yamiya has the stronger type of CB750 cam chain.
https://www.yamiya750.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=246_21_249_68&products_id=2151

I ordered from them before.

Plus a good priced from Italy if I remember correctly
DID 219 endless.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, no I don’t think bead blasting will do diddly Steve, that’s why they burn the powder coating off and then blast it when they re-coat them. My plan is to use my dremel or power file to grind a strip of powder coated material off the stamped area to show the numbers, and probably clear lacquer over it.

Per I can buy lots of good cam chains from overseas for not much, but none locally and I don’t want to wait a month or so for shipping. Yamiya have gone mad with their shipping due to covid (yes it’s still a thing, 3rd highest killer of Aussies at the moment) so they’re sending everything by the most expensive means. I’m more than happy to have found an OEM chain locally for not too much $$$.

[Trevor from Warragul]

Trevor suggested that I paint it as the chrome is pretty tired, and I think I will, I just can't decide on whether to paint it black, or silver. Black would look pretty cool on a white bike though.

I pulled this picture off Facebook Marketplace. It shows what the standard pipes look like with satin black paint (yes, I know it's a twin cylinder Samurai, but it's a similar shape). Not too bad, I reckon!

1971 Kawasaki Samurai by Trevor Lock, on Flickr

[ekpent]

I painted a header silver once and it looked pretty tacky and the paint did not hold up well. I think that black looks pretty good.

[Stev-o]

I painted a header silver once and it looked pretty tacky and the paint did not hold up well. I think that black looks pretty good.

I had a spare set of H1 pipes from a project bike I bought. Had them re-chromed at my local plater for $400, came out looking excellent. I ended up selling them for $1200 to a guy on the Triples forum.
Probably not a cost effective option in Oz though.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Trevor, that black does look good. Not too many platers will touch old motorcycle exhaust’s here Steve, and the cost would be more than rebuilding a crank sadly, so I’ll either paint them or have them HPC coated. I’m just happy to have them.

[MauiK3]

That 250 looks very nice

[Terry in Australia]

While I'm waiting for another couple of parts to arrive so I can assemble the roller, I'm putting together an 836 engine for Dion, which will be part of the horse trading we're doing for more H1 parts, and a paint job. I've got the bottom end together, just need to find enough bits to put a clutch assembly together, and find the gear selector parts for the other side.

Mach III Saturday 15 Apr 2023 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I started with some empty cases, so cracked open an engine I had in my K2 a couple of years ago. This was the one that had the gearbox issue.

Mach III Saturday 15 Apr 2023 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I still don't know what caused this damage. Scott thought that it might have been caused by the gear retaining circlips coming off, but the circlips were all in place when I checked. I swapped a couple of other gears onto the shafts and called it good. I glued the cases together and torqued down the crank bearing bolts, primed an oil pump and installed it, and when I brave the poxy cold wet weather we're having, will assemble the clutch and shifter assemblies. I then need to take a cylinder block and head to an engineer to get it bored and have the head skimmed.

Feeling quite happy with progress, I wandered inside to reheat some leftover pizza. I've been trying to perfect reheating pizza for many years, with limited success, but I'm happy to announce that (in my mind, at least) I've now perfected it. I first zapped it in the microwave for a minute to warm it thru, then put it in my big air fryer oven for 3 minutes @ 230 deg C. It came out hot and crispy, and delicious.

Mach III Saturday 15 Apr 2023 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

After the pizza I decided that it was too late to go back out to my patio "winter workshop" and do any more for the day, so instead I settled in my comfy armchair with a good book.

Mach III Saturday 15 Apr 2023 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[Alan F.]

Sounds like a good bit of work done.
The circlips were all in place, have you ever seen one out of its groove in all of the engines you've been in?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Alan, no I never have, and I reckon I have pulled at least 20 apart over the years. I just found another pile of CB750 parts in a couple of tubs that I’d forgotten about, so I think I have everything to finish assembling the bottom end. I’m waiting for an alternator rotor puller to arrive so I can shock off a rotor off another crank, I have 2 others with T handles but they’re a pain to use, so I’m hoping my big Dewalt rattle gun will make the job a bit easier.

[Alan F.]

I forget, wasn't there a rear axle that fit the threads in the 750 rotor? I've got a small collection of axles to try when a rotor needs to come off.

[scottly]

The circlips were all in place, have you ever seen one out of its groove in all of the engines you've been in?

I have, Alan. http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=86429.0

Terry, it looks like a big chunk of one tooth broke off for some reason, which then spread to the other teeth and caused the lock-up?
One time my C200 trans locked up when I went to push start it (worn out splines on the kick starter shaft ), but it freed up after rocking the bike back and forth. I never thought much about it until finding the broken tooth months later, when it dawned on me that the tooth had gotten wedged in between the other teeth, and rocking the bike allowed it to drop free. 

[ekpent]

If I remember Terry that engine was the one that put the big black skid mark down the road and tried to throw you off. Glad you kept it upright !

[PeWe]

Interesting gearbox failure.
Any extra part inside blocking it?
Like a screw, something hard that should not be there.
Even if clutch should leave parts from discs it stays in pan. Seen that twice

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, yes this was my “Pants browning” moment on New Year’s Eve 2019, I’d just exited the freeway where I’d been doing 70 Mph, and was only doing about 35 when the gearbox locked up. No stray parts in the engine and I had done hundreds of miles on it before it let go. The engine had had a major chain intrusion previously though as you can just see in one of the pics and had been poorly repaired, (lots of incorrect bolts throughout, silicon slopped everywhere, even the case dowels had been crushed in an attempt to remove them) so who knows?

Anyway, any event like that that you can walk away from is just another story to tell in later years. This engine will be good, it’s funny how when I build an engine for myself I’ll just throw it together and not be too fussy, but because I’m building this one for someone else I’m double and triple checking everything to make sure that it’s as perfect as it can be, I don’t want anything letting go when someone else is relying on it. Dion and his boy took the K2 and F2 for a 600 mile ride on the weekend (obviously had better weather than I) and Dion said they both ran perfectly for the trip, so I’m glad that they haven’t had any issues with either bike. Dion has painted them both and they really look good. I’m glad he got them.

[MauiK3]

Don’t want anything coming back!

[Terry in Australia]

Don’t want anything coming back!

Well there’s that Steve, but I’m more worried about something letting go at speed and causing him or his boy to crash. I’ve never had to do a “warranty repair” on a bike or engine, and am happy not to.

[Stev-o]

I've been trying to perfect reheating pizza for many years, with limited success...

Hey Terry...Being Italian, I like good pizza, my Mom was from Italy and made great pizza! [no frozen pizza for me...ever]  As far as reheating, I think the microwave does odd things to pizza [and bread].   I just reheat in the oven, 350F for 15 min and it will be hot and crispy.  And BTW - the pizza in Italy shames what we can buy here in the States

[RAFster122s]

The air fryer does a pretty good job reheating pizza I think. Lots of times my favorite pizzas taste great cold, so I eat them cold. I enjoy a spinach pizza with Chicago style sauce on top and deep dish from local shop.
I agree with you Steve, Italy has some great pizza, very unlike what we have in America and they have far more veggies than any meat on them and they are delicious. Had Italian pizza while staying in Rome years ago.

Fantastic food in Japan too...

David

[MauiK3]

I have an accessory for my Weber grill that makes it a pizza oven with a stone. It gets well over 500 degrees F. Makes very good thin crust pizza.
https://www.kettlepizza.com/
Charcoal and a local very hard and hot wood called Kiawe, similar to mesquite, great smell. No propane.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, you can’t beat real Italian food. We have a large Italian population in Melbourne and probably the best pizza in Oz. I’ve lived in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra, but none of their pizza is as good as pizza made by Italians in Melbourne. I would rather go to jail than eat Pizza Hut or Dominoes, it is to pizza what McDonalds is to burgers, tasteless garbage.