Topic: Maui Z1 1973

[ekpent]

 OOOh - were getting close to " Fire in the Hole" 

[Kelly E]

My carbs have stainless Allen screws. I’m going to get a set of x screws to put in if I decide to sell.
I found NOS handlebars!

Here’s a story
Before I bought this I was looking at a 74 package with 2 engines. It was very rough, the sticker on the neck was gone, lots of other issues including years of lapsed registration which can get costly here. I thought about it but then I found the 73 (72 build) which cost more but has fewer expensive problems. Terry and I discussed shipping the 74 to Oz but it’s pretty tough to do and very expensive. Turns out a guy in Indiana bought it and had it shipped there. The owner here said the buyer is buying all he can get his hands on, selling some and keeping others.
What a market.

I bet it is the same guy in Indiana that bought our 75' Z1-B. His name is Paul.

[MauiK3]

Here is the wood rack I hung the carbs on. A better version would be a little taller and have leveling screws. I used wedges. It's on a cookie sheet but I never really spilled much fuel.

[MauiK3]

I got it running this morning, no video yet, my daughter is working it over so I can upload it. I could not be more pleased, it started right up, just a half second crank and off it went. It sounded like #4 intake valve might have hung up a few times causing some popping but it cleared right up. It idles down very nicely, I adjusted the timing a bit. Only thing seems to be a rich idle. Hard to say why, it has no air cleaner plenum on it and the 4-1 that came on it. Later it will have stock air box and exhaust, I guess I’ll do more tuning then. Jets are stock size 12.5, needles in middle slot. I used my NAPA jump box which reports 14.1 volts so I know the alternator works. The motor sounds great. I think it spent some time running rich because when I blipped it up a lot of soot came out of the pipe. It had 17 jets in it when I got it.
I’ll get the videos up as soon as my “videographer” team is done.
Next is the tear down to begin eliminating the rust, corrosion, painted alloy parts, rusty fasteners, bad rubber parts, etc. I have high hopes for this project, it should be a pretty nice bike when it’s done.

[Kelly E]

That's great!

[ekpent]

 That I assume was not a brand new fresh spark plug before starting for the first time. Looks kind of old on the outside ?? Soot crust and rust is always normal out the pipe from a bike that's been sitting. Sometimes you get lucky and shoot out a nut or other interesting things that are hiding in there.    Congrats on its first fire, too bad you can't take it up and down the road a little.

[grcamna2]

That I assume was not a brand new fresh spark plug before starting for the first time. Looks kind of old on the outside ?? Soot crust and rust is always normal out the pipe from a bike that's been sitting. Sometimes you get lucky and shoot out a nut or other interesting things that are hiding in there.    Congrats on its first fire, too bad you can't take it up and down the road a little.

Exactly.  Maui,you'll know when you get it ready to roll with a fresh set of NGK's in there,check the color then after a good ride for a decent 'plug read'.

[MauiK3]

Yes, it was old plugs. I’m not really worried about the sooty plug, it will sort out later. I really wanted to hear it run and idle to be sure it sounds healthy, which it does.
I took the swing arm off, bushings are shot.
I found some more NOS stuff I need. This time it was the fork dust shields.
My spread sheet of costs is creeping up.

[PeWe]

Air screws too much closed if idle rich?

[Stev-o]

Congrats!  Always a great feeling when they start up....

[Terry in Australia]

Good job Steve, you know you really should put it together so you can take it for a quick ride to make sure all the gears are in there, and the clutch works, but maybe that's just me wanting to see how it goes and not being able to wait until you have everything else done......

[seanbarney41]

Good job Steve, you know you really should put it together so you can take it for a quick ride to make sure all the gears are in there, and the clutch works, but maybe that's just me wanting to see how it goes and not being able to wait until you have everything else done......

that is for sure what I would do as well...actually, I would try and put 100 miles on it (not necessarily all at once) and see what shakes out...then ideally, I would pull the cover, check and set valve clearances, inspect timing chain guides, and then that motor ain't comin' apart any farther until it's broken.

[Terry in Australia]

Good job Steve, you know you really should put it together so you can take it for a quick ride to make sure all the gears are in there, and the clutch works, but maybe that's just me wanting to see how it goes and not being able to wait until you have everything else done......

that is for sure what I would do as well...actually, I would try and put 100 miles on it (not necessarily all at once) and see what shakes out...then ideally, I would pull the cover, check and set valve clearances, inspect timing chain guides, and then that motor ain't comin' apart any farther until it's broken.

Yep, I always laugh when I see guys doing a complete rebuild and spending months and $$$ sourcing new geabox bearings etc, when there was nothing wrong with their old ones. Conversely, there's nothing worse than assuming the gearbox is all good, to finish a show quality restoration, then find that you've got a gearbox issue.

It's not always easy to get a ride in before you need to tear it down, but worth it in my opinion to give you the peace of mind that you can go ahead and paint your engine and carefully install it into your shiny newly painted frame (much harder IMHO than a CB750 due to the extra engine mounts at the rear) and won't have to pull it all apart again and risk damaging the paint/powdercoat to address a gearbox issue.

[ekpent]

 To the point both Terry and Sean are talking about I bought a low mileage 1973 Suzuki GT750. The guys son had taken the front rotors and calipers and other parts like lines etc.. Well I went ahead and got the engine running and was happy with the way it sounded. Went ahead and bought all the brake parts and other goodies it needed. Polished and preened it and had it looking good. With high expectations of terrorizing the countryside with my new big triple smoker I pulled it out for its first big ride and soon as I hit second gear I said to myself WTF. It had a horrible second gear whine though it would not pop out. I drove it a little going from first to third to avoid the problem then broke the clutch nipple holder on the clutch arm behind the engine cover and had to make it around 20 miles back home with no clutch.  Great first ride after all my expenses and work !! 

[MauiK3]

Well, with the tires on it being cracked and very dodgy brakes and throttle cables looking very tired I decided that manually putting it through the gears and just running the engine was enough, I’d seen it on the street running just before it was “barned”. I’m going to fix this thing no matter what.
Worked on cleaning up the brake panel, removed bearings and the swing arm, bushings were scored up. I’m going to put the new bushings in before blast and paint, I’ll seal the ends up.
More NOS parts today.
I’m thinking about rechroming the shifter, brake pedal and brake rod and the bracket.

[Terry in Australia]

Is the chain still on it Steve? If so, put it on the centre stand and fire it up and run it through the gears with the wheel off the ground, and at least you'll have an idea of what the gearbox is like under a (small) load. You could also operate the rear brakes with it in gear with the engine running (you may need a helper) to put a bit more load on the gearbox.

I remember my first F2 restoration, I used a different brand (loctite) case sealant, which turned out to be the wrong type. The big day arrived when it was ready to start and go for a quick lap. I fired it up, it started instantly and sounded great. While it was warming up on the centre stand I noticed oil dripping out.......... of the points cover! Agghhh!! Before long it was just weeping oil everywhere, the sealant had liquified when it come into contact with hot oil!

I tried to drink myself to death, and when that didn't work, next day, with a massive hangover I pulled the engine out again, chipping my freshly powdercaated frame, and the engine enamel, tipped the engine upside down and cracked the cases and resealed them, and spent another day shoving the engine back in, chipping more paint and powdercoat. Like Eric, I was less than impressed.

[grcamna2]

To the point both Terry and Sean are talking about I bought a low mileage 1973 Suzuki GT750. The guys son had taken the front rotors and calipers and other parts like lines etc.. Well I went ahead and got the engine running and was happy with the way it sounded. Went ahead and bought all the brake parts and other goodies it needed. Polished and preened it and had it looking good. With high expectations of terrorizing the countryside with my new big triple smoker I pulled it out for its first big ride and soon as I hit second gear I said to myself WTF. It had a horrible second gear whine though it would not pop out. I drove it a little going from first to third to avoid the problem then broke the clutch nipple holder on the clutch arm behind the engine cover and had to make it around 20 miles back home with no clutch.  Great first ride after all my expenses and work !! 

Do you still have the bike?

[ekpent]

To the point both Terry and Sean are talking about I bought a low mileage 1973 Suzuki GT750. The guys son had taken the front rotors and calipers and other parts like lines etc.. Well I went ahead and got the engine running and was happy with the way it sounded. Went ahead and bought all the brake parts and other goodies it needed. Polished and preened it and had it looking good. With high expectations of terrorizing the countryside with my new big triple smoker I pulled it out for its first big ride and soon as I hit second gear I said to myself WTF. It had a horrible second gear whine though it would not pop out. I drove it a little going from first to third to avoid the problem then broke the clutch nipple holder on the clutch arm behind the engine cover and had to make it around 20 miles back home with no clutch.  Great first ride after all my expenses and work !! 

Do you still have the bike?

I sold it this spring for a pretty good price "as is" while the market is hot. Got a couple more so might have better luck next time after I take one for a little ride first.   

[MauiK3]

Today I continued to remove stuff in preparation to remove the motor. I’ll be checking the valve timing prior to really getting into it. Along the way I’ve come to the conclusion that the previous work was done with no attention paid to fasteners. I’ve even found some SAE stuff on it! I’ll need to get lots of stuff to put it back together. The oil looked ok when I drained it except the oil filter cover drain plug cavity had been mangled at some point, I’m surprised it didn’t leak. Johnny’s Vintage has one on the way. My gauges are going to be mailed to CB750 Faces shortly for refurbishment.

[Terry in Australia]

Looking good Steve, and yep, a heap of the metric stuff I've imported from the US have had some "agricultural" SAE conversions done, there must be a lot of farms in the US........

[RAFster122s]

Nah, just SAE bolts were the standard here until they slowly began being more common in the 90s as cars domestically produced or by US auto makers began finally switching over to metric. Used to you could get decent metric fasteners from ACE hardware but now they are all cheap Chinese crap (ccc) and you have to go to a real fastener shop or order from one online to get decent hardware. Makes it tough to work on a bike (or car) when you do not anticipate needing a fastener ahead of time on a weekend. So, you buy a CCC part to hold you over if it is easily swapped later and not a critical or safety part.

[MauiK3]

I took the valve cover off today and my feelings about needing to look inside were correct. The #2 exhaust valve lobe is scored, I need a new cam. My little pointer catches on the defect. The other lobes look ok I think.
Have to order John Brookes book still.
Cams are hollow.

[grcamna2]

I see the wear Maui.
I've seen cams do that when the owner doesn't change the oil much.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, looks like the bearing surface to the right of the lobe isn't happy either.

[MauiK3]

I’ll save you all the suspense, I found, and ordered the last set of hollow cams Johnny’s Vintage had a few hours ago, lucky I guess.