Yamaha FZ1 Retro Mod - This winter's Project
Discussion
Having had a 35 year gap from Biking I was allowed back on 2 wheels after my son got his A2 'to keep an eye on him' 
Was so nice to not only be back on 2 wheels, but also to get spannering and mucking about with bikes again.
Firstly my son found an XT125 and DT125 abandoned on the farm opposite, the yard was about to be cleared so the farmer told us to take whatever we wanted, so we came back with both bikes and a Kayak (latter sold for £50)
The DT didn't have a frame no. so we broke that and sold it for parts, but the XT did, so I got it registered and spent the next couple of years stripping and rebuilding it, I recently sold it as part of a deal to takeaway an old Pianola!
Alongside this a Mate offered me a 1982 XJ550 for £200 that had been stood for 12 years, so I set about recommissioning it and then did some gentle mods, I have now sold it to my Son, it is a lovely bike and a perfect first 'Big' bike for me
So, what next? I saw a 1989 GSX750ES project for sale at a place in Corby that has a whole selection of project bikes, but by the time I got there it had been sold, then I saw this abomination sat there:
It had the dreaded water pump leak, but other than that a great service & MoT history and showed signs of being loved. I am not sure what had happened to the fairing, but the streetfighter conversion was weird - Cow-horn bars, the clocks were still fixed but the light and little fairing thing were attached to the forks (and would clout the clocks sometimes!) and a lot of the fairing mounts badly hacksawed off...a deal was done and a plan hatched...
When I were a lad growing up in Royston, Herts, I worked in the big Shell garage and on a couple of Sunday mornings I would hear a mighty roar and over the hill would appear Steve Parrish on his race FZ750 and pop in for a fill up - That got me to thinking...
Long story short, I did some measurements and poking around, bought an FZ750 Race fairing off ebay and got the sticky tape out...
It fits Dagnamit! and not only that, the line in the tank is perfectly aligned with the line on the fairing, so I got busy making up a load of brackets and deciding on lighting, a test run was performed with one of the lights
But decided that that one was not bright enough on its own, but I liked the little angel eye DRL, so this brings me up to date, all brackets for the fairing made, the lower light is mounted and I have almost finished the top light mount.
Once that is done, I will put the fairing back on (for about the 7th time!) and work out where the indicators are going and where to re-mount the horn and the heated grips controller then it will be ready for its first road test!
Was so nice to not only be back on 2 wheels, but also to get spannering and mucking about with bikes again.
Firstly my son found an XT125 and DT125 abandoned on the farm opposite, the yard was about to be cleared so the farmer told us to take whatever we wanted, so we came back with both bikes and a Kayak (latter sold for £50)
The DT didn't have a frame no. so we broke that and sold it for parts, but the XT did, so I got it registered and spent the next couple of years stripping and rebuilding it, I recently sold it as part of a deal to takeaway an old Pianola!
Alongside this a Mate offered me a 1982 XJ550 for £200 that had been stood for 12 years, so I set about recommissioning it and then did some gentle mods, I have now sold it to my Son, it is a lovely bike and a perfect first 'Big' bike for me
So, what next? I saw a 1989 GSX750ES project for sale at a place in Corby that has a whole selection of project bikes, but by the time I got there it had been sold, then I saw this abomination sat there:
It had the dreaded water pump leak, but other than that a great service & MoT history and showed signs of being loved. I am not sure what had happened to the fairing, but the streetfighter conversion was weird - Cow-horn bars, the clocks were still fixed but the light and little fairing thing were attached to the forks (and would clout the clocks sometimes!) and a lot of the fairing mounts badly hacksawed off...a deal was done and a plan hatched...
When I were a lad growing up in Royston, Herts, I worked in the big Shell garage and on a couple of Sunday mornings I would hear a mighty roar and over the hill would appear Steve Parrish on his race FZ750 and pop in for a fill up - That got me to thinking...
Long story short, I did some measurements and poking around, bought an FZ750 Race fairing off ebay and got the sticky tape out...
It fits Dagnamit! and not only that, the line in the tank is perfectly aligned with the line on the fairing, so I got busy making up a load of brackets and deciding on lighting, a test run was performed with one of the lights
But decided that that one was not bright enough on its own, but I liked the little angel eye DRL, so this brings me up to date, all brackets for the fairing made, the lower light is mounted and I have almost finished the top light mount.
Once that is done, I will put the fairing back on (for about the 7th time!) and work out where the indicators are going and where to re-mount the horn and the heated grips controller then it will be ready for its first road test!
Edited by Fat Albert on Monday 9th December 10:02
Thanks!
Yes someone on the FZ1 Facebook page pointed that out so I got the September 2021 back issue from eBay to see how he did it.
Basically took the same approach as me in terms of taping it on and moving it until it looked right and the lines line up then make the brackets to suit.
Weirdly in the same issue of the magazine they have a double-spread of Eddie Lawson's Race FZ750 and a custom bike with a race fairing with little LED light, so lots of inspiration!
Yes someone on the FZ1 Facebook page pointed that out so I got the September 2021 back issue from eBay to see how he did it.
Basically took the same approach as me in terms of taping it on and moving it until it looked right and the lines line up then make the brackets to suit.
Weirdly in the same issue of the magazine they have a double-spread of Eddie Lawson's Race FZ750 and a custom bike with a race fairing with little LED light, so lots of inspiration!
Stevemr said:
I miss that mag!
Good project.
So do I! It was the one that covered the era and type of bike I am interested in along with the kind of projects and customisation that inspired meGood project.
Thanks Steve and Gregg!
Have the upper light fitted and the fairing back on now, the wiring all works, however it is a bit flaky so will re-do it with multi plugs rather than bullet connectors as I want the lights to work reliably!
I may have over-engineered the light mounts, but they need to be adjustable in 2 or 3 directions:
After re-jigging a couple of the Fairing mounts it will be on to deciding on where the indicators go and re-siting the horn and heated grips controller[url]
I'm not a big fan of bar end indicators and would mean more wiring on the bars (already have heated grips and USB charger) so have ordered the same pair of tiny but shockingly bright ones I had on the XT.
Relocated the horn yesterday and pulled the bike out of the garage today to wipe the dust off and look at it from a wider angle to check the fairing looks right with the tank lines, which it does thankfully
Pleased with how close a colour match the FZ is to my car! (First time they've both been clean at the same time!)
Relocated the horn yesterday and pulled the bike out of the garage today to wipe the dust off and look at it from a wider angle to check the fairing looks right with the tank lines, which it does thankfully
Pleased with how close a colour match the FZ is to my car! (First time they've both been clean at the same time!)
Had the Fairing off and on a few times whilst I sort the wiring, the top light needs a power feed to the main bulb when on full beam so wired it up with a diode so that I can have it connected to both feeds with causing the high beam solenoid to flip the shield up when on low beam
Got the fairing back on and tested it on the drive, wow that little light is bright!
Just need to tweak one of the fairing mounts then it's ready to road test!
Got the fairing back on and tested it on the drive, wow that little light is bright!
Just need to tweak one of the fairing mounts then it's ready to road test!
Tweaked the mounts and did the road test!
Took my old (now my Son's) XJ550 out to warm it through and blow the cobwebs away, then took out the FZ
Really pleased, was all solid and did a good job at motorway speeds, also fed warm air onto my legs which was nice!
Just rattled/vibed a bit at low speeds, so will put some rubber washers into 6 of the 7 mount points.
Next thing is to figure out my paint code and get it sprayed up ready for final fitting
Took my old (now my Son's) XJ550 out to warm it through and blow the cobwebs away, then took out the FZ
Really pleased, was all solid and did a good job at motorway speeds, also fed warm air onto my legs which was nice!
Just rattled/vibed a bit at low speeds, so will put some rubber washers into 6 of the 7 mount points.
Next thing is to figure out my paint code and get it sprayed up ready for final fitting
After another test ride last week
I decided that now's the time to start the tear-down to finish the fairing, fix the water pump, do a service and sort out the MoT advisory (Rear Brake Pads)
I took loads of pictures of the fairing brackets and the light mounts so I stood half a chance of getting it all back together, I will be tidying up and painting all of the brackets to try and make it look a little less Heath-Robinson!
Ended up with quite a pile of bits!
Once the fairing was off and the side panels separated I opened up the side-vents - I am hoping that this will give a nice flow of warm air over the legs - as well as taking heat from the radiator
I have sanded down all of the mould marks from the pieces, the next job is to do a bit of filling to sort out a few nicks and chips before final paint prep.
I have decided to just go with the Deep Purplish Blue rattle cans for the fairing for now, but will decide on a full new colour scheme in the summer when I can get my compressor out
I decided that now's the time to start the tear-down to finish the fairing, fix the water pump, do a service and sort out the MoT advisory (Rear Brake Pads)
I took loads of pictures of the fairing brackets and the light mounts so I stood half a chance of getting it all back together, I will be tidying up and painting all of the brackets to try and make it look a little less Heath-Robinson!
Ended up with quite a pile of bits!
Once the fairing was off and the side panels separated I opened up the side-vents - I am hoping that this will give a nice flow of warm air over the legs - as well as taking heat from the radiator
I have sanded down all of the mould marks from the pieces, the next job is to do a bit of filling to sort out a few nicks and chips before final paint prep.
I have decided to just go with the Deep Purplish Blue rattle cans for the fairing for now, but will decide on a full new colour scheme in the summer when I can get my compressor out
Edited by Fat Albert on Monday 20th January 10:00
Started working through the list of jobs, first up was the rear brake pads, refreshingly easy compared to car ones, especially as the Clymer manual gave a useful tip on how to put the tension springy clip thing back in.
Next was to repair the RH heated grips, the wiring had broken near where it enters the grip (obvious place with the throttle movement) so soldered in a female bayonet connector to rejoin the broken one and support the other one.
Next was a near Air Filter, love the feature on the FZ that yo can undo the front of the tank and prop it up like a car bonnet to either work underneath or disconnect everything before removing.
The air filter was a bit manky!
One thing I did notice is that a previous owner seems to have been a bit happy with the snippers, will have to sit down with the wiring diagram and figure out what has been cut!
I did try and change the spark plugs, but even my slim tool wouldn't fit, so have had to order the special one, which is annoying!
Next is to stop procrastinating and get on with the tear-down for the water pump fix, first up will be fluid drain and exhaust off
Next was to repair the RH heated grips, the wiring had broken near where it enters the grip (obvious place with the throttle movement) so soldered in a female bayonet connector to rejoin the broken one and support the other one.
Next was a near Air Filter, love the feature on the FZ that yo can undo the front of the tank and prop it up like a car bonnet to either work underneath or disconnect everything before removing.
The air filter was a bit manky!
One thing I did notice is that a previous owner seems to have been a bit happy with the snippers, will have to sit down with the wiring diagram and figure out what has been cut!
I did try and change the spark plugs, but even my slim tool wouldn't fit, so have had to order the special one, which is annoying!
Next is to stop procrastinating and get on with the tear-down for the water pump fix, first up will be fluid drain and exhaust off
So, that has been a bit of an ordeal, the bike has fought me every step of the way in trying to get the water pump done!
I am almost there, just one not-seated 'O' ring let me down when I tried to refill the coolant on Saturday, so just waiting for a new one to finish the job.
The actual strip and rebuild of the pump was not difficult, after removing the radiator, water pipes and exhaust (a major trial!) I laid the bike down on its side to get the sump off and do the work, much easier!
The sump and innards were very clean, thankfully
Once I got the pump out, stripping it took about 10 mins, getting the old water seal, oil seal and bearing out took about 3 hours!
It's all back together now and whilst I wait for the 'O' ring I have fitted the old indicators and an LED headlight temporarily to test the mechanicals whilst I finish off painting the fairing, also treated it to a clean at the weekend
Just got some new boots (Michelin Road 4s) as they were on offer at Demontweeks, so will drop them into Motoduo in Kettering tomorrow to fit, so looks a bit sad with no wheels on
I am almost there, just one not-seated 'O' ring let me down when I tried to refill the coolant on Saturday, so just waiting for a new one to finish the job.
The actual strip and rebuild of the pump was not difficult, after removing the radiator, water pipes and exhaust (a major trial!) I laid the bike down on its side to get the sump off and do the work, much easier!
The sump and innards were very clean, thankfully
Once I got the pump out, stripping it took about 10 mins, getting the old water seal, oil seal and bearing out took about 3 hours!
It's all back together now and whilst I wait for the 'O' ring I have fitted the old indicators and an LED headlight temporarily to test the mechanicals whilst I finish off painting the fairing, also treated it to a clean at the weekend
Just got some new boots (Michelin Road 4s) as they were on offer at Demontweeks, so will drop them into Motoduo in Kettering tomorrow to fit, so looks a bit sad with no wheels on
The cooling system finally gave in and decided to stay full of coolant during a test ride this morning
So, having fitted the lights to my newly painted fairing:
I decided now was a good time to get it fitted back on the bike
I am particularly pleased with how the crease line on the fairing matches that on the tank
I then did a 90 mile round trip to Cambridge with my son which was a great ride and it behaved impeccably, the new tyres (Michelin Road 4s) were an absolute revelation
Really pleased with how this bike is turning out, effortless, comfortable, fun, freaking quick and (i think) it looks good too
So, having fitted the lights to my newly painted fairing:
I decided now was a good time to get it fitted back on the bike
I am particularly pleased with how the crease line on the fairing matches that on the tank
I then did a 90 mile round trip to Cambridge with my son which was a great ride and it behaved impeccably, the new tyres (Michelin Road 4s) were an absolute revelation
Really pleased with how this bike is turning out, effortless, comfortable, fun, freaking quick and (i think) it looks good too
Edited by Fat Albert on Tuesday 29th April 22:47
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