Another Kawasaki Z650 Restomod

[Gladers01]

xyyman said:

Ooh.. that looks good.

Probably look better than new when finished, I remember years ago I bought a GPZ750R1 (the one that weaved badly over a ton) and the fireman who was selling it stored it in the hallway of his bungalow in South London, it was absolutely pristine and he kept the black engine cases looking clean and shiny by warming up the engine and spraying it with WD40 then using an old rag to wipe off the surplus

[Merch131]

With many changed components.. gauges, rear lamp, rectifier/regulator, switchgear and coils from a Honda Blackbird.. similar spec to Dyna coils. I decided to make my own wiring harness.

I have used the M-Unit from Moto-Gadget before, but they are expensive, so I found another German company making a cheaper, simpler electronic control box, called the D-Box from Axel Joost. I'm in the middle of wiring up the bike now, using the D-Box and a new, modern Rectifier/regular in place of them separate OE components.





Finding a home for the new rectifier /regulator




Meanwhile the clutch basket had some backlash, caused by wear in the rubber bushes inside the clutch basket. This was fixed by grinding off the rivets holding its backplate to gain access to the bushes. The sloppiness was removed by inserting 1mm thick tubes around the bushes which squeezed them slightly and so removed the sloppiness and backlash in the clutch

Back plate removed to reveal the innards of the clutch basket

[Merch131]

Also been polishing the engine covers, very boring job,..

[carinaman]

I am possibly not a morning person but I was looking at that D-Box and the terminals and chunky wires wondering where the terminals were for the switch gear. It took me a while to notice the thinner colour coded wires underneath the chunky cables. Not very observant of me.

Will the polished engine case cover be lacquered?

[Merch131]

The D-Box input wires are fine gauge, I would have preferred them to be a little thicker. The engine covers will be left as is, they wont be lacquered. It's not much extra work to keep them polished and the bike won't be used in the winter months.

[Gladers01]

Merch131 said:

The D-Box input wires are fine gauge, I would have preferred them to be a little thicker. The engine covers will be left as is, they wont be lacquered. It's not much extra work to keep them polished and the bike won't be used in the winter months.

The D box will be a good solution to the original harness and looks neatly potted in grey araldite possibly to keep the damp out. The starter relay wire reminds me of the time when the electric start suddenly stopped working, no big problem as it had a kickstart, however out of curiosity I took the starter solenoid to pieces and found the coil winding to be open circuit, unwound the coil and found the +12v supply had become detached at the start of the winding, re soldered the wire back on and rewound by hand about 100 turns of wire back onto the bobbin, re attached the zero volts wire at the end of the winding and by some miracle it worked!

I also remember the bike feeling heavy but overall well made and built to last, this was put to the test when a car pulled out of a side turning whilst doing about 50 mph which resulted in the odd dent here and there including broken indicators but mostly superficial damage and easily repaired. The same thing happened about 10 years later on an Exup 1000 and the forks snapped clean off just below the bottom yoke and the brake discs warped due to the shock of the impact plus the usual fibreglass damage although the front wheel still ran true.

The Z650 clutch was ok up to about 28k miles when it started slipping whilst the new owner was out on a test ride and that was the last I saw of it heading off to a new home in Wales, happy memories for sure and it's still out there somewhere

[Merch131]

The starter circuit of the D-box has a limit of 20 amps, so its advisable to use a starter solenoid. I've now hit a problem when trying to go into its program mode to tell it I'm using switches rather than momentary contact buttons. You do so by turning on the ignition with the left indicator and the brake light on to go into 'programming mode'. When I tried it, nothing worked, no power to anything. If I try again with either the indicator or brake off, everything is fine, but of course its not in programming mode. Very frustrating. Can't find anything online, so will have to write to Axel and see if he can help.

[Merch131]

The problem with the D-Box is solved, seems I downloaded the wrong version of the English instructions from their website, one small change is the way you go into the set up mode. I am impressed how quickly I got a response back from Axel over in Germany, excellent customer service.

[Merch131]

Since the green Z650 will soon be leaving to have its engine rebuilt and fitted, before its given to a friend for his 60th, I decided to buy another for my own birthday last week.. a 1977 Z650B, this one has spoked wheels.. By the end of the day it looked a little different..





Been a busy week, while waiting for the frame to be powder coated at Triple S in Bingley. I painted a few small parts that I didn't take to be powder coated, including the swing arm. I didn't take the latter as it was in good condition, with little rust and perfect bearings. The bearings would have to be removed, and no doubt destroyed in the process, as if it went for powder coating, as in the oven the grease will melt and perhaps ruin the finish. Used etch primer followed by a few coats of smooth black Hammerite, which gives a hard wearing finish, similar to powder coating.

I've also cleaned up the points cover, which had some deep scratches, still got to polish the other engine covers, but at least they are in good condition. Also had the cam cover vapour blasted, which cleaned it up, but not so much that it looks new, as that would make it stand out compared to the rest of the engine.

I'm waiting for a big order from Z-Power to arrive, along with some stainless fasteners for the engine. Also found someone on Ebay who makes new side panels from ABS, which have stronger than OE mounting lugs. Was cheaper than some of the used side panels on Ebay too.

Should have the new stainless engine bolts finished by Saturday, while the rear wheel and engine spacers have been replicated in stainless.





Cam cover before


After


Spacers old and new

[carinaman]

That's good someone is making the side panels in ABS. The coating on that swing arm looks lovely. I've never seen the top of the cam covers before and didn't know they had 'DOHC' cast into them. I was talking about Z650s with a colleague last week as their brother had one. I doubtless tell them of your update and what I've learnt next time I see them.

[Merch131]

carinaman said:

That's good someone is making the side panels in ABS. The coating on that swing arm looks lovely. I've never seen the top of the cam covers before and didn't know they had 'DOHC' cast into them. I was talking about Z650s with a colleague last week as their brother had one. I doubtless tell them of your update and what I've learnt next time I see them.

They make all kinds of side panels in ABS, link here https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/lpmplasticmotorcyclepar...

[Merch131]

With help from a mate, we got the engine back in the freshly powder coated frame with no problems..





Most of the nuts and bolts on the bike are being change for stainless. All the hex head bolts are being polished. First by hand filing the heads smooth, then with the bolt in my drill, press the head against various grades of wet n day and spin it up.. works well, and each bolt doesn't take too long. Using a lathe would be easier but I don't have one at home.




Also made new engine mounting bolts in stainless, using 10mm stainless bar and nuts, once one end had been welded, they were skimmed on a lathe..

[Merch131]

The rear mudguard was damaged and rusty, as well as being heavy, it wasn't going back on the bike. Therefore I made a card template which I then made in 3 mm stainless plate.






Next it needed a new rear lamp, so I bought a used one from a Kawasaki ZR7, which is also used on other bikes, such as the ZX6R and ZX9R. Once again made a card template and then the real thing, this time in 1.2mm stainless, as that's all I had to hand... I will paint this bracket satin black..








Yokes back on the bike, new bearings and all fasteners are stainless, fitted new chrome covers to the clocks, both upper and lower, the bike had black upper bezels originally.



Decided the rims were too rusty to reuse, so they will have to be replaced along with the spokes.. Can't do the same with the front wheel yet, as I need it whole to work out how to mount a 4 pot Brembo. Just waiting for the new alloy rims to arrive from Italy then I can rebuild the wheels.



While the new ABS replacement side panel, has stronger lugs to hopefully prevent the failures in the original ..

[carinaman]

Merch131 said:

Please excuse my ignorance, what's the circular area behind the cylinder head and between the rubber end of the kick start and the oil filler in as you look at that image?

I like the below the seat schematic.

[tdm34]

carinaman said:

Merch131 said:

Please excuse my ignorance, what's the circular area behind the cylinder head and between the rubber end of the kick start and the oil filler in as you look at that image?

I like the below the seat schematic.

It's the engine breather.

[Merch131]

Yes its the crankcase breather, in this pic below, its cover is back in place..

[carinaman]

Thanks. I've learnt something today.

[Gladers01]

Merch131 said:

Yes its the crankcase breather, in this pic below, its cover is back in place..

Looking good, I had the same problem with the rear wheel spokes when the Z650B was 4 years old, some had become loose, others had snapped and the rear felt vague and squirrelly. Someone had recommended this religious crank of a wheel builder who was always preaching about the 2nd coming and worked in a freezing cold shed down the garden with a 2 bar fire on. He replaced the rim and fitted new spokes and did a first class job with the rear wheel running true again.

Also remember the rear mudguard had started to rust slightly, this was replaced with a much shorter fibreglass version, there were many after market parts available back in the day.

[Merch131]

My other, green Z650F2 arrived with a short fibreglass rear mudguard, I haven't been able to find anything similar for this bike. I will lace and true the wheels myself, just waiting for the alloy rims to arrive from Italy, which are due this week.

[Merch131]

The rear wheel adjusters had seen better days, and since it would take too long to have them chromed or whatever, I had a new pair made in stainless steel. Just been to polish them before they go back on the bike.





The front disc has now been spaced out to allow a 4 pot Brembo to fit, using a spacer with a spigot. To ensure I could still use the speedo drive, the hex bolts which bolt the disc to the hub have to changed for countersunk bolts. I've ordered Ti bolts, they were cheaper than the stainless equivalent.





The new alloy rims from Italy should have arrived by now, but there's some problem, so have to wait..