TOPIC:

I made a 200 klick pilgrimage trip to the city of Sandviken today.

Sandviken is the home town of the Swedish company Sandvik, makers of Sanvik Coromant. Probably known to a lot of you, and for those of you that hasn’t set foot in at metalwork, Sandvik is renowned for being ”tha shit” in metalworking cutting technologies.

Once there I found this neglected little thing, almost original Gpz750A1 -83.

80.000 km on the meter, all parts intact (except exhaust) all the know problem, sweating oil around the cylinder head gasket, small crack in one side panel and the main fairing, running foul when cold. Just what you expect of a bike 30 years old.

Who was I to look away from this poor thing that has been sitting on the Swedish equivalent of Craigslist since 16 Aug?



In need of carburetor love and probably new valve seals, something that can be taken care of when changing the head gasket. Best of all, it doesn’t have to happened this winter, so if I don’t finish my 82 R1 by spring, I have a backup.

I paid 800 USD for here custody, which was probably 100 USD too much, but what a heck.

So those of you, who drove these bikes when they were new, probably get it when I say I am working on my New Gold Dream

She is your friend until the ocean breaks
And when you dream, dream in the dream with me
81 - 82 - 83 – 84
New Gold Dream


All loaded up and on the way to her home.



Wonder what will become of her when she grows up? a WRR?

Starting working on my own harem, 82 and 83 down, two more to go!

/A

Nice save!

Don't get both those GPz's together. They'll multiply.

Thats why I kept that ugly looking top box on. Cant imagine that anybody can be turned on by that

Some guys like junk in the trunk.

Nice find!

Looks like a runner.
Steve

After a long winter were I have neglected my last find in the garage, it was time to get the lady up and running for the season as I still hadn’t driven her yet.
Set valves, strip down carbs, rip out all gong-hoo cabling PO had added, new plugs, new battery and she fired up right away.



Shut here off in order to gear up. Ouuups fuel flowing from nr 1#, dammit, of with the carbs again. Wipe off float needles and seat again, clear tube test, carbs on.



Fire up, take off and she run like a charm in a need of a carb sync. Unfortunately I don’t have my old clocks around anymore so it has to wait until I get a chance borrow a pair.



Happily I rode all week when I figured out why the brakes were so scary! Leaking fork fouling the disks, so that saved last Friday, fitting new fork seals and dust covers and cleaning out all the goo that had taken up, refuge in the lower part of fork.
When that was done I started to count up the little things that needs to be fixed and ordered , head gasket will need an overhaul as the oil gallery O-rings are on their last lap. Will try retighten the head hoping I can wait with the gasket change as there is need to change the valve seals, exhaust fumes are clear.

But my dreams where shattered the other day as the carbs started to over flow again, petcock don’t shut, obviously rust and stuff in the tank getting the best of the petcock and the carbs. Had been trying to pick up a fuel filter during the week, but gas stations only sell hotdogs, groceries and mocha latte frapposhinos or what the F@#@ they are called these days I hadn’t managed to get one on.


Any how I set of this weekend to clean the tank and thought I try to etch it out with vinegar. Living in an apartment building and being limited to work on the balcony didn’t give me the options to play with the beefier stuff.



Cleaning out went well, added a couple hands full of gravel and a good two liters off vinegar shook around for a while and finally toped it up as full as I could get it. Every time I have passed it I have given it a shake and turned it around.



After 48h I opened it up much to my disappointment it didn’t work out well, it is impossible to soak every part of the tank inside and the parts that are exposed flash rust right away.

So I have to come up with another way to derust. . . . . .

Next up concrete mixer.. . . . .

Hold on,hold on. Dont give up on the vinegar yet. I promise you it works. Dont know what youre using but you need brown vinegar.You also need to let it soak. I left mine for 2 weeks.It came out great.
Fill it up to the brim with vinegar.Let it sit for a couple of weeks,drain it and rinse it out with soda. Wash it out with water and let it dry.I did mine in the summer and it was dry after half an hour in the sun. You could also put it in the airing cupboard.A misting with some WD40,to kill the flash rust .Bobs youre uncle and Fannys your aunt

And the Yankee had to Google......

Bob's your uncle..

Davido I did a tank with Kreem and a few with HCL when I was a kid and it was quick and easy, but back then I had my parents garage to do my experiments in, a totally different ball park than living in an apartment and keeping the bike in the communal garage. I also guess that I by age do care a bit more about the nature as well. . . . . . .


I googled the living daylight out of the Vinegar etch and if I had known that I takes two weeks I had probably not given it a go now when the season has stared. But what bugs me the most is that it would require an open 50 Liter vinegar tank, in which I can entirely submerge the KZ tank in to.

Don’t see that happening on my balcony any time soon, that would probably require a quick Sheela swap.

I will probably have to fix the tank on my other bike to this fall, then I will give it another go with Vinegar, but I still don’t see the difference between White and Red/Brown. Its roughly 6% acetic acid (CH3COOH ) one way or the other.

So you guys don’t think it’s a good idea to prop some media in the tank, wrap it in a blanket and fixate it in a mixer and let it tumble for an hour?

Anyhow now I got an extra 5L of White Wine Vinegar,



good enough to make approx. 1000 servings of Béarnaise sauce, all I need is a good 25Kg of butter a few eggs, white pepper and a tropical forest of tarragon.

Davido! I know my aunt’s got a fanny, but who’s that Bob dude?

/A

I think Vinegar is pretty eco friendly compared to the other options. I wouldnt submerge the tank in vinegar,unless you want to strip the paint.Just fill it up. The stones/screws/nuts and bolts in a cement mixer seems a bit brutal. More suitable for removing heavy rusting.Dont know how bad yours is. I tried nuts and bolts with the tank strapped to a length of wood in a drill.Nearly took my head off and it was a bugger to get all the nuts and bolts out.
I know others have used a similar method with success,I can only speak of my own experience.
No disrespect to your aunts fanny.Or your uncles bob. Nice link GPzMOD750.