The Free Z650F2

Having posted the story of my Z650/1170 project, guess I should start another thread about my second Z650, one that arrived unexpectedly. Way back in March 2021, I was offered a Z650 for free, from a chap I'd never met in real life, only via a few messages online. Seems he was more into old Brit bikes, so wanted to move the Z650 on to someone who could rebuild it. Well, they say never look a gift horse in the mouth, so it was soon sitting at my mates workshop, as he'd collected it in his van for me.

Decided that one good turn deserves another, so a plan was hatched to get the bike back on the road as cheaply as possible, then give it to another mate, who was without a bike at the time. For various complicated reasons, that plan didn't happen. Here we are in 2022 and the poor Zed was still getting in the way at my mates workshop.

Time for a plan B.   

The rolling chassis was brought back home, while the engine, which had been removed by the previous owner to fix a broken exhaust stud, would stay at my mates place for the time being. 

A quick look over the bike shows its had a nice paintjob, pity about the awful Triumph-like tank decals.. which sadly are under the top coat of the paint. Will probably mean I'll have to respray the bike. The cheap Ebay rear shocks will have to go, as will the rusty exhaust. We think the latter is from a Zephyr, but with the large box under the engine removed. The seat is way too thick, not sure if its the OE seat with more foam?  It'll have to be reupholstered or replaced. The engine has done 41,000 miles and looks tired, but was told it ran ok before it was removed. 

Good points are that its a F2 model, so has the better 750E front end along with electronic ignition, while the stanchions are in good condition, possibly replaced or re-chromed in the past.

Having considered giving the engine a 810 conversion along with alloy swingarm 17inch wheels etc.. I decided against that idea. As I already have a Z650 with a tuned 1170 engine, along with another project Zed.. a MK2 with a 1400 big block, taken from my old turbo Zed. Therefore tuning this Z650 and massively upgrading it didn't hold much appeal, but then again nor did restoring it back to OE spec. So I guess the solution is to do a 'Resto-Mod', with small subtle changes that improve the power and handling/brakes, while still keeping it looking like a Z650.



Spending 10 months in a damp garage didn't do the engine any good, that said I may be able to swap it for one from a GPz750R .. not sure yet.


 

My projects tend to take years with lots of one off parts. I decided that this one shouldn't go down the same route, it'll still be a 'restomod' but with more 'resto' and less 'mod'. However, I did want to improve the front brakes, so tried a pair of Yamaha gold spots to see if they could fit. They didn't, as they  hit the mag wheel spokes when offered up to the fork. Later. on measuring the discs, found they were worn beyond the minimum thickness, so would have to be replaced. Therefore I found a good pair of R6 floating discs on Ebay, which would need spacer/adaptors making to fit the Kawasaki mag wheels and move them further apart, so the 4 pot calipers would fit..  



   

With my garage full, had to work outside, despite the rain, managed to get the the bike down to the frame and swingarm. The wiring was in more of a mess than I realised, suspect its going to need a new charging system, and full rewire..





The bike had been crashed at some point in its life, which left deep gouges in the swing arm.. I'm surprised they didn't go right through the arm.. the steel must be really thick..  



Had the damage filled with weld, them ground it down and finished with wet and dry.. turned out ok.

 

Bought a rear light from an early ZX6R to replace the cheap after market one fitted when I got the bike, will need to make a suitable bracket to mount it.. BTW the rear fender is a fibreglass copy of the heavy chromed original.





 

This replica Giuliari seat was cheaper to buy than getting the seat the bike came with re-upholstered. Looks well made, its just resting on the frame in the pic, as hasn't been correctly mounted yet.

Making the adaptors to allow R6 discs to fit the mag wheels is proving to be tricky, as the seven mounting holes required cant be dialed in on the rotary table.. but clamping the two old discs together, they can be used as a guide to mark the seven centre points which need to be drilled. Meanwhile the PCD of the R6 discs and the Z650 Mag wheels are out by 1mm.. sigh. But we'll get there.

By chance I have recently bought a pair of new old stock wheels form a 2011 R6, rear being a 17 x 5.5, to go on my Z1400 Mk2 project. I was struck by the difference in weight between the R6 and Z650 rear wheels.. so I weighed them.. 5.4kg for the R6 Vs 7.2kg for the Z650. The forks are also surprisingly heavy, though haven't had chance to weigh them yet. I don't want to change the bike to modern 17 inch wheels, so unless a nice pair of Astralites turn up, the originally wheels will stay.

Gday mate, when looking for wheels for my 750R1 project I bought a Z1300 front and a Z1000p rear, I wanted 18's and apart from the rare 3 spoke GSXR1100J wheels the only others were Japanese and expensive. While checking different style wheels I came across the later model Z650, 2017/18/19 and discovered they were 3.5 inch front and 4.5 inch rear, I got lucky and got a set from the UK complete with discs and hubs for 100 UK pounds, they are basically 5 spoke wheels and so much lighter than the early 7 spoke wheels it blew me away. I'm using the 18's for now as I'd already bought tires but will be adapting the 17's soon. The rear has a 20mm axle so its only the chain line to work out, I'll be milling the rear hub and If that doesn't get me close enough I'll use an offset sprocket, there's plenty about, I've already found some for the 520 chain I'm using...

 

Just another option...

wrote:

Gday mate, when looking for wheels for my 750R1 project I bought a Z1300 front and a Z1000p rear, I wanted 18's and apart from the rare 3 spoke GSXR1100J wheels the only others were Japanese and expensive. While checking different style wheels I came across the later model Z650, 2017/18/19 and discovered they were 3.5 inch front and 4.5 inch rear, I got lucky and got a set from the UK complete with discs and hubs for 100 UK pounds, they are basically 5 spoke wheels and so much lighter than the early 7 spoke wheels it blew me away. I'm using the 18's for now as I'd already bought tires but will be adapting the 17's soon. The rear has a 20mm axle so its only the chain line to work out, I'll be milling the rear hub and If that doesn't get me close enough I'll use an offset sprocket, there's plenty about, I've already found some for the 520 chain I'm using...

 

Just another option...

You got a very good price for those wheels, just checked Ebay and just one wheel is listed for£150 plus. But for sure modern bikes have very light wheels compared to those from 40 years ago.
 

Yes I was looking for lighter wheels but also a set that had a 4.5 inch rear, the 4.5 inch wheel is a bit easier to make fit and still look good on the early bikes with a 150 or 160 tire, depending on clearance...  Yes, I got a very good price on the wheels, plus 90 UK pounds to ship to Australia..

Awesome thread! I have two and half dead Z650's lurking in the shed waiting for my attention so will watch this one with interest.

One problem that fitting the new discs has caused is that there is now not enough room to fit the speedo cable. Therefore will need to fit an electronic speedo which uses a magnetic trigger. Not an issue, but its unlikely I'll find one that matches the tacho. Which in turn might mean I'll have to fit a completely different speedo/tacho unit, as I did on my 650/1170 project. I wanted to keep the classic instruments, but that may not be possible.

I couldn't find a speedo drive to fit the 25mm axle i'm using up front, I'm going to use a 4 inch speedhut GPS speedometer and mount it inside the GPZ750A2 gauge housing, you may be able to do something similar, speedhut have sensor speedometers too.. They are customisable.

speedhut.com/gauge-application/classic-s...120mph-programmable/