A Tale of Two Zeds

wrote:

He's ok, he building the engine for me, he has some interesting bikes of his own, like this much modified supercharged Zed

It's good to have friends like that, isn't it?

Rather than wait for the engine to be completed (the head is still away being ported and rebuilt) before lifting the bare frame over the engine, I decided to reassemble the bike into a roller at last. Still lots to do, but happy with the way it looks so far.

Back to the Z1000A1, with the XJR1300 swing arm narrowed, it was time for a test fit in the frame. Not unexpectedly, the pillion foot peg mounts got in the way of the now wider swing arm.. they had to go. Everything went together ok, the frame still needs to be braced, and a few other lugs and brackets removed or modified.[img] i.imgur.com/zDgGj2T.jpg[/img ][img] i.imgur.com/ZLTNsVX.jpg[/img ][img] i.imgur.com/JMDKz2R.jpg[/img ]

New side panels and Z1 tank.. all the way from Japan. Quite reasonable price having seen how much dented, rusted out tanks go for on Ebay..  The custom seat has arrived from Japan, a bargain as its pillion strap was missing, no problem, as I don't fit them anyway. The rear caliper mount is done though it needs a little more work to make it look better..

Finished machining the caliper mount, it'll be hard anodised later. Moving to the front end, the Z1000 stem has had a threaded steel plug welded into its base, next a spacer needs to be added which will be a press fit into the Z900RS lower yoke. While the cases have been checked before going off to be vapour blasted and ceramically anodised, along with the cam cover and sump cover.

I've bought a used head in good condition, new valves etc and 1mm over pistons. Before taking the block to be bored out, I checked the bore size..turned out it wasn't 70mm but 72.5.. the block was from a 1100 not a Z1000. So need to find a good block to have rebored this week. Not easy to find with no damaged fins. 

 








 

Returning to the MK2, Collected some parts from Camcoat who ceramically anodised them, including the billet alloy engine mounts and cam cover plates.. The latter are needed as the cam cover came from the US and included an ugly anti pollution gizmo in the cover. It was machined off, and so a pair of plates were needed, to cover the holes which are drilled through the cam cover. Unfortunately a misunderstanding at the powder coater meant the machined area was masked off and not coated. So had a small amount of bare alloy around the plates. I tiny paint brush and engine paint fixed the oversight.

The new alloy engine brackets were test fit to the frame with expensive stainless fasteners from Pro-Bolt. The new stainless engine bolts aren't finished, as need to use a friends capstan lathe and Coventry box to cut their threads, and he is super busy, so don't want to bother him yet.

Found a pair of headlight brackets I liked, they can be fitted without dropping the stanchions in the yokes, but sadly the back of the clamps hit the tank on full lock, so they cant be used. Therefore, since I had an original ugly ZRX1200 headlight/fairing mount, I've sketched out a better looking version, and bent a piece of 7mm steel rod to make a sort of cage, similar tot hat used on the KZ650. Just taken it to my local welder to have him complete it, and fab the all important mounts to bolt it to the existing cast mounts which are part of the ZRX1200 yokes. I took along the ZRX mount to use as a guide as to how the mounts should be made.

In the next week or so I should be getting a pair of custom shocks from Maxton, along with rear sets from Tarozzi in Italy, both have a 4 week lead time. 

  

Beautiful work. Well done Sir. 

Test fitted the new headlight bracket to the Mk2.. will fit fine once I space it out with some neoprene washers, along with spacers between the bracket and lower yoke. The original ZRX bracket used thick rubber grommets which need to be accounted for. Next need to make a pair of alloy 'ears', to bolt to this bracket which will hold the headlight.

Meanwhile, took a trip to Maxton Suspension to collect my custom built shocks.. very nice. Cant fit them yet as the upper shock mount uses spacer/threaded jet style nut to move the mount out to match the wider swing arm. The ZRX shocks fitted originally had their top mounts modified to fit the now 18mm extension. Standard Zeds use a 14mm top mount, as does my new Maxton shocks. I wasn't happy with the 'extenders' that were fitted, so will make something better in one piece not two, complete with a standard 14mm top mount.

OE ZRX1200 Bracket


New bracket Test fit


Upper shock mount spacer needs more work


Maxton Shocks


 

Modified the shock top mount spacers and tried the Maxton shock on the bike, better, but need to shorten them by approx 2mm, then have then coated black..



Meanwhile on the Z1000A1 project, still collecting parts for the engine. Bought a set of 1mm over pistons, only to find the block I had, wasnt 1015cc but from a 1100.. Bought another from Ebay, and as is often the case it had a couple of damage fins. So got them alloy welded and filed back, should look ok once its painted. The block has gone off to be rebored, while the head I bought, also from Ebay, has been skmmed and its valve seats recut.


    

Been looking for a replica Z900RS fairing for a few months, as the OE fairing is ridiculously expensive. Finally found what I was looking for on a Japanese website, and it arrived today. Very pleased with the quality, and of course its carbon fibre. No screen, but I can buy one locally, while I'll have to make a bracket to mount t and the headlight. 



Also weighed the 1170 at last, with no petrol, but with oil, its 211kgs / 466lbs . That's around 34kgs or 75lbs lighter than the dry weight of a Z1000. Happy with that, and I reckon the MK2 will be even lighter, as the Yamaha R6 wheels on the MK2 are lighter than the one off wheels on the 1170, though perhaps not as cool..

Got the cases, cam cover and sump for the Z1000A1 back from a local specialist who gave them a silver ceramic coating, very pleased with the results. The cylinder head couldn't be coated at the same time, as it was away at a local machine shop having its valve seats recut and getting a mild skim. 

I unwrapped the head to see if the colours matched with the cam cover, as then perhaps it didn't need an expensive ceramic coating too. It looked pretty good..



However when I unwrapped the cylinder head for the first time since it came back from the machine shop,  things weren't so good... they had somehow managed to break four of the fins. A pita as it took me months to find a head on Ebay which didn't have any broken fins. I think it can be repaired , not sure what's happened, but looks like its been dropped?  The machine shop has a good rep, and normally they work on classic Porches, Aston Martins etc .