78 Z1R Winter Project

testarossa wrote:

Hey Jake,
It's been about a month since you dropped the body work off at the painter. Is it done? Can we see? Looks like you went the same route as I did with your cam bearings. That frame is gonna look killer with the powdercoat. Keep up the good work.

I don't have my body work back yet, but hopefully will within the next week or two. I talked to him a few weeks ago and told him that I would be ready for them in the middle of April. I should call him again this week to see where we're at, but rest assured as soon as I get my hands on those puppies pics will be up, same with the frame. I'm hoping the powdercoater will call me this week and I can pick that stuff up sometime this weekend, I'm really excited to see it after seeing some of his other work.

He did a purple to orange fade on some quad suspension parts for Tarantula Performance Racing. It turned out pretty cool and I had no idea you could blend the powder like that. Check it out here.
He also did the frame for the "Bad Habit" monster truck.

Yep, 16 brand new cam bearings! I got worried when I first went to order because Z1E had them temporarily unavailable and everywhere else wants at least double for them. But they were back the next day and I snatched em up. They must have only gotten another 16 in because they were marked unavailable again after I ordered!

I think that I got the next 16. I heard the same story as you. When I was on the phone ordering my parts, the guy says "We're out of stock, but we have an order coming in today. Let me check. Good news, the bearings came in, and you can have them." Now that's customer service. Good work Z!E!

Jake,

Great to see more of these well documented restos getting posted up. Great work, and its inspiring to see how fast this can all get done when you have the prep and determination. Its nice to see bikes that get passed down like this too.

I bought a '78 CB 750 a few years ago because a friend was getting rid of it at a ridiculous price, but really couldn't do very much with it, and couldn't afford to insure it at the time.:blush: So, I gave it to my Dad as sort of birthday present. I figured he might get bored of it and let me buy it back off him in a year or two. No dice. It now has a fairing, highway and sissy bars, and all the 'old-man' type bits re-installed. :blink:

I know its blasphemy around here, but if he ever does decide hes not gonna ride it so much anymore, I can't wait to do a rebuild on it much like you're doing now. Keep the pics and posts coming, its great to follow a project like this.

Jonny

Jonny,

Glad you're enjoying the thread, it is definitely helping to keep me on track through this project. I know some of the other project threads on this site inspired and encouraged me to start my project and to document it in a thread. I'm glad to hear that my thread might be doing the same for others out there. Don't worry about the Honda, I have a soft spot for them myself as well. Besides that all bikes are cool with me, and I think that applies to most others on this site, so go ahead and post up a picture of that thing even if it isn't yours yet!

I finally got around to ordering my new seat cover, and I got it installed Monday night. It fit pretty well and installed easily. I wouldn't say that it's an exact match to the original, but it's a decent attempt and I don't think that anyone would notice the differences unless I pointed them out. Overall, I'm happy with the way it turned out and I'll try to take some pics tomorrow to show you guys.

I just found out tonight that my frame is ready so I will be picking that up this weekend some time. :woohoo:
My paint is supposed to be ready by Friday, but I'm not sure when I will get that stuff yet. So stay tuned for some pics of new powder coat and paint soon!

Go Jake Go! I can't wait to see the pics. BTW I have no hate for the Hondas. Someday I will have a CBX. That little Nighthawk that we had was a flawless bike aside from a squealing rear brake.

First off here's a picture of my seat cover, sorry it's much later than I promised, hopefully the rest of this post will make up for it!



I stayed up until 4am last night working on my wheels, I got the front painted and ready to mount the tire, and the back is ready to paint (part of today's list). My fingers are sore from sanding and polishing, but I think the results are worth it, let me know what you think.



And finally, the pictures that Josh has been waiting for, the frame!

I went and picked up all my freshly powder coated parts yesterday morning, and they look absolutely killer! :woohoo:

Here are some of the smaller parts I had him do;



And the swingarm;



And the frame, sorry I haven't pulled it out of my car yet.



It just barely fit in my econo-pickup!



I just have to finish up the wheels, paint the brake calipers, install some new bearings, then when I get my front fender I will have a roller in short order! :woohoo:

Alright, back to the garage with me, I just wanted to get the powder coat pics up for everyone!

Turn back the clock to 1978. Those parts look better than new. Sweeeeet!

the wheel turned out nice,and so did your powder coat.the last time i had to repaint and polish a stock wheel i was able to cheat and chuck it up in a big old lathe we had so i could polish the edges of the rim real nice and quick.where did you get your seat cover/re-covered at?

keep postin,

leon

Thanks guys, I've been happy with the way everything has turned out so far, hopefully it will continue that way!

Leon, I ordered the seat cover from z1parts.net and installed it myself. It fit quite well and apparently has some kind of lifetime warranty.

I'm starting to get worried that I won't want to ride this thing when it's done. I pulled the frame out of my car this morning and found myself putting padding on the floor before I set it down. I'm thinking the bike might end up taking my bed and I'll be the one out in the garage!

thanks for the reply jake.
a strong pimp hand will get that bike outta the bed and back on the street(er,in the garage :laugh:).
the first scratch will be the worst after that you won't even notice the next ones :ohmy: .

leon

Wow, it's been almost a month since I have posted. Sorry guys.

It's been pretty crazy for me this past month. It always goes nuts around the last few weeks of school for me, but my last final was last Thursday so things have finally started to slow down a bit. Unfortunately, since it's summer break, that means back to work full time so I can afford another couple years of school (and maybe another motorcycle :blush:). So I don't have as much time to work on the bike as before, but it will still be much better than the past month, plus the inspiration I needed just showed up!

So as you guys probably picked up from my ramble, I have gotten very little done on the bike since I last posted. And if you skipped over the first part, I don't blame you, the last sentence summarizes it! :dry:

Anyway, I got some of my paint back tonight!! :woohoo: :woohoo:

I know it's just three pieces, but it's a start, and the way they turned out was worth the wait! Just so you guys know, you are pretty much the first to see it, my painter literally left 15 minutes ago, enough to take some pictures and ramble a little.

I won't make you wait any longer, but I must say it was very difficult to get a decent picture of the finish, I really need to take some in the sun, if it ever decides to come out again.

The tank



And one of the side covers; I have both, but figured you could imagine what the other side looks like! :silly:



My original plan, as some of you may recall, was to go with a gray pinstripe in a similar pattern as before, but now I'm afraid of messing up the paint. So my current plan is to put the bike together with it just black, maybe even ride like that for a while, then make the judgment on whether or not it needs the pinstripe to bring out the lines.

BTW Leon, you're absolutely right about the first scratch, it will nearly kill me and I'll probably cry, but I will be ok after that!

Hopefully I will have the rest of the paint soon.

Let me know what you guys think!

first thing i do when i get new paint i try to find a spot where i cant see it to easy and then i scratch that then the first one is out of the way and you won't care so much.