Brakes, paint and assembly

     I decided to go with a gun metal / graphite finish for my braking systems, leaving only the levers as polished aluminium. Off to the auto parts store I went, and managed to find, not caliper paint - good for 900 F, but alloy wheel paint - good to 250 F. As this is on calipers open to the wind I went for the wheel paint. Added to which - brake paint comes in four or five basic colours, none of which floated my boat. So graphite alloy wheel paint it was.

 $6.99 a rattle can.

     This paint, I found covers well, you can re-coat after 10 minutes, but after 60 minutes no coating for 7 days, while the paint cures! 2 coats applied - i think they look good. I can handle the calipers after 3 hours, will decide then if they need a rub-down and a final coat of paint. Will assemble mid week, once paint has cured, or will wait until at least the week end (3 days hence).  Then I will leave for a further 3 days or so before packing and storing and onto the next part of the project.

     More to follow on assembly and final pictures.

     There is a little run line / floor on on of my calipers, intend to sand it Wednesday or so and then give it a last coat before assembly can begin. Was my own fault, too eager to coat and put a little too much pain on in a pass. 😞

Brakes vs me, almost 40 years of crud.....

     So, now everything is back to normal, I decided to get back on the cafe racer pony and recommence the restoration.

     Stripped more of the bike, this thing must have kept Home Depot profits up high. All of the ancillaries are now off the front end, just the handle bars remain for moving in and out of my garage. Space is at a premium, oh for a home workshop. 2 more years then I will have my one in Scotland back, maybe in time for my next build (a Z1 or if it's a basket case a MFP Z1, mmmm).

     With that done, found another great resource for OEM parts, Z1 Enterprises. A complete set of seals for a front caliper are $31.00, cheaper than e-Bay. I then returned to my brakes, decided to disassemble completely, all the way down - then repaint, new seals, lines and the new pads that were in the calipers. Brakes were a mess, before and after the clean below. The seals and diaphragms were all gelatinous, sticky and everywhere. A solid combination of elbow grease, acetone and WD-40 aided the clean-up before a thorough de-greasing ready for paint and re-assembly. To totally de-grease and clean the calipers, they may have a visit to the parts washer in the kitchen (don't tell the missus.).

 To get the pistons out, I was a little creative. I do not own a compressor as yet, but have acquired a lathe and milling machine. I also ride push bikes so i have a stirrup air pump for bike tyres. So a few measurements and about 20 minutes on my lathe and i came up with a bike pump to caliper part. Designed as follows - 7 mm thread for the caliper body, 3/8 inch main body (to fit the foot pump) and knurled. A 4 mm hole through the body completes the part:

     Screwed the part into my calipers, blocked the brake line hose with a 10 mm bolt and a bit of 5 mm workshop rubber glove to seal. The one slow compression of the pump eased the piston from the caliper body. I was a pleased as a gypsies dog with 2 dicks. I think the last lot of fluid was water! A there was a lot of rust coloured fluids ejected (see the dirty piston in pic).

     It has to be said, that each caliper took 3 to 4 hours of leisurely work before paint. So all 3 calipers will take around a day and a half of work, yes it could have been cheaper to buy NOS and go from there, but this way I am trying to keep the cafe racer ethos alive, restoring and using as much as i can of the bike, changing what i must for safety and want to for the look. Besides that, NOS Calipers are expensive, eBay was one of the only places to find one, at $285.00! Used ones start at around the ton, and would need a strip down anyways.

     So to the costs:
1. Strip and clean -           $0.00
2. Brake caliper paint -     $9.00
3. Front seal kit x 2 -        $62.00      Total for both caliper refurb = $71.00
4. Master cylinder kit -     $20.00
5. Steel Lines -                 $35.00

     All in all, for the total front end brake referb - not a bad expenditure: lever to pad = $126.00. Am happy with that, and expect a similar result for the rear, once the wheels are out and I can remove the rear caliper.

     The finished calipers will be blogged in around 3 or 4 days (probably a week then).

Hurricane Irma vs me

I lost the fight but not the battle. We evacuated, just as well house is without power and there was some storm damage to our community. All is good, no flooding and intend to get back to it as soon as I return to the garage and Lecky is restored.

The rest of the Bodywork, Tank and exhaust off!

     Well, between work commitments and my favorite hobby of spending time with my gorgeous wife, the KZ650 has been a little neglected. Today we spent some quality time together, stripped the rest of the bodywork off, repaired it too, so if side panels need to go back on then they will be perfect. The tail unit will be sanded and primed then get a joyous union with eBay.

     The indicators are trash, and am looking to clean up the frame, cutting and grinding all unnecessary hangers off. Now - here is a quandary, do I retain the original exhaust or go for a Delvic and sell the twin pipes for putting the cash back into the build.

 

     The rear brake master is out, as it the hose, all brake hoses are being replaced. I should have all the brakes serviced and assembled like new in a couple of weeks.

     It does appear that the bike has been apart before, an age ago, the mis-match of  fasteners and i have discovered that zip ties of various sizes and manufacture were used in Kawasaki production... ;-)

     So my list of things to buy, although vast, is being prioritized, so my list topper at the moment are the brakes, once they are done then a bike lift is next up, so the wheels and suspension can come out.

     I now also have to clean and maybe shape the tank, will leave the shaping until later in the build. But it really does need a good service and re-sealing.

     To order list:

               1.     Front and Rear braided brake hoses - probably eBay .

               2.     Caliper paint - Black.

               3.     Bike lift or bike stand, probably from Harbor Freight, i already have a jack from them, and it seems pretty robust. That or i will be scanning craigslist for some workshop goodies.

     Oh, i did kick the motor over, has good compression, so that is good news indeed, the lever, true style did catch my shin too!

     Well, until my next installment, cheers.

The Seat and Rear Fender

     So, it has been a while, I have been back to the mother country to see family, and a thoroughly great time was had. I was keen to get back and start tinkering again. Space, as always is at a premium in my garage, the strip continued regardless. Again, most things are kept on by metric stainless steel home depot specials. I may need to buy more storage........

     Today, the much hated seat unit is gone, it is hideous, and weights in at around a chunky 15 lbs or more. I may have to keep the part I discard, or at least weight them to see how much before and after weight i have saved. I intend to eBay most things i do not use once off the bike, what I make goes back into the build.

     In addition to teh seat, the rear fender and battery box came off and out, as have the rear lighting cluster, and yes, having learnt from old, i have already labeled the wires appropriately, just in case i keep the loom.

 
So, the chrome is getting old, am undecided, should i re-chrome what I style and use, or powder coat? Decisions, decisions, well only a short addition today, but progress is being made!

The Front Master Cylinder

     Just a brief note today, as it turns out, that black gelatinous mess in the front brake master cylinder, is actually the diaphragm. It has degraded to the point of uselessness beyond hope.
     Now, is a replacement available from Kawasaki? Nope. Is it on eBay? Yes at some $30.00 plus shipping from Canada. I did, however find a great site - kurveygirl. And be careful how you type this - could end up somewhere where you do not want to be! Anyhow, the price from these guys was $23.95 including shipping. They take PAYPAL and have a great selection of Dzus fasteners etc.

     I will also be purchasing new stainless braided lines for the front and rear brakes.

     So, this week, as well as work I will be refurbishing the cylinder as taking down the KZ a bit more. I know I should take it all down and then refurb/ repair / replace but  can't help myself! Besides as I srtip the master cyclinder i will see if it needs a refurb kit for the piston and O rings........

     Pictures and maybe a video to follow.

     

The start of the tear-down

     July holiday weekend, so I decided to start the tear-down of the KZ650. Every bolt and screw seems to be well torqued, only issues i have is that some appear to be home depot's finest! At least they are stainless steel. I have attached a couple of videos, one of the bike and one of the mess i encountered in the front brake master cylinder. I hope there is no worse to come, but suspect the rear master cylinder and the carbs will present similar issues.
     I hope this first video give some idea of the bike and overall condition:

    And here is the inside of the front brake master cylinder:

     There will be more to follow, especially as i master the art of video editing and posting.