Refurbished binnacle and more of the Home Depot DIY parts off.

     The sun is shinning and i thought to steal a couple of hours on the bike this afternoon.

     The new  refurbished binnacle looks good, sprayed in metallic gunmetal paint., glass and all electrical contacts have been cleaned. As you can see in the pictures, it is a lot better than it was, if it doesn't look the part on the finished bike then i will procure something retro from the old interweb.

     Thus, today i decided to remove the rear brake system, pedals and the wiring loom. The loom worries me a little as i am not sure whether i am going to update the ignition or keep it old skool (and temperamental / unreliable). That said the minimalist electrics and kick start does appeal to me. More reading is needed and a decision is to be made.

     Not only did the loom come off, and all an-sundry, i removed the carbs. The rubbers were perished to the other side of pre-history and  they look like shite, think a complete strip and clean is totally needed. Oh well, may have to buy a ultra sonic cleaner.

    My gorgeous and very understanding wife bought me a set of cafe bars and mirrors for Xmas, the bars look a treat, as you can see. Am loving my project, just the lump to remove. Then the front and rear wheels and suspension. After that the really fun stuff starts. The powder coating and slow reconstitution of a cafe racer.

     The engine and carb strip and assembly is going to be revealing and a challenge, although the electrics are the part that scare me, I hate motorcycle electrics.

The Binnacle - 40 year old bulbs and foam.

     The new year has seen the arrival of positively Scottish weather here in Florida!
Continuing with the take down (along with my 2 other projects - a Wells Index milling machine conversion to 3 phase with a DRO, K98 restoration) time and space are at a premium.
     The clocks were a nice little sub-project, going to strip them, clean and then paint the metalwork in the same paint as my brakes and bar mounts. Oh - on that, my gorgeous wife has bought me some most excellent cafe racer bars, grips and mirrors for Christmas, she really gets me! Pictures will follow when I restore the clocks and assemble.

     So the rev counter had a spiders web / nest under the glass. A total disassembly and clean was in order. The problem is that these clocks are not designed to be opened. they are in two halves, sealed together with a rubber gasket and a steel crimped ring. The arr is to slowly and diligently pry the ring up, a little at a time using a small screw driver.
   

 
A little persuasion is needed, but be careful, the steel ring is very malleable and can be easily damaged. Once of, the instruments come apart easily. Glass cleaned and the steel work given a wire wool scrub, to aid paint adhesion.

     The next challenge was the mounting bracket itself, along with the indicator and light cluster. The sound application of a little WD40 and tentative use of a metric 8 mm socket wrench had the desired effect, and the rest came apart without a hitch. I labelled each of the lights on the loom and separated it from the binnacle. Some of the bulbs were blown, and the glass bulb had separated from two of the bulbs, so a trip to the auto store is also on the cards. Once stripped the prep for paint was completed, and now i am awaiting a dry day to paint before re-assembly.

All of the binnacle disassembled, masked ready for paint.

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     Paining completed, the results are not to shabby. The only thing i am not to keen on are the chrome / steel bands, i had to re crimp as best i could using smooth pliers. They are still way better than prior to my attentions. If i don't like them once functional on the bike, i can always source some retro dials from the world wide web.

 

Off into a box until re-assembly. Am quite happy with them.

Final Brake assembly - looking good

     Today is a good day. I assembled the calipers, and they look good. All of the parts i purchased went in like a glove and the refurbished parts look dapper!

     The front calipers were a bitch to get together, mainly due to the rubber boots for the cross bolts. All the other seals went in a treat.

     

     As you can see - they did come out good. Of not, when disassembling , keep the steel ring washer, you can see it in the picture above. It does not come as part of the rebuild kit, and is required to hold the rubber dust cover in place on the moving piston.

     So the calipers went together, the second easier then the first (lessons learnt), now to the master cylinders.


    I restored the piston kit for the front master cylinder and it went together easily. The seals from Kurvygirl slotted into place without the need for trimming or fitting, excellent. As you can see, the plastic of the cylinder, the rhomboid, is a little aged and crazed. But rather than replace at this stage, I wanted to keep it. The lever was just rubbed down with 4000 steel wool. And the rear master was just paint.

     The brakes are now done, well apart from the rear, which i will get too soon. Next tast is the removal of the front end, service and restore the forks, trash the handle bars for some 60s style cafe racer ones and new headlight. Switch gear is going to be serviced and restored, painted same as calipers etc. Off to the next challenge of this irregular build.

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.