Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Where to put the wiring loom and stuff!

Working out where to fix the electrics, cdi box, regulator, fuel pump, cabling for remote reservioir, using aluminum plate, will probably drill out some holes to save weight....even if its aluminum. Rear brake reservoir temporarily fixed. The seat unit pivots on the end so Ive got have it fixed at the front but easy to undo and flip up. Will clean it all up later.

Sunday, 22 May 2011

re-assembling part 2



My way of building the bike up is to fix the frame to the engine, straightforward if one has the necessary locking nut tool, so easy to drop the frame over, and put the bolts in. refitted the swingarm and suspension linkages. Before I put it in Id thought i could put the chain in, thinking it was an endless one, but no the one I got with a sprocket kit came with a rivet link, annoying as I have to by another tool now. First fitting of my nice Nitron shock, working out where the ride height adjuster(yellow knob) and the reservoir (annodised blue knob top right)should go. Want to try and get it inboard as much as poss to avoid damage if the bike goes on its side.

building up the bike.

Generator cover and snapped bolt drilled and tapped again only to get stuck again when I stupidly used an old bolt which snapped when torqued up...these I will replace with a complete kit soon, probably fancy anodised items from Mr Fastener.
One thing annoyed me I bought a complete gasket set 6 months ago only now to find some of the components not quite lining up! generator cover and exhaust washers wrong size!

one mashed radiator

This sorry looking radiator even though it doesnt leak cant be trusted, its corroded to the point that bits have turned to powder, fixing points cracked. so luckily Kempton Park bike jumble was on again, excellent place that Ive mentioned before. this time there was a classic bike show on. just by chance I spotted a radiator which looked very similar. With my measuring tape I checked the length,breadth, height inlet,outlet. even though it said gpz600 on it it looked ok. Infact they were the same. So whether honda and Kawasaki use the same parts or it was marked up wrong.

Thursday, 19 May 2011

final top end tasks

Cylinder heads finally on after a long time, the dodgy thread that I had trouble with was fine, cleaned through with a tap. It held under torqing up so I'm relieved.
setting the valve timing was quite straight forward, line the T1 mark on starter motor side, cam sprocket marks horizontal with cylinder head etc, Ive not touched these or tweaked anything here just the factory settings, I have previously used slotted sprockets on my cbr. May be look into this later. Valve clearances checked and all seemed within the limits from the workshop manual. Ill run the motor first before going back to it. I just want to get it back together and give it a shake down at a track day before the summer is up...with all this nice weather were having.
Next is the clutch plates, then thats about it.

Friday, 6 May 2011


Once the valves were lapped in each chamber was balanced using an old technique learnt from a friend, a small piece of 3 mm clear acrylic was placed over the head area sandwiched by some grease(thin layer), pressed down to for a temp seal. the acrylic has a small hole inwhich to drip a liquid through. using a pipette poor into hole until the liquid( say water) fills the chamber until it just attempts to push through the hole, surface tension just holding it back. Record the fluid level on the pipette, hopefully the valves being lapped in wont leak any through. Do the same for the next one and so one, This would be a good indicator on how accurate your chamber cleanng went and whether they need more material removed to match each chamber equally.


Inlet valves cleaned and ground into seats, only 2 so far. putting the collets in is tricky because of my home made compressor. dabbing a little grease on a screw driver and sticking the collets on is a good way of placing them on the valve stem, then carefully relaxing the compressor( home made tool + large g cramp shown in previous post