1100 B1 Newby

[Eddie]

Well done on getting a set of pipes reserved, it will be an agonising wait but all good things....

Rim looks good, but are you tempted to have some wider 17" rims laced on, would look nice and give better tyre choices?

Cheers eddie

[DaveZ1]

Thanks Eddie, I won’t be happy till those 4 into 4s are tucked away under the bed waiting to be fitted tho.
Never really thought about wider rims, thought that the rear tyres weren’t too skinny but you have given me some food for thought. I think that the Z1 restorer in me stops me from going too far away from original.
That said...... I got my frame back from the paint shop on Friday and I eventually went for the gloss black because the grey test piece I looked at was a little too light. Really pleased with the finish on the powder coating just thinking on whether to do the frame panels and foot rest mounting plates black or polish up or bit of both! Maybe a lot of none engine bling might be too much if you know what I mean.
I’ve re-plated the rear wheel spokes and they are in really good condition but one or two of the nipples are not perfect so I’m looking for the correct size replacements and if they’re not too expensive I will just replace them all.
Next big job is tackling the engine....... watch this space

[DaveZ1]

Slow progress in last week or so due to a very sad looking set of carbs which were sent to me to restore from a guy in Ireland who is restoring an 83 Z1000R ELR. It’s been challenging and time consuming to say the least Another string to my bow I suppose having now done a few sets of Mikuni CV,s as well as countless VM’s
I can post a before and after of those carbs (as well as my Zephyr ones when I eventually get around to them) if anyone is interested in my carb work.
I’ve done a lot of carb restoration work for the Z1 owners club over the last few years and word gets around.
Anyhoo, been playing with my zinc plating kit and ploughing through the endless nuts and bolts brackets, spokes etc which will pay off when the re-assembly begins. I managed to source the replacement nipples to go with my newly plated spokes. £30 for a full set of 88 nipples from a local wheel builder. I could only get bright zinc with clear/ blue passivate finish the same as the spokes but what I would prefer is to have the nipples finished in the yellow/ gold passivate to really set the wheel off so I will probably re-finish the new nipples before I lace up the wheels again.

[ZoneAdmin]

Hi Dave

Your zinc plating looks very good.

Information on CV carb refurbishment would be very useful. I rebuilt the carbs on my C4, with new Keihin jets, and set the float heights with a steel rule. I then checked the fuel level with a tube as described in the manual but this was not very consistent, so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[DaveZ1]

Almost finished the Z1000R carbs so I can again concentrate on the Zephyr, just waiting for the repair kit to arrive with new main and pilot jets and gaskets etc. I will post a before picture to let you see the kind of thing people send me for refurb and post more info and pictures when they are finished and ready to go back to Ireland.
Also got my replacement nipples in bright zinc so tried re-finishing them in yellow/gold passivate to achieve the Z1 look as in the last picture. Think they’ve turned out pretty good. Going to paint the hub this weekend so I can get the rear wheel laced back up.

[DaveZ1]

Z1 original spoke look that I’m going for.

[Eddie]

Bike is looking great, frame looks good in black, personally i would do the footrests and engine plates black too, there's plenty of polished alloy already on a Zephyr but each to their own. Look forward to some wheel pics, are you doing the hubs Black, I've only ever seen silver but might look good in black?.
I'm waiting for my Z1000 wheels to come back from a wheel builder who's putting some wide alloy rims on, but with covid going on they're taking ages!

Cheers eddie

[DaveZ1]

Thanks Eddie, I’ve sprayed the rear hub silver but the sprocket carrier is in satin black, think I’ll keep the disc inners black also but going to do all the calipers gold/bronze.
Front wheel hub will be satin black tho ( bit like Z1 style) which is different from the original silver.
More zephyr pictures to come soon!
Hope you don’t wait too long for your Z1000 rims. Are you offsetting the front sprocket to get the chain around the wider rear rim and tyre?
Just finished restoring a set of Z1000 carbs for Z1 owners club member today, before and after pics below, as well as a set off a Z1000R ELR (above) so been a busy boy last few weeks Not much else to do at the minute tho!

[DaveZ1]

Picked my paintwork up today and have to say I couldn’t be happier with the job. The colour I picked is a spot on match for Z1B red, can’t wait to see them side by side to compare. Paint shop is called Bike and Car magic in Sunderland, Great guy called Graham was more than helpful. The decal set I had given him wasn’t quite right so he has painted the top stripes and tail piece stripes on.
Photos really don’t do the job justice, out in the sunlight the metallic really pops.
Can’t understand why the pics are coming out wrong way round?

[Stereordinary]

Love the colors!