91 550 custom restoration

[Stereordinary]

Exciting stuff, looking forward to more!

[Jen-etc]

So lots of little bits been happening the last week or so, I've lost track of when I last updated!
I've fitted new cables; throttle cables, clutch and choke, and a new Speedo will go on when I do the dials.

I've put the new battery in but I haven't connected it up yet while I'm doing some wiring bits.

Managed to get my new sump plug but only today got as far as fitting it and moving the stand so I could get to the filter, but the filter bolt was not budging and I ran out of time to finish that so will come back to it tomorrow probably.

The main thing today was fitting the new headlight. It won't be to everyone's liking but I'm fitting LEDs all round including the new headlight.
It's only kind of dummy fitted for now, I've got some more wiring to sort the daylight running light, and I've still got to sort the indicators too.
I've got a digital dial coming as well so I'll probably tackle all of those things at once.
I've ordered new led indicators which will do for now, but I'm struggling to find anything I really like. I'm aiming to keep everything subtle and all the aftermarket indicators seem really garish. I'll keep looking. Just want to crack on with fitting stuff for now!

Pleased with the headlight though, really modernises the whole front end. I'll play more with its final height when the front is all finished. Just wanted it on the bike for now!

I've started keeping a little blog of shed days so when I've got a link for that I'll share it here too.


Still scratching my head about fitting the seat but every little brain storming session brings me a little closer!

[Jen-etc]

So a few jobs been on the go this week, I kind of lose track where I was with updates. There's been a lot of little fiddly jobs started that have and silly things hold me up; like my Dremel braking when cutting my seat down.

So I don't feel like I'm getting very far as just doing little bits of odd jobs.

Couple of things I thought I'd ask of fellow Zephyr owners;
1) exhaust. My front section has obviously been painted at some point, presumably to hide ever increasing rust. My plan was to clean it up and repaint it with some ultra HD paint to tidy it up.
But as I've been cleaning it up with degreaser all the paint has been coming away revealing the chrome underneath. What do we reckon the chances are of managing to clean it up to shiny again? I'm not after a show bike so I don't mind if the pipes are pitted etc, just the best that I can get them. Or am I better to not sweat getting every tiny bit of old paint off and blast it over again, knowing full well it'll probably all come off again further down the line?
Originally when planning a scrambler style I had planned to wrap the pipes, but on reading it seems there as many cons as pros to that route, and I don't think it'll work with the look now anyway.

2) tank foam. I'm about to start prepping the tank for painting, and the underside has been covered in a thin foam, presumably for some sort of baffle/protection. It's proving to be a pain to get off but I can't pain it with any old foam left.
Is this a standard zephyr fitment or something someone's added later? I'm struggling to find any mention of tank foam anywhere! Just wondering whether to bother replacing it or not. I can get some from my upholsterer friend no problem, I'm just not sure about whether it's worth it!

Speaking of paint, I've just painted one of the side panels to test the colour and I'm pleased with it. It was just a quick job to practice really and check I'm happy before tackling the tank etc.
I have gone for a Jaguar colour, "Black Cherry". It's black with a red flake so in the sunlight it looks dark red but all other times it's just gloss black.
It feels weird having shiny sparkly bits, so far everything's still pretty old and rusty! It's extremely hard to photograph but you can just make out the flake in the photo.
It won't be any sort of pro job as I'm doing it all myself. But hopefully it'll be good enough!

[Jen-etc]

Finally got the seat cut down and off to be reupholstered yesterday. My friend has started on cutting back the foam and doing the new cover.

Cutting the plastic ended up being more of a pain than I envisioned. The Dremel disk was melting the plastic so it was re welding itself as I went! Tried other tried of cutting disc but they kept breaking. Got there in the end.

Many might argue why do much hassle for a relatively small chop but with the aim of making it look just tweaked and not too messed around with I think it'll look good.

I hope anyway!

[Jen-etc]

Few more bits done now, will add some photos later from my phone.

It is staring to feel like two steps forward one step back all the way at the moment. Seems like all the little jobs put back something else a bit, but I think it'll all start to come together quickly soon.

My new digital dial / instruments arrived and of course I got impatient and have dummy fitted it. But the wiring all needs redoing as none of the terminal blocks match up, so nothing is wired in yet. Of course that means the ignition etc is all currently disconnected, and so hopes of a start up have been put back until this is done.
I'm not massively happy with the way the dial is sitting at the moment, I've used the original instrument mount (well the spare one I had) and it sits way too far forward for such a small dial. But I've also got a spare cluster surround that's seen better days (i think its the original one and the previous owner replaced it with a better one) so I may be modifying this to fill the gap a bit and I can use the sections with the lights in to mount a couple of USB ports and possibly either space for a phone mount or a sat nav. I don't know yet as long term I'll need to fabricate a new mount and tidy it all up, for now I just need it working.

The tank is now being prepped ready for painting, so I've put off fitting the fuel tap / fuel sensor / fuel cap until that's done, as I don't want the faff of redoing it all again immediately. That has also pushed back a potential start up so I'm now looking at rigging up a dummy tank if the tank takes a while (I'm painting it myself).

Every day the start up gets pushed back makes me more nervous for potential issues as I have a deadline and I need some buffer time to fix the inevitable hiccups.

I also managed to finish cleaning the carbs and wrestle them back into position. Wrestle being an understatement! I ran out of time/light to finish the job today so hoping tomorrow I'll manage to get time to connect and tighten everything up.

[Jen-etc]

Some photos of the dial

[Jen-etc]

Just had to sleep on it.

Looking at the pics the solution was pretty obvious.i had two brackets when I only needed the original one!

Swearing at the carbs now. It seems those old rubbers have shrunk considerably and I'm having trouble seating them on the carbs.

Going to have a go with a friend as single handed building is proving tricky but failing that I'll bite the bullet and order the last two new rubber mounts. Begrudgingly!

I'll be running with this dial set up for the time being....

[Fishrider]

Starting to really come together. I think I have that same dial. I don't believe the old speedo cable works with it. It uses two magnets. I had to design a plastic piece to hold the fixed magnet because the bracket that was included did not fit correctly, if I remember. Maybe you already have this sorted.

[Jen-etc]

Thanks for the heads up! I haven't got that far yet. Setting aside a wiring day in the near future to get it all connected as the terminal blocks are all different too.
A little annoying I have a new Speedo cable sat there waiting to go on! Glad you said that though or I might not have realised for a while!

Did you have any other problems connecting it all up? I know this one has a gear display etc for example which obviously the zephyr doesn't have originally, but guessing I just leave those bits disconnected?

As I say I haven't got as far as looking at it all yet.

I've got new lights and indicators to all wire up too. I bought a new flasher relay which says compatible with LEDs (anticipating fast flash from the old relay) but when I plugged the new one in I didn't get any dash indicator lights which I did before, even without the indicators wired up. Not sure if that's a relay issue or because it expects a complete circuit. I'm sure it'll all become apparent as I go!

[Fishrider]

No issues hooking it up, but then I have a whole new electrical system. You are right, there is no way to hook up the gear display. Not a big deal.

Without knowing what you have unhooked or not I couldn't begin to tell you why the dash lights did not come up. I remember some strange circuit issues with the safety features that come with the keyed ignition. I defeated all that and took out the ignition as well. Then mounted a new ignition on the side of the bike. Now, in the states you do not have to have a steering lock. I hear that might not be the case in other countries.

One of the reasons I opted to completely redo the electrical was because of using LEDs. Now granted, you can use resistors and proper relays that will work with the old system, but I went all out. If you decide to do this, I do have a wiring diagram. I opted not to have a kick stand sensor or in gear sensor to keep things less complicated. I just have to be careful when starting the bike and remember to always pick up the kick stand.

Here is an interesting tidbit I found out recently about my M-unit. My mechanics were telling me the horn was going off when they revved the throttle. This did happen when I first started the bike before the clutch blow out, but did not happen when I rode around the other day. Sure enough when I started it up the next morning, the horn starts honking when I rev the throttle. I, and the mechanics, wrongly, thought this was a ground short issue. It's actually a function of the M-Unit telling me that the R/R is giving too much voltage to the system. In other words, my NEW R/R is probably broken, but I haven't had time to run the tests yet. I am not running a lithium battery which can catch on fire if you are over charging it. Which, I think, is one of the main reasons the M-unit has this feature. It attempts to bleed off some of the voltage by honking the horn. The old system has no way of monitoring this. Glad it told me there is something wrong with the charging system. Not happy I have to hunt down yet another issue.