550 Zephyr 1991 B2 UK bike recommission after stored a few y

[linuxrob]

Bought this to use over the summer to go to wok and back. It will complement my owned from new 1980 Z500.
The Zephyr is a one owner machine and was used as a work bike till the owner became too ill and was laid up for a few years, the owner unfortunately died recently and his relatives advertised it.

Got it at work at the mo going through from front to back. So far bought brake seals kits all round and new brake pistons for the front. Sump off and cleaned, tank off and cleaned, lucky it is in good shape inside and out.

here are a few pics of the brake calipers before a vapourblast. From what i can find the colour for the UK B2's calipers are natural Aluminium. Hope i am right.

[linuxrob]

Here is the rear caliper and a view of the Fronts after a vapourblast.

[linuxrob]

Sump of and cleaned ot also the oil pump screen cleaned

and a view of the bike now after a clean and bits took off

[Richard]

Looks like a nice project, the bike has seen a lot of kilometers I guess.

I coated my callipers red, looks great if you like it...

Any update?

[linuxrob]

Soon, have a few days off so can get on with pic.

cheers

[linuxrob]

F wheel and forks stripped cleaned, fork oil changed and forks polished to brushed finish need to polish the f wheel , change bearings and refit tire.

R wheel out cleaned ready to polish, bearing out, rear final drive bearing found collapsed!!!!, remains removed and sprocket carrier cleaned and painted.

other bits cleaned up.

took me 10 hours to do this little lot, hope to get it out some time this week (Friday)

here are just the wheels for the moment

[David Richard]

hi linuxrob good to see someone posting fresh stuff here yes 10 hrs is very easy to loose in the garage , bikes dont weather very well at all if used through the winter ,all mine are away now till next year ,how far are you going with this ,you say you have a z 500 do you have any pics ,i have always liked the gpz 550 twin shock but they are super rare a friend of mine reckons as we all get older and want lighter and smaller rides we will all be looking for a pretty z im looking already keep up the good work

[Stereordinary]

I'm torn between polishing my wheels, or painting them gold, lol. Keep up the good work Rob!

[linuxrob]

Thanks chaps for the reply's. Here is a pic of my owned from new Z500, have posted elsewhere the refresh work i did n it in 2020 for it's 40th birthday. Done over 83000 miles now and still puts a smile on my face. will be giving it a bit of a workout this weekend at Croft circuit (only 8 miles from my house and where i raced over 40 odd years ago, another story) I will along with other VJMC members do some parade laps on sat and sun at the CMRC race meeting.

Those wheels look good after i cleaned ten, need to refresh the brushed aluminium bits with red and green scotchbrite soon. I wonder if anyone has a colour match for the painted parts of the wheel, also on the shocks and airbox panels, love this bluish grey colour will get a Nissan blulish greay B35 touchup pen to see if it anywhere near. Use BMW sofistico grey on the rear hub and it matches the frame well.

I intended to use the bike for work this summer and clean up the little GS125 (my work transport) as it has now done 10 winters or so since last cleanup, it will have to do another as i will do more than i planned to the 550 Zephyr. Will not do the motor or frame cosmetically (yet) making it mechanically sound so it can do next summers work runs. New bearings in wheels and swing arm to fit soon. As the bike is at work (JMC restoration, Stockton on Tees, GT750's a speciality but we do all 70's stuff too) I only have very few chances to work on my bike after hours.

My Z500 at around 81500 miles May 2022 at the Head of Steam event in Darlington.

Here is a pic of the lh footrest hanger before clean and repaint.will post more .

[ZoneAdmin]

Great condition for 32 years old and over 80,000 miles, shows the reliability of Kawasaki 4 cylinder engines.