The Zephyr Zone

All moved on a bit further last night. The wiring loom is now fitted front to rear and all connected. I have a couple of grotty old connectors to fettle/replace by alternator/sprocket, but otherwise it's all good.

One of the benefits of working on a bike that appears to have had very little maintenance in its 28 years is that not too much has been bodged. As far as I can tell there isn't a non-standard connector or repaired wire anywhere. Any issues are therefore age/corrosion related and should be easy enough to fix.

All this to say, I finally connected the new AGM battery to her last night, retreived the key from the draw it's inhabited for the last three and a half years, and turned it in the ignition. Lights light up, indicators work, instruments are lit. She's coming to life. There's a high resistance earth at the back end... indicators are dimming the tail light a bit... but I suspect just a connector or two needs cleaning. Yes, I did scrape the powdercoating off the frame where the earth is connected, but I will double check it!

Still a bit to do before hitting the starter button but I'm getting there...

So that last sentence got me thinking... what do I need to do before I push the button?

The engine needs some oil in: Add 3.5l of Shell 10w-40.
The motor needs plugs: New NGK's plus new plug caps to tidy it up and get good connections.
Didn't need to, but put the new plug on the alternator and connected it up.

And push the button. Click...

Out with the multimeter. 12V getting from solenoid to the starter motor but going nowhere. Removed the starter motor, cleaned up the connection from the solenoid and also the earth side to the motor. Check motor , now spins... bolt it back on. And hit the button again... motor spins over nicely (plugs out first time to get oil circulating). Finger on each plug hole shows good compression on each pot. Plugs in, make up a little header tank using a 100ml syringe body and fill it with petrol. Carbs don't leak!

And... She runs!

Very noisy at first, I thought it was a major problem, but one of my headers was loose! Tightened that up and all seems a lot better.

Typical Kawasaki, needed choke to start (it was about 10 degrees out there) and then wanted to run too fast, but I managed to get her running at a fast idle and all seems ok. Bit rattly but more out of balance than anything else. Have had to leave it for today (my lovely lady took me out and bought me dinner) but that's the first hurdle over. Tomorrow I'll pop the Carbtune on and see if I can smooth the balance out a bit.

First time I've heard the exhaust system. It's a Delkevic 4-1. It's rorty, but I've had louder bikes. I think I like it...

Pics over the weekend!

Bit more done yesterday:

Brakes both filled and bled. Nice firm action on both.
Both brake light switches fiddled; light now working from both ends.
Carbs balanced, now has a nice even tickover.
Sprocket cover and gear lever fitted.
Seat lock gubbins found, cleaned and reassembled.
All filthy bodywork collected from various shelves round the garage and bolted on.

She's complete! Well she looks complete... and if by any chance the roads dry up today, I might get her out the garage and see if she can move under her own steam. In which case she will also get a desperately needed wash. In the meantime... she looks like this.



There are a few things I'm not happy with (those black engine covers have got to go!), and of couple of bits that still need fitting, but they can wait until I know that that she has 5 gears and a clutch. Come to think of it I might not find that out without fitting the sidestand switch!

Finally rolled out of the garage and given a bath:






I'm quite excited about this little bike. Just wheeling it around makes the GS seem all unwieldy and superfluous.

Hi Stu, Hopefully you are glad you changed your mind about selling your bike... It did not take you long, to get it this far, once you started working on it again. It looks very good and there is some really useful information in your ‘restomisation story’. I agree, polished engine covers look better than black. Good luck with the rest of your project
Regards

…..well, how does it run? …...the previous owner must have liked black.

Thanks, guys... yes, very pleased I didn't sell it. It's starting to feel like a win not a defeat!

I'm the one guilty of the black cases... I thought they'd look ok when I did them a year ago, but they really don't. I took all the covers off last night and stripped them back to the original finish, which isn't great either. I'm waiting on a quote from a local company to polish them and clear powdercoat... I may just end up doing them myself with wet and dry paper and Solvol. Wouldn't be the first time, but I remember how long it took on the little z400!

How does it run? Sounds great on the sidestand! The motor is fresh, new pistons and valve seats, and seems to be running fine and picking up nicely on the throttle now the carbs are balanced.

I still have a few things to sort before I can ride it - parts should all be here by the weekend - at the moment I have no bolts holding the brake calipers on (they were 5mm too long and hitting the discs) and a couple of other minor showstoppers like no sidestand cut-out switch (waiting on bolts) and I can't close the fuel tank cap (my fault - epoxy liner material fouling the catch). Oh, and one of the rear shocks isn't bolted on!

I'm in no big rush, tbh. The weather is wet and cold and the roads salty... all good reasons to leave it in the garage and finish it off properly!

Arriving this week: New chrome headlamp rim, horn, new throttle tube and grips, chrome handlebars, the right caliper bolts, shock mounting, and a few odds and sods nuts and bolts.

It'll be a lot less black, hopefully, by the next time you see it!

Actually, other than the engine cases, the other black touches makes it look sportier,...to me.... The brakes calipers don't seem stock,.. it all looksgreat.

It's OK in the photos, but up close the black bits just looked like a lash up, especially the headlight which was scratching off already. It wasn't where I wanted to go with the bike when I started, and didn't look one thing or the other with the chrome indicators (which I wanted to keep).

The headlight rim and handlebars are now new and chrome, the old rim was bent and didn't fit properly and the black Renthal bars were a bit low and aggressive (I used the original silver ones I bought for it on a Bandit 600 to raise the riding position. The black one's came off the Bandit and were just put on there to move it around while I was building it!) I'm having trouble with rotating switches... I assume they were originally pinned to the bars?

I've had another go at painting the engine cases. I stripped them back to bare metal and redid them with the silver VHT I used for the engine followed by VHT clear... they're starting to look very nice, but need more clear before they're fit for viewing. I can still strip and polish them later if I don't like it, but I think they'll look great.

Also bought a standard seat on eBay yesterday. The cut down one looks cool, but the riding position killed my knees riding it 30 miles home 4 years ago, and just sitting on it on the drive is uncomfortable! I'll sell the low one and treat the new one to a smart cover... anyone got short legs???

Brakes are far from stock. The only original part is the splitter on the bottom yoke! ER6 master cylinders and calipers all round (from 2013 bike) with custom made hoses as necessary. Rear disc is smaller (ZR550, ZZR600) and rear caliper mounted on floating bracket from a ZZR600. Probably no more performance than the standard ones when they were new, but they're modern bits and cheaper than rebuilding the corroded nasties that were on it. New discs and EBC HH pads to complete... it should stop!

The moment of truth... just been for my first 1.7 mile ride on my Zephyr since 2016. Just up the road to a local roundabout and back, to see if it all works.

And, yeah, it all works! A couple of minor nasties that need sorting before it goes anywhere else, but nothing disastrous.

The clutch is awful. Really heavy and no feel. It was the same when I got the bike, so probably nothing I've done, but definitely something I haven't fixed. I've ensured that the cable is new, routed smoothly and is operating easily (when disconnected) so it's something inside the housing. I replaced the dampers in the basket and the operating spindle in the cover, with its bearings and seal, but the plates and springs are all as removed. I've had them all apart and reassembled them; nothing looks weird or badly worn. Maybe someone's put heavier springs in it or an extra plate? No idea... but it'll have to come apart again for investigation. I assume it's supposed to have a normal light, Japanese clutch?

Secondly, the bolts holding the silencer to its bracket are hitting the bottom of the swinging arm at full extension. No problem while riding, just clonks when I take my weight off the seat. Shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to fix it.

The exhaust is probably too loud to live with. No surprise as I bought it from a member of this very forum (or the last version of it) who was selling it after only a few miles because it was too loud! I've no problem getting it muted one way or another if I can't live with it.



The gearing seems silly low; I've fitted a standard chain and sprocket set, and I'll leave it until I can rev it a bit more and see how it runs, but with the loud exhaust it's wailing like crazy and going nowhere. The first time I ran up through the gears I thought it didn't have a top, but counted them down again and all five are present and correct. I think top is geared to run the same revs as my old z400 which seems a bit odd.

Oh, and the brakes are scary... all new pads on all new discs... needs a bit of bedding in, I think!

Good things: the motor seems smooth and free revving , although with new bores and pistons I'm not thrashing it. And it seems reasonably comfortable with the higher seat and bars. And the newly painted engine covers look a lot better than they did (I think, anyway).