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Messages - MrDavo
16
« on: June 02, 2022, 04:30:23 PM »
A quick update, On Sunday, after our ride I ordered a set of Pyramid fork seals from xanadu-eight on the bay of fleas. I stressed the urgency, they were posted first thing Monday and arrived Tuesday.  The seal, and dust seal above were well shot, and had split halfway up. The biggest bugbear I've always had with that bike was that it was assembled dry, a few cents worth of assembly lube would make such a difference 17 years down the line. The fork yoke screws (steel into alloy) are the same, never been out, exposed to the elements where the yoke is 'split' and they were so not moving that there was every risk of breaking them or buggering up the torx heads. Not too bad if you have weeks, not an option when you have 3 days, so it had to be done with the fork tubes in place, making it harder. I'm doing the other seal when I get back, too much of a coward to try doing both to such a tight deadline in case I screw one up, but I'm taking the spare seal to the Hebrides with me. We had a test ride yesterday, and a test pack today, we set off after the cats are safely in prison tomorrow. Saturday night we will be finding out how the Scots do the Jubilee by visiting the Wetherspoons in Dumbarton for a bijou dining experience. What could possibly go wrong?
17
« on: May 30, 2022, 04:08:46 PM »
Yes, it holds a whole 2 gallons, but at least the bike does 50mpg! There is a bigger 'Custom' tank, but its nothing like as cool - a Sportster with the 'peanut' tank (apparently 'borrowed' from an HD lightweight for the dirt track bikes back in the 50's) had been on my bucket list since I used to buy 'Easy Rider' from the newsagent as a spotty youth.
Its been round most of the coast of Ireland on it (at the cost of a crank, it got me home but with the big end making a noise like a skeleton abusing itself in a dustbin), as well as the North Coast 500 in Scotland, so yes, range was a challenge at times. We were lucky on the first day of the NC500, meeting, at a petrol station, a load of scooter riders who were just finishing the ride going the other way. Realising that they have tiny fuel tanks like lawn mowers I went and had a word, and came away with a copy of a list of all the petrol stations that they'd put together, including whether they were open on Sundays! Once upon a time we'd have been trying to murder each other, these days we all have 2 wheels in common so that's fine.
The nearest we got to running out was going over the A9 near Dalwhinnie, having gone onto reserve miles before, I pulled off the main road to find the old road going through the village, where there was an open cafe with a petrol pump! Also Malin Head in Eire we had a similar drama, that's as remote as it gets, but we found a shop nearby with a single pump, I could have kissed the lady running the shop!
18
« on: May 30, 2022, 03:39:30 PM »
Do you apply gasket sealant to the big end-bearing joint faces? The ones that house 2, 3 and 4 main bearings? No they should be dry and clean, that's all. My CB750 crank was completely ruined by a previous owner painting the cases all over, including behind the shells. The tolerances are very fine, after painting they were zero or less, ruining the crank and shells.
19
« on: May 30, 2022, 02:31:32 PM »
The Zed and the HD outside together last week.  the Zed is fine but sometimes there's a dribble from the carb overflow that soon stops (I need to recheck the float levels, one may a a bit high), plus a leak from where the Pingel tap goes into the tank, more PTFE tape needed? We're off to the Hebrides on the HD next weekend - I only keep it as our 'holiday' bike, but the bike has other ideas. Having got an MOT a couple of weeks ago, we went for a test ride on Sunday, only to find a fork oil seal had failed - the right side of the bike was covered in fork oil, it was smoking where it had gone on the pipes and my leather jeans now have one leg more waterproof than the other! Luckily it didn't get on the brakes. I'm afraid I ain't going on the Z1A, I don't want to mess it up from its brand new condition plus I worry if I can't see it, it's worth thousands in bits. This may bring me to sell it, no point in keeping it if I'm going to be so precious about it.  New seals ordered and in the post, it should be sorted by Friday as long as I'm not let down, glad it went now and not once I got to Scotland! I'll keep you posted.
20
« on: May 21, 2022, 12:57:10 PM »
Good to see the colours in the right order - during lockdown I stopped being the apostrophe police, and instead started to get wound up by incorrect rainbows in window posters.
The wife pointed out that they were probably done by children, to which I suggested that she taught them the correct colours (she’s a primary school teacher).
A couple of years ago we spent a weekend in Otterburn in Northumberland, the weather was mixed and we saw dozens of rainbows, that anniversary will always be remembered as our ‘rainbow anniversary’, we’d seen one from the car just after we got married in Whitby, on the way to the reception at Ravenscar.
21
« on: May 14, 2022, 10:40:58 PM »
Stop it, I want one now, but only in that colour.
22
« on: May 12, 2022, 05:38:42 PM »
Kickstarts are a legacy thing from an earlier time, like phone boxes and ashtrays.
I've only ever used the ones on my Honda and Kawasaki in the garage, setting points and tappets etc. My Harley 1200 doesn't have one, like using the non existent centre stand, it would probably give me a heart attack if I tried to kick it over.
If everything is set up perfect, they are satisfying if the bike starts first kick, ambulance inducing if it won't start at all. I used to say that the number of kicks needed to start my 750 Triumph was proportional to the number of people watching. If there was noone about, first kick, if there was a crowd no chance, but handy to blag a push start from them once they'd stopped laughing.
23
« on: May 12, 2022, 02:45:10 PM »
I found a good picture of my setup on my Z1-A rebuild thread, although the meter face isn't visible due to glare. I'm so glad I ditched those allen screws on the engine, they make my OCD scream when I see them now (actually I'd rather have CDO, same condition but with the letters in correct alphabetical order)  The motor has been turned so that the pointer aligns with the 'F' firing mark, which you can just see through the oval window at the top of the points plate, red wire is connected to the feed wire to the right hand set of points (white wire). The other lead on the meter goes to earth on the engine, anywhere handy will do.  First set the points gaps, as doing it later will beggar up the timing again. The meter is set to 'resistance' - when the points are closed no resistance, when open infinite resistance. I then turned the points plate to get the needle bouncing around as the points just open. Tighten the back plate. Switch the red probe to the other set of points (black wire), turn the motor 180 degrees to the 'F' mark for the other set of points, and repeat the process but using the individual adjustment for that set of points rather than turning the backplate. Do double check afterwards, as things can change slightly when you tighten the screws up. Once I'd finished the bike, I checked the timing with a strobe, but it didn't need any further adjustment, so I'd got it spot on.  I had three pre unit BSA twins over the years (a glutton for punishment, I know), no timing marks but used a suitably marked pencil in the plug hole to find the firing position, and then the fag paper trick to set the magneto to where it was just letting go of it. Tighten the magneto onto its (tapered) shaft and I was good to go.
24
« on: May 09, 2022, 03:30:06 PM »
Went to look at a Kawasaki Z1000 (from memory) that a friend's friend had difficulty with as it would only select first gear. Zed forums are full of people, over the years, who can only get first after a rebuild, as you say its a safety feature, to only let you get first or neutral when stationary. Why that makes it safer, I don't know. Some pull the engine apart again, only to get the same result of course. I can't say I'm a fan, I wanted to check my Z1A gearbox worked OK before I put the engine in, not wait until I was on the road again. When I rebuilt my CB750 K1, I remember being paranoid about whether top gear was in the right way round, and deeply regretting not keeping the cluster together, as I was damned if I could tell which way round it went, although I knew it mattered. I must have guessed right as it worked fine, but I did worry.
25
« on: May 09, 2022, 10:27:13 AM »
Some excellent bikes there, and I’ve always enjoyed the food at the Raven. I once spent a long weekend there (and in the now ruined Cherry Tree across the road) waiting to do a parachute jump from the WW2 airfield next door.
I always fancied squeezing a Harley Sportster engine into a featherbed frame (it can be done, I’ve seen one) mainly so I could register it as a HarDon.
I’ll get my coat.
26
« on: May 07, 2022, 10:31:13 AM »
Raced there, left in an ambulance.
Amazing history, the track was part of the British Grand Prix circuit, there’s footage on YouTube.
27
« on: May 04, 2022, 12:17:05 PM »
I’m bringing my Z1-A to stick in the 50th anniversary Z1 lineup organised by the Z1OC, but Kas and I will definitely come over and see you all.
28
« on: May 02, 2022, 09:02:49 AM »
I always put them on the fork mudguard stay blot. I think the law said it had to be forward of the seat nose, but maybe that was just a rumour.
29
« on: April 26, 2022, 11:33:12 PM »
It was me who had fuel starvation on my Z1-A due to a dodgy pattern fuel tap, but this isn’t similar, your bike ran ok and then it didn’t.
I did have issues with my CB750 K1 running rough, though, after I’d rebuilt the engine, which turned out to be rock hard ancient HT leads into which the plug caps had been screwed so many times that there were only a few threads of copper left. It all looked ok and the caps screwed on tight, but I had intermittent plug fouling and cylinders cutting out and coming back for no apparent reason. CB750 leads come permanently attached to the coils, you can’t change them without clever surgery, there is a thread on how to do this somewhere. I wanted the bike sorted properly, and was dubious about 50 year old coils anyway, so I made a large contribution to the David Silver retirement fund, and put new genuine coils, with leads, on. The bike ran perfect after that.
This may not be your problem, but worth checking out.
30
« on: April 13, 2022, 04:57:29 PM »
I've bought a few parts from abroad using eBay's Global Shipping Program, the best bit is that you pay a fee that includes any duty or VAT, there is nothing more to pay so you know the exact cost. Normal International delivery you don't know what extra you are paying until it's arrived at you local Post Office, who add on VAT and duty, then charge an extra £15 or so to collect it. Downside is the speed, I have tracked a couple of parcels from the US that got very quickly to a central depot in Kentucky, then just sat there for a week or two, before suddenly showing up in the UK one morning at the airport next to Donington Park.
I sold a NOS Z1 footrest to a bloke abroad recently using the GSP, totally painless, as stated above eBay do all the donkey work, you just post it to Litchfield. Ash got me into using Parcel Monkey, when I needed to send my CB750 K1 paintset to Germany for Menno to paint. If you pick the right option, you just fill in an online form, pay online, and a man appears the next day on your doorstep to collect it with a label. Speed and service depend on the options you choose, you tend to get what you pay for.
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