Honda-SOHC

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated.

Fantastic job Dave. And to think I very nearly bought that before you. I didn't because I thought 9k was too much. Who's the fool now then, ME. Beautiful looking bike.

I thought £9k too much too Roy, which is why I paid £8.5k!! He was asking £10k at the time, no offers. He dropped to £9k no offers later. I persuaded him that a lot of people were selling toys first to make ends meet during Covid (him included), depressing the market. He had priced up the absent parts, he reckoned another £3.5k to finish it, which turned out to be about right, including the exhaust set. So it owes me around £12k, still a lot of money, but a sight less than I could probably sell it for, I certainly couldn't buy one as good for that.

Test riding showed the tickover to be 'chuggy', with a lot of noise from the clutch in neutral. Time for a tune up.

I had a go at strobe timing and synching the carbs yesterday. My cheapo Gunson neon timing light proved to be utterly useless, I couldn't see any marks at all, even after I painted them yellow! My mate Mark says you can use these, but only looking close up in near darkness. A year or two back, an old chap I know who used to be a rally mechanic gave me a bunch of his old tools, as he was moving into a flat, he wanted them to go to someone he knew would use them. A root around in the garage revealed an old Crypton Powerflash he'd given me, with 12v leads to a battery and an inductive pickup. Once I had it all worked out, what a difference! It turns out my static setting was a touch advanced, we'll see what the difference is like when I go out next.

Mark lent me a big fan, and a set of vacuum gauges. Here we are set up, with the chain oiler tank pressed into service again.



I got the 4 carbs about equal at a steady throttle, however I seem to have adjusted all 4 off their stops, as the idle adjustment screw had a gap that it didn't have before. The adjuster screw on #1 carb is a bit broken, I'm going to order a new one, but it may have to come from the USA. I've got them as near as I can for now, I'll have to do it again when I change the adjuster.

Fuel tap fitted Friday, I tried to start her on Friday evening. Much to my surprise, she started straight away, and was soon warm and running off the choke.
Saturday she was dragged into the sunlight for the first time, for the first test.





I also got the see the metal flake in the paint 'popping' in the sunlight.



A couple of trips around the block, to check it all works, and then off for the first ride. Here we are by the Holmfirth road at the site of the 'Isle of Skye' moorland pub. The bike ran smoothly, with a familiar whistle from the airbox, similar to my Triumph Daytona 1000 four.



Number 4 header was a little straw coloured when I got back. scared of irreversibly blue pipes I whipped the carbs off, and applied a smear of silicon under #4 carb manifold, and tightened the clamp screws tight. No more yellowing, and I polished out most of what there was. I'm running her in by the book, and changing up at 4,000 rpm for the first 500 miles. We are now at 160 miles, she runs a little rough below 3k, not sure if that's because we are on the verge of stalling or if the setup isn't quite there yet, also if you set the tickover at a particular temperature, if it gets hotter/colder it won't tick over that well without using the throttle a little bit. I'm hoping to get the timing strobed and the carbs vacuum balanced ASAP, we'll see how we are then. The wife isn't coming pillion while running in, she wants me to get on with it, so we can 'go for a blast' on her first ride out.

thanks for everyone's help, particularly Spitfire, for the kind donation of a genuine KHI Shop Manual languishing in his attic.

The only time I ever rode a scooter I nearly fell off on the first corner as I discovered that ground clearance was non existent. I turned round, rode back and returned it to the owner. Despite it being nearly 50 years ago I just remembered his name was Hector.

I did enjoy pretending to be caught up by a huge gang of them, on their way to Blackpool for a Bank Holiday weekend, then dropping a gear and nailing it. In the 70’s there would have been serious consequences if they had caught me.

Thanks Andrew, yes I’m pleased with the Zed, however I’m concerned that soon I won’t have a project any more - I get more out of doing them than using them - with 3 bikes and 2 cars I can only use one at once. I might sell a bike, but it’s like choosing between your kids.

The floor tiles I bought about 8 years ago off eBay as a job lot from a firm in Sheffield, I’m sorry I don’t have more info. They’re about 1cm thick, PVC (I think) and pretty durable. I have used jacks, paddock and axle stands no problem. They often leave a mark, which goes in time as the tile ‘recovers’. Much appreciated due to the lack of dust, especially when I end up having to lie on the floor under the car. I do have a collection of old car floor mats which I put down for kneeling etc as I’m not getting any younger.

The drama I had with the float levels finally sorted out, and the slides bench synched, here are the carbs, complete with pipework, about to go back on the bike.



I got to the stage where to do the remaining jobs (oil & filter, fit the pipes and sort the front brakes) I needed to finally get the bike off the grey plastic box that I have built it up on. I gave my mates a ring on saturday, and behold! we have a rolling chassis (well, with dragging font discs due to the wrong pads). The box is looking a bit worse for wear but surviving well considering I've built a Harley and a Z1A on it.



I didn't have an oil filter to fit when the fame and engine went on the box, so I've been unable to turn the engine over at all. I fitted the filter, and chucked 4L of 10/40 in, and started to turn the engine. I took the plug out of the oil gallery, and peered in. No sign of oil, worrying, my CB750 had dramas at this stage due to an airlocked pump - I had to prime it with Vaseline before it would work. This time I pressed the starter and suddenly the oil light went out. Looking down there was a welcome pool of oil on the floor, from the oil gallery, so I put the plug back in, and at last could turn the engine over in search of sparks. I also fitted a set of the little plug lead number tags, from PMC.



Happy with that I fitted the plugs, next I got the tank out of the attic again to sort out fuel. A big disappointment here, despite new O rings, my genuine fuel tap does not understand the concept of 'off', fuel still drips through. This seems quite a common problem, some research reveals OEM ones to be unobtainable, and most cheap replicas to be a waste of time. I did read however that PMC have upped their game, and found a better source. We'll see, I've had to order one, not much option other than a real cheapo one that I know will be rubbish.

So no attempt to start her up yet, but I've put the exhaust pipes on. A couple of issues with bolts too short, and nuts that don't match the thread on the long bolts, but here's a sneak preview, better pics when I can drag her out of the garage at last. Note that the plastic box is now in service as a box again, with all the remaining Z1 bits. When I bought the bike it filled five large boxes.



Can someone confirm that the four rubber / steel exhaust bushes all go in the two frame brackets, the parts diagram gives the impression that the bolt goes through the bush, then the pipe (see https://images.cmsnl.com/img/partslists/kawasaki-z1a-1974-usa-canada-air-cleanermufflers_bigkar119561216_8faa.gif ) but I don't think that's correct.

I would always give warning that they would cook and boil there heads, before passing out and having a accident   

The Mrs and I went to visit Pompeii, on a Triumph Daytona 1000, I stupidly wore a matt black helmet, and soon found out why the Italians didn't. Knackered after a night camped on top of a nest of bitey ants, on the Autostrada going back up to Rome, I nodded off at around 100mph, and woke up in another lane.  The shock of that kept me awake to the next services, where I had several espressos!

Every single post I can find on this has the same problem. You wonder how many 450s are out there actually putting out a decent charge, and how good at it were they when new?

I've seen it suggested that 50 year old rotors can lose their magnetism, I was surprised to find new ones actually on sale at CMS. However sod Eu706.00 plus P&P etc for a game of soldiers.

Those of us of a certain age are guaranteed nightmares at even the words “singing ringing tree”

I couldn't bear it, very dark and weird indeed!

I was more into Roobarb & Custard, and the Magic Roundabout. Apparently Eric Thompson (Emma's dad) didn't bother at all with the original French scripts, and wrote the whole thing from scratch to match the pictures.

At the end of one episode, "A Peaceful Day", when Zebedee called his catchphrase of "Time for bed.", Florence asked "Already?", and Zebedee replied that "It's nearly time for the news, and you've had enough magic for one day." The news was broadcast just after The Magic Roundabout.