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Messages - MrDavo
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91
« on: August 10, 2021, 07:40:04 PM »
If you just rode at 30 mph would you see the problem? I doubt it but I'm not doing 30 on the M60 unless the traffic is bad. As with all intermittent faults you don't know that it's not fixed until it happens. Certainly I've had no problem around town, both times I was doing around 70mph. In my earlier attempt to run in by babying it (and glazing the bores) it never happened. I suspect the fuel flow, it does act rather like that Hillman Hunter. When I drained the tank I lost patience with the pathetic flow through the tap and turned the tank upside down! I've seen a dual outlet Pingle to suit the Z1 on eBay, but its in France. I'm about to learn what happens with Eu imports post #@%$ I think. Most people have problems with cheap £20 Chinese taps leaking. Mine is a better copy from Z Power by PMC but I'm starting to think that's the problem. Un nackered genuine ones are almost unobtainable, they wear inside where the repair kits don't, they are just O rings.
92
« on: August 10, 2021, 07:11:38 PM »
Just back from a 50 mile ride out, yesterday I did 70 miles going to Three Sisters circuit and back for a spot of karting with a few of my mates. Here's the bike at the top of Holme Moss admiring the view.  Basically, the bike is running perfectly, very smooth, mechanically quiet, nice tickover etc, until it isn't!  Once on each ride, while running at speed, I suddenly lose a lot of power, but it doesn't cut out altogether. I suspect its running on two cylinders, certainly not four. Limping along, yesterday to get off the motorway, today to get off Saddleworth Moor, the missing pots slowly come back, until it all runs normally again. Then it's as if it never happened. I haven't investigated yet, but my theories are: !) Overheating, due to the engine still being tight, though I don't see why that would be sudden, I'd expect it to start running rough long before the sudden loss of power 2) Loose connection somewhere between coils and points or coils and power. That would lose two pots at once, but again I don't see how it would fix itself, electrics usually work or they don't. alternatively it could be a bad coil, that gets hot and gives up for a while until it cools. 3) Fuel. It acts as if its going onto reserve, as the power loss is sudden. There could be crud in there but the filters in the tap are clear. Alternatively possibly the cheap pattern fuel tap doesn't have a fantastic flow rate, maybe it's enough, or maybe it gets overwhelmed and the fuel levels in the float chambers drop until it won't run right. That could possibly fix itself as I go slow on low power, until the bowls fill up again enough to run normally. I don't want a Pingle tap as they look wrong and cost the earth, but I'd try it if I could rule out 1) and 2). I'd be interested if anyone has informed comment on my problem.
93
« on: August 09, 2021, 12:06:17 PM »
Back on the road this weekend after her little reset, with a sump full of Tescos mineral oil and definitely no 3k rev limit this time round.
I got the wife out to watch it start straight away and ..... nothing! Quick fuel and spark check - sparks yes, so I dropped a float bowl drain plug, and.... nothing!
It turns out that although there was a little petrol in the tank, the head wasn't enough to open the float valves. Jump in car with a petrol container, and put 5 litres of Super Unleaded (Because E5) in. Retry, instant start! A bit reluctant to go on all four pots, I may have fouled a plug with the oil I squirted into the bores when I assembled the top end. Anyway, a pop and a bang an suddenly its running clean and off the choke, so grabbed my helmet and went for a 13 mile test, before the heavens opened again, I got back just in time.
No smoke, running clean and the plugs looked Ok. Its a lot easier to ride now I'm not watching the tacho like a hawk - not thrashing it but riding normally, as recommended by the engineer that measured my bore clearance, as well as people on here.
After leaving her overnight to cool down, the oil was at its normal level, and I recheked the torque on the head bolts. Outers and inners didn't move, the pairs between pots 1 and 2, and on the other side between 3 and 4, all took about 1/3 of a turn. Some dry weather to get some miles done would be a help, she's still too shiny to take out on a filthy day, not a good state of affairs I know, but better than my mate's idea that I should buy a van to take it around in, like he does with his show bikes. ! I'd rather sell it than do that.
94
« on: August 09, 2021, 11:56:01 AM »
Tired but it all looks very original, good luck!
95
« on: August 06, 2021, 02:52:08 PM »
I was excited when I got my age related plate for the CL450, as it ended in 912 H. In 1969 the Porsche 912 was a thing (4 cylinder little brother of the 911) and their owners tend to be a well heeled bunch. I wanted to sell the reg for £££ and buy a cheaper ordinary vanilla reg from one of the vanity number dealers to replace it. Sadly, I discovered that age related plates are non transferable.  It will teach me to be a greedy beggar. I hope you get sorted OK Ash.
96
« on: August 05, 2021, 04:36:14 PM »
If I wasn't too tall to feel happy on a small bike I'd be tempted to go for that, as Tomb says, its a brand new old bike.
I notice that at £2k the reserve hasn't been met though, you can only find out what that is by bidding. I once accidentally bought a Jaguar in Bristol on eBay, unseen, by bidding lowball to see if it met the reserve, the seller had made the reserve deliberately low to keep the fees down, he was gutted, but honoured the deal. I had a difficult conversation with the wife when she came home from work. The Jag was fine, an ex lease car with brand new wheels, and got us to Spain and back in style.
97
« on: August 05, 2021, 04:16:24 PM »
I tried to get a dating letter from Honda UK for my CB750, they told me to get lost as it wasn't a UK bike. I wrote to Honda South Africa but they didn't exist then so had no records at all. In the end I got a letter from the VJMC which did the trick, I did the same for my CL450, which came with no paperwork other than a note of the NOVA number. The dating guy at the VJMC wanted photos of the completed bikes, as well as photos of the frame and engine number stampings. What I don't know is how they'd go on if you just had a photo of the frame number and no complete bike yet. On one hand you don't really need a reg until its finished, on the other hand there are records in workshop manuals and websites of what series each frame number falls into, and when they were made. Google can get the wrong end of the stick sometimes: https://www.bikerdatingwebsites.com/
98
« on: July 29, 2021, 02:52:31 PM »
jumping back a stage, but I had to dig out this photo last night, as I was worried that I hadn't considered which way up the head gasket should be. as it happens you can see I did do it right. You can also see the hatching from the light hone the engineering shop applied to my glazed bores. I'm now using Tescos mineral oil for running in, last night as I poured it in the smell brought back memories, mainly of being covered in the stuff.....  I got a 2.0 shim from Z Power., so I could measure the clearance on the two valves with zero clearance, and to give me an extra to do some swapping around between the tight ones and the wide. I also got the genuine tool to make life easier. I had to buy a single 230 shim to get one in spec, they are finally all within the .05 to .15 (as modified from 0.10 in a service bulletin which I've read about but not actually seen) range now, so happy days, exhaust pipes and cam cover are back on. I'm at the Silverstone Classic this weekend, but next week I only have to assemble and readjust the carbs and I can have another go at running her in.
99
« on: July 21, 2021, 04:00:16 PM »
The motor is mostly back together now, with new rings and valve seals, plus a light hone. Hoere's a photo I took yesterday of the cams being timed. I've never done this before on a Kawasaki, but following instructions on the Z1 forum it was straightforward enough. Note the paint dots on the cam sprockets and chain, at zero and 28 links.  Despite keeping all the parts for each cylinder separate, and not regrinding all the valve seats (i'd only done 375 miles), a couple of my valve clearances are right up the pictures, much to my disappointment. Two are under, (practically zero) two are on the big side at .15mm, so I'll try swapping the shims around. I dont know how that happened, if you put all the same parts back where they came from everything should be exactly the same. But they aren't, and we are where we are. Luckily there is an excellent guide to valve clearance setting on the Z1OC forum, I've ordered a genuine shim tool and, following advice on that thread, one of the smallest thickness shims, so I have a spare when swapping around the shims, and a way of remeasuring the two with virtually no clearance.
100
« on: July 12, 2021, 07:14:08 PM »
When I was racing, after a scrutineer pointed out, to my horror, that my upper shock mounts were finger tight, I adopted a policy that I still use today - either properly tighten everything in case it gets forgotten, or make it obvious that something isn’t tight by just starting the thread.
101
« on: July 07, 2021, 03:34:44 PM »
Just back from picking the barrels up, I nipped into Tescos and bought 4l of their mineral 15-40 for £20, cheers Bryan.
102
« on: July 06, 2021, 03:27:43 PM »
Somewhere I'm sure I've read a blog by Dave Marsden on building a Z1 from new parts he had stashed away, but I can't find it on the Z Power site. Fancy turning down £4,500 for it!!
Good news from the engineering shop today, he's finally had the chance to measure everything up, and the piston to bore clearances are fine and within spec at 3 thou. That's a big relief, I didn't want to use up my second rebore if I didn't have to, never mind the cost of another set of pistons.
There were two things to point out, one was that, as predicted, running in gently with modern synthetic was a mistake, the bores looked lightly glazed rather than run in. he's going to give the bores a very light hone, and I'll chuck some straight mineral oil in for the first 500 miles this time, and not 'baby' it too much.
The other observation was that the piston expander rings (under the oil rings) didn't seem to be doing a lot. I don't know if they can take a set over time if installed and then not used for years, but using 'an abundance of caution' (as they keep saying over Covid rules these days) I've ordered a new set of +0.5mm rings, as well as new circlips, from Z Power.
103
« on: June 22, 2021, 03:57:02 PM »
After a promising start, the Z1A is now being used as a paper towel dispenser.  As mentioned in my last post, the barrels and pistons are away at an engineering firm being properly measured for clearance. As well as reassembling the head with new valve seals, I also need another look in the carbs, I will have to resynch them after. I have a new NOS adjuster to replace the one I broke, also I assumed that all the needles were in the right place. The clips should be on the third groove down, however this photo I took when I was sorting out a battered pilot jet holder clearly shows the needle in position 4, this is how I found it and probably how it went back together, so I need to check all four. Maybe it will help the slow speed running, at the moment the air screws seem to make beggar all difference. 
104
« on: June 21, 2021, 03:58:15 PM »
I just got back from Stockport, where I have dropped the barrels and pistons off at Quasar Engineering, which come recommended by my mate in the classic bike trade. I included a sheet saying what (and why) I need measuring, plus a copy of the page from the workshop manual dealing with piston clearances. If the measurements show that the rebore was cocked up, then +1.0mm pistons are avaiable, though I don't want to use up the rebores if I don't have to. While I wait I need to sort the head out, here I have fitted the Viton valve seals, using the wheelie bin again as an outdoor workbench.  For the sake of my sanity and valve clearances I had been warned that under no circumstances should I get shims and valves etc mixed up. A root around revealed a tray (with lid) for dips, nuts etc that we inherited from my Mother in Law. Once at the centre of the dinner table, with its 8 compartments it turned out to be just what I needed! 
105
« on: June 11, 2021, 05:08:05 PM »
OK, while I want to get back on the road ASAP, and get my car in the garage again, I really want to ‘do it properly and do it once’. I really don’t want to be pulling it apart again in a few weeks, as said earlier this is how barn finds are born. My CL450 had been put together with a loose camchain idler spindle (the locating knockpin was in the sump) and witness marks showed it had been bouncing off the barrel skirts, it must have sounded awful. Someone had already spent time and money only to hear this racket, I reckon that’s when it went under a dust sheet for a few decades.
I’m away next week, but when I get back I’ll take the barrels and pistons to an engineering firm that has been recommended by a mate in the classic bike trade, for a spot of measuring. With the cost of real head gaskets I’m not installing one for a few oily miles again.
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