z900 a4 clock refurb

[glav666]

Hi I'm going to attempt to refurbish my own clocks has anybody used these items from eBay ??? What are your thoughts? Or can anyone point me in the right direction for another supplier?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KAWASAKI-INL ... SwnFZXUuIH

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KAWASAKI-KZ- ... 1438.l2649

Also does anyone have a tool or method for crimping the rings on?? I may have to make one for my press

[Philippe]

Hi glav666

I have no experience with those parts or with the supplier.
I use the old parts of the clocks.
The rings are made of stainless steel and after removing them, you can get them straight on one side with a little hammer so you can use them again.
As for the gauge faces: if they're not cracked or broken you can make them shine again with cigar ash (don't start smoking!)
The rest is just a matter of stripping the old paint off and applying a fresh black satin coat of paint.
You can make the tool for the assembly yourself: take some pieces of MDF board, make a hole in them to fit the clock and take another piece of MDF board , make a bigger hole where the rim just fits in, just thick enough to support the side of the stainless steel rim. Align the two boards to have a snug fit for the clock.
You can use a dowel and a hammer to crimp the rim.
Practice on some old clocks, you'll be amazed of the results!

Willem from Classickawaparts in Holland can supply new gauge faces if yours are beyond repair.
These are ready for use, they're no stickers. Just take a look at his website.

One last advice: don't store the clocks upside down for a long time, the damping fluid might get out causing the needle to wobble.
Good luck
Philippe

[Garry.L]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KAWASAKI-KZ- ... 1438.l2649

Those are made/supplied by Will B (Big Fluff) of this very Parish and are superb copies.

[Big Fluff]

Indeed, thank you Garry.
Here's a set fitted to a customers Z1000A2.
I offer them to Z1OC members at a discounted price so please feel free to PM me with your requirements.

[Mr Bump]

They look like the same clock faces as I bought - I’d have to do some research to check - the ones that I have are very good copies, was impressed. Also found new crimp rings which were very good. I built one set of clocks in mph from two damaged ones. Good result in the end bit but it was a bastad of a job. Saved a lot of money tho.
An advantage (or not) of rebuilding is that you can keep the milage reading. I rebuild a z1000a to make a nice old bike in vgc, not concours condition and felt that a set of clocks on 0 miles would not look right. I pulled apart the uk milage counter and set it to approximately the same as recorded on the scrunched ome in kmh.

Olly

[glav666]

Hi glav666

As for the gauge faces: if they're not cracked or broken you can make them shine again with cigar ash (don't start smoking!)

Philippe

Thanks for that tip Phillippe, I'm back on 40 a day now and my clock faces are all burnt

No seriously they came up a treat, Thanks

Glav

[Charlie]

I have changed the clock faces, that part is pretty straightforward.

Getting those crimp rings back on without a tool is a real pig though. It can be done ) I have done it a few times) but it gets no easier with practice and is very, very fiddly. Unless you have the right tool, or you cover with those chrome covers, it is obvious it has been done by an amateur too.

Given that Ondewers, Kawasaki etc all used similar types of clock type assembly back in the day, its sad that no-one ever came up with an adjustable (or even model specific) ring crimping tool.

I rarely need mine in bits, but I would buy one anyway were it available and anything approaching a sensible price.

[Philippe]

Hi Charly

I have a device in metal for the Z1-Z900-Z1000 clocks.( as for the Z1000ST clocks I made a device in MDF board because those clocks are bigger)
I'll take some pictures and send them in my next mail.
Give me a little bit of time.
GrtZ
Philippe

[Philippe]

Hi Charly

I,m back with some pictures
The first 3 are the metal "tool", the 4th is the selfmade MDF tool I use for Z1000ST clocks,

the metal tool and dowel

this is how you place the clock inside the tool

the results

the homemade MDF board tool

If you have any questions concerning the metal tool just ask them, I'll contact the man who made it for me.
Cheers
Philippe

[glav666]

Phillipe.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but do you use the dwell to gently tap the crimp ring into position then turn the clock round and do the other side?

If you had two of the metal tools and the spacer the right size, do you thing you could press them together, with fewer tooling marks?
Well thats the theory I was looking at and was going to attempt when I have a bit of free time

[Philippe]

Hi glav666
Yes you are right!
I use the dowell to crimp the stainless steel ring around the clock body, usually it takes 3 or 4 complete rounds to get a good result.
When doing so, the clock body and the ring is more or less "pressed" into the metal ring and sits tight.
You have to turn the whole assembly 180°around to get a better access on the other side.
The main thing's are:
1 no tool marks on the upper side and on the visible side of the ring
2 that the clock parts are tightly fitted together.
The underside of the ring is covered by the clock bottoms. For me it's not possible to leave no marks on the underside.
You would be amazed if you knew how many clocks were allready opened for repair and closed again.

If you want no tooling marks at all, the whole should be mounted on a lathe and spun around and then you would need some sort of device to press against the stainless ring to bend it...in theory that is. Seems rather costly to me for the few times you have to use it.

When you do clock repairs as a profession you need offcorse a better way to close them compared to the way I described at the top.
Perhaps you don't know how spoiled you are in the UK with the cottage industry. In Belgium we don't have a cottage industry so we have to find a solution: repair it ourselves or replace it with a new one. The repro clocks look stunning but I don't know their quality. So I choose to repair the old clocks myself.
Hope you got your answer.
Good luck
Philippe

[glav666]

[quote="Philippe"]Hi glav666
Yes you are right!
I use the dowell to crimp the stainless steel ring around the clock body, usually it takes 3 or 4 complete rounds to get a good result.
When doing so, the clock body and the ring is more or less "pressed" into the metal ring and sits tight.

Thanks Phillipe, please don't think I was criticising , as your clocks look great, I'm just thinking out loud.
Since my last post, I've spoken to a friend who did his own H1 and H2 clocks, he made a device that turns the clocks in the lath and some sort of bearing that runs round the outside of the clock that closes the ring, I will see him at the weekend and hopefully get some pictures of his device, that I can post.

[Philippe]

Hi glav666
don't worry, I never took it as critisizing, when I answer a post, I'm not pissed off or in a bad mood. It's sometimes difficult to find the right words.
After all my native language is dutch...

I think your friend has the right stuff to close the clocks. I know it exists but never saw it in reality.
I don't have a lathe myself. I was told that you can compare a lathe with an empty tool box. Once you bought it you have to fill it up with tools otherwise it's only a nice thing to look at...and most important you need the knowledge to use it.
GrtZ
Philippe

[needaz1100r]

http://www.thisoldtractor.com/moto_guzz ... ation.html

[Charlie]

Awesome link - thankyou