Z900 A4 Engine rebuild yet again!

[Gray17]

Yes Warren youre right you did give me a link but the supplier was in china with 3+ week lead time and the possibility of customs charges to boot along with all the hassle that goes with it, i told you all of this at the time, it had nothing to do with cost. I said that there was none of the type i needed from a UK supplier at that time, the one i bought was advertised as new/other ie opened but not fitted and in the UK and for a Z900/ Z1000 , the seller confirmed this to me via email and had 100% + feedback. Obv i now know its not but you cant tell from a photo the physical size can you, and never having one before wouldnt have known anyway, the same could have been supplied by the china seller too?. However as i didnt fit it straight away as the engine had to be then stripped and sent away for rebore (which i wasnt expecting either) this is the 1st opertunity ive had to try and fit it but missed the return window.
Anyway its no good bitching about it.
As for saying I'm penny pinching this bike has cost me over £4000+ in new parts to restore, never mind the original purchase price and cost to collect it. and its not yet even running right at mo. In the last 2 months i have soent over £1000 on a rebore, new pistons etc, gasket set, 3 new cam rollers, the DS2 ignition, new tachometer, new combined voltage regulator, So i would hardly call that penny pinching.
Lastly whilst if money was no object i could just buy expensive items and throw money at it endlessly without worry, however when your living on a very tight pension with no other income to live on and living costs spiralling upward and most of its going on a bike that shouldnt even need them It most definately is.
Obviously if your one of the fortunate few that can spend money like water as and when without concern then your indeed very fortunate, but before critiscising decisions made by others it may be worth thinking theres a lot out there who cant, me being one of them! I buy what i can afford when i can afford it, or have to do without.

[warren3200gt]

Well, that's not fair is it Graham. I've given you the information prior to making any expenditure but each time you've decided to go your own route, which is fair enough, but has proven more costly. There's little point in phoning for advice and then ignoring it.
You can see from a picture of the electronic ignition which is which. 900/1000 has cut outs in the plate circumference, the other has not. The picture I have posted below I sent to you prior to your purchase of the secondhand eBay unit that turned out to be a 650 unit.
Then there's the repop points plate you bought from zpower. We had a long discussion about how poor the Chinese copies were and that they we're a waste of money but you went that route anyway only to find it didn't fit and had to send it back to them.
Regarding the rebore it clearly tells you how and where to measure the bores in the service manual. You rebuilt your engine after not doing so correctly only to find it smoked and needed rebore. Another gasket set wasted a further month down the line.
You decided to home fix your cam chain rollers only to find that they required replacing once the engine was rebuilt.
Anyway I hope you eventually get to a running riding bike and can put all the hassle behind you and enjoy your bike.

[Gray17]

Firstly i wasnt trying to be unfair, i am grateful for all the advice you and others have freely given me, but thats why you join a forum so members can share information and give you new directions to try, i myself have commented on many posts sharing my own experiences which i hope have helped others make an informed decision in how to proceed.
Do i follow advice given, well it depends as some advice conflicts with others advice, what i do is use that advice and do my own research and look at alternatives, i wouldnt have thought of. Where its labour based then yes its mostly followed as im only loosing my time, but where it costs money i have to decide if i can afford it or not as the case maybe.
Take the rebore, i didnt initially strip the engine for a specific issue, it was only stripped to vapour blast the cases, the engine ran ok at 20k miles, no undue noise or smoke. Whilst it was in bits i did checks, some things were found to be damaged or missing these were repaired/replaced as needed, the cylinder head was modified new valves, guides and seats due to hairline cracks, again none of this would have been seen if i hadnt stripped it, all these were unanticipated extra costs. The bores were checked no top lip, or scoring present, no cracked rings or blow by present. If money hadnt been an issue obv i would have had it rebored so everything was new, all new cam rollers, new cam chain etc but I'd already exceeded my budget many times over, i dont have a pit of money i can just keep dipping into to keep replacing parts willy nilly, wish i did. So i have to make a decision where i spend money that will make the most difference.
The cam rollers mentioned, yes would have loved to just replace them but at £100 each didnt have the money available and wasnt prepared to leave bike in bits waiting until i did, so as 90% of the roller perfect i replaced the bearings with new and fitted a metal sleeve to take up the missing rubber part. The theory was sound as sleeves are used in multiple engineering solutions. When i re stripped the engine, i decided it was an opertunity to replace not because they needed replacing a d did have the funds.
Any money saving decisions i make are based on finacial restraints not ignoring the advice given or having to leave bike in bits even longer awaiting additional funds as and if it comes available.
Like i previously said if money was no object i'd simply replace all the old components for new, but even then it doesnt guarantee a perfect running machine.
I have missed out on 2 annual holidays, choosing to spend the money on the bike, the budget has gone out of the window long ago, virtually every month 1/2 of my pension and all my savings going on parts for a bike I've yet to ride properly let alone enjoy.
So to reiterate my prev statement advice is great and followed if its affordable. Not follwing it is not done because i dont think the advice is good, its because i simply havn't got the resource to do so.
Would i do it again knowing what i know now, definately not!
But at the time it was satisfying a lifelong ambition to own one, whether i live to regret that decision, time will tell.

[wheelysteve]

Glad you got the offending article out of the engine. Don't ask me how I discovered the air line solution !!

[chrisNI]

Some people like Rob and Philippe can fly through rebuild/projects in record time, for most of the rest of us it can be two steps back for quite a few of the forward ones… stick at it don’t get discouraged.

Now you know what the ignition actually is for can you not sell it on?

[Gray17]

Wheelysteve, i can guess so wont embarass you by asking!
Chris, Yes thats a possibility to sell DS2-1 onwards, it is brand new everythings the same apart from mounting plate diameter, to be fair to myself the photo when listed on ebay was a sealed bag so no way to know it was wrong one, i did email and confirm with seller it was for Z1000/900 and was assured it was, however perhaps misled or genuinely didnt know, ive ordered 2mm alloy plate will copy the original metal points one and cut outs etc.
Yes i have really struggled with Z900 rebuild, some of it down to bikes unique awkwardness and some down to my own ignorance and lack of research, however it is getting there slowly.
As I'm into it for prob more then its worth now, im determined to see it through, it already now looks good, just needs to run Good too and ill be happy.

[gray]

Stick at it , you're not the only one running and soon to be riding a Zed on a pension.We've all learned a lot from this thread.