Another Z650...

[Bevelhead]

Finally got the engine mounts and rear caliper mount done, once linished, took them to Camcoat to be hard anodised. Along with an old Astralite, which needs to be given its original gold finish... but that's for another different project.

[ollie]

Did you find out about the gearbox ?

[Bevelhead]

Did you find out about the gearbox ?

The shafts are the same size, so could've dismantled the old and newer transmission and swapped over the end bearings. But was offered the complete gearbox from a Z750L3 very cheap, which is the same as the GPz750, so just used that instead.

[ollie]

Thats great news .

[Bevelhead]

The Turbo has had its injectors cleaned and fitted along side its plenum chamber and larger turbo. The latter required a steel adaptor, as its mount is different.. quite a complex shape, machined from a solid piece of steel..

The next job is to extend the link pipe from the turbo to the plenum, as its 20mm too short, and also make a mount for the turbo back to the frame/engine.

[Bevelhead]

Finally completed the 10mm alloy engine brackets and rear caliper mount for my Z650/GPz 750 project, now ceramically coated..

[Bevelhead]

While the restored Harris pipe is now on the green F2

[Bevelhead]

Not an ideal time of the year, but been prepping and undercoating the bodywork for my own Z650/GPz750 project.. outside.. but needs must. The tank was in good shape, except for a dent by the badge. I used a crude but effective method of removing the dent. Bend a thick alloy bar, held it in the vice, then with the bar passed through the filler hole, the tank was hammered (carefully) against the bar to push out the dent. The result wasn't perfect, but a lot better than it was, with a bit of filler, looked as good as new, well almost.

The bike will be painted in Candy apple blue, but haven't made my mind up yet what kind of pinstripes/graphics its going to have. The wheels are gold, so leaning to gold pinstripes or something like that. I may leave the paint as is, and save a lot of time and effort. I see pinstripe kits on Ebay for the various 650 models, but none really appeal.

The candy paint I'm using is just rattle can 1K, but the clear top coat is 2K. That means that once the colour coat is done, it then needs to be left untouched for several weeks, to allow the 1K pint to 'gas off'. As 2K paint is impervious to petrol, but also to the gas emitted by the 1K paint beneath. If you don't wait long enough, this 'gassing off' can cause bubble and delamination of the clear top coat.

[Bevelhead]

The bodywork has had two coats of 2K clear on top of the candy blue so far. Now waiting for the decal kit to arrive, once that's applied, I'll spray another 2 or 3 coats of clear, followed by lots of cutting back and polishing. The side panel shows the candy blue with the first two coats of clear on top..

[Bevelhead]

The decals arrived, so guided by a few Youtube vids, I prepped the paint with 1500 grade wet n dry to give a key for the decals to 'stick' to the paint, then used plenty of soapy water to slide the pinstripes into the right place.. or close enough. Bit stressful but went ok, except for one problem on the tail section. Not sure how to fix that, perhaps cut it with a razor blade?

Now need to add two or three more 2k clear coats, followed by lots of polishing..

Spraying in my £20 'spray tent'..

[Hard Road]

nice job

[Bevelhead]

I managed to fix the decal crease by using cloth dipped in hot water, then pressed down hard on the decal - was surprised it worked. That done, the bodywork was given another three coats of 2K clear. I'll wait a few days, then cut it back with 3000 grade wet n dry, followed by cutting polish and then a final polish. Can't fit the tank badges yet as the screws I ordered 6 weeks ago still haven't arrived..

The paintwork was left out in the garden all day, as ultra violet light helps it to cure.. plenty of that in sunshine..

[Bevelhead]

Fitted the tank badges and new filler cap, so that's the paintwork done thankfully. Not polished it yet as the 2K clear still seems a bit soft, so will leave that until the bike is finished.

[Bevelhead]

I decided to make the rearsets, which have to be quite a way back to clear the kickstand. I already had some homemade leftover levers, so just had to make their mounting brackets. Threaded tabs had been welded to the frame to mount these brackets before it was powder coated.

I bought a used but immaculate Brembo master cylinder from a Yamaha M10 which was a third of the price of a used one from an R6. However using the brake lever I had would've meant the master cylinder had to be mounting vertically which looked awful. So a new lever will have to be made. Luckily I know i man with a mill..

[Bevelhead]

Fitted the paintwork to the bike for the first time, looks ok, but all is not good. The 2K clear coat on the tank is still 'soft' after a month. Clearly there was a problem with the hardener in the last special rattle can I used. I'm told the clear coat will eventually harden even without any hardener, but no idea how long that may take.

In the meantime the wheels have gone of to have tyres fitted, getting the bike rolling on its wheels will be a milestone.. its sitting on a small trolley at the moment, its not too stable.

With a new, different brake lever made, the brake side rearset was test fitted to the bike, before its bracket was drilled and shaped to mount the master cylinder.