Restoration of a Z1000A2

[Philippe]

Hey men

a little update:

the underside of the fuel tank is stripped as much as possible.

The tools were the circular grinder and the rotating nylon brush.

The left hand side panel was stripped too.
Under the lime green paint I discovered a sticker of the original dealer who sold the bike...
It's obvious that the sticker was visible through the paint so what can you do? Put another sticker over it and nobody will see it.
Problem solved.
How can people expect to have a good result in the end if you don't prepare the parts prior to painting?
I've seen this several times in the past and I don't think I'll ever understand it.

But anyway, today the left hand side cover was stripped and this is how it looks now.

You can see on the right hand side cover how it looked before stripping, remains of glue where the "Z1000" badge was attached,
a sticker of the seller of the bike with a sticker of the original dealer underneath the paint.
Perhaps I'll strip that one tomorrow, who knows?

The tools to strip the paint off are again the circular grinder and a small drill that I use sometimes to do modelling.

If you use one of these with a round coarse sanding paper, take care to keep it moving , use the lowest revs and don't push too hard, let it slide over the paint so you don't get indentations in the plastic.
I use it to remove the paint in the curves of the side panel.
After most of the paint is removed, I use wet or dry sanding paper with a grit of 400 to sand the scratches away.
That takes some time but you get a free manicure, your nails become very smooth!
Perhaps an idea to persuade the wife to help you?

Maybe more news tomorrow.
GrtZ
Philippe

[Philippe]

Hello guys

no grinding or stripping off paint today, no it was baking time!

The engine covers received a special clear coat last monday and that coat has to dry at least 3 days.
Since it was friday those 3 days were gone and the oven was heated.
All the engine covers spend 30 minutes in the hot oven (150 °C) and had to cool down afterwards.

The alternator cover received the stator windings, the sprocket cover the clutch actuator, the 2 oil seals and the noise damper and they were mounted on the engine.

On the right hand side of the engine, the other covers received the oil seals and were mounted too.
The ignition has new points, the kickstarter was mounted.
Then it was time to mount the oil vapour dome, the air filter box ( thanks Derek!) and the carburettors.
When you use new air ducts, the carbs mount rather easy. It took me a bit of fiddling but after 10 minutes they were on.

All the covers were mounted with new gaskets which I always give a thin layer of grease. I do that to be able to dismount the covers without damaging the gaskets.

Then I mounted the battery and the electrics were checked. No headlight ??? When opening the headlight I discovered that the ground wire must have come loose. Problem solved!
The warning flashers didn't work properly...after cleaning the connectors on the flasher relay that problem was solved too.
The horn didn't work at all, no sound...when checking the ground connection it turned out that the paint on the switch shell acted as an insulator. A bit of paint was scratched off and the horn made an ear deafening noise afterwards.
So you see that electrical problems are often caused by bad contacts or a bad ground.

All the electrics are working now! Even the "brake light warning light" works as it should!

The idiot lights are all on although the blue warning light of the high beam is not very much visible. Perhaps that will change when the engine is running.

Now I'm waiting for the paint to arrive. The body work will receive a red paint coat with the golden curved stripes as original.
Let's hope the paint comes soon.
More news next time!
GrtZ
Philippe

[Philippe]

Hello men

it's been a few weeks since the last update but here it is.

The paint arrived last week and the plastic body parts received a special plastic primer .
After that was dry, all the body parts received a white 2 components epoxy coat on thursday.

You all know where and how I spent the weekend of 20 and 21 may and the white epoxy coat was left to dry until last tuesday.
I sanded the white paint with sanding paper grit 1000 in order to get it smooth and gave the body parts their red paint.
After a few hours the red paint received a thin overspray with a 2 component clear coat.
The next day that layer was sanded again with sanding paper grit 1000 to get it smooth and to remove the few runners due to an excess of clear coat.

Now the clear coat and the red paint have to dry for a few days to make sure that all the solvents are gone.
When that's done I'll apply the striping. If you apply the striping too soon solvents beneath the striping make blisters underneath and that's an ugly sight! All I can do now is wait.

As soon as the paint is completely dry you'll know it!
In the mean time...I start the restoration of the Z1000H but that's another subject!
GrtZ
Philippe

[zapo]

Great progress and great progress reporting.

[Philippe]

Hello men

after a few weeks of curing, the paint was finally dry enough to apply the striping.
It was the first time I used striping which had to be applied without water and soap...
The producer claimed that the material of the striping had micro holes which allowed the air, trapped underneath, to escape.
You could rub the air from underneath it...
I followed the instructions very stricktly...and wasn't satisfied about the results at all!!!
Dozens of tiny air bubbles remained under the decal, what a disappointment.
No matter how hard I rubbed to get them out, it was of no avail.
The only thing I could do now was wait and hope that the claim of the producer was real.

After a few days the air bubbles became less...
After a bit more than a week they were gone!!!

This morning I decided that it was time to apply the clear coat.
First the body parts were given a last scrubbing with sanding paper grit 3000.
They were cleaned with water and dried.
After they were mounted I degreased the parts and just before they received a clear coat, the dust was taken off with a tacky cloth.
I placed an old wet cloth beneath the parts to prevent dust coming from below to stuck in the freshly applied clear coat.
After the clear coat was applied, I turned the parts upside down to reduce the risk of dust falling on the parts.

After half an hour, the clear coat was "dust dry" so only the fuel tank remained upside down.
Now I have to wait again for the clear coat to cure and to harden completely.
Then I'll have to polish the parts and mount them on the bike.
I guess it will take about a week for the final touch and for the completion of this project.
More to come!
GrtZ
Philippe

[Philippe]

Gentlemen
she's ready to rock and roll !
This morning I took advantage of the cool temperatures to polish the bodywork.
It turned out satisfying for me and the rest of the "hardware" was mounted.

This is how she looks now.
It was a long and bumpy road to get her from the wreck at the beginning to the bike she became now.
Along the way I met some challenges but, hey ho, those can be overcome.
I only need a good battery and some fuel in order to do a first attempt of firing up the engine.
You'll hear about it.
GrtZ
Philippe

[r3sc]

What a brilliant job Philippe! You’ve done an fantastic job in such a short time!

Well done. Looking forward to the first start!

Pete.

[Bill P]

Top job as usual thanks for the write up and pictures

[Garry.L]

Fantastic work as usual Philippe.

The 1015cc engine is easily one of KHI's best lumps.

Enjoy.

[zapo]

Philippe,
I always enjoy reading your restoration posts.
Always something to learn and always a fantastic result.
Good luck with starting it and enjoy that first ride.

[Z1streetfighter71]

You have brought that bike from Zero to Hero, another top notch job!

[GPZ592]

Another fantastic piece of work, Phillipe

Enjoy the first ride

[Mathh]

Prachtig geworden Philippe!

[chrisNI]

Good work Philippe

[wheelysteve]

Great job Philippe.

Enjoy the ride !