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Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

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csx355
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Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#1 PostAuthor: csx355 » Mon Jun 12, 2017 8:18 pm

S'funny how things have a habit of coming about - Long story short I visited a customers house some 15years or so ago and dissolving in his back garden was a BMW R80, and a bigass furred up Z. My customer was about to leave the County and start a new life, I was living in a small Cornish Cottage and just did not have the room for either of them. Fast forward 12 years and I had self built a large garage with a nice detached house (priorities)! Somehow I had also acquired a stripped down Hodna Monkey bike (don't ask) which apparently some poor souls pass off as interesting motorcycling metal.

My old customer had also found his way back into the County and, when we caught up I asked him about his old bikes.

The BMW he had built into a very nice bespoke KATHY RAZER. No seriously! The Z he had passed on to a current work-mate of his who had stripped it from this -
Image only significantly more corroded, to this -
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Apparently the fellow who had the Z stripped the bike had left it under his bench and all but given up on it as he was now consumed by a new passion. Yep he was into Hodner Manky Boikes!! So like a rat up a drain I accepted his offer of swapping his Z for my childs beach toy and promptly packed it into my van and got it home. Image


Roll on another couple of years and having finely honed my motorcycle de-construction skills on a Harley Sportster and an old Yam XS850 I decided that it was time to address the bleeding hulk lurking in the shadows of my garage. I'm not scared - much!

First job was sorting the usable chrome, tin ware, zinc bracketry etc. along with the frame and assorted ironmongery for plating blasting and powder coating.

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Calipers (of which there were several sets were sorted for the best specimens and sent to Powerhouse for refurb.
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Assorted nuts bolts and brackets to Mikey for Zinc plating following recommendations from this club
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Switch gear was stripped, again several sets, and sorted with other alloy parts for vapour blasting, anodising and polishing. The wheels were stripped and the hubs relieved of their bearings, again prior to vapour blasting. The spoke carrier on the rear hub was totally FUBAR'd due to terminal rot on the steel spoke carrier, so that went off to a local engineering shop to be heated and pressed off. The steel carrier will then be machined and heat pressed back - (so i'm told). The engineering shop will also black anodize my switch bodies and master cylinder bodies.

The exhaust with the bike is a decent Harris 4-1 but as I wanted it to be as close to the original look as possible I have been speaking to Roy at OSMC with a view to making me a set of these in Stainless
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I filled the larger of my two tanks with a solution of phosphoric acid to convert any rust lurking in the corners after years of neglect and the result looked like a new tank inside. The tank and panels were then sent off to my spray guy who fits my bikes in between car resprays. No rush.

That pretty much brought me up to Sunday when with a rush of blood and armed with this amazing Kawasaki training video poached from you tube I set about the motor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtWDQm1zSjk&list=PLRd-GpO00-E8qQGAG1lWTi1iSyOL9jmG0

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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#2 PostAuthor: csx355 » Tue Jun 13, 2017 7:17 am

First step of my motor strip, not really sure whatI going to find and if I'm honest I feel pretty daunted by the job. I was going to get a local shop to dot he job but decided to get stuck in. Externally the motor looked rough as rats in terms of furred up alloy and grime but thankfully no obvious damage. I had been spraying the nuts bolts and head studs pretty frequently as I have had issues with seized and corroded fasteners on my XS850. Another thing that I learnt was to spend some time with a stainless pick and clean out all the cross head screw and Allen head caps to enable the drivers get a good purchase.

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No obvious wear or scoring.
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Plenty of gasket gak visible down the cam chain tunnel.

Cams removed and followers labelled. Everything bagged as I go.

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White metal cam shells look pretty good on first inspection.
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Head off to reveal more nasty liquid gasket and very oiled up pistons.
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Bores looking reasonable though.
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Worrying that someone had been here in the past with loads of liquid goo
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First sign of internal damage was this broken cam chain slipper - this could be the reason the bike was stripped - it wasn't going to make any friends down here on it's own.
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Another set of pics from a different viewpoint - more for my own reference really.
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The barrels came away without any drama and the pistons look pretty good.
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no obvious signs of a previous rebore - perhaps when I clean them up.


Alternator cover off - more Goo.
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I got quite a bit further that this but running out of time to post up my progress - plus I walked away from my initial posting attempt and bloody lost it all - that will teach me not to blog it first!

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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#3 PostAuthor: DavidZ1R » Tue Jun 13, 2017 4:00 pm

I share your pain, I am trying to do one myself, finding all sorts of problems, mainly with the bodywork, engine inside is fine, mine done 30k, been stood outside for dont know how long, plenty of rust, stuck bolts, but pressing on. By the way you need deep pockets!
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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#4 PostAuthor: csx355 » Thu Jun 15, 2017 1:12 pm

Cheers Dave - it's always good to know that others are going down the same path and facing similar issues. I have been lucky so far with seized and sheared off bolts. To date I have only had one frame mounting stud sheared off in the front crank case, a starter motor bolt sheared off plus the usual cross point screws with heads made out of cucumber. My heat gun and impact driver have been on over time.

I have just taken delivery of some old (vintage) centre punches
IMG_4153 (1).JPG

and centre drills. Well you can't use new ones because most of those are sh1+e. I am also going to turn up a custom drill guide to deal with any broken studs that I have left. Failing that it will have to be the 'washer and weld option'.

Father's day this weekend - should mean a Sunday's pass in the garage to finish stripping the motor prior to dressing the casings and then off for vapor blasting. Hopefully my frame will be back from the powder coaters soon.

Mines done 39000 miles - internals look pretty good, hopefully I can get away with just new rings and a light hone.

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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#5 PostAuthor: DavidZ1R » Thu Jun 15, 2017 4:08 pm

Mine has done 30k, when I put a new and the old cam chain on a rod to check for wear, I was amazed how much the old one had stretched, new one it is.
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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#6 PostAuthor: csx355 » Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:39 pm

Managed a few hours tonight - hopefully get the cases apart and get a good look at what's going on. Obviously someone has been in the motor before but judging from the gaskets and goo used I don't think that they got much beyond taking the head and barrels off.

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Flipped the motor and removed the oil filter housing and then the sump.
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Pretty telling in here - loads of metal flakes and more gasket goo on the strainer.
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Just spotted this lil' beauty as well - a trip to the Tig guy is on the cards
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Sump pan was filthy with goo and tar.
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Multi coloured gasket and alloy heaven
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Worryingly - I could see a crank cap bolt missing. Nothing like that in the motor so I guessing that one was removed from the sump aperture ?? Strange.
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Another sheared crank case bolt. Hopefully shouldn't be too much of a problem.

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Cases apart - crank out - nice and easy - just had to clean up the threads on the jack bolt points.
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Just a reminder to me of another sheared bolt. This time it's a starter motor bolt.
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These marks could be when the cam guide let go
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Close ups of the marks
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That'll do for tonight - everything bagged, labelled and stored.
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Next jobs will be getting the broken studs out, weld up the crack, clean up all the threads and get the external alloy head and barrels off for vapour blasting.

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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#7 PostAuthor: freddyz1r » Thu Jun 15, 2017 10:25 pm

You're flying through it. Keep up the good work :up
cheers freddy
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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#8 PostAuthor: csx355 » Fri Jun 16, 2017 6:23 am

Thanks Freddy - this is my first time going this far on a motor like this. I had the head and barrel off my XS, and stripped my TY175 Yam but two strokes don't count really. Have to say that it's come apart fairly easily and the Kawasaki you tube training video is a brilliant reference tool. I reckon it's taken me about 8 hours so far - I think the Kawasaki engineer did his in less than 30 minutes! I'm under no illusions that ripping it apart is the easy bit though. Now it's all down to preparation, sorting out and replacing the worn and damaged components and re-building.

Just a few questions ticking around in my head -

Are the motor studs 'stretch bolts'? Should they be replaced as a matter of routine? If so I will whip them out before vapour blasting.

Any recommended Gasket sets and case sealants? (or ones to avoid)

I have a factory service manual on the way thanks to a forum member - will this give me acceptable wear tolerances? Is there a good point of reference for these anywhere?

Should I post these questions under bike help?

Anyone have next weeks winning lottery numbers? - I'll go half's ;-)

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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#9 PostAuthor: freddyz1r » Fri Jun 16, 2017 8:36 am

csx355 wrote:Are the motor studs 'stretch bolts'? Should they be replaced as a matter of routine? If so I will whip them out before vapour blasting.
Any recommended Gasket sets and case sealants? (or ones to avoid)
I have a factory service manual on the way thanks to a forum member - will this give me acceptable wear tolerances? Is there a good point of reference for these anywhere?
Should I post these questions under bike help?
Anyone have next weeks winning lottery numbers? - I'll go half's ;-)

I'm no mechanic, so triple check anything I say :oops:
check the studs, but should be fine (only ever had to have one changed due to a bend, probably from poor storage).
Gaskets=I've used any with no real issues, (plenty will be along soon with you must use this or that brand.make sure all surfaces are flat, clean and smooth and they seam to work fine ((some I've had are "paper thin" pardon the pun, and as such can be a bit fiddly)). I've used 'vital black rtv' with success (I think sparingly is the key?)
'Bike help' will probably get you the best answers.
lottery numbers are £$¥÷₩?×# (bloody keyboard won't type numbers :D )
Good luck,
cheers freddy
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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#10 PostAuthor: Pigford » Fri Jun 16, 2017 3:04 pm

Some gaskets benefit from grease - such as the cylinder base gasket as it stops "wicking" of oil.
Use some wiring "heat-shrink" wrap on the cylinder studs - keeps corrosion away!
Cometic do quality gaskets - not much more than other makes.

(both tips from Rob - aka: Zed1015)
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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#11 PostAuthor: csx355 » Fri Jun 16, 2017 7:01 pm

Cheers Piggy - I'll check them out - I'm enjoying this :-)

I'm pretty sure that the bores are good but will probably have a new set of Piston Rings. What are the thoughts on cam chains? - Should I automatically go new? - Genuine? - Best options? Better drink more wine and chill out - heads in a spin!

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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#12 PostAuthor: ollie » Fri Jun 16, 2017 7:25 pm

Use Vesrah/cometic gaskets,avoid athena gaskets at all costs . :wink:
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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#13 PostAuthor: freddyz1r » Fri Jun 16, 2017 7:41 pm

For the price of a new camchain, you're as well changing it while you're in their.
Cheers freddy
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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#14 PostAuthor: csx355 » Sat Jun 17, 2017 6:50 am

avoid athena gaskets at all costs


For the price of a new camchain, you're as well changing it while you're in their.


Thats the sort of info I need - thanks guys.

Looking forward to Sunday's shed session now it's all stripped out.

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Re: Z1000A1 - Basket Case Build

#15 PostAuthor: Pigford » Sat Jun 17, 2017 6:52 am

Camellia are said to be the best - or Kawasaki original.

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