Hello Guest User,

Please feel free to have a look around the forum but be aware that as an unregistered guest you can't see all of it and you can't post.

To access these 'Registered Users Only' areas simply register and login.

Time to rebuild my old GPz

Work in Progress

Moderators: chrisu, paul doran, Taffus, KeithZ1R

Message
Author
Crofty
Custard Cream
Custard Cream
Posts: 887
Joined: 18th Nov 2009
Location: York

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#46 PostAuthor: Crofty » Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:16 pm

Top job.

Gyesdad
100Club
100Club
Posts: 191
Joined: 13th Jun 2011
Location: Manchester England

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#47 PostAuthor: Gyesdad » Thu Jun 04, 2020 9:30 pm

Good to see you're back on track with it. The painted motor looks very nice, can't wait to see the rest of it.


Gary.

User avatar
GPZ592
100Club
100Club
Posts: 134
Joined: 3rd Feb 2017
Location: Surrey/Sussex Border

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#48 PostAuthor: GPZ592 » Fri Jun 12, 2020 7:09 pm

Over the last week, I've started stripping down some of the GPz components to see what needs to be refurbished and/or renewed and I started with the forks & wheels.

The forks came apart without too much drama and once stripped and checked the stanchions have gone away for re-chroming. I had already upgraded to progressive fork springs from WP, back in the day, so they will go back in and I'm going to convert the forks to run cartridge emulators from YSS. These only have a single shim stack that controls both rebound & compression (unlike the more expensive Racetech units which have individual ones), but I think they will still be an improvement over the original system.

one fork stripped - one to go !

Fork Small.jpg
Fork Small.jpg (57.62 KiB) Viewed 100419 times


YSS emulators

YSS emulator.jpg
YSS emulator.jpg (207.49 KiB) Viewed 100419 times


The wheels were next to come apart as they need repainting and the discs were scrap. I was worried the disc bolts would be seized and if I used my impact driver gun, it would round the heads. So out came my trusty impact driver and 4lb hammer and they all came out without drama. I have a new found respect for the humble impact driver :D The bearings on the front wheel were a real mare to get out as I couldn't get the spacer tube between them, over enough to get a solid punch on the opposite bearing. Eventually after an hour or more and much swearing, cursing and the obligatory spilling of blood, they came out. In contrast the rear bearings took 5 minutes ! The spacer is just a tube with a collar pushed on and the collar on the front one had come loose, which might explain all the hassle I had. A quick tap with the hammer and it is back in place :)

Spacer before and after -

Spacer 1 small.jpg
Spacer 1 small.jpg (52.37 KiB) Viewed 100419 times


Spacer 2 small.jpg
Spacer 2 small.jpg (31.96 KiB) Viewed 100419 times


I gave the wheels a quick clean up and gave a section of the rim a polish to see how they would come up after languishing in my shed for 20 odd years and thankfully the rims look OK, but might need a bit of a deeper polish to take out any remaining imperfections.

Wheels before and after

Front Wheel small.jpg
Front Wheel small.jpg (64.9 KiB) Viewed 100419 times


Wheels small.jpg
Wheels small.jpg (56.43 KiB) Viewed 100419 times


Rim partly polished

Rim small.jpg
Rim small.jpg (48.06 KiB) Viewed 100419 times


Mark.
"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" - Steve McQueen

Philippe
Hardcore
Hardcore
Posts: 1994
Joined: 26th Oct 2017
Location: België

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#49 PostAuthor: Philippe » Sat Jun 13, 2020 4:08 pm

Hi Mark
you did a very nice job there! They shine like new. If you want them to stay that way give them a coat of clear coat. Degrease them with aceton and use a special clear coat for alloys, not a common clear coat. If you use a common clear coat they will start to oxidize underneath!
GrtZ
Philippe
the differences between a little boy and an adult man is the price and size of their toys!

User avatar
GPZ592
100Club
100Club
Posts: 134
Joined: 3rd Feb 2017
Location: Surrey/Sussex Border

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#50 PostAuthor: GPZ592 » Sun Jun 28, 2020 9:11 pm

Happy to report more progress being made !

I've had to have some remedial work done to the frame - the steering lock stop had to be re-instated on the headstock ( It had been removed to accomodate the "other" forks & yokes I was going to use). Also, the main stand bracket had gone oval where the pivot goes, so needed building up with metal. The original stand pivot tube had almost worn through where it was turning in the frame. Thankfully, i tracked down a NOS item in the USA as it's NLA via Kawasaki.

Additionally, the front mudguard had some rot between the brace and the guard itself and that's been cut out, with a new piece welded in. Thankfully, other than that it's sound and with some making good of the welded area it'll be good to re-use.

Built up and back to round !

Stand Bracket Small.jpg
Stand Bracket Small.jpg (86.33 KiB) Viewed 100321 times


New pivot against old worn one - can you work out which is which :D

Stand Pivot Small.jpg
Stand Pivot Small.jpg (53.04 KiB) Viewed 100321 times


Corroded metal removed

Rusty Mudguard Small.jpg
Rusty Mudguard Small.jpg (101.86 KiB) Viewed 100321 times


Patched and ready to be finished

Muguard Small.jpg
Muguard Small.jpg (51.48 KiB) Viewed 100321 times


Mark.
"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" - Steve McQueen

User avatar
GPZ592
100Club
100Club
Posts: 134
Joined: 3rd Feb 2017
Location: Surrey/Sussex Border

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#51 PostAuthor: GPZ592 » Sat Jul 11, 2020 6:17 pm

Sometimes rebuilding a bike, you strike it lucky.

This arrived a couple a days ago - possibly the last NOS GPz550 ignition cover in the UK. It had been gathering dust dust on a shelf in a Kawasaki dealers for almost 40 years, until I tracked it down and liberated it :D

Ignition cover small.jpg
Ignition cover small.jpg (59.16 KiB) Viewed 100237 times
"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" - Steve McQueen

User avatar
chrisNI
Site Admin
Posts: 3694
Joined: 22nd Dec 2001
Location: NI

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#52 PostAuthor: chrisNI » Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:56 pm

GPZ592 wrote:Sometimes rebuilding a bike, you strike it lucky.

This arrived a couple a days ago - possibly the last NOS GPz550 ignition cover in the UK. It had been gathering dust dust on a shelf in a Kawasaki dealers for almost 40 years, until I tracked it down and liberated it :D



Doesn't happen often... :shock: :D :D :D

User avatar
GPZ592
100Club
100Club
Posts: 134
Joined: 3rd Feb 2017
Location: Surrey/Sussex Border

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#53 PostAuthor: GPZ592 » Tue Jul 14, 2020 7:54 pm

After another weekend in the garage, I've finally finished cleaning and checking the frame and running gear. Thankfully, I didn't find any horrors and with everything sorted into various containers, it's time for a trip to the Powdercoaters :-)

Powdercoat.jpg
"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" - Steve McQueen

User avatar
GPZ592
100Club
100Club
Posts: 134
Joined: 3rd Feb 2017
Location: Surrey/Sussex Border

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#54 PostAuthor: GPZ592 » Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:49 pm

Whilst waiting for my bits to return from the powder coaters, I started to look at the brakes to see what horrors were lurking in there !

I decided to tackle the master cylinders first and unexpectedly, the screws holding the cap on the ffont m/cyl came undone without too much of a fight. However, when I took the cap off, I was greeted by a thick black gunge sitting in the reservoir. it took me minute to work out that it was the remains of the diaphragm :shock: It must have dissolved over time as a reaction to being in contact with the brake fluid.

Fonrt m-cyl.jpg
Fonrt m-cyl.jpg (162.45 KiB) Viewed 100041 times


The piston was stuck, but came out without too much effort, but I was slightly shocked to see the piston is not held in by a metal circlip as I expected, but a plastic clip that just pushed into the M/cyl bore !

Front piston.jpg
Front piston.jpg (51.78 KiB) Viewed 100041 times


The rear m/cyl was much the same, except the piston was so stuck,so I had to carefully drill the head off it, to free it up. The rod from the brake pedal to the m/cyl is pretty corroded, but is NLA. I'll have to see how it looks when it comes back from the rebuild, but I'll keep a look out for a good secondhand one in the meantime.

Rear m-cyl.jpg
Rear m-cyl.jpg (55.22 KiB) Viewed 100041 times


The m/cyl bores look OK, so I think they/ll be OK with new pistons.

The calipers were next and whilst they didn't look too bad, they were as furry as my cats :lol: The pistons were stuck solid and the bleed nipples didn't want move either. I didn't want to damage anything trying to get them apart and it was at that stage I decided to send the whole lot away to be professionally refurbished. Once I'd factored in my time in stripping everything, then the cost of getting them aqua blasted, then painted and sourcing new pistons, seals, etc to rebuild them - it made sense (to me anyway) to farm out the rebuild.

Calipers.jpg
Calipers.jpg (144.63 KiB) Viewed 100041 times


That was a couple of weeks ago and the people rebuilding my brakes sent me this picture of the pistons, they removed from the calipers :shock:

Pistons-1.jpg
Pistons-1.jpg (59.11 KiB) Viewed 100041 times


Having seen those, I was happy that I decided to send them away for refurbishment as they were probably well seized in and I would probably have damaged the calipers themselves trying to remove them myself.

Mark.
"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" - Steve McQueen

User avatar
Mark Tiller
Area Rep.
Area Rep.
Posts: 1292
Joined: 12th Jun 2011
Location: Amersham

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#55 PostAuthor: Mark Tiller » Sat Aug 08, 2020 8:08 am

swingarm is a JMC
07962421462

Philippe
Hardcore
Hardcore
Posts: 1994
Joined: 26th Oct 2017
Location: België

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#56 PostAuthor: Philippe » Sat Aug 08, 2020 12:51 pm

Hi Mark
welcome to the little world of bike horrors ! :ghostface
Seen those things a lot of times, don't worry. You'll get over it and you'll be able to sleep again at night :D
GrtZ
Philippe
the differences between a little boy and an adult man is the price and size of their toys!

User avatar
chrisNI
Site Admin
Posts: 3694
Joined: 22nd Dec 2001
Location: NI

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#57 PostAuthor: chrisNI » Sun Aug 09, 2020 10:53 pm

GPZ592 wrote:The calipers were next and whilst they didn't look too bad, they were as furry as my cats :lol: The pistons were stuck solid and the bleed nipples didn't want move either. I didn't want to damage anything trying to get them apart and it was at that stage I decided to send the whole lot away to be professionally refurbished. Once I'd factored in my time in stripping everything, then the cost of getting them aqua blasted, then painted and sourcing new pistons, seals, etc to rebuild them - it made sense (to me anyway) to farm out the rebuild.


Be interested to see how these turn out... who’s doing them and what’s it costing?

User avatar
GPZ592
100Club
100Club
Posts: 134
Joined: 3rd Feb 2017
Location: Surrey/Sussex Border

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#58 PostAuthor: GPZ592 » Tue Aug 11, 2020 9:13 pm

chrisNI wrote:
GPZ592 wrote:The calipers were next and whilst they didn't look too bad, they were as furry as my cats :lol: The pistons were stuck solid and the bleed nipples didn't want move either. I didn't want to damage anything trying to get them apart and it was at that stage I decided to send the whole lot away to be professionally refurbished. Once I'd factored in my time in stripping everything, then the cost of getting them aqua blasted, then painted and sourcing new pistons, seals, etc to rebuild them - it made sense (to me anyway) to farm out the rebuild.


Be interested to see how these turn out... who’s doing them and what’s it costing?


Powerhouse are doing the refurbishment. I'll let you know the cost, when I get the bill :)

Mark.
"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" - Steve McQueen

Bill P
Hardcore
Hardcore
Posts: 1292
Joined: 17th Aug 2015
Location: Derbyshire

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#59 PostAuthor: Bill P » Tue Aug 11, 2020 9:52 pm

Top Guys at Powerhouse i've used them a lot u won't be disappointed i don't think :)

User avatar
GPZ592
100Club
100Club
Posts: 134
Joined: 3rd Feb 2017
Location: Surrey/Sussex Border

Re: Time to rebuild my old GPz

#60 PostAuthor: GPZ592 » Fri Aug 21, 2020 9:21 pm

The brakes have come back from Powerhouse and I'm well pleased with them :D

They've been stripped, cleaned, painted and rebuilt with all new seals/stainless pistons & rubbers. I have new decals to apply, but they can wait until the calipers are back on the bike, so I get them the positioned correctly ! For now, they are safely stored away awaiting fitment later on in the rebuild.

Brakes rebuilt.jpg
Brakes rebuilt.jpg (147.58 KiB) Viewed 99847 times


Caliper rebuilt.jpg
Caliper rebuilt.jpg (140.31 KiB) Viewed 99847 times


Master Cylinder rebuilt.jpg
Master Cylinder rebuilt.jpg (87.4 KiB) Viewed 99847 times


Caliper Bracket.jpg
Caliper Bracket.jpg (152.08 KiB) Viewed 99847 times


Mark.
"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" - Steve McQueen


Return to “Projects”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 37 guests