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French Z1- a lesson from the past

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RAYZ1
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French Z1- a lesson from the past

#1 PostAuthor: RAYZ1 » Mon Nov 05, 2018 8:21 pm

A bit of controversy here ?? or maybe everyone else knows this

Just bought a Z1 from France ( she has been named Frenchy, is that PC?) and learned that every picture perfect , flawless, 15k, 20k, 34k resto you name it - is ----nearly correct!!!

I was hoping to answer my own query as to what is the correct engine paint , is it satin , is it flat or is it a satin/ gloss, of course its black its what finish ....

no its , well nearly all of those finishes - great what do I do now . Like the magazine articles of today with younger guys writing about older bikes getting it wrong, the fiction becomes fact , just in the same way that flawless totally black engine and cases were never all totally black at all - the paint on the case never matched the the barells or head ! , boy I must really be in the sticks as everyone else must know that but never says

crank cases are satin / gloss black , barrels and heads are very dark grey , near matt
so doesn't help me at all in my question. the bike is nut and bolt correct , apart from z650 speedo , every bolt , seat hinge, black foam, grey insert plugs etc, long back mudgaurd , a bit rusty in places yes -

The bike is one owner and been been in a basement for over 30 years in south of France so not exposed to sun or rain , just some damp with some chrome corrosion and a naff 70s paint job ( it was green/yellow)

Why did kawasaki do this - the barrel & head finish is more akin to heat treated finish (like a french wood burning stove ?) , like the dark grey on gs750 diamond cut mag wheels - the head is finished and baked and then machined - as the machining marks are visible -

you could say this bike is wrong , but I really dont think so as its here untouched in 2018 since the late 70s, infact the finish on the fins looks like it maybe able to be kept ...

maybe it was converted to run on hardwood logs , had the engine on the Plockton bike not been so corroded then it might have corroborated ...does anyone else have an original unpainted engine ?
Last edited by RAYZ1 on Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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chrisNI
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Re: French Z1- a lesson from the past

#2 PostAuthor: chrisNI » Mon Nov 05, 2018 8:30 pm

:kiddngu ttiw ttiw

RAYZ1
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Re: French Z1- a lesson from the past

#3 PostAuthor: RAYZ1 » Mon Nov 05, 2018 8:46 pm

it is without doubt the most useless and pointless post without pics all will be revealed shortly, if it was April 1 ? youd think Im taking the piss , badly
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Re: French Z1- a lesson from the past

#4 PostAuthor: RAYZ1 » Mon Nov 05, 2018 8:59 pm

Image
Image

Pretty but not correct

Image

Replacement exhausts and a 70s paint job - NOT Pretty, but the remainder intact as it was


Image

Image
Image
Image


So there it is
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Re: French Z1- a lesson from the past

#5 PostAuthor: Philippe » Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:37 am

Hi RAYZ1

I have an original '72 head, with the original paint on. It's dirty and dusty and I intend to keep it that way. It's not mounted. I'll take some pictures today and post them .
IMHO it's black. Or what people consider to be black. All the black paint is in fact very dark grey.
I think that the bike you bought has been on the road for several thousand miles. According to the pictures you've posted, I can see there are parts changed during the first decade of its life when it was used.
A good find by the way! Congratulations!
In those days some paint was better than it is today, but other paint wasn't as good...
Kawasaki dealers in areas where the weather wasn't as good as in Califonia (Western Europe, the UK and several other areas in the world) had complaints about the black paint peeling off the engine back in the early seventies. Kawasaki heard about those and that's one of the reasons why they produced the Z1A engine in bare aluminium, in order to prevent those complaints.
In '78 they made another attempt to paint engines black (Z1R). In '79 and the first years of the eighties, they used black paint on engines again ( ST, MK2, H, J, Gpz 1100,...).
I remember that in '83, when I bought a "new" '79 Z1000ST, the dull/satin black paint on the barrels and head turned to dark gray the first time I rode the bike in the rain. I couldn't bring the black back by cleaning it, it remained "dark grey". We all have to keep in mind that those parts of the engine become the hottest compared to the cranckcase and that the front part of them recieve most of the rain and moisture when riding in nasty weather.
The paint and the way of applying it, they used in the late seventies - early eighties, was considered to be of a better quality than the one they used several years before. Maybe it lasted longer on the engine but it changed to dark grey when the bike was ridden in the rain...
So, stating that the "black paint" on the barrels and head was a factory applied dark grey, is IMHO a bridge too far.
Later today I'll post some pictures of the '72 head, wait and see.
GrtZ
Philippe
the differences between a little boy and an adult man is the price and size of their toys!

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Re: French Z1- a lesson from the past

#6 PostAuthor: RAYZ1 » Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:14 am

Phillipe

Good to see some photos of your 72 head. I have seen paint oxidise and change colour over the years on cladding systems with sun , exposure to weather etc and usually it's not even discolouration. I will take some photos once I strip the tank off , I would expect to see some uneven discolouration where rain and sun hasn't got to . If it was only due to heat then I would also expect to see some differences from hot to extremely hot areas ? There is also the possibility that as the paint wasn't a success in poor climates Kawasaki expermented with new type of paints during 73 before they dropped it due to dealer pressure of the warranty claims?
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Re: French Z1- a lesson from the past

#7 PostAuthor: snowyz9 » Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:29 pm

Any black paint on an engine over 40 years old will now appear different to when new , and would of dulled

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Re: French Z1- a lesson from the past

#8 PostAuthor: Philippe » Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:49 pm

Hi RAYZ1
as promised, some pictures of the dirty, dusty '72 Z1 head with the original colour on.
I think that the paint is black, I rubbed the dirt and grease off at one spot.

DSCN3557.JPG
the intakes for the vacuum meters

As you can see the intakes for the vacuum meters are in the head itself, it's not the first model Kawasaki used, after approximately engine number 2200 they changed the intakes for the vacuum meters to the carb holder rubbers.

DSCN3559.JPG
the original "black" paint

Here you can see the original paint, it's at the backside of the head.

As far as experimenting with paint by KHI is concerned: everything is possible !
I think the frenchies repainted the head, and when you remove the valve buckets you could find TWO shims on one bucket. It happened to me before! A 0,05 mm shim under a 2,15 mm shim. I gues they were short on 2,2 mm shims...
They're nice people but they do some mechanical things "the French way". :eek
GrtZ
Philippe
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Re: French Z1- a lesson from the past

#9 PostAuthor: jonhunt » Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:58 pm

I have some Z2 crank cases. They are late 76 as I recall but they still had black paint. It’s not high gloss now but not mat

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Re: French Z1- a lesson from the past

#10 PostAuthor: RAYZ1 » Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:52 pm

Phillippe

I buffed some of the fins back with a dry rag and it did reveal a more black finish so it has oxidied , but incredibly evenly - so it must have been the heat as the crankcase black is still black, even though the texture of the fin makes it look different - so good news for me that Im wrong (again) and I can paint everything black :)
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Re: French Z1- a lesson from the past

#11 PostAuthor: Philippe » Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:16 pm

Hi RAYZ1
go for it! Use good, heat resistant, satin black paint and she'll be beautifull again!
When you can admit you made a mistake you're a great man! You own my respect, Sir.
All the best!
GrtZ
Philippe
the differences between a little boy and an adult man is the price and size of their toys!


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