Z1OwnersClub GB

Looks a little bit better. What are the little white dot stickers on the chain cover you may well be wondering.

How it came out

Half way through cleaning up

Tha's a genieas, go on whats the dots for, hows the bearings ont crank? I see drive chains gone scwing at some point, a good reference for us all, you obviously have access to some great people to get stuff done, me, well I used to, gone are the days of easy to get bits, so make do and mend

The bearings are all fine. The engine ran well before I stripped it, apart from the head and barrels being worn.
So, about the little white dots. They’re targets for a 3D optical digitizer. Basically it’s a scanner. The scanner takes scans of an object all round all over, just like taking pictures. The software recognises the white dots and as long as there are at least 3 dots from a previous scan the software can link the scans together and create a “cloud of points” that represents the surface of the object and it’s accurate to about ±0.01mm. Then the software can join the points to make a “wire mesh” of the surface. This is then exported as an STL file that can be used to create 3D solid CAD models which can then be used to create CNC programmes for machining the object or for tooling to make the object. It’s reverse engineering.
Check out:

https://www.gom.com/metrology-systems/a ... -scan.html

These are the scans I got. Unfortunately the tank's a bit battered and I don't work there anymore.

Oh yeah! this looks like a great project with interesting modern engineering practices thrown in the style i like. Will be following this one.

Sorry I've been away for a bit - well nearly 2 years since my last post. I didn't get anything done in 2019 until about December. Since then I’ve got loads done especially during the lock down. I was furloughed, so I cracked on with it. All that’s left to do is the brakes and the wiring. I built the engine on a bench and got it running. The first time in 25 years. From what was a pile of scrap it is now “The Living Zed”. I’ll sort out the photo's from along the way and start putting them on here.

So looking forward to seeing the progress top work

Welcome back also looking forward to pictures of progress

Great to see this; superb work and very interesting. Puts me to shame though... I put my crank back in without cleaning it. Did check all the bearings and the side clearances though

So why scan the chain cover?
Well the old Z wasn't completely original. Harris 4 into 1, no centre stand or air box and a few other odds n sods missing.
So rather than get it back to original I decided to make a few modifications, because the forks and wheels and brakes are a bit dated.
I'd already got a Suzuki GSXR USD front end I'd picked up a while back for the purpose of uprating the Zed and I'm thinking what about the rear end. May be GSXR or R1 would give better braking and suspension with a nice fat back tyre.
I'm searching eBay and not seeing anything that takes my fancy, then out of the blue, from where I know not, I think “Hayabusa”.
There was loads of 'busa stuff out there. Pretty soon I'd got all the rear end. Wheel, Swing arm, shocker and linkage, brake calliper the lot.
Trouble is the 190 nice fat back tyre gets in the way of where the chain is. I measured the old and new and worked out the drive sprocket needed moving out 27mm to clear the tyre. This presented a new problem. I knew the Busa arm wouldn’t go straight into the Z frame without some modification, but the new line for the chain meant the frame was in the way too. Hmmm!
As it happens the Z1 frame narrows just past the bottom engine mounting, which I'm sure you all know. If it were straight, I reckoned, everything would be good. There was only one thing for it. Get the grinder out and cut the middle out the frame. Luckily I’d built a frame jig about 30 years ago that is ideal for making motorcycle frames. It was just lying there and I thought I would be a damn shame not to use it again.

and there's more....

I turned a couple of swing arm bosses and with the middle of the frame cut out I was able to set the Hayabusa swing in the jig.
Next thing was to get some tube, bend it and weld it together, but first I wanted the bottom end in the frame with the main shaft in and the sprocket on so I could be sure the chain was clear before doing any tube work.

Impressive and a little scary to look at but hopefully it will be, or is, all well again. Will you leave or have you left the standard geometry after fitting modern running gear? Its hard to see but it looks like 24 degrees of rake but could be an optical illusion.
Nice to have a frame jig just laying about for when you need it. Could have done with one last winter.
AL

Blimmey. That is seriously scary stuff, not for the faint hearted.

You seem to know what you're doing. I would say Good luck with the frame build, but you've already said it's finished bar wiring.

So where is the next batch of Photos, the suspense is killing me.

Wow! Thanks for the appreciation. Makes it all the more worthwhile, but yeh it was a bit scary. When I'd marked out where to cut the frame and was ready with the grinder, I stopped and asked myself “Are you sure you REALLY want to do this”. A bit like the red pill blue pill scene in The Matrix. That only lasted a second or two though. So anyway I need to line the chain through before I start modifying the frame.
I looked round for an offset sprocket but couldn’t find anything with a 27mm offset. I’d got access to wire eroders and grinders so I thought “sod it. I’ll make one”. After a bit of research found out how to construct sprocket teeth and shaft splines and drew the profiles on CAD for the wire eroder . I got a piece of EN24 steel from the Metal Supermarket, turned it into a blank and got it wired. I bolted the crank cases together with just the main shaft in to keep the weight down.
The picture shows clocking the sprocket to check it not running out.