Z650 / 1100

[KWACKERZ1]

Looks cool I am doing a similiar thing so would be interested to see how much room you have between frame and cam cover?
Any chance if some close up pics

[Bevelhead]

Looks cool I am doing a similiar thing so would be interested to see how much room you have between frame and cam cover?
Any chance if some close up pics

Here you go..

[KWACKERZ1]

Cool plenty of room at the top for cam cover removal.

Thanks for that.

[Bevelhead]

Finally got the engine/frame back home today, so started to test fit parts, to see how it all looks.. when I hit another unexpected problem, this time the lovely upholstered seat - with its fibreglass base which was made on the frame - doesn't fit on the frame anymore, not by a little, but by a lot. Took a few seconds before I realised what had happened.. it'll have to go back to the upholsterer to be completely redone. My fault, as I'd made an assumption, which wasn't the case.

Can you guess why the seat wouldn't fit the frame??

[ADRIAN H]

Can you guess why the seat wouldn't fit the frame??

Hinges located different.

[Bevelhead]

No, there are no hinges, the seat base is fibreglass and bolts down onto the frame.

[Bevelhead]

No more guesses.. so the answer is that the seat has been upholstered back to front, including the foam. I'd assumed it was clear which end was the front and which the back, but it seems not...

[rickm]

Oh dear !
Sorry, I'm trying not to laugh at this but it's just caught my funny bone.
Presume the upholsterer will put it right ?

[Bevelhead]

I'll be taking it back to the upholsterer this week, so we'll see. Then again I didn't tell him which was the front / back, as I assumed it would be obvious, so maybe its my fault. Perhaps we'll go halves on the cost..

[Bevelhead]

Time to start bolting parts to the bike. The Dyna coils hang down from brackets on the head stock triangle, as per pic. They do seem to be a little low, probably due to the coils being larger than the OE coils and of course the GPz1100 motor sitting a little higher.

Does the position of the coil look OK, or is it too close to the head?

[Gus]

Great build.

I would say if you can see them with the tank on then move them IMHO

And make sure the coil itself is not touching the frame tube.

Gus

[Bevelhead]

Yep got the spacers machined, so that's where they're going, at least for now. Seems the Z650 frame 'triangle' behind the headstock is smaller than on a Z1000, so the Dyna coils cant go in there. Last option is to bolt them to the front of the battery box, behind the carbs. Its plenty strong enough, but that would mean buying much longer leads.

[Bevelhead]

Decided to rebuild the bolt up rear wheel, with new fasteners, only to find the cap head bolts holding the hubs in place wouldn't fit.. sigh. turns out the old cap heads had been machined to fit snugly into the recesses made for them in the hub. So had to machine all 12 bolts the same way. Its done now.

Meanwhile mounted the Dyna coils, once I'd made 4 stand off spacers. They are very close to the cam cover, but can reduce the spacers by a couple of mm to gain a tiny bit more clearance. Not sure if that's still going too be too close to the engine..

[Bevelhead]

Pre covid we made a one off swing arm spindle for the bike, which has gone missing, cant find it anywhere, and I have searched high and low for it. Oh well, lets make another. Still had a length of EN24T 20mm bar, so passed it through the frame to see where I need to cut it to length.

Only to dismayed to find another problem.

The bar, which is straight, wouldn't pass through the second swingarm mounting hole in the frame. Looks like the frame is slightly twisted!!

No idea how this could be, as it was straight before it went off to be powder coated. The only idea I have is that the stresses in the frame from welding, were somehow 'relieved' when the frame was heated in the powder coating oven.. its heated to 200c / 350F.

Not that it matters, as now I need to find a solution, hopefully without fully stripping the bike down and putting back on a frame jig... never had a bike give me so many problems...

[Bevelhead]

I've spoken to a couple of folks, who both say the same thing.. don't panic, the frame can be tweaked back into alignment. I did try loosening the engine mounts, but it made no difference.

Meanwhile, I carried on with the build and tried not to worry about the frame.

Fitted the stainless under tray and splash guard, the latter may need to be cut back a bit, once I know the upper chain run.