Z1OwnersClub GB

Hi men
as promised I'm going to share the building of a Z1000 ST ELR.
I bought a Z1000ST E1 in Holland a few months ago and started to prepare the restoration of it in July.
At the beginning of August I bought a Z1000R ELR in France and decided after a few weeks to do that first. I was curious about the result.
During the restoration of the Z1000R I was surfing on the web and found out that my previous Z1000ST/R was sold in Japan for 1,270,000 Yen (about 9600 Euro). I think that the Japanese appreciate my creation enough to pay that amount of money for it. I got inspired and decided to make a "Special Z1000ST ELR".
Not with the purpose to sell it in Japan but just because I love the challenge, to find out if I can create something that resembles a Z1000ELR out of a Z1000 ST.
I invite you to follow the transformation and to give your comments on the project. It won't be a high tech transformation but a simple one.
Anyway, while waiting for paint of the Z1000R to cure I started the project.

About one year ago I was able to buy a badly repaired front fairing of an ELR for a few Euros , just in case, you never know...
I use an old frame of a Z1000ST to make the parts to put the ELR fairing on the ST. It took me three attempts to get it in the correct position. So if you want to mount a fairing on a bike, start by making the lampears. The ST has a round headlight, the ELR has a rectangular headlight... and no the lampears of an ST are not long enough to mount the headlight of an ELR and the lampears of an ELR can't slide over the fork tubes of an ST.
After a lot of trial and error I came up with this:







I took old damaged lamp ears of an ST, cut off some parts and constructed new parts to attach the headlight.
After that worked out, I made the lower bracket for the fairing and last but not least I made the upper brackets for the front fairing.
As I wrote before, I was inspired by the ELR and copied and adapted the original parts of the ELR to fit on the ST.
I'm pleased with the results so far.
Let's hope that the rest of the transformation goes better.
GrtZ
Philippe

Looking good already Philippe! You should have enough parts by now

Hi Mathh

yes it's the one I bought from you! And yes I have enough parts by now allthough I bought another ST in France a few weeks ago. This time it's an E2 and she will be restored to original specs. So if you, or anyone else on here, can find a long rear plastic fender and/or an original exhaust and is willing to sell it to me, just send me a mail !
GrtZ
Philippe

Now that's a challenge

Watching this one with interest as I know how much you like the original restorations Philippe. Looking forward to seeing the finished special STR

Hi men

just a bit of explanation about the parts I made to fit the ST ELR.
As I mentioned before I needed to change the lampears/brackets to get the rectangular headlamp in the correct position.
I had to take care that the shell of the headlamp didn't touched the headstock when the handlebar was turned.
Just a lot of things to pay attention to.
The two original headlamp brackets were damaged so the extentions were cut off. The only thing that remained were the two tubes.
After a lot of trial and error I managed to make extensions that held the headlamp at its correct position; the handlebar could turn and the headlamp could pivot up and down without touching the headstock.
In order to mount the indicators I made more or less square holes in the brackets and welded the indicator holders of the original lampears on the newly made ones.
The extentions were made of 2 mm thick steel plate .

Then it was time to make brackets to hold the fairing.
The one at the lower front was easy. Once again the 2 mm thick steel plate was used. I measured the distance between the brake splitter and the holes in the fairing. Shaped the plate and drilled holes in it. When everything was OK I welded two M6 nuts on the plate to receive the two M6 bolts.

Now I started to make the brackets to mount on the upper part of the triple tree.
These are made of a U-shaped steel profile with an internal width of 26-27 mm. It was cut to the correct dimensions, holes drilled in it and bent to the correct shape.
On the right hand one I attached a throttle cable holder. This was made of a piece of welding rod which was bent in the correct shape. Afterwards it was welded on the bracket.

Last but not least I had to make the brackets to hold the upper part of the fairing...
Those were the most difficult parts to make. Anyway after a few attempts I could produce something that resembled the original Z1000R brackets.
A lot of measuring was involved to get the holes at the correct place and than I had to bent them...
I needed two rods to connect the upper brackets with the brackets on the triple tree.
The rod measures 8 mm in diameter. One side was welded to the upper bracket and the other side was provided with M8 thread.
Two flat 8 mm washers were welded on the rod.

After about a week of welding, cutting and grinding I managed to get the parts ready. They fit and provide a stable attachment for the fairing.
Just see for yourself what I created, they look rough and are unpainted. They need to be cleaned, filled and painted and I hope they will look better then.



So, that's it for this episode.
More to come soon.
GrtZ
Philippe

Great work, Philippe

I need to make up a bracket for the new CDI on the 550 - I just hope my fabrication skills are as good as yours

Hi GPZ592

you'll get there!
Start by making a bracket in cardboard, it's easier than steel. When you have the correct shape think about the steps you have to take in the correct order (cutting, drilling, bending,...)
Good luck with it!
GrtZ
Philippe

Hey guys

since it's too cold to paint parts, I'm preparing them .
The important thing about preparing parts is to clean them thoroughly.
Let's take the brake parts, front and rear.
As you all know brake dust has a tendency to eat itself into paint and it's hard to remove.
I do it this way:
step 1 :a complete disassembly of the parts, removing brake caliper pistons, rubbers, bleed nipples, master cylinders,...
step 2 :degreasing of the alloy parts by soaking them in thinner
step 3 :using a brush and "scotch brite" to remove the old grease and a part of the paint
step 4 :putting them in ant acid in order to remove all the paint
step 5 :after a night soaking in the acid, cleaning them with water and soap to neutralize the acid and drying them with compressed air
step 6 :removing all the oxidation of the aluminium, even the grooves where the rubbers sit . I use my drill and rotating brushes to do the "big work" and then a "dremel" with small brushes. The "almost impossible to reach places" are cleaned with dentist tools.
Now they are ready to be painted. The steps I have to take before painting the parts will be explained in a later episode.

After a few days of "work" this is the result:







It's important to remove the oxidation from under the edge, when putting the caliper together the rubber dust boot stays in place.



It's also important to clean the groove around the brake fluid reservoir, this allows air to get in because when applying the brake you take oil out of the reservoir into the brake lines. Without air coming in you create a vacuum. That wouldn't matter in the beginning but when the brake pads wear you might have a problem.







As you can see I always use repair kits for the brakes.
Brakes are a safety matter and certainly the front brakes. We must take it in account that the brake technology of our old bikes dates back to the "seventies".
Compared to the newest brake technology it's a poor device we use to get to a halt. Therefore it's important to make sure they work properly.

More to come next time!
GrtZ
Philippe

This is great Phillippe, can't wait for the next chapter.

Hi men

as promised the next episode: preparing parts for painting;

step 1: make sure you can hold the part when spraying it, attach stiff wires (welding rod, thick electricity wires,...) on the part and make sure you can twist and turn it .
step 2: degrease the part by putting it in aceton, make sure all the surfaces are degreased
step 3: tape off all the parts where you don't want paint
step 4: make sure you have enough space to let the parts dry
step 5: get all the stuff together that you need to paint (paint, hardener, thinner, jar, paper towels,....)
step 6: mix the paint and the hardener, shake it, don't stir it (I heard that a few times in a movie but it wasn't paint, it was some sort of alcohol drink: "shaken, not stirred").
step 7: add the thinner, don't do it before , otherwise the thinner will start to react with the hardener.
step 8: paint the parts

Just a few pictures:



this is the paint I often use, Ral 9005 (black) with 10 % gloss finish. For the more glossy parts I use another paint which has a 70 % gloss appearance.



as you can see I use a drying rack to hang the parts; you can store a lot of parts on a limited space



this is what I mean when I say "tape off the part where you don't want paint"
The hole of the caliper where the piston has to come is taped off. Brake fluid is agressive towards paint. If it comes into contact and stays there for a long time, it will dissolve the paint. Paint contains all sorts of materials that attack the rubber of the brakes.



I use the orange builders tape and a hobby knife to cut the tape to the desired shape.
It's easy, just cut off a lenght of tape you need, put in on the part and use the sharp edge of the blade to scrape the surplus of the tape off. Other pieces of tape will have to be cut out but when the hobby knife has a sharp point that's not a problem.



other holes in the caliper need to be blanked off. I use an old bleeding nipple and an old banjo bolt and I can reuse it often.



it's allso important that you tape off the inspection window of the brake fluid reservoir.



After half an hour of spraying is this the result. Now the freshly sprayed parts have to dry.
The weather forecast predicted temperatures of 14° Celcius so I took advantage of it.
The steel parts won't rust anymore.

Before I forget: I was able to buy another bike a few days ago:



It's a ZX400C or a Gpz 400 FII . A light motorcycle compared to my others and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it but the temptation was too strong...

GrtZ
Philippe

Hi men

a brief update:
I restored the ZX400 a bit, made it look like it originally was and sold it.
It was my intention to give it to my godchild but it's too strong (54 Hp) and the maximum power he can ride is 40 Hp.
This is how she was when I sold it.

As you can see I replaced the damaged seat, changed the handlebar and indicators, putted a new battery in it and derusted the fuel tank, cleaned the fuel tap and added some missing parts.
She was sold in less than 24 hours.

As far as the Z1000ST ELR is concerned:
the brake parts are sprayed in a silky black.

The engine cases were degreased and taped off and received a satin black coat



They're taken inside so that the paint can cure.



The wheels were taped off after polishing the rims . It takes me about 1 hour to tape off a wheel. It's important to do that in order to be able to keep the bare polished rims.



After the taping off, they received a white primer and a gold paint.





It's important to remove the tape as quickly as possible.
When the tape is left on the parts until the paint has dried completely there's a risk to damage the edges of the paint.
It took me some time before I knew this. So don't leave the tape on it for too long.

Next time more news.
GrtZ
Philippe

Hello Philippe

Hello men

I managed to do some more work on the bike, or at least on some parts of it.



The alternator casing and the ignition cover received some gold paint .



The wheels received a coat of the special varnish on the bare aluminium and afterwards the whole wheel received a coat of mat varnish.
When these clear coats were dry the wheels received new ball bearings, I'm only waiting for the tyres to arrive.



Since the temperature was high enough to spray, I decided it was time to paint some more parts.
The carburettors and the lower fork legs received a coat of mat black paint.





As you can see I taped off the large holes of the carbs with tape, the choke plunger holes were prootected with a brake banjo bolt and the air screw hole received an old air screw.
All these measures were taken in order to prevent paint getting in the carb body.

Other carb parts were painted too and some received a black zingued finish.





When the paint dried the carbs were assembled.





The front forks were also assembled. They received new oil seals and an amount of 350 cc of 15W fork oil was poured into each of them.



So far so good.
Next time more news about the Z1000ST ELR
GrtZ
Philippe

Thanks for sharing Philippe,
I am about to spray a set of carbs myself, I hope they turn out nearly as well as yours!
P