Z1100ST Resto +

[samspoons]

Good to see a proper craftsman at work, fantastic job. Were you a toolmaker in another life.
Trouble is now everbodys seen you in action and the quality of your work you will be snowed out with jobs and know time for projects

[j.wilson]

VDUK, tell us about your steering head bearing drift tool- where did you get it from- how much?

I'd like one.

[RALPHARAMA]

Good to see a proper craftsman at work, fantastic job. Were you a toolmaker in another life.
Trouble is now everbodys seen you in action and the quality of your work you will be snowed out with jobs and know time for projects

'sfunny you should say that but it always seems to be bikes I'm not keen on; I went to look a a Harley chop yesterday - the owners wants me to do a load of fabrication work on it. With BBC Casualty moving to Cardiff from Bristol and a number of my other clients going down the lab or just cutting back, I'm glad of some bike work to keep the wolf from the door.

Not a tool fitter; time served Airframe and systems fitter - British Aerospace, Filton Didn't stay long after my apprenticeship, but I did learn a lot while I was there

For a side car chassis I would be inclined to use powder coat; but two pack paint is the next toughest thing. The worst available paint is the most commonly available water based paint championed by the tree huggers grr

[RALPHARAMA]

VDUK, tell us about your steering head bearing drift tool- where did you get it from- how much?

I'd like one.

I got it from a trade supplier. There does seemed to be a lot of interest in it. The UK importer is out of stock, I bought the last one for GB. I think I may look at getting a whole load in for those interested. They come from Germany and I was very impressed with mine Watch this space

[Is Vic There]

This is the best rebuild thread I have ever read well done.

[RALPHARAMA]

Thanks for the kind comments ladz

Having tried all the chemicals known to man; I realised that chemicals weren't the answer

Baking soda was with 150PSI pushing it out

Here's as far as I got with the lotions and potions.



Here's a test patch I did by the 2 candle power outside light in front of my workshop



I blasted both wheels last night and they're ready for polishing and masking for paint now.

I will go into a little more detail on the soda blasting thread

[RALPHARAMA]

Did a bit of prep last night and played with my latest toy - the stripping bath. My mate gave me a powerful DC power supply, which should be good for the zinc plating which I am going to have a crack at also. The power supply wasn't working but I soon found the culprit - a dry joint!. It is a very simple piece of kit - a giant variac and four feck off big diodes with big rooster heat sinks forming a bridge rectifier

The bath is obviously made from a cheap plastic box with a copper bar over the top and a couple of sheets of three pound lead.



When the power supply first failed to work I couldn't bear to wait to try it so I stuck a car battery on it There was a big fizzing and bubbling and it stripped the bits in under ten seconds. It was fun, but clearly drawing way too much current and filling my workshop with acid vapour. It's a bit more civilised now with around three volts and 4 amps



The items start a bit shitty ...



... then are wire wheeled to remove all the crap ...



... they then take a swim in the energized aceeed ...



... after the swim they are swilled under the workshop bog tap ...



... and then polished ...



.. never losing sight of the fact that the finish you put on the parts is exactly the same as post plating - the only difference is that with a jacket of copper, nickle and chromium they won't rust ... as fast

My obsession with wanting to do all the stages of the resto myself is mad. I know someone who will do all the cleaning striping, polishing and plating for three quid a cylinder nut; until you've had a crack at it yourself, you have no idea what a bargain that it

I think I am going to move the striping tank outside as I am asthmatic and I could hardly breath last night after striping a handful of nuts and bolts. I needed loads of Ventolin and Glen Fiddich to get me firing all four again

[mikey]

Welcome to my world ralph great breathing that lot in
clearing out your sinuses

[hog370]

Good work on this zed and look forward to more pics n info.

[RALPHARAMA]

These bloody wheels are doing my head in I thought that they were the original powder coat and that I could just blow on some two pack and the that would be it.



I masked up the front wheel and for some reason put some masking tape on the paint. When I removed it some of the bloody paint stuck to it Not a great key for the new paint Of course I had just spent hours masking up and had of course finished polishing the rims, which was a mighty unpleasant job.



I tried paint stripper, but it still wasn't doing the job. It turned out that there was some red paint underneath on the front, which had been partially removed, but the base was black. There was nothing else for it - put the lot in the bead blast cabinet! This meant I had to re-mask both wheels in gaffer tape, before blasting could begin. Getting the front into the cabinet was a very tight squeeze.



I then had to strip of the blasting masking and re-mask with masking tape for the paint. I've made the mistake of leaving the blast masking for the paint before and it's not a mistake I'll repeat Masking isn't too bad a job, I tend to get into listening to podcasts, mostly from Radio 4.

Here's the wheels blasted and ready for some Zinc Chromate Etch Primer.



And here are the front and backs with the primer applied.





They are now poisoning the air in my workshop, making it impossible to work in there Fingers crossed that the weather is dry tomorrow and I'll blow on some two pack black on them.

[HARRY4448]

Top job there.
Love the fact that you're doing this and finding the problems with the powder coating and then overcoming them.
The wheels look as if they'll be top when they've been painted.
Seeing how you're getting on will encourage others to do their own wheels.
Maybe you've started a precedent here.

Can't wait to see how the wheels come out once they're wearing rubber and back on the bike.
It'll be all worthwhile.

[hog370]

I had the same problem with my z1000r it took me ages to strip and paint the wheels but it came good in the end.

Thought I,d put a pic of the tank on as well during strip down.

[Ginger Bear]

Excellent stuff Ralphy, this shafter will end up better than when it left the factory

[Padders]

Agreed the work you are putting in is a credit to you Ralph.

That Z1000R looks excellent hog

[hog370]

Cheers padders, I did a stupid thing with it tho! I sold it.