Picture of my KZ650 so far.
I need to keep working at it until it’s done. However here it is at the moment.
Carbs fixed but now something new
So I promised an update. Well Tim worked his magic on the carbs and timing. He got it so the bike stopped surging at mid revs and re-jetted so that the power was actually smooth line as the revs increased. Test riding it round the lanes and it was transformed into an amazing ride.
However as with this whole project my luck sucks, I rode in the center of town feeling very happy however on my trip the bike completely cut out with no warning. I managed to get it restarted, but the same thing happened three more times in less than a mile. I managed to get to my destination, but I was pissed off. Interestingly when I started the bike to go home it worked fine all the way home.
Once home I checked things through and with discussions with Tim, I think there is a dodgy connection to the coils. I will be checking the wiring through and changing old dodgy connectors.
I took a couple of pics of the shop
My bike hiding amongst many others. So many spares in this corner.
Some drag bikes
Another job I did before the trip to Tim’s was to sort two things on the rear of the bike.
1. A slow puncture
2. Replace the rear disc.
I managed to do both of these at the same time.
Old disc
New Disc
New disc and wheel back on
Now I’m back from holiday I can attack the wiring. I saw a camo Z650 when I was in the Lake District too.
Mudguard fitted & carb woes
Quick pre MOT update and mudguard pics.
I managed to create a mount for the triumph mudguard using aluminium pipe bent to shape and attached with P-clips. I had no idea whether it would work or not when I started. First I used the rear tire as a bending guide as it’s about the width that I needed. This gave me the front bracket which I attached to the mudguard as a test.
That worked really well so I set about making the second bracket for the rear.
What I had failed to think about was how to get the brackets and mudguard into place. I had hoped to leave the brackets attached to the mudguard and slide them on, but that was never going to work. So i had a very fiddly time trying to mount the brackets to the mudguard once they were in place. With a lot of swearing and dropping nuts I got there.
I am so delighted in how it turned out. I never expected it to work so well.
Next it was time to refuel the tank and fire it up. This is where the headache started. The bike started ok, but sounded odd, I realised that it was pissing fuel out from somewhere. Not good. I also realised that one of the exhaust headers was cold not hot. Also not good.
I rapidly realised that there was probably a carb issue. I’ve avoided touching these so far as I don’t want to cause more issues than I fix, but needs must. I took them off the bike which was much easier than I was expecting. Thankfully I didn’t need to remove the tank either.
I found some blockages in the carb that I thought was the problem and managed to clean them out. I’ve just put them back in and it seems to have sorted the issue out. Certainly it sounds better and is no longer pissing out fuel which is nice!
A job for this winter is a proper carb clean inside and out.
Brakes and other jobs
I’m so close the end of this….
I’ve made a chunk of progress though it doesn’t all show. The main jobs left to do from last time was sorting the wheel placement and fitment. I then also need to fit the brake calipers.
1. Front axle
I had the axle machined down to the correct length. This meant I could finally test fit the wheel and get the correct spacings
2. Front axle spacers.
The local engineering shop also made up two more spacers for me, once I had worked out what size wheel spacers I needed. I got them to machine down the existing spacer as it was quicker for them. They then created the second one.
3. I picked up some new caliper bolts as the calipers didn’t come with any. This allowed me to fit the calipers and see if it would even work!
4. The original petcock was on it’s way out so I tried to find a suitable replacement. After much research it appeared a Suzuki GS450 one would work, so I ordered one. It turns out it will fit the tank perfectly, but you cannot get it the tank back on the bike! In then end I just put the petcock in with the tank in place. This creates future headaches when removing the tank, but it will have to do.
5. Disc spacers.
With the axle and wheel spacers in place I could finally work out what to do with the discs. As they were touching one side of the brake pads on each caliper. It was around 1.5mm out. I tried to find some suitable disc spacers, but couldn’t find any. In the end I just made my own. In the end they worked perfectly and didn’t take me too long to make.
6. Brake hoses
With the fitment of the brakes I could finally get the brake caliper hoses ordered. I went with some nice Venhill ones like I had used before.
7. Mudguard mounts
I’ve not finished this yet, but after various attempts I think I’ve got the design sorted. It uses some round 6mm aluminium, I bent it to shape around the rear tire to get the perfect bend. I tried to hammer out mountings, but found it far to hard to be perfect. So now I am using some little brackets that I’m waiting to arrive. The pics give you an idea where it’s heading.
8. Speed sensor
The final job I’ve done was to find a place to mount the new magnetic speed sensor. In the end I’ve used a longer cinch bolt on the bottom or the forks. On the extra end section I’ve mounted the Koso speed sensor using the p clip to get it in the perfect place, I then routed the cable using the brake hose as a path for neatness.
More progress on the Z650
So an update on progress which has been up and down.
I didn’t fancy trying to fit the shock and new linkage myself so I booked it in at the local motorbike shop 100m away. They fitted it and it went well apart from the top linkage bolt size. The bolt is too small for the shock and due to the way the frame is braced they couldn’t just make a bigger hole. It looks ace in place though!
I went to an amazing local engineering shop to get them to make up a reducer for me. It was pure old school engineering no cnc stuff that I could see.
I then put the bike through another MOT which is failed again. ARRRGH! This time it was the front shocks which were misting slightly before are now leaking badly. Also the rear lights were an issue as the number plate light was too bright and caused problems.
So I started taking the front end apart to remove the shocks
Which is where I got stuck as I don’t have the correct tool to remove the front axle. I’ve got one side but not the other. I’ve ordered the tool which should be here this week.
I decided this was a good opportunity to move the key location so that I can tidy up the speedo area. I created a bracket to mount the key under the tank. Which I thought came out nice in the end.
Next I wanted to remove the old key hole to allow me to make a new speedo bracket.
It all is much tidier now and closer to my face.
Next up on the jobs I could do before tools arrive was to clean up the front brakes. As fork oil had leaked onto the pads and discs. I thought about cleaning the pads off, but decided it was far safer to replace them.
Finally I realised that the number plate light is not a legal requirement in the uk so it could go. This meant I could redo the rear bracket and make it simpler.
So I’m stuck waiting for tools before I can finally get it on the road. Fingers crossed the forks will be sorted this week.
Fixes and more fixes
Well after the disaster of the MOT test I had lots to deal with. Most of it was minor, but some required thought and planning. The key issues are as follows:
1. The Rear shock linkage is terrible and needs doing correctly
2. The shock itself is old and knackered
3. The front mudguard is not one for this bike and isn’t secured correctly.
4. The rear light is playing up.
5. The brake torque arm is attached by a bolt not giving it movement
6. Footrest are insecure.
Just a few jobs then. I’ve got to work on these in turn.
1. The shock linkage was replaced at some point with sheet metal instead of the correct dogbones. I’ve got a second hand shock linkage from eBay which will need fitting. You can see the issue below. I didn’t catch it as I didn’t look under the bike right there. It’s passed mot’s before which is worrying!
2. The shock is very old now and finding a better alternative was the best plan. I’ve search around to find a suitable second hand alternative, without decent success. So I bit the bullet and ordered a new shock. Its a YSS one and was well priced. They are making it for me now. Once it’s arrived I can fit it and the dogbones.
3. The mudguard was easy. It can pass the mot without one. So I removed it. I’ve ordered a replacement from Skidmarx. That will arrive in a couple of weeks. In the meantime it looks much cooler without the mudguard!
4. The rear light was an odd one, I swore it was working, but I was wrong. It’s not lighting up properly. I tried loads of things, but I worked out in the end that the light had broken. Very annoying. I thought about getting a replacement, but my faith in that lasting wasn’t good. So I looked for alternatives. In the end I found a combined indicators/brake/rear light system that is in a tiny cnc strip.
The seller was in Australia and it arrived in less than a week! I was amazed. I started testing it to make sure it worked.
As this light sticks to the number plate I also needed a number plate light. I found a tiny cnc number plate light on ebay and had to have it.
With both of these changes I had to remake the number plate bracket. I’ve spent the last couple of days knocking this up, It needs the light mounting to the number plate, but it’s close to being done.
5. The bolt was a right bodge job and needed me to source the proper torque bushing. I managed to find a new one which was good. I need to fit it tomorrow.
6. The footrests were using too small a bolt as the eyes of my cnc footpegs were smaller than the originals. I drilled out the the holes and fixed a larger bolt in place. You can also see the new oil cap I found going cheap on ebay.
Rain rain stay away
Well the weather forecast was not good so I decided to take matters in to my own hands.
It was a great idea as it allowed me to work on the wiring in the dry all day.
I spent several hours rewiring the loom and putting new connectors on. It was a real pain to do, but quite rewarding.
There is still more sleeving to do, but I ran out of my loom harness tape. So it will need to be finished when the new order arrives.
I did get a chance to wire it all in and test things like the new speedo.
I also tested the new headlamp, but discovered a problem. The side light ring was working, but not the main or dipped beam arggggh!!! I was hoping what I had done already would have fixed that, but no.
I started attacking the loom with a multimeter to try trace the issue back to it’s source. I ended up back at the fuse box and this seemed to be where the issue was. However the fuse was fine which confused me. It took me a moment to work out that the issue was actually the connectors being old and rusty.
So I decided to replace the fuse box and see if that solved the issues.
That would be a big fat yes!
I was so relieved as I’ve been trying to sort that issue out for some time. I even considered getting someone else to look at it, but I was determined that I could find out the issue.
So there is not much more I need to do before getting it MOT’d and back on the road:
1. Finish the loom wiring
2. Setup the speedo and finish the wiring of that.
3. Get the tank back on and filled with fuel.
4. Get her started!
With some good weather and orders arriving swiftly I hope to get that done in the next week or two.
Wiring , headlamp and indicators
I’ve started work on the cable spaghetti, it’s not pleasant work, but who said it would be all fun!.
First job of the week so far was to sleeve the two indicators so that the cables would be less obvious. I also did the same to the new headlamp.
Next up I fitted them back on the bike. I was originally going to reuse the bolts from before, but in the end I decided to get some new ones so that I could use an allen key instead of a socket wrench. It makes fitting the indicators much easier. I also moved them to the bottom bolt so that the cable runs underneath and is more hidden.
Next I stripped back the loom so that I could see what is going on and if I can make any improvements.
There were a few iffy connections which I am working through. If I get good weather this weekend I will try to finish the wiring loom changes.
Headlight is on
Well I managed to get some more progress as the weather held off for 30mins. What I managed to get done was test mounting the headlight to make sure the brackets would work and they do!
First up some comparison shots of the old and new headlight. You can see just how much smaller the new one is.
I fitted the bracket off the bike first, to test it would work
Then I got it fitted to the bike. I love it! The pictures came out blurry unfortunately. I will have to take some better ones when I’m next out there.
Indicators Back on
Well the first hurdle is over. I’ve found a new mounting point for the indicators. I actually prefer them here instead of attached to the headlamp brackets. All I did was remove one of the fork bolts and make a bracket for the indicators on each side, using the bolt to attach them directly to the fork. I will need to dress the wiring and make that as hidden for each indicator next.
1: Remove the existing headlight and all wiring
2. Mock up some little brackets
3. Brackets done and in place
4. Fit the indicators and see how it looks.
I also held the new headlamp in place to see how it looks on the bike.
The weather has now turned, so I’m not sure if I can get anything else done this weekend. I’d like to see to some of the wiring spaghetti if I can.
