‘Announcing the arrival of …’

… or at least, the commencement of, Project ST. An overseas friend was recently asking me about this bike, and I observed that the key difference between the bike and a steaming turd was the steam. However, I choose to believe that beneath that poo brown exterior beats a heart of pure lime green, and I will be the one anointed to uncover it.
Frequenters of this very forum may recall that the nugget in question was first brought to our collective attention by eastoe. Following a frenzy of email exchanges and a phone call, he was generous enough to let me take it under my vulture-like wing. I’m being serious in that, I really do appreciate him letting it go, and I’ve faithfully promised it will be to a good and deserving home.
This is my 2nd 1980 Mk II, and my third Z1000 of that era, so I’m pretty familiar with them. A 1977 A1 was my first big bike, and I lavished all kinds of attention and money (not necessarily in that order) on it. I remember both previous bikes very fondly, so this is a real trip down memory lane for me.
That said, the rose-tinted colours have been firmly removed, and joyously hurled in the direction of the nearest SULO bin. I’m well aware of the limitations of these bikes, of how design philosophies were a bit different 40 years ago, and of how the basic package can be improved upon with prudent updates. Plus, me being me, there’s no way on God’s green earth this will be rebuilt standard. That said, I don’t need a fast, modern bike (the 10 does alright in that regard), and I want something I can take out for a coffee on Sunday mornings, or perhaps for a 200km run in the country at sensible-old-git speeds. So, the build philosophy will be this:
• It needs to be reliable, and it doesn’t need to be hellishly fast: I’m looking at a virtually standard engine (it came with a Z1R motor, which – if memory serves – is supposed to be either 83 or 90hp at the crank – somebody correct me). I wouldn’t mind giving the head a light skim to get compression up a little, but otherwise bone stock internals are fine. That said, I’m happy to take on board suggestions that are halfway-sensible.

• It needs to be comfortable: us old blokes don’t need to be visiting chiropractors after every ride – IMHO my 10 is staggeringly uncomfortable for road riding – so this will have a standard seating position with only a minor peg uplift, and bars only a little forward and down over standard (the wind can support my ample weight at speed).

• It needs to look trick, without becoming a Sanctuary build: back in the dawn of time when I was a young fella, I lusted over the original AMA superbikes, and would dearly love to have built one of my own. Once again, the 10 slips into that role, but a bike has to look good to be proud of it. So it’s gotta be a nice pipe, flatslides / v-stacks or pods, ZRX swingarm, piggyback shocks, and 17s with chunky discs and calipers.

• At the moment I’m as poor as a churchmouse, so this can be no ‘build it direct from the PMC catalogue’ special: refer ZX10R, which already owes me a stupid amount. There is no space in my life/bank account for another bottomless moneypit, so this one will be built to a tightish budget. At least that’s my initial intention …

I’ll follow this post with some pics to start the ball rolling. Next step will be to strip the engine and see what horrors lurk within; they tend to be fairly bullet-proof, and there was nothing scary I the sump, so I’m quite hopeful. Next purchase will therefore be a gasket set, and fingers crossed we can get the engine back together with minimum cost. My sandblasting cabinet is getting a good workout, as various parts are stripped back to bare metal (engine will be repainted black, per a standard Mk II).
On the chassis front, first step will be to enlarge the swingarm pivot holes by reaming out the frame, and getting the upper shock mounts relocated (purely for that laydown look). Then save the $ to source a set of ZRX triple clamps, and we’re well underway.
Due to financial constraints this will be a slow project, but now that most of the big ticket spending on the 10 has been done, what money I have can start to go in this direction.
Already there are parts surplus to my requirements, so before I list them on e-bay, is anyone interested in any of the following ?
• Mk II wheels, complete with discs and cush drive / rear sprocket : lovely cosmetic upgrade for a 72-78 Z !
• Mk II swingarm, complete with swingarm pivot and axle assembly
• Mk II front end: forks, clamps, calipers, headlight brackets, axle
Cheers,
Brian

There is no space in my life/bank account for another bottomless moneypit, so this one will be built to a tightish budget. At least that’s my initial intention …

Yeah, I can see how this is going to go

Congrats on the new project! I'm looking forward to seeing pics ad what you do with her.

Good luck with that Brian...

Plenty of scope for weight reduction on those things....

There is no space in my life/bank account for another bottomless moneypit, so this one will be built to a tightish budget. At least that’s my initial intention …

Yeah, I can see how this is going to go

Congrats on the new project! I'm looking forward to seeing pics ad what you do with her.

Thanks Cath, I fear you may be correct. A mate of mine is building an '82 GPz11 at the moment, and he's making monster motor noises - difficult to stay disinterested ...

Cheers,
Brian

Good luck with that Brian...

Plenty of scope for weight reduction on those things....

Thanks Dave, I may need it ! Plenty of scope indeed, but I reckon even with deep pockets you'd still struggle to get near 200kg. How will I sleep at nights !?!

Cheers,
Brian

Good luck with your project greeny....look forward with interest.

A few pics

Attachments

The old bus the day it arrived home. Use this photo as clue to help you solve the following puzzle - make a sentence by re-arranging the following words: pile, a, of, shit, utter

IMG046.jpg (233 KiB) Viewed 7361 times

Slow dismantling commences – pulling stuff apart costs nothing!

As she stands right now – the engine and frame will be separated this week

Acquisitions to date include ZRX forks (not shown), swingarm and shocks

Replacements for broken or damaged parts: Mk II clutch cover, ignition housing. Attempt to tidy ignition cover on lathe not completely successful …

IMG_0045.jpg (246.63 KiB) Viewed 7361 times

Transmission cover shows evidence of a thrown chain at some point. Fortunately replacements for most OEM parts are dirt cheap from The House of Bays

Billet exhaust clamps from La Bay

IMG_0052.jpg (223.52 KiB) Viewed 7361 times

Doremi wiring harness: even when the A1 was fairly new it had wiring problems, so I vowed I wasn’t going to get caught on that path again

IMG_0056.jpg (241.61 KiB) Viewed 7361 times

Carbs stripped, the bodies vinegar-dipped and wire-brushed before rebuilding with new gaskets (no $ for the flatslides right now). New aftermarket air filter pods and intakes

Last edited by greenman43 on Tue Sep 17, 2013 10:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Good luck with your project greeny....look forward with interest.

Thanks Dave

Cheers,
Brian

there was same sort of new with the old on ebay last week it looked trick

I saw, it wasn't bad at all. Went for good money, as well.

Cheers,
Brian

Brian... don't know if your a member of the KZr Forum, or you need to be a member to see this link?
But there's an aussie guy doing a ST project that might give you some ideas or direction.

http://kzrider.com/forum/11-projects/53 ... woldskoolq

Thanks Dave, I am indeed a member there.

For clarity, my own bike is a chain-drive Mk II rather than a shaft-drive ST; it's "Project ST' as in "steaming turd" ...

Cheers,
Brian

I thought the ST was a shaft too. Was confused.

"steaming turd"...got it...

An unfortunately coincidence in me picking that abbreviation - maybe Project POS would have been clearer !

Cheers,
Brian