Z1R BUILD

[John H]

While in SoCal for the holidays I picked up the 78 Z1R exhaust that was in storage. Considering it's age it's in pretty good condition. Most of the wear has come from handling. I spent the day cleaning and buffing out as many of the scratches as possible. Exhaust pipes 1 and 4 are welded to the collector so this was the most difficult to buff. Next will be buffing out the muffler.

Adding Exhaust.JPG (327.53 KiB) Viewed 3440 times

[John H]

Well, this wasn't suppose to take a year to complete. What started out as a cleaning job turned into a complete rebuild. The only difference now is a nice chrome exhaust system instead of the old Yoshimura that was on when i bought the bike. Next will be oil and gas so hope all goes well

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[John H]

I have delayed the valve cover problem long enough. The cover had been poorly chrome plated and the finish had deteriorated such that it required being painted. After sanding/filing away any loose chrome I decided to powder coat it instead. The chrome on the 4 exposed ends was good so masked off to give the original look.

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Valve cover fin.JPG (209.52 KiB) Viewed 1259 times

Valve cove on.JPG (305.39 KiB) Viewed 1259 times

The decal for the front fender finally showed up. Outline tape was placed for a reference to help line up the four pieces. As I started removing the backing paper it separated leaving a thin film stuck to the decal.
Cautiously with a pen knife and some water I tried removing the paper. Most came of but along with it the adhesive also came off. I had a conversation with the supplier who apologized and has sent out another set. Hopefully no more problems.

z1r decal.JPG (129.56 KiB) Viewed 1259 times

[Lotus54]

The cam cover with black and chrome ends looks great. I will have to keep that in mind.

Have you started it yet?

[John H]

I found a spot of oil under the output shaft so pulled the sprocket, then the gearbox cover and found the thin paper gasket had a tear in it.

[John H]

I may have mentioned before that the fuel tank had a lot of rust in it. I filled it with a vinegar solution and a handfulf of small square nuts. Rocked it around for several minutes then left it sit for a while........ actually I left it for over a week during the Christmas holidays . On emptying the vinegar it looked worse than before I had added the solution. Well, after watching several youtube videos I went for it. I mixed up 5 gallons of distilled water and a cup of Arm&Hammer laundry booster soap which is bicarbonate of soda, and when dc current via an anode and a cathode are connected it activates a current, drawing rust to the anode.

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After about 30 minutes I withdrew the anode and this was what came out. It took several 30 minute cycles before the anode came out with just a small amount of rust. I used the pressure washer to flush it out and dry it before adding a gallon of 2 stroke gas for a final rinse. It's finally nice and clean.

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