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Hi fellow KZ riders, Mc Tavish here from Adelaide S.A. I joined the forum last year and have finally got around to introduce myself now as life got in the way.
I have a 11/78 z650C I am rebuilding and hoped to document my progress as I go but it all came to a screaming halt late last year but things have improved so hopefully I can reboot and share my progress with you all.
I must say that I am blown away by the knowledge base on this forum and would like to thank each and every one of you for the tech tips I have gleaned from reading all your posts.
Just as a matter of interest I found out about this forum from another forum I am a member of in the UK z650 proboards.com.
Thanks for having me and will post soon.
Cheers
Mc Tavish.

Howdy. Did you paint the engine cases or are they just media blasted? Thanks.

G'day Martin. Yes the engine cases and block, head, valve cover were vapour blasted.
I also had them repair a few broken fins and I am very happy with the result considering the state they were in.


Cheers
Mc Tavish.

Terrific work so far! Keep it up.
Rick H.

Hi all, I will move this to the projects thread as soon as I am organized so here's a few photos of whats been happening recently.
First pic is of fork sliders back from the hardchrome company, these guys were great and allowed me a tour of their workshop to see how the complete process works.
The other pics are of a dummy run of lower crankcase and kickstart assy to find out why kick lever is fouling footrest mount and brake lever, it turns out splines are badly worn and kick lever pivot is really badly worn. Bugga! This seems to be a thing with z650's I have noticed looking at others.
Anyway I will carry on and post soon.

Cheers
Mc Tavish.

Those fork tubes turned out really nice! I am impressed with their work. Perhaps you can say how much they charges you and the name of the place just for future reference. Was there a Holden factory near where you live and if so is it all closed up now? I own a 2017 Chevrolet SS that was built by Holden and was allegedly the last year they built any further autos.

Rick H.

G'day Rick, yes, I too am very impressed with the quality of their work. The company is Hardchrome Services Camden Park S.A. When I dropped the parts off I knew I was at the right place as there were literally dozens of Vintage/classic fork pairs waiting for their turn for refurbishment. All up it was around 5 weeks wait and cost $320AU.
The vapour blasting was done by Murrays Britbikes in Richmond S.A. Murray is a local legend and has probably forgotten more than I ever knew about motorcycling. he used to race z900's here and the eastern states in the 70's including our legendary Bathurst racetrack. Big balls required to race there, not quite as bad as IOM but insanely fast and plenty to hit! Powdercoating was by Morestel powdercoaters Nth Plympton S.A, these people listened to my concerns and needs and delivered a quality finish, I will be using them again in the future. the good thing was that all these companies are located within a few Km's from each other so one drop off and one pick up, excellent!
Sadly, you are correct about GM-Holden's demise. The last car rolled off the production line on 20 Oct 2017. Ford ceased production in Oct 2016 and Toyota closed production the same time as GM-H. The auto manufacturing industry in Australia is dead in the water. The Holden name will also cease to exist by the end of this year.
It is a bitter pill to swallow as Holden is an iconic part of modern Australian culture. C'est la vie.
Me being a motor mechanic and in the industry for years I can confidently say you have made the right decision buying your Chevy SS and you should have many years of trouble free motoring, I hope this has been your experience.
Since the demise of Holden some variants of your vehicle over here are selling for way over original cost.
I have added a few photos of Holden Aussie icons.


Cheers.
Mc Tavish.

I forgot to mention that your vehicle was made in Elizabeth South Australia about 90 Km's from where I live on the south coast.

I had no idea they were importing the Holdens under the Chevrolet SS name until I stopped at the Chevrolet dealership for some service work on my truck. I was about 200 feet away from a new 2016 SS and couldn't tell what it was. Then when I walked up to it and saw the maodel was simply "SS" I was kind of shocked. Chevrolet had never used the term "SS" to describe a model. SS was always a sub-category of a model. Anyway I took the 2016 for a test ride and fell in love with the car and of course the M-6 transmission. It was already to late to order one for 2016 so I put in an order for a 2017. Nice thing was they came with everything on them. Only options were color, transmission, full or space saver spare and sun roof or not. I really fell into a sweet heart deal when it landed in the USA as Chevrolet had announced a 20% off sale on them, so with GM points and the discount I came out pretty good on the deal. The car has been great in the three years I have owned it and I only have about 7,000 miles on it. Holden did a good job on mine and most of the other SS's from what I hear. It's kind of turned into a cult car here in the States and a lot of guys re-badge them as Holden's but that's not my style. It's all stock as the day I got it and will stay that way. All total over roughly four years of production they only imported 13,000 some odd SS's which isn't many. Several have been lost to crashes and such and insurance companies aren't prone to fixing them due to lack of parts already. Several body parts were made out of aluminum.

I have read several books about Holden Motors and it had a unique history, but once GM bought 51% of it the future was out of Holden's hands. GM did try to extend the inevitable with the importation of the SS, but it was too little too late. GM/Chevrolet never really advertised the SS here in the USA because they had no intention of continuing the operation in Australia. So even if the SS would have sold like crazy here it would not have mattered. The end of Holden had already been decided by those in power and even your government didn't want to continue to fund what they felt was a losing operation. Pretty sad in the end and something we have seen more than a few times in the States. In your countries case, as I understand it, you have no automotive production facilities anymore and everything is imported. That would be more than a little concerning to me, but what do I know. The worst of it all was putting all the employees at Holden out of work and the off shoot companies that made parts for Holden out of business.

Rick H.