TOPIC:

NOW THAT'S A GREAT BIKE 

I made it to the Macclesfield bike show, the Z club had pride of place for the 50th anniversary display.
8 Jaffa's were central and about 50 Z's of different years and models around.
 
 
It was a pretty big turnout this year - easily over 1000 bikes covered the whole oval.
 

Congrats on your hard work! 
Great to see such a turnout as well, what a great collection of zeds!
 

I bet very satisfying to get an acknowledgment fresh of the lift. You never mentioned getting it fired. Is that all sorted? 

Congratulations! 

Great work! The bike looks fantastic.

wrote:

I have had a few days off the bike, the Home Secretary decreed that I shall be fixing and painting the ensuite doors after we had a new bathroom window installed.
Anyway that horn has been bugging me, so I took another look.  I hooked up the horn to a battery - yep it works.
Then I thought I better check the brown wire to make sure it has 12 volts with ignition on.  Nope, it does not.
So I look at the wiring diagram, the double brown connector that is unused is in the same feed.  Check the double connector, 12 volts present.
Take the wire from single connector to double connector - the horn works !
All that mucking around and it was that simple 

 

ran into the same issue with my gpz550 horn...I painted the bars, the horn uses the handle bar as the ground.  You need to make a bare spot on the bars so that the control housing can make contact with the metal on the bar.   Drove me crazy trying figure this out...personally think it's a stupid design.  I made a more positive ground using a wire to the frame from the  control housing.

 

hey guys, back again after a short break, had to do some car stuff and we had a few big events on. 
the answer to one of the questions, no it hasnt been started coz the camshafts arent in.
so the next job is camshafts in !
I got out the box with 2 sets of camshafts (both high lift) and was comparing - the set I dont use has got some serious duration !
 
now we all know how this shit goes - the cam chain has managed to sink itself into the bottom of the case, probably from the vibration of the trailer ride to the bike show.  After fishing about with the magnet extension I find the wire loop and eventually manage to get the chain up.
problem fixed, hell no, the engine wont turn over, eventually I work it out that the cam chain has kinked down near the crank sprocket.
Finally the cams are in - only took me about twice as long as it was supposed to take. 
 
 

Congrats on getting the cams in.  What plugs are you planning to install?

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Congrats on getting the cams in.  What plugs are you planning to install?

 

I got another set of NGK B8ES plugs

Wow, those are some serious lobes. In the picture it looks like they barely clear to carrier by the gasket surface  definitely some "lumpy sticks"

I think I was celebrating the cams going in just a little too early, 3 days later and Im still trying to get the shims done ! 
The cams have been in and out many times trying to get the shims sorted, 5 of the valves have no clearance so its just turned into a nightmare using the Kawasaki tool because you cant get the tight shims out.  At first I was having to pull the cams out but that just got ridiculous.  I needed sizes that I dont have in the shim box so had to go to the K dealer to get some more.
Having old broken feeler gauges didnt help so I had to buy a new set.
 
I am going to give up on the Kawasaki tool and get one of those crescent shaped tools, at least you can then use the bucket notch to get the shim out.  I ended up putting an oil filter remover on the dynamo so I could rotate the engine backwards and forwards easier.
 
this week has been one step forward and 4 steps back !

Remember if the head has been rebuilt the gaps will close up as the valves settle. Last resort there is a spec in the manual to "top" the valve stems if you can't get enough gap with shims (is a last resort though as it would mean stripping the head again)