Hugger fitting

Difficulty -

turned out to be too much for me!

Fitting a hugger might be simple for some. Andy reassured me by phone I could do it, I had the right tools so I was off and running. This early in my mechanical education I had no knowledge of soft Kawasaki screws and ran into trouble getting my old chain guard off. Screw 1 came out fine, no. 2 wasn't having any of it and the head was soon almost unrecognisable. I tried everything I could think of, hammering a straight screwdriver into the mess in an attempt to get some grip, to no avail. I then had the brainwave to try to use the chain guard to turn the screw as it was flexible enough to bend. As the whole shebang was attached to what seemed to me to be a major part of the bike I wasn't overly worried. 

However when that soft thunk came and I realised I had just managed to break the fitment clean off the swingarm I was more than a bit worried. How could metal be that soft? A quick phone call to Andy (who seemed to find it quite amusing!) confirmed I couldn't exactly ride without a chain guard. Another quick call to Chasbikes confirmed if I was patient they'd see what they could do. So all in, a bit of a disaster really, but I didn't panic and it didn't put me off. Chasbikes created a bracket for the hugger to attach to and I kept the original fitment and had Banjax ally weld it back on when my ZZR was repaired again in Jan 05.

New

Race Cans

Difficulty 2

(with a little help from a friend!) 

Well I'd been hankering for a pair of nice loud cans, I found an offer from Venom (Motad) on Ebay, but I didn't entirely trust Ebay back then so spoke directly to Venom to ask if I could do the deal straight through them, which I did. Mikey (then, my riding buddy) offered to help me with them, which, while normally "help" would entail me watching other people do things for me, I can honestly say I did well over 50% of the work myself.

Getting the old cans off was a doddle, getting the new ones in place was a bit trickier as we had some trouble fitting one of the tertiary pipes into the can, but we got there in the end. We ended up having to finish the job another day as we needed to order in some gaskets (I now never forget to order any possible gaskets in advance!) and some exhaust paste.

Lining the pipes up and getting them just right took the longest but again it was a great feeling to see what I'd managed with a little help from a friend!

Oil & Filter

Difficulty 2

New Chain & Sprockets.

Difficulty 3

(more muscle needed)

Mikey convinced me that an oil and filter change was not beyond me. By now I was proficient with chain adjustments; I knew how all my bodywork came apart and in what order it went back together. I read the relevant Haynes section and set about it. With a ZZR half the battle with any job is getting all the relevant bodywork off, this task is made even longer if you have crash bungs as you need to take the crash bung bolts (main engine bolts!) out every time. Once I became confident that the engine wasn't going to fall out without these crucial bolts in place I relaxed. I needed some help to get the filter off and out from between the header pipes - this is still a difficult task to this day but otherwise I did good. I left the bodywork off in anticipation of the next days task - chain & sprockets!

We'd bought an angler grinder to get the chain off as that's what I'd seen the lads use at Chasbikes. I had fun cutting the chain off and diligently attached the new chain to the old to thread it through, again as I'd seen done before. Getting the sprocket off the back wheel wasn't too bad although I did need help to crack the nuts open. This was also my first introduction to a torque wrench. If I hadn't had help there is no way I would have got the front sprocket off. With me standing on the back brake and Mikey using the arm of the paddock stand on the wrench for leverage the bike was still lifting before it finally cracked open. As we didn't have a chain tool I'd gotten a split link to use temporarily until I could pop into Wheelpower to have them put a fixed link in place. Getting the split link on was much harder than we anticipated but we got there in the end.

We've since bought a chain tool although it doesn't work on all chain types as we discovered later.

Brake Overhaul

Difficulty 3

My brakes were in a bit of a state, again Mikey convinced me I could do it. I did manage it, learning a few lessons into the bargain; do one pot at a time (two, diagonally if they pop easily), much easier, you need lots of brake fluid for this job, do NOT use mole grips, EVER on your brake pistons.

In the end only the dust seals needed replacing, the pistons were pretty worn but they'll do for now. New pads as well of course (you should always replace your brake pads when you overhaul the calipers). It took me all weekend basically as it took me a while to realise that without anything to push the pistons out with like a compressor the best way was to do one at a time. Splitting the calipers apart was hard. Apart from some advice and a bit of muscle Mikey was able to just observe. Go me!

Running Repairs

Difficulty 2

(pride goeth before a fall)

It all started so well. Rather than just jump in feet first I used my head and tested the replacement part first, plugged it all in, switched them on and yes it works, so far so good. I get the bar end off (R&G bar ends, fitted myself you know), tug the old grip off, no big deal. I try to put the new one on, bearing in mind I'm basically twisting the throttle tube as far as it will go one way, twisting the grip further and pushing at the same time, turning it all the way back to the stop and twisting it again... well it wasn't working. So I tried a bit of WD40, thinking that at least it would evaporate and then it wouldn't slip whilst the throttle was in use... no good. So I tried some grease (getting desperate by now). Got it 3/4 way on.. wouldn't go any further. So I'm giving up, trying to get the damn thing off again now to think of a new idea... my hand hurts from the twisting and its a real effort... SNAP... my heart fell through my chest, that horrible feeling, when you know you just did a bad, bad thing.

Not good. I took the switchgear apart and sure enough, where the cable ends slot into the tube, I'd broken the housing. I felt like the biggest idiot in the world. It got worse when I tried to get the damaged tube out of the grip... I broke the top of the tube off... I can laugh about it now but I admit that at the time I put it all in the garage and went into the house and refused to come out for the rest of the day!

I ordered the replacement part from Cradley which unfortunately comes prefitted with a grip. I managed to get this off by coating the whole thing with fairy liquid and peeling the grip back down over itself. Once I'd managed to get the broken tube out of the new heated grip (with some help from Mikey) I used fairy again to coat the tube and the grip slipped on easy as pie.

I did have the extra job of now having to refit the throttle cable etc, but surprisingly this bit was easy, it was quite obvious where everything went and it all popped together neatly.

I just wish I'd thought of fairy liquid sooner!

Clutch Cable

Difficulty 1

More Brakes

Difficulty 2

(see, it gets easier with practice!)

Once again dust seals were replaced and new pads fitted. In the case of the GPZ packing seals were also replaced.

Even without overhauling the caliper learning to bleed your brakes is very useful, it's surprising what a little bit of air in your lines can do to your brakes' responsiveness. 

Flushing Coolant System

Difficulty 2

A bit like an oil change, drain it all out, pop the garden hose in, flush it through, fill up and then bleed (top and bottom)

More Chains

Cush Drive Replacement

Difficulty 2

It is very hard to know which things need all your strength to tighten and which just need to be snugged up. I persevered, replacing the rear sprocket and getting the chain on. Our chain tool wouldn't work with the fixed link so we used the split pin, although I was a little dubious I believe up to and including 500cc is OK with them.

I had noticed some free play in the rear wheel so ordered a new cush drive which I popped into place whilst the wheel was off, the old one was badly worn.

Collected the new bolt at the earliest opportunity, then came the bit I expected to be hard - drilling out the broken bolt. I drilled into the bolt with a bit about half the size of the bolt thread. Once I'd gotten about 1-1.5mm in I use a star drive screwdriver head to wedge into the hole and simply unscrewed the bolt. Sorted.

Brake Switch

Difficulty 1

Chatting with the lads at Wheelpower it was confirmed that it would be the switch and sure enough when I looked the push pin was broken.

A simple matter of unscrewing the throttle switchgear and removed the old part (1 screw) and putting the new one in place and fitting the switchgear back into place. The only tricky bit is making sure everything lines back up and remembering what angle it was set at to start off with (I just did it by eye). Easy Peasy.

Running Repairs & Fault Finding

Difficulty 1

A starting problem ended with my buying a starter motor from a breaker. In this instance I had the fitting done by Fins however my diagnosis was correct and the problem was sorted. In diagnosing the problem I swapped out the solenoid for the one in the ZZR just in case it was that, checked all the fuses etc.

Having cracked the fitment on the GPZ's exhaust I bodged various fixes, created a new hanger, even had a pie tin on it at one point. I had a new piece fabricated which is now held on with jubilee clips which will see me through to finding a new exhaust (system is an all in one job).

Clutch Replacement

Difficulty 2

I don't have a manual for the GPZ so got some help and advice from the UK Bike Forum. I won the plates on Ebay at about half the normal price. I requested the springs (they hold the plates) to arrive at the same time. They didn't send them. I'd taken the day off to do this (and wait for British Gas) so I had to get on with it anyway. I figured even new plates on their own had to make some difference. 

Drained the oil and got the cover off, slightly tricky to free the cover. Got the spring bolts out OK. Installed new plates which had been soaked in oil beforehand as advised by several sources. Replaced springs and decided now was a good time to use the torque wrench. Had a quick gander at it to remind myself how it worked. Set it and got to work. I didn't pay enough attention to realise what I thought was 6.5lbft was actually 65lbft. (Our torque wrench only does something like 45-100) Needless to say the first bolt sheered off and shot across the garage... After a brief pause I carried on, 5 bolts was a lot on such a small circle, 4 would do for now. Got it all back together without any further help from the torque wrench, replaced the oil. It took forever to get the old gasket off the cover, I ended up taking the whole thing into the kitchen (it was cold!) and scrubbed it off in the sink!

I had a lot of trouble adjusting the clutch cable but I got it to a point it stopped making a horrible metal grating noise. Took the bike out to test (by now it was dark) and got about 1/3 mile before I stopped kidding myself and realised it was still the same. Wasted effort? Well, lessons were learned.

Springs arrived, along with a new bolt. At the first opportunity I started the whole thing again. Obviously I was careful not to damage the new gasket. Once ready I stuffed kitchen towel all around the clutch basket (I didn't want metal shards in the clutch) before starting to drill out the broken bolt. I got about 2mm in then simply inserted an allen key and undid it.

Fit the new springs and replaced the bolts (carefully). Put everything back together and refilled the oil. Had no trouble this time with the clutch cable which I felt was a good omen, and indeed everything was fine. Took it for a run and was back in business, better than ever.

General Maintenance

Difficulty 1

Clutch cable was quick and simple, routing on the GPZ is so obvious and easy!

Carb drain &

Coolant drain

Difficulty 1/2

I happened to spot the coolant drain whilst I was putting everything back together so decided as I knew the coolant was pretty thin to drain the system and refill it. No bleeding is required on the GPZ but its always a good idea to run the bike with the rad cap off whilst topping up the system to let any trapped air out.

Fault finding (electrical)

Difficulty 8!

Chain again

Cush Drive Replacement

Difficulty 1/2

I was a tad disappointed to need to do the cush drive but when I look back now it is 16 months since the last so really given that this bike does pretty high mileage it's actually pretty good!

Clutch Replacement

Difficulty 1

Having done it all once before it was literally a piece of cake even the Abba Stand was easy. I managed to reuse the clutch casing gasket saving myself a tenner or so. No snapped bolts this time, easy in, easy out. Clutch performance is much improved as a result. 

Clutch Replacement

Difficulty 1

Feels great as a result. Didn't bother doing the oil as it was only about 1k miles old, just poured it back. Didn't need to change the gasket either (as its off and on so regularly!).

Difficulty 2

I really must remember to look out for some cheap replacement pistons as both are badly pitted. The improved performance is really something else!

Oil Change & Cush Drive Replacement

Difficulty 1

I needed to tighten the chain anyway so it seemed like good time to drop out the back wheel and replace the cush drive. It could have waited (it's been worse in the past) however the 5mm play has been noticeable whilst riding and I had a new one ready.

Carb Clean & Investigate

Difficulty 3

Draining the bowls, again should be easy, but as one of the drain plugs is ruined and cannot be removed you have to take off at least one bowl, and once at the underside may as well take off both bowls for a good clean.

Nothing was obviously amiss but who knows, only time will tell if the time was spent well!

Carbs, Carbs & yes, more Carbs

Difficulty 2

Shock replacement

Difficulty 3

I did have a slight problem in that the top of the new shock was wider than the old one and the bushing protruded a little to far so I simply filed it down until I could get it into the opening. Seems to have done the trick and I haven't seen any side effects yet.