A Little Tinkerin', A Little Drinkerin'

[Guest]

Ooooh a happy place? That sounds promising...

I'm unfortunately still in my work place... 11 hours and counting today

 

[Leigh]

The forks are back..
The report from the surgeo..erm.. mechanic says the springs are in really good nick and he reckons possibly heavier than stock.
Good.
He stripped and cleaned them and refilled them with chunky 15w.
Lovely.

I spent some of the weekend escaping the kids and hiding in the shed.
"No, don't come in. It's vitally important that the door stays shut."
I attacked the front of the motor with degreaser, 2 stiff brushes and a towel.
I managed to achieve about 1/15 of 3/8 of nothing.
The nylon wheel will be next! that stuff is determined to stay.

So I turned my attention to the body work and managed another couple of coats over three days.
It's starting to look nice and deep now.

I also took to the front wheel..

 

[Leigh]

Oh, the mate doing the sandblasting of the exhaust has had a setback.
He split an airline and has been delayed getting a new one.
But on the positive side, a mate has a pair of tyres with under 1500 kms on them that he has donated to the cause. Metzelers I think he said.
That has saved me $340 for the moment anyway.

Onward, ever onward.

 

[Leigh]

Pete.
I checked out Michelin while I was with the mechanic.
He has no listing for anything to suit our bikes.
There were Pirellis.

I had settled on the BT45s and was going to order them when I book in for the inspection. But I don't have to now.

Oh, those mirrors? Sheesh. they would have sat above my helmet when I was riding.
The stems are so long.
I got in touch with the seller, explained the situation and he said it was cool to send them back. Lucky me.
I was going to go for bar ends but my bars are solid in the ends.
So I ordered these instead.

 

[emjay]

Lookin great Leigh.

... old nappies ...

Cleaned, I hope.

 

[Guest]

Mate that's lookin' good! And good news on the forks! I fear my springs are waaaaay too soft, even with the fresh 15w fork oil I squirted in there. It may be Progressive time down the track...

Anyways, I digress! I had a feeling the Michy's were gonna be a no-show because my Google searches were inconsistent, but worth a shot.

Bugger on the exhaust, but the rest is looking good.

I thought I'd stumbled across all the online parts shops around Oz in my travels over the last few years, but that's a new one to me! Must bookmark it

 

[Clone]

The mirrors are these..

..and the knee pads are these..

Michys eh?
I'll have to have a look.
The BT45, Avon Roadriders and Shinkos are all about the same price, $290 to $350..

Those are crazy prices for tires, that is almost as bad as canada. Take a look at Conti GO tires, they are a new tire and a little better priced.

 

[Leigh]

Emjay.. yes, clean ones. I'm trying to get it off the bike not rub it back on. hehe

Clone.. Thanks for the heads up, I'll have a scout around for them.

There are a few sites in the States that ship to Australia for $80ish but they only seem to do 17 inch tyres for newer bikes.

 

[Leigh]

Ergh..
A week off crook has seen my desk pile up with ebay goodness.
The new mirrors are in and look great, the stainless lines are sitting here too.

My new dilemma (where would life be without one?) is the headers.

29 years of being in the wind has not done them any favours.
Removing the scale has left a lip of about 30 thou in the pipe at about 1/3 of the diameter.
Plus some pinholes in the collector.

Now, the pinholes I can fix (read: get fixed by a mate with a mig), but the corrosion might be a worry.

I had planned to VHT them to an inch of their lives and then wrap them.

So, Dear Hive-mind of The GS Resources, my dilemma is this.
Do I :
A) continue with Plan A and bake each coat on..
B) source a new set off the interwebz..
C) try for a custom job of a muffler shop.

Each option carries it's own risks of longevity, cost and/or delays.

I'll get some photos tomorrow in the daylight and show the damage.
I'll be off to a shop on Monday morning to check that option out anyway.



Thanks in advance..
Leigh

 

[Guest]

I say repair, VHT, then wrap...

One thing with the VHT, if it's anything like the POR 15 temperature paint, then make sure your preparation is perfect... then do it again.

Quick edit here... how rude of me! A week off is just slack! (hope you're feeling better)

 

[Leigh]

I took the zorst down to the shop today to see what could be done about the holes.
It was pretty much as I expected. Unsalvageable.

It was off to the wreckers then. I got a reasonably clean set for $100 off a Z1000.
We measured them off against the original set and I came away convinced that they'd fit.
When I got home I dummied them up to the head and every looks good.

Into the vice they went and my super-new nylon wheel went into the drill.

Before..

10 minutes of this..

and after..

A little sand paper to finish off the squeezy bits and I was impressed with the outcome.
The first coat of VHT is soaking in tonight.

I put the new mirrors on for a look-see.
I like them. They are a bit different.

I also discovered where Suzuki hide all the wiring on their naked bikes..

 

[Leigh]

If that exhaust works out long term, then all well and good.
If not, this is in the not too distant future for it..

Ebay Linky

 

[Nessism]

Hey Leigh,

That headlamp shell looks quite tidy compared to many. No worries there. The headers situation is interesting. The members here are always looking for other pipes that will fit our engines so you done good work figuring out those Z1000 pipes fit. Is that the old skool Z1000 or something newer?

Good luck and keep going...

 

[Leigh]

Old old Zed, mate.
It had a stubby coffee tin muffler on it.
The bloke said it was Z1000 but he also kept me there for over an hour just waffling rubbish at me.

He had a range of pipes from Z9s and Z1s.
Some didn't look as close as these did.

If I was doing that again I would measure from the ports to the underside of the bike just to be sure it would clear.
But the flange diameter, pipe spacing, exit point all look good on the GS.
Plus I get to keep that funky banana can that was on the bike.



EDIT: Oh, now I read your tagline!

 

[Leigh]

Hmm..
That's got me thinking.
I wonder if ZZR pipes would fit up?

Later model means cleaner pipes I guess.

 

[Guest]

Nice find Leigh! You never know what you can find 'til you go looking...

Hopefully those Z pipes will be good, as I've heard around here that the Mac pipes are rather average when compared to Vance and Hines, Kerker, Motad, etc.

I didn't find quite as much wiring in my headlight bucket as you did either, but there was still a fair chunk in there! Maybe they liked a bit extra for a rainy day?

 

[Leigh]

Handy to know about the MAC pipes, thanks.

I think these will last a while so that will give me some time before I need to worry about replacements. (fingers crossed)

 

[Guest]

G'day mate . Looks like it's all coming together quite nicely .

If you're looking for a new set of pipes down the track , check out Transac (out of Brissy) . They make chrome steel or stainless . I got a set of 4 into 2's for $800 delivered (a couple of years ago) and can't speak highly enough about them .

Look like this ......................

Cheers , Simon .

 

[Leigh]

Noice..
Now, if I was doing a Wes Cooley or a Kat, then yeah, I'd head for something like that.
Ross, a mate with a pristine Kat 1100, got his done by Megacycle down here in Melbourne.
Great pipes, great note.
$600, I think he said, a couple of years ago.

All things to bear in mind, I guess.
It's still hard to beat the US prices while the Aus dollar is so strong against the greenback.

 

[Guest]

I'd forgotten about Transac... ooops! ('Specially seeing as they're a Brissie company).

I don't think I wanna ask them how much to make me a scrambler style pipe for mine though, that would be way scary... then again it would save me making it myself when I have no idea...