Where there's muck there's brass....

Couple of boxes arrived today..

Paid 19 euro for a bag a gear and just the brackets that were included are up on the bay for 17 euro per bracket plus shipping..Great purchase..and of course a big bag of correct bolts and all the trimmings included..

Bike builders bargain...first time I've seen a breaker offer such a bag of bits..smart idea, the most of them usually throw everything away when they're ripping the guts out of the carcasses..

Subframe is getting picked up tomorrow.

the road bike..

So, now that the ZXR has disappeared, and now that I have started buying up parts to build another one..I failed to read the small print in the insurance papers which states that they only pay out to a person who I buy a Swedish registered bike from.

I worked out the numbers and realised that I wouldn't have the ZXR project up and running asap and if I wanted to enjoy the rather short summer I'd have to get something turn key for the road.

As usual, I decided to go for a bike that would be slightly challenging...a 2001 Ducati 748 s .
Currently getting pushed through a workshop and MOT the pickup is in a few weeks as the belts are to be changed and all the rest...
..obviously the bike has no service history...well obviously...I'm buying it...To date I've never owned a buy that had a stamped service history, so nothing new there...

A few things here...it's a beautiful bike. It's the same colour as my racing Harley...it's a twin..
so back to that then :)

Can't wait

Delayed ..

Plan tonight was to wire up the fuel pump into the wiring harness. But things got a bit confusing...
Apparently there should be 3 wires and not 2... and looking around wiring harness diagrams, there seems to be a recurring Pink color code wire which has send me into confused state..
..none of the diagrams have the same color coding as the two coming out of the pump, one of which is blue/black which as far as I can understand, should go to the solid blue in the pin , which leaves a black wire and a green wire left in the three pin block to choose to use the green/red wire which has been joined together with an earth cable by the previous owner..
...and to make things easier, I'll have to extend the cables, or tank removal will be a right headache.

same same but different..

Down at the lockup tonight and took out the old ZXRR alloy tank.
Just as I remembered it after the first crash..just one dent..still, frame arrived today , as well as the tank fitting bracket and the engine mounting bolts...always get a wee bit excited when the parts arrive..

This frame was actually bought back in 2010 and has been stored for a few years. Lucky I bought it after the first time BTA was stolen.

RRT rearsets left over from 2 years ago should so the trick...

One of the hard parts to source...

Right then, there were a few parts that would make the Kawasaki an R (K) version and anyone whose owned one of these magnificent bikes will know that the forks on the K, in 91 and 92, had 41mm stanchions (later to be the same as the L) but also compression and rebound settings.

Looking around the web and looking at the prices involved, I wasn't too keen on finding a set..but I did. I really wanted to stick with the ideology that the project would be based around an original r/k and not a modified J.

So here is the latest edition for the bike, a period and correct set of  R/K forks with yokes and of course, the correct compression/rebound mods on board.

I've still got a set of oil seals I bought for the BTA bike, so good to get them changed if required.
Getting a set of yokes is also a positive and one less headache.

To date, almost everything that's been sourced is for a K.

A swinging arm and set of wheels and the rolling chassis with frame and seat unit are complete.

Engine is going to be collected in August after the Industry holidays.

Start Up

As you've read, the OW01 is pretty much ready for start up.
Just have to do some final checks, cleaning , replace some old hose and then go for it.
The pump is in the race tank and I'll have to make sure that's wired up correctly into the now standard wiring loom.
This Ow01 full-race engine hasn't actually been run in one state for many years, probably around 15-20 years. The specs are high , YEC kitted, Pete Beale head and crank and of course the FCR's and YEC race exhaust.. should be interesting..the previous owner said he had never heard a louder race bike in the paddock and that was with the YZF engine he had fitted with a stock crank and pistons and no head job...

So...moving from 2 to 4 wheels..

How about this as a gem project? Porsche 917K , bought from a museum in Europe (no mention of which one or cost..) and first start up after at least 30 years...awesome! what an amazing car! flat 12..

Equinox

Here is a program I watched back in the 80's.

Absolutely brilliant if your into Formula 1 and the advent of the turbo from drawing board to track.

A must watch!

part 1

Part 2

Trains, planes and automobiles...

Well..not quite..More a case of Trains, buses and walking out in the bush to a private house...
And the result:- 1984 Yamaha YPVS K1 with a full fairing and some really nice Micron expansions sweeping up the right hand side...
One the way:

finally there...

So let me see...I've almost lost count on how many RD350LC's I've had...but just the one RD350YPVS...they are incredible motorcycles..especially if you've had your youth stuck in the 80's..going from an old honda 400/4 to an RD350LC with swarbricks and powerjets made life come alive..you never forget the sound of the engine after you've kicked it into life..bag a bolts...

This bike was a very nice representation of a bike I would have chewed off my hand for back in the day. Micron GP style pipes sweeping up the rh side, full fairing...
I couldn't lie to the owner when it came down to how much I felt the bike was worth...these are cult bikes nowadays , so I said I'd help her start up the bike and get it on the market...

fluctuating prices and the luck of the draw...

As you know, ZXRR was stolen back in 2010 after a month of use and then crashed/smashed a few months later by some little fucker with little regard or respect for such a beast...

I had to change so many things off the original bike and it was the little parts that I had to look for months at a time and as I've written previously, a lot of the parts I did eventually find and buy, were not in good condition, sometime bent and then "fixed"...

The prices also differ dramatically from month to month.

So, when these came up , the memories flooded back at how much of a pain it was not only to find them, but the cost and variation in condition. At 12 quid the set, I was delighted as these are one of those parts that are a pain to find in decent nick and all at once:

BARN FIND....

...those two words stir up a special emotion...those dreams or old fables of Vincent Black Lightening's find in a back shed in the highlands of Scotland (true story)..or scouring through the ads on ebay under Barn finds and you come across all sorts of "pain in the ass" projects...

18,10 tonight and I'm jumping on a train to head 40 minutes north to see a Barn Find..well, not really sure that's what you can call it...It's in a barn, but I've known about it's existence for a couple of years, when I was informed that the owner was selling a Swedish championship winning machine. Apparently a two stroke and ...that's about it..
..I'm guessing it's a Yamaha RD variant , but have no idea...could well be an RD350LC as well, as they raced them in the LC series..
Obviously, what you really want to find is a TZ 500/750 ....

Here is a BARN FIND TZ750....found in the USA...jealous? yes, very!

I'll be posting pictures and more info on the find tonight...

bag a bolts...

Some people which call me insane for buying a bag a bolts for 25 quid..but I'm been in that many situations to know that the best thing you can have when rebuilding a bike from the ground up, is a bag a bolts from the same model bike. The japanese have their fun with thread sizes and this will make life easier.. I can also see a few of those brackets that will be required. The exhaust manifolds won't come in handy, but saying that, you never really know..

So, next up , a great deal on a ZXRR front seat pad. Been looking around at prices and they range from  39-85 euros for a J version (presume it's the same), so was surprised when I saw one for only 13 euros.

Pikes Peak and the Peugeot 208 T16.....

Amazing piece of kit and obviously the 9 times world champion was having a good time going up the hill...

Sleipner still alive...

So there I was looking around the net having watched some BOTT racing from Japan from '96 and I came across two pictures of my old racing bike.
I sold the frame to the USA and the XR Sputhe to Germany. I don't regret this even though it was a large part of my life in the design and getting it built by Spondon Engineering in England.

This frame was the first ever built for the racing engine. It was XR style specific, so fitting an EVO engine isn't the way to go. We had frame kits for EVO engines made as well as the Sputhe XR was a rare beast.

Funny when you see your old road racer on the other side of the planet..

Wheels have been painted gold and for some reason the 320 ISR discs have been replaced by wave efforts. The 6 pot ISR's are still fitted as we were sponsored by ISR so got them made custom for us, the front wheel is a marvic made for an RC30, the white power forks are the same and most amusing is the oil catch can, which we made from an alloy spun water holder bottle.

All projects deserve a scribble black book

Tinkering...

As you'll all know, if you've read this blog, I've been tinkering with everything from Laverda Formula Mirages to building/designing my own Sputhe/spondon road racer after a couple of years working on the tractors we call Harleys...

So when this turned up, I had to copy and show. Knucklehead on the salts, must have a been a hoot to throw this down a dried lake!

Basketball? Bikes a cracker mind...

Okay, no idea which marketing dept. came up with the concept of throwing green paint over the arse and back of a model holding a basketball...if you can, answers on a post card sent to the usual address...
(quite bizarre the paint missed her hair..)

Anyway, awesome picture of a Screamer...( both perhaps?)

ZXRR project parts pickup

This is actually a very handy part which, together with the K shock I managed to pick up, the rocker and linkages and top bolt, finalizes the rear suspension set up . Only thing missing is obviously a swinging arm.

Great picture

Z1

When I was younger and driving around on my Honda 400/4, the bike that I always wanted was a Z1..A Z650 would have done it as well..
..anyway, as I was looking around the web I came across this beautiful example of a Z1, timeless classic !

The Owl .....

With the purchase of a new battery, it was finally time to go and see if I could get the Ow01 to turn over. This was always going to be an interesting experiment as I had rebuilt the engine without really understanding if everything was as it should be..so I thought, all in and fire on the starter hoping the ignition timing was gonna be sorted..

As the bike came without a street wiring harness...and as I was fortunate enough to pick one up for sweety money, it was always going to be a "fingers crossed" exercise..And no surprise...it didn't turn over..As you can by the film, I checked the starter relay as it says in the fzr1000 manual and she turned over! First time and sounding manic!

After looking through the entire harness and some serious head scratching..it finally came down to the obvious..open circuit...no side stand switch attached..so I coupled it up and boom! off the switch...
Now it's just to fill her up with petrol and water and ....

O K parts

Not often you see these up on the fleabay..
So, once I'd looked around at what else that was on offer and the costs, I decided to ensure I'd have a K set up on the project.
Having changed the rocker and linkage bars on BTA (the bike that was stolen), I still have the original K parts. So basically, now the check list is looking like:-

frame,rocker/linkages,shock holder,rear shock,Engine (on reserve),alloy tank, rear seat unit,subframe ,Race rear-sets,Full race Muzzy Exhaust.

So, getting there...tomorrow and it's a chat with the insurance company on how we can sort out the theft of BTA.

Parts finder...

...moving forwards..
One of those parts that people don't think about until you need one..without it you'll find it difficult to fit a shock absorber onto the frame without having extra hassle..

Check!