H1 resurrection.

[zimm]

picked this up last night



pretty isnt it ?

got it home and took it apart to see whats what.

the good :

pretty
modified exhaust with baffled link pipe removed, sounds ace, works well
pretty
pulls well
pretty
very smooth
pretty
everything works
pretty
heated grips
pretty
new air filter

the bad

splits in seats
cracked screen
clutch is fubar, slips like mad
idle set way rich, have to bumpstart it when hot
air leak at inlet stubs
airbox badly mounted with bellmouths all twisted up
fork seal knackered
lefthand rearset has been snapped and welded back up
skunk tyres (plenty of tread, just crap, and mismatched)
chain and sprockets almost completely shagged
rear shock has no damping whatsoever
brakes wooden, skanky looking lines

and errm , .. yeh, it runs hot and pisses coolant all over the floor at every possible opportunity.

so that'll be the head gasket then !!

never mind, gives me a chance to get the dremel out while the heads off

carbs and airbox already done
im sure ive got some clutch plates in the garage
ive got an L shock somewhere
have an un-used o-ring chain somewhere, a new 14 tooth front and 2 rear sprockets (45)
got a stack of part worn 090 fronts

so just need,

head-gasket ~ £15
brake lines ~ £50
rear tyre ~100
oil filter ~£6
fork seals ~£ ??
MOT
Tax

plan is to run around on it for a few weeks while i finish the other one, then its time for the trackday fairing

hopefully have it done in a couple of days as my car is falling apart and i need transport

speed project !! lol

[RedexRobB]

So you did buy that one! Nice one mate

So how many ZXR's is that now? Good luck with it, hope its a sweet one!

[zimm]

only real surprise was the head-gasket.. but hey, its only an afternoon in the garage..

i think .. this is the 7th zxr ive had .. and the second H1, but one of 3 currently, Ems G, this H and the L1(4/6)
think im going to have to start giving them names, the black one/the green one/the other black one, its getting confusing.

its got by far the smoothest engine ive come across in a ZXR (even with a blown HG) and easily put 135 on the clock on the way back down the M4 so should be ace with the head cleaned up and raised compression.

as a bit of a downer, it now needs a front brake lever because i was up till 3am rebuilding/balancing the carbs on Em's (neighbours hate me) and then managed to drop it across and then off the bonnet of my car backing it out for a test drive (i blame the full tank of fuel!).. very little damage, few more scratches on the already knackered bodywork, and a bent brake lever, which ive replaced with the one off the Black H1

[zimm]

parts ordered from cradley kawasaki.. under 12 quid for a head-gasket .. they must sell loads ! close to 40 quid for clutch plates hurt a bit though.. (checked my spares and they were all on the limit .. ) fork seals a tenner-ish

and that should be it for spending £££ on it, im pretty sure the rest will come out of boxes in me garage.

cept tax n MOT of course ;P

[zimm]

progress !!

of sorts, and no pics ..

rear shock sorted.. found manky L1 shock, stripped it, cleaned it, removed chewed up adjustor from the bottom, resprayed the lower spring platform bits with black hammerite (smooth finish) then fitted the red spring from the dead H1 shock and the un-chewed adjustor from same. fitted it, bounced it about.. feels good .. well, the dampings all there anyhow.

and its now completely stripped and drained of oil/coolant. So i should get round to dropping and rebuilding the engine tomorrow, in-between picking up my frame and dropping off my wheels and subframe

bits i found that arent going back on .. crash bungs... that have been crashed .. i'll get some pics up of these its quite funny. oh, and the obligatory bungee hooks/grab handles tourer crap .. pillion pegs can stay till its got a single seat.

anyone want to do the fork seals ? i bloody hate doing them without the proper kit.

[masterofinsanity]

anyone want to do the fork seals ? i bloody hate doing them without the proper kit.

errr no thanks!

[zimm]

awww, go on, you can do a write up on H forks too then !

[Scott221]

Very nice, I want a project bike tbh, just seem to be poor 24/7 lately. Petrol is destroying me atm.

Maybe you could do a write up on the Head gasket?

[zimm]

i'll be sure to post if anything goes awry with the head-gasket, otherwise there's little point, its just a case of doing what the manual says.

besides, my camera is so rubbish at close-up shots that there wouldnt be any pics to go with it.

[zimm]

well, very nearly came unstuck ...

the 5mm cap-head (allen key) bolt that secures the head on the outer edge of the camchain tunnel was so damn tight it snapped the end off my allen key ! .. which prompted a 20 mile round trip into town and back to buy something with a magnet on the end as the tip was still in the bolt.. then, with that finally removed and a proper 5mm allen "bit" on the end of an extension bar with a small ratchet set to go .. the bugger started to round off !!

switched to a shorter extension and with my (not great) body-weight on it and gently nudging/cracking out it came !

gonna have to dig through my spares and hope ive got a replacement bolt, cos that fucker aint going back in ..

other than that, easy ..

engine looks to be in ok condition, no worn rocker arms, rings have plenty of spring (i reckon they're new tbh, and its possibly got aftermarket pistons .. but im not taking the small-end apart just to check the markings) the bores are "ok" mainly its all a bit coked up, but should clean up ok.

cant find my bench mounted valve spring compressor, and i aint doing them without it, so the valves will have to stay in.. which means no porting.. this time.

incidentally, head gasket had gone on #1 and #2 (counting from left as sat on bike)

now to clean it all up and throw it back together

[zimm]

butt !!

went to re-assemble it this morning, noticed that one of the dowel's between the block and the cases (left side as sat on bike) has been crushed !!

some muppet has obviously not seated it properly when rebuilding the engine at some point in the past and just cracked on and torqued up the head bolts !!

the cases are ok, but the dowel hole in the block needed careful attention with a small file to make it round again, and the gasket surface is .. um, not exactly flat.. it can be fixed, but its not happening today .. sadly all my spare blocks need re-honing, so i'll have to repair whats there.. at least i had some spare dowels ..

i'll try to get some pics up later.

[zimm]

well, its running again, and after sounding a bit clacky on initial start-up it appears to be fine ..

throw all the bodywork on in a bit and see how it goes ..

[zimm]

well, heavy rain stopped play (bloody wales) so i modded the ignition pickup and tweaked a few things .. cant wait to see how it goes ..

[RedexRobB]

good to hear it mate. Youll have a cracking track bike when you finish tweaking with that!

[masterofinsanity]

what dya mean modified the ignition pickup?