Continued from: Part 1: The Find

Once I had the bike in the garage I started it a few times, just to make sure she ran. No particular reason, considering the full restoration she is about to undergo, just to comfort me I guess that I bough a bike that kind of works…

Once I swapped out the cactus battery and put in fresh fuel and checked the oil level; she eventually started…or more like huffin’ and puffin’ for the first time in a long time. She was a sorry sight but not unexpected; slated for a rebuild over ten years ago, she has not been touched since.

I didn’t let her suffer much longer, once she cooled down, my good mate Daniel and I took the motor out. Black paint and the side covers present are not standard for this era, so before any rebuild to occur, she had to be hydro blasted back to bare metal.

We took the motor to bits and off she went to Woody’s Hydroblast in one of the southern suburbs of Melbourne.  

Once the hydro blasting done…

Pristine job by Woody’s back to bare metal hydro blasting…

Next stop was to Scotty’s to have the motor fully rebuilt. The cams, polished, valves re-cut and seated, new pistons (0.5mm oversize) and bearings. The final job on the motor looked like:

And what about those non-std covers? Luckily Z1 Parts.net came to the rescue with these perfect examples:

Looks like a piece of jewelry. Thanks Z1 Parts.net for the final touches.

The next step was to start focusing on the frame. Have to make sure she is straight before she is painted so before anything, the motor had to be installed ready for the jig.

And when the going gets tough…you need a hammer!

Ready for the rolling frame assembly for the straightening jig.

All smiles now…few minutes earlier lots of crying / swearing. Thanks Daniel!

In Part 3 we’ll focus on the frame…cannot wait to find the time!