adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Thank you I think I've got or can get most of what I need now, there have certainly been a couple of moments where parts supply could have truly scuppered things, but thankfully there have been just enougn bikes being broken to get me what I need! Probably would have been far easier if I'd bought a BSA or Triumph..
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Been busy with putting the bike back together, which is quite nice as everything is clean and ready to go on, but there are a few little bits holding me up still. Following on from last update I got on with fitting the rear brake pedal and arm plus the brake light switch and kick start lever The brake still needs setting up but even at the moment it functions, so that's nice. The kick start lever is an odd one as it feels too close to the engine cover when in the upwards position, but if I move it back a spline it looks like it sits too far back, so will play around with that a bit more. I've partially rebuilt the carbs, gave them a good few cleans out as they've been sitting in storage for a bit. I've failed in finding any specs for VM28's on a KZ400 so will have to start with the RD400 settings and tune from there. I need to find some bits as the float bowl and throttle cable holder screws have pretty mangled heads. Next job I spun the bike round to torque up the drive sprocket nut, as well as tidy up the wiring to the starter motor, oil pressure sensor and neutral light switch so I could fit the clutch release cover and cable. Which all went pretty smoothly, after running some lube down the cable I've managed to re-use the old clutch cable. There was a bit of compacted California sand still hiding out in one of the engine block threads for the cover so took a bit of brush, brake cleaner and tap work to get that out. I also removed the automatic kick stand retraction mechanism. The sprocket didn't come with the dowel to flick the lever and I'll just have to be mindful to not ride off with the kick stand down! Also put the chain on, haven't got round to tensioning it up yet, also need to do something about the chain guard, the old one is in a bit of a state.. Bought some bits. The second battery I bought after getting the size wrong! I've also had to return an ignition coil that wasn't right. Filter is for the PCV port. The carb mounts are generic but fit the carbs well and needed the mounting holes slotting just a little bit with a round file to fit Most recent work has involved getting out the Autosol to tart up what's left of the original exhaust system and get it mounted Clearly I'll have to get the bike to an exhaust shop to have some silencers fitted but the downpipes have come up really nicely for just a bit of elbow grease Other bits in the works: I sent off the Brake hoses to HEL Performance the other day to have them replicated as I'd had issues getting the right hoses before and within a day they've called me and said they're done and ready to go, so they should turn up tomorrow. I'm also having a numberplate made by Retro Plates, which should look perfectly inkeeping with the age of the bike. Finally, although I was going to have a go at painting the tank and panels myself, it's not really the right weather and I feel the bike deserves better than rattle cans, so I've been speaking to someone to paint those. Not fully decided on the colour but I've got an idea in mind. Aside from all that, I need to get the loom routed and mounted properly, set up the clutch and brakes, and sort out a throttle cable which has the potential to be a bit tricky..
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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I'll see how I go with it, the danger could be that I start delaying doing a few jobs in one go to make sure I have something to do the next day, which would rather defeat the purpose 😂
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Hoping this year is much more positive for you Laters plus that era of V8 Mercedes seem to be quite overlooked at the moment so hopefully you should be able to get yourself a very nice reward when the time comes 👍 I don't really do new years resolutions per se, but I've decided to try and use this year to tackle a long standing issue I have with procrastination by doing at least one thing on one of my cars or bikes every day for the whole year. Even if it's a tiny job, it should help me keep the momentum going. Made good progress with the bike over Christmas and new years so hopefully have that rideable for spring 🤞
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Dec 26, 2023 22:50:55 GMT
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Not really played with these ai image generators before but a couple of curious takes on the Chrysler Crossfire 😅
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Dec 18, 2023 16:48:57 GMT
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Got a few days off as I've been slack in using my holiday this year, have mostly been trying to get the Kawasaki finished, engine is now in so that's a big step forward Crossfire still needs welding when the weather plays ball, and I've started a "to do" list for the MGB, I needed a rather larger piece of cardboard than the one I used for the Crossfire...
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Dec 16, 2023 20:47:15 GMT
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Short but big update, mate came round today as we were doing a coolant flush on his Hiace and hopefully getting the engine back in the bike There wasn't all that much to it really, turned the bike around as the engine was going in from the other side, put a couple of towels on the lower frame rails to protect the paint, put a trolley jack between the frame rails with some wood on top to balance the engine on. Between the two of us, the weight of the engine was manageable and with a bit of pivoting and angling, it went in pretty easily. There might be a bit of scuffed paint on the frame but I can touch that in. Consulted my old photos to see how the various engine mounting bolts and brackets were arranged, and it's installed Now the engine is in, I can get moving on a load of bits, fitting the chain, rear brake lever and rod, start final installation of some of the wiring etc. so things should move relatively quickly there. Also got a rebuild kit for the carbs on order after a bit of head scratching to work out exactly what I have. They're Mikuni VM28's which I believe were from a Yamaha RD350 or RD400. I have been trying to research jetting info from others who have done Mikuni swaps on KZ400's so at least I can be pretty close on first start. The VM30's are a bit more common and seem to be a more popular swap so a bit harder to find info on the VM28 swap but should be able to get there in the end.
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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2023 Archives : Bicester 2023adam73bgt
@adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member 58
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Dec 14, 2023 10:54:08 GMT
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Very nice selection, if I remember rightly the Aston MGB had an O series engine? I could have done with poking around the engine bay of that 😅
Liking the X type as well, they've been appealing to me somewhat of late
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Mazda Xedos 9 Miller adam73bgt
@adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member 58
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Dec 14, 2023 10:51:51 GMT
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It's a tricky one to price as they're rare, but many will have forgotten about them so there's perhaps only a small pool of potential buyers out there.
There's been a couple come up for sale on Facebook marketplace around the 3-4k region although those were the 2.5 not the miller so slightly more common but maybe more attractive in terms of a maintenance point of view.
With the low miles and given how clean it looks in the photos, I would personally try for up to 5k, but be prepared for it to take a while to sell
Just a question of finding the right buyer!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Dec 14, 2023 10:47:09 GMT
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So cool seeing this getting about and used
I ended up driving past Sturgate straight by accident recently after hitting a couple of closed road diversions on the way to seeing some family 😂 had no idea where I was then thought, hey I've seen this place on RR haha
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Dec 13, 2023 12:40:20 GMT
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Great to see the engine back together. Only hours away from a running bike surely! Thanks 😊 and hopefully! Got the carbs to reassemble and figure out throttle cables for, get a battery and hook up the wiring, put some oil and petrol in it and should be good to go I think..
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Dec 11, 2023 23:28:27 GMT
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Thanks guys Following on from my last update, I got the oil pressure relief valve reassembled and installed, before installing the primary chain and clutch assembly Lacking a bit in photos as particularly once I got into soaking the clutch plates in oil before installing, things got rather messy That was just trial fitting the clutch basket as the basket and the crank sprocket have to be fitted together as one with the chain. Was all pretty straightforward though. The KZ400 is a little odd in that the basket and the sprocket are retained by circlips so there's no difficulty in trying to hold them still while torquing up bolts. I've fitted all new clutch plates, and springs as the old plates had started to corrode into each other from sitting for so long. Got both the side covers temporarily fitted while I waited for a new set of screws to arrive Fitted the timing advance unit as I needed the timing marks to be able to fit the camshaft. The original looked like it had been at the bottom of the sea, the replacement is a slightly different design but was sold as being from the same year and spec bike so should be fine. The NOS camshaft got a quick clean to remove the protective sticky oil residue that was on it from storage, and I shot some brake cleaner through the oilways just to check they were all clear A bit of a fiddle to get the cam and cam sprocket installed. Had to feed both through the chain, then try to time up the sprocket to the correct point on the chain without turning the crankshaft at all, with the marker lines all pointing where they should be, the camshaft is rotated to align the bolt holes on the sprocket and it should all be timed correctly. I did spin it through a couple of rotations after I'd put the caps on, to be sure. With the cam installed, the timing chain tensioner could then go in. A fairly straightforward design, had to get the centre plunger of the tensioner perfectly level with the body then lock it down with the locknut. I did this then went through a full rotation a couple of times and checked it to be certain. I was then able to put the cam cover on, with the followers and set the valve clearances. After I'd bought a set of feeler gauges with the bent end as there isn't a lot of room offered by the inspection caps. As my bike is a later 400 the adjustment is done with a screwdriver and locknut, much like the rockers on my MGB so was nice to brush off some old memories there. At this point it should have been a straightforward job to fit the new screws in the side cases once they arrived. However, there was some junk in some of the threaded holes, I think this must have been left over from the vapour blasting although I thought I'd chased all the threads.. In any case, they were soon sorted with some brake cleaner and a small brush, or in the worst cases a quick thread chase with a tap. I went with Zinc Plated JIS screws as I don't want any of the potential galvanic corrosion issues of Stainless, and they just look "right" compared to allen head cap screws that many use as an "upgrade" Condenser and points also turned up and have been fitted on the timing plate, but I'll set the gap properly once the engine is in the bike. All that was left, was to carefully put the engine down on my makeshift trolley made from a wheel dolly and it's ready to go back in the frame! I may need a friend or two to assist with that though, or I'll see if I can use my engine crane somehow..
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Did a bit more in the last couple days while I wait for the ball bearing to arrive. The cylinder barrels took a bit of fiddling with the piston rings to get on, but I got there eventually. Ended up using a couple of cable ties as makeshift piston ring compressors to help with the thickest of the rings I then realised I'd forgotten to fit the rear cam chain guide but I was able to lift up the barrels with the pistons in to be able to slip the guide and it's retaining pins in Figured while I had my other half here to help thread the cam chain through, I may as well fit the cylinder head as well! That's now torqued down, plus I fitted the oil pressure light sender along with the oil feed to the head Lastly I went out and bought some better needle nose pliers tonight and finally managed to get the kickstart spring seated. Loosely put the lever on and gave it a couple spins and it all works great so I'm happy with that
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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That's the same issue I've been having Sweetpea but only on my android/chrome phone, currently able to get around it using incognito mode as you say Hopefully it's all related and one fix sorts it all 🤞🏾
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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A month on, what's been happening? Some of the last engine brackets that hadn't been refurbed got a rub down, prime and paint The new plugs for the crankshaft arrived so they went in with some loctite and were staked. Then took the opportunity to install the rods At this point I installed the crank along with the balancer weights into the upper crankcase I had actually made quite a major mistake here which I didn't realise until later, more on that in a moment. I was stuck here for a bit as I'd forgotten to order one of the O rings that seal the oil feed to the centre main bearings from the lower crankcase so I tidied up the rocker arm adjustment and cam chain tensioner caps. Didn't go crazy with them, bit of 240, then 480 grit wet and dry paper before a going over with the autosol. Blends in well enough with the painted bits. So the mistake I'd made with the engine assembly. The balancer weights have to be timed to each other by lining up a small marker hole on each sprocket with one of two bright links on the balancer chain. My balancer chain actually has four bright links but they have the same spacing. I'd timed the weights to each other, the crank was set to the position as outlined in the manual, flywheel webs upwards, oil holes in the journals half obscured by the surface of the crankcase. What I'd neglected to do was check that I had the weights correctly timed to the crankshaft... I'd also put the chain on the "wrong" way round so it was tricky to see the marker hole and bright links as they were on opposite sides of the chain. Took the balancer assy off, turned the chain around, re-timed the weights to each other, then aligned the bright links with the small markers cast in to the balancer assembly body And finally refit to the crankcase. Glad I caught that now rather than after I'd build everything up! Not long after this, the missing O ring arrived and it was time to rejoin the crankcases. Not many photos as I was trying to make sure I hadn't missed anything else, but made sure the bearings had oil, cleaned the mating surfaces, applied a thin layer of Permatex ultra grey to the upper crankcase then lowered the other half on top. Went round torquing all the bolts and it looks somewhat more like an engine again On the primary drive side, I slotted the gearchange shaft through and engaged it with the shift drum, fitting it's retaining plate afterwards. I've also tried to fit the kickstart spring but it's currently proving a bit of a curse word! I think I need some better needlenose pliers On the alternator side, the rotor is on along with the starter clutch. The starter chain needed a bit of cleaning up, one link was a little gummed up but I think it's serviceable for now. The starter motor is just placed there for the moment, it doesn't seem to turn freely by hand so I might have to look into that. Pistons went on next, oiled up the little ends, piston bores and new gudgeon pins and it all went together nicely. Circlips weren't particularly difficult to fit either, though I still stuffed some rags into the open crankcase just in case one decided to try and drop down there! I'll try and get the cylinder barrels on next, also waiting on a new ball bearing for the oil pressure relief valve, once that's rebuilt and fitted (as well as the aforementioned kickstart spring) the primary drive chain, sprockets and clutch can go on also
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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In case it helps with troubleshooting, I'd been having the same issue on my phone earlier (Android Galaxy S9/ Google Chrome) and now I actually can't even login on my phone, got a "too many redirects" error, with a suggestion to delete cookies, which didn't help.
Conversely, on my *ahem* retro PC (Windows 7/ Firefox) the forum is working entirely normally
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