Jen

Purchased a 1991 Kawasaki Zephyr on 3rd December from a mate who bought it as a project himself.I was fortunate enough to get it off him before some random stranger purchased it for destinations unknown..wreckers, oddball doer uppers, who knows where this poor lovely bike could've ended up.

Day one

this is her on the day she arrived in my garage, the hard stuff was pretty much done, carbs cleaned out, tank flushed and relined, all warranted and compression testing passed, she is now mine to complete the TLC project and have her ready to roll here's hoping for the Woodstock Rally mid January.

A little intial cleaning on week one to see how the chrome would lift gave me this


which left me with a guided motivation to get stuck in and do it right.

Two weeks later and a lot of learning, achey muscles, cussing and obscene profanities, and grease monkey hands, eww grease under the nails is not easy to remove!...(thank god she came with a manual so I figured out what parts went back where) Managed to break the fuel hose removing the tank, it was brittle (my excuse) and gave me the opportunity to put in an inline filter for that final insurance no crap getting thru to the carbs.


not a lot left that I haven't pulled off by end of week one..not attacking the engine this time around..That will get a paint over winter when she isn't on the road so much.

The forks and new seals were given to a very generous friend who did all that for me. I only had to take them off the bike, clean them up (....derusting is becoming a favorable passtime) and put them all back on again when they were completed.

Cleaning the bridging over the handle bars was an interesting task. The dexterity in my fingers is all but gone..I"m sure I'm getting RSI....

Second and Third weeks efforts produced this shiney beast (right side only). Tyre went back on...turned out to be a serious pain in the rear to do on my own, then realising I"d left off the speedo cable, pulled it apart again and had to refit...a lot of cussing going on in my garage today, thankfully I'd stolen my son's stereo and had that blasting so no one heard the profanity's.

Now she looks lopsided, right side

Just as well I have three weeks off starting next Tuesday to finish the left side, she's booked in for tune up and carb balance, the carb holders are due in next week also, its all coming together well...and I'm expecting to be out on her well in time for Woodstock!!

02.01.2013

Spent a few hours in the garage today, humidity was horrid but goal is to have her ready for next week...I"m sure I have RSI in the right arm now...both sides shined up


Still have a little more cleaning to do but she's ready for the peg plates to be put back on..hopefully painted and looking much better. Buy some Filter Foam for the air intake box and she'll be ready to roll....right to the mechanics lol

06.01.2013

And today I took her on the road...hard to confess but I stuffed up a few times in my eagerness to get her on the road. Spent hours yesterday putting all the pieces back to gether. As I wasn't the person to remove the plates that hold the pegs and brake pedal and gear lever it was a biatch trying to reassemble it. Got there though and about 9pm last night she was totally sorted....however.....
The tank was sitting high, nothing I could do would put it down...this morning I tried to wheel her out of the garage, tank limiting the turning and bang down she goes on the left side. smashed the indicator and put a little dent in the tank...god damn it...not even on the road yet and I"ve done damage. Realised in all my hurry the tank has little sliders to fit into..duh! Fixed that and off I went..omg! totally awesome to be back on the road. she is running rich, a little miss but no dropping of cylinder. Carb holders got back ordered, have the O rings now...so put off the tune and balance of carb until the holders come in.



09.01.2013

Took my son for a ride on it yesterday, travels nice two up.

Then later after lunch went for a great ride around the bays. Figured out there is a small leak in both front forks, and they ride very hard. Taking them off today, checking fluid volumes, spring placement and also any pitting in the inner tube.

Then this weekend off to the Wonder Rally in Waiau...yay!