Honest, it followed me home...
There are still quite a few bikes that I want to own one day, mainly nineties sports bikes, a few really old bikes, and quite a few other odd ones that might just happen one day. One I've been after for quite a while, especially since seeing a lot of restomods on them, is the FZ750 - the half-faired, original version. To me, that thing is sheer beauty.
When one popped up at my favourite bike breakers - Motogenn, in Burleigh, Gold Coast - I sent Paulo a text "Put my name on it! I'll take it."
Paulo insisted, "Come and have a look first."
"I'll take it!"
For those who don't know Paulo, he is an absolute gentleman, extremely helpful and who deals in mostly modern motorbikes. I've had several parts from him for the R1, amongst other projects, and his prices are the fairest around. Anyway, I popped over for a look, said yes I'll grab it, and came back with the money a few days later. She's gonna be awesome!
Loading it in the van was easy, Paulo had a decent ramp to get it in. It took two of us to push it in (it has no working brakes) and it just needed a good, confident shove.
When I got it home, I had no such luxuries. I found a shitty old pallet that was nowhere near long enough and got ready to launch it on my own. Figuring this would end in disaster, I asked a neighbour to help me. She quickly, and quite rightly, declined but said her housemate, Corey, would love to. So, out comes old mate, barefoot and looking somewhat bewildered. I told him to jump in the van and hang onto the handlebars, and I would hold the back as it rolled down the pallet.
This would have been ok, had the pallet not given way under the weight of the back wheel which then left the bike jammed on its exhaust and on the edge of the van. Bugger! It just needed a good pull backwards to free it and, sure enough, with a good tug, we were mobile once more.
And this is when things got exciting for old Corey. I didn't have much control after getting it moving and the bike shot out at great speed with Corey hanging on for grim death, straddling the front wheel, barefoot and quickstepping on a very steep, rough pallet. All I could think was we are going to drop this bike, but no, Corey hung on well and it stayed upright. He was bloody marvellous to be fair and, legend has it, he even had most of the splinters out of his feet by the morning.
Very old but no metal bits in there. Good sign. Cleaned the oil filter and put fresh oil back in.
Checking for spark showed 1 and 4 with plenty of sparky bits, 2 and 3 not so much. Swapping round the coil wiring had no effect on that either.
But I digress...
For me, this is the very best way to buy them. Before someone has been into them and started wrecking stuff and rounding off bolts. The aim was to get it going, try and determine how good the engine was before strip down, and then take it all to pieces. I love trying to get engines going that haven't run for years. This one, apparently, had been stood for around fifteen.
With tank removed, I found that the airbox was already off, and the carbs looked reasonably clean - as if someone had already had a go at starting it. I looked in the oil sight glass, but that was pretty black, so I drained the oil to have a look at the condition.
It still had clean-looking, green coolant in the radiator which is another fantastic sign with no leaks from radiator etc.
I was missing the key at this stage, but with the ignition hooked up via the loom, I found out that all the lights worked and it turned over from the starter switch as per.
Next, I rigged up a makeshift fuel supply and spun it over. There was the odd explosion, mainly from the exhaust pipe itself, but nothing that was going to gain traction. Whipped the plugs out, and they were horrific! Cleaned them up as best I could but they looked more suited to the Titanic... if it was petrol, which it wasn't.
I bought a new set the next day, cleaned up the plug holes with lots of WD and compressed air, and fitted them. Two of the old plug sealing washers stayed on the cylinder head, but as the new plugs tried to start in the threads, they released. Whoop!
Advice time: one spark at the plug as you let off the starter switch is a good sign that the CDI/igniter has failed. I took the box apart and part of the circuit board was corroded inside. A secondhand one was ordered on eBay for the princely sum of $55. And I waited, a week...
During that time I cleaned the clutch pipe out as it was jammed with gunge and rust. With the reservoir filled, I bled the system and it held fluid. With no lever fitted, I decided to put the old Bandit master cylinder on to check the clutch operation. With slight persuasion, the slave cylinder kicked into life and started actuating the clutch. This thing is really beginning to amaze me.
The CDI turned up on Friday, and I set back into it after tea. She almost ran, then nothing, then a pop, then nothing. With spark back to all cylinders, there can't be much holding her back now! She's obviously down on compression after sitting for so long so I poured oil down through the downdraft carbs (they make it so much easier than using plug holes!). And then I put the two batteries I'm using on charge for the night. Finally, I turned the engine over by hand to allow the oil in through all of the valves and left it to soak in.
Saturday morning and I was excited. With fuel once again hooked up, I turned her over with the choke on. She began to try. Eventually, she was running with the starter and then she was away by herself! It took a good ten minutes to clear the smoke but it sounds superb considering. After a few tries throughout the day, it now starts up fine using the old GS550 battery and charges perfectly. The temperature gauge works fine and even the fan kicks in and cools it down. To say the FZ has blown me away is an understatement. Even the smoke has pretty much subsided. So, with loads of photos taken of all aspects, it's now time to get stuck in.
And finally, she was at a stage she would just fire up with no problem at all. This is great to know before pulling it all apart. No unnecessary noises and the smoke has actually cleared right up, so I'm thinking a top-end rebuild/check over will have this baby purring.
More soon folks...
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