Oct 2001 - A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a friend,
Steve Wass, and the long and short of it is that I am now a two ZG1000 owner.
This second machine, a 1987 GTR1000 with some damaged parts and 62K miles is
going to form the basis for my "Hoolie" streetfighter.
I have been hankering to do this since the first time I stripped Sanji down for
maintenance.
It's not going to be a fast project and I don't anticipate finishing it totally
ever, but she should be ride-able and legal by spring 2001 and painted, etc. by
late summer. The plans involve a single seat unfaired or bikini faired
streetfighter in Lairy Kawasaki Lime Green and black.
Of course all of this may change depending on circumstances and my changes in
taste (or lack thereof), but she will be a lighter, taller, faster (off the
line, not top speed), better handling beastie and will become my
"Hoolie" machine so that Sanji can do just the touring/distance/wet
work.
She'll be so relieved that she won't be getting thrashed quite so often.
<BG>
Right, here's some pics of the bike as she came
to me (I've already swiped the front brake discs).
4 April 2003 - Well, as those of you who know me will have
guessed, it's been a while since I wrote the above and Hoolie is still a big
pile of bits but today I started on the motor rebuild. Hoolie will be getting
Sanji's old motor so today I finally got round to stripping the head and
cylinder block off of the motor. In the pics below you can see what I found.
Hmmm,.... that would explain the damage to the gearbox. I guess I did that
damage during the revving contest at the Storming the Castle Rally in 1996. What
amazes me is that the motor was still running when I took it out of Sanji and I
have put over 50,000 miles on that motor with that damage. DAMNED tough motor
these ZG1000's.Looks like I need a new piston and cylinder sleeve. <VBG>
18 Apr 2003 - She is starting to progress nicely
now. Have the new cylinders, have fitted new piston rings and a new piston and
it's all starting to come together. Here are some more pics of the current state
of progress. Hoolie is now even more stripped down than in these pics and is
awaiting getting a good bath tomorrow after which I will be painting the frame.
Am also partway through grinding in the valves. #1 cylinder intake valves had
tuliped so I put in some good spares I had lying around and am now regrinding
all the valves as well as fitting new valve stem seals.
6 August 2003 - Here are some pics of the frame as it is now. I still need to buy some parts to replace worn/broken/lost parts but she is starting to look like a motorcycle again, albeit without a motor. The motor is back together again and I am debating whether to bench test it or to just fit it back in the frame and test it there. Once it's all rebuilt, running and legal I will be stripping it again to make it look pretty. Then again, I may just opt for the "survival" look and paint everything matt black. Who knows. :-)
