ZXR 750 H1 in Green White and Blue

[philfingers]

So I just bought a reasonably stock [with exception of some leaking non OE front brake hoses and the odd fastner] GWB H1 ZXR 750. Picked it up off Ebay, £950, was/is described as good running order with only 2 miles since the last MOT and has new tyres.
All I'd say is I'm glad I didn't hitch to Carlisle and ride the bugger back! The brakes are partially seized, and more importantly the hoses were fitted by a muppet, the one is restricting the lock on the fairing support bracket. there are leaks from most unions, probably as a result of using stainless washers for sealing, IME they don't!

So I started a thread under general yesterday as I was after a manual. Couldn't find one, but i think the IT Police at work were stopping a lot of the results for file sharing sites. So I found one at http://www.manualedereparatie.info/en/c ... asaki.html lots of other manuals too, also this site is worth a visit for manuals http://www.carlsalter.com/motorcycle-manuals.asp tho there's not one for the ZXR on there

few pics here

[philfingers]

Why buy one? Well I would have liked a red and black H1 one. In one of the first copies of PB i bought back in 89 there was a article on one, then a guy 3 doors up had one. I'd hear him start it and head off to work shortshifting up the box in the mornings and then hear him come back late at night, after coming howling back down the road. I was 17 and impressionable! Most of the desire was for the green ones, but because of this I always wanted a red and black H1

This bike isn't bad. Fork seals are shot, which to be fair to the seller could have been due to being tied down in the van from Scotland- I used http://www.freightexpress.co.uk from Edinburgh as I used to drive for them years ago. The brake lines I've mentioned. Fork tubes are mint, no nicks or stone chips. Mostly the bike has original fastners and all the wee bits in place. Even the tool kit and those classic Hoover pipes! Screen is marked from the brake fluid which has leaked and flicked up at speed, but may well polish out.

Calipers are seized, well partially. So stripped them down and made an ally plate which bolts on the caliper halves, using either M8 nuts and bolts on the side with no thread in the caliper half, or an M8 bolts threaded into the caliper half on the other side. A bleedable union with some hose on it blanks off the union hose port and makes use of the sealing washers. You'll see the little hole on the one side, countersunk, insert airline and blow! The ally plate stops the pistons coming out too far. Quick and easy way of pulling the pistons out.



more pics of the rest of the bike here



most of the lugs are in place, wiring not been pi$$ed with which is good. original exhaust and headers too. it's just dirty and grubby really. I was just going to turn it around and sell it on, but I suspect I may end up doing a quick light restore/clean and use it for a while.
There's a few marks on the fairing, which I'll touch in, few cracks, plastex is my friend as I had great success with this on the NC30. Worst crack is on the LHS rear side panel
I have made a start on the forks, got them out and draining and will get one with fitting new oil seals next week. Calipers all stripped and cleaned up in the parts washer, then need to go into the ultrasonic tank for a deep clean. Luckily pistons are mint, seals look pretty good too, so will probably reuse them.
Carbs will get a strip and go in the ultrasonic tank too, to be sure they're ok and set right. Tho bikes starts and runs reasonably well. Let down by stiff controls, levers etc. Lack of servicing and grease i suspect
Whole bikes needs a damn good clean and then may look and see what needs painting/powder coating
More to follow, I know it's not a 400 but it's in the spirit of classic collectible stuff and I'm sure some of you will find my wittering interesting. . .. ..

[jim157]

Wicked bikes, always liked them.

[johnnie5]

mine was same GWB

it now has some black and silver ex japan fairings along with some japanese stickers covering the 750 on the tail which i suspect a guy with a small licence was riding it lol

its funny when i was younger and got into bikes the mags had the later black zxr with the pink and purple graphics

[VFRkieran]

Had a soft spot for these for a while now, have been seriously considering swapping my 800 for one of these. When/if you do decide to sell could you drop me a line? Could buy with a bit more confidence knowing somebody has had a good look over it!

[Zippy]

Probably one of the only kawasaki's I'd consider owning.

[philfingers]

Well work continued tonight. I finished stripping and cleaning the forks. the upper spring seat/washer was missing on one side. It strikes me that one seal was done at some point but not the pair. So I made a new upper spring seat out of an old washer, which I needed to turn down in the lathe, it's got a little surface corrosion, but it'll do the job better than none!



Caliper pistons and seals seem really good so i'm going to refit them. seems a lot of money to spend £80 on new seals and in my experience pattern ones don't seem so good. There's hardly a mark on the pistons, or the fork stancions too.



The calipers looked really good when I removed them, but an hour in the ultrasonic tank has started to lift the paint, balls!
now I bought this about 4 months ago, but as yet hadn't used it.



So it was a first, used some glass bead and they came up great, probably 5 mins to do the 4. Of course now it means spray gun, etch primer and find the correct colour. Any idea folks? I may well do the rads at the same time if I'm getting the paint out. Here's a before and after

[Maelstrom]

Nice score! You guys in the UK can pick up bikes for a song. They cost the planet here.
I always liked this bike too. Something to do with the good old days of superbike racing, I think. At least keep it long enough to enjoy riding it and keep us updated. Just in case you need to clean up the carbs, I have kits for those too.

[philfingers]

thanks! hopefully the carbs won't need much, it seems to run ok, but it's stood around a lot. Just a quick clean, check the settings and balance! Thailand has it's good points too, I spent probably a year of my life over there working, mainly offshore but did some work up near Chang Mai too, which was great to be onshore and go for a few beers in the evening. . . .

[philfingers]

Well worked commenced at a fair rate since the last post.

Forks- The special tooling required to split the forks in the case of the ZXR requires a square bar/tube, easy to make. I never got around to measuring it whilst it was out but 20mm square tube wouldn’t quite fit in without a tiny amount ground off the end.
Once it was a good fit I clamped it in the vice and removed the bottom bolts of the forks. The bushes were in a good order, still with their original coating, so not too worn. A good clean out and new seals and oil in 5w weight. You can buy all manner of fancy tools for measuring fork oil height but I made the tool below years ago.



It’s just a syringe and some tubing tie wrapped to a bit of stainless welding rod. Oil level is usually measured with the forks compressed and springs out. Slip the ‘hook’ over the top of the fork tube and with the end of the tubing set to the fork oil height withdraw the additional oil. Simple



Radiator/Oil cooler- considering their 24 years and 31k they’re not bad at all. The oil cooler was worse as it sits right behind the front wheel. So it got cleaned off in the parts washer and then got stuck in the ultrasonic tank. This loosened a lot of the dirt/soil/mud. I used the old fork oil bottle to make a little tool for cleaning out between the fins, and keeps them straight too. Also I had this gadget from Aldi months ago. Basically it’s an attachment for the end of the garden hose but uses compressed air from the compressor to give a handy handheld pressure washer. You can turn the air down to avoid damaging the fins [a pressure washer would destroy them] but it’s more effective than just a tap. To be fair the rad was that good it just needed degreasing in the parts washer and wiping over with a rag

The shot blast cabinet came in handy and made light work of cleaning all the bits up prior to paint. Basically anything that look rusty got it, other than the rads. So brackets, fan housing, oil cooler/rad grills, fairing stays, fastners all got a blasted. Then a coat of etch primer. I bought this handy little gun last year, with a 0.8mm needle, it’s ideal for this.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-HVLP-Blue ... 4507996%26

Then a coat of satin black, nothing fancy, just some I picked up ages ago and had lying around. A 2k would be nice, much harder and more durable but it’s nasty stuff and I’m trying to find a good used air fed mask.



Calipers were painted in etch primer then a top coat of Hammerite Smoothrite Gold thinned with celly thinners. You’re supposed to use a proper xylene based thinner but I painted the wheels on my 205 with this method in gold 5 years ago and 10k later they’re still fine, considering the £5 it cost for paint for 4 car wheels! Interestingly I’d done the front calipers in etch when I discovered too late that actually the rear one was partially seized, so I stripped it quickly, cleaned and blasted it. So it’s had Hammerite straight onto bare blasted [it’s a good key] alloy. I was too lazy to mix the etch primer up again for one caliper and have to clean the gun. So we’ll see how long it lasts. Finish looks the same.