KAWASAKI Z1300
Ralph gets the massive lump out of the Z1300 frame and gives it a spruce up!
Painting by ‘big’ numbers for Ralph this month.
In last month’s article I was getting to grips with open head surgery on the big six’s head. Having taken so much off the engine and not much liking the state of the paint on it, I thought I might as well pull the rest of the powerplant out of the frame and spruce it up a bit along with the frame rails. Easy peasy, right? Before undertaking any job of this ilk I always read through the job as described in the manufacturer’s book of lies. Mr Kawasaki’s technical scribe gave no indication as to what an absolute nest of vipers I was shortly to dive head first into. Step by step I went around undoing things in the order prescribed by KHI. All the usual: disconnecting all the electrical connectors (neutral indicator switch, oil pressure switch, oil level indicator, ignition pick-ups, alternator AC outputs starter motor cable and earth lead), clutch cable, breathers, air box, gear lever, etc. The rear brake lever and master cylinder are attached to an aluminium casting that also supports the right hand foot peg.
All nice and easy and straightforward: until I got to the bit about disconnecting the UJ (universal joint) that connects to the output shaft on the rear of the gearbox to the shaft drive. The KHI service manual says: “Holding the universal joint coupling with the holder (special tool), unscrew the coupling bolts (4). Push the universal joint into the swingarm.” Sounds easy enough. One headache is that the rubber boot around the joint has to be pushed back from the UJ to get at the bolts, is constantly getting in the way and is far from as flexible as one might wish. Using a regular combination spanner, I wasn’t getting enough torque and was struggling to hold the joint without the special tool so I searched the web for Kawasaki Part No 57001-1040 and eventually found one across the pond at a barely palatable price but at least it was there. In between time I bought some extra-long straight ring spanners which I felt would help. When the special tool arrived I tried and struggled and still couldn’t undo any of the bolts. In the end my friend who was doing some wiring in my workshop for my new compressor was persuaded to join in; by extending the leverage of both the spanner and special tool handle with heavy wall steel tubing, a lot of foul language, sweating and grunting the bolts finally gave way.
I attached some slings from the lifting arm of my bike bench to the corpulent engine bottom-end and extracted the remaining engine mounts. With my sparky friend Noel’s help, we man-handled the burly motor onto the top of a roll cab that I use specifically for engines, it having a big thick hardwood top. I’m sorry not to have taken any pictures of the motor extraction, but there simply were no spare hands. It’s a well-known fact that paint doesn’t stick to oil so it was time to get busy with a toothbrush and a chemical spray bottle loaded with brake cleaner, my favourite degreaser and crap remover. It is absolutely imperative that ALL the grease and muck is removed or you might as well not have taken 10 years off the life of your back getting the mill out of the frame. Yes, if I was going to do a perfect job, I would have stripped the whole lump down to its last nut and bolt, bead-blasted it, masked it, and used a nasty zinc chromate etch wash primer followed by some good old isocyanate two-pack paint. It was the winter and it was way too cold to spray outside and you certainly can’t apply such poisonous coatings indoors and as I don’t have a proper spray booth with an air-fed mask, it was going to have to be rattle cans. I managed to source some grey import VHT engine paint which is the best rattle can paint I have ever found and used that. Once I had thoroughly cleansed all areas I ‘keyed up’ the old paint with some fairly coarse Scotchbrite. I then started the long job of masking up everything I didn’t want painted. I actually bought a roll of pukka masking paper from an auto-paint supplier many years ago, which will probably last the remainder of my allocated time aboard planet Earth. Newspaper works fine, though it does tear more easily. For larger flat areas I prefer using packaging board as it is more robust. I place on a sheet, just a bit larger than the area to be covered, rub it with dirty fingers to make an impression and then cut it out with a pair of scissors, very roughly 5mm inside the outer edge to allow room for the masking tape to attach it. I run masking tape over the edges of the castings and then trim the excess away with a nice sharp scalpel. When running tape into a corner, I push the tape in with the end of the scalpel handle and then trim it using the blade. It really is worth paying the extra for good quality masking tape: believe me. Three rolls for a quid is going to be just that: cheap and not so cheerful when you use it! Decent branded tape is also much easier to work with especially when you are trying to get it to bend around awkward shapes. Cheap tapes, that do actually stick, are often very difficult to remove.
I decided not to take the top-end studs out as they would be quite useful to lean the motor against when I was painting the underneath and to act as a handle to move it around, but this did mean the studs had to be covered. I cut out suitable rectangles of paper and rolled them around a small paint brush using the skills I developed when rolling joints during my misspent youth. Once formed these paper tubes could be slid over the studs and taped in place. I stuffed suitably sized rags around the con-rods in crankcase mouths to keep the rods central and then covered them with masking paper and tape. When masking up barrels I always stuff them with something to stop the masking on the bottom of the liners getting pushed in with handling; old packaging is good for this or screwed up balls of old (or new) newspaper. For masking threaded holes I tend to use silicon rubber plugs I bought for making up for powder-coating. From memory they were quite expensive for what they were; all these years later I can’t remember the cost, but they are still really useful. I have used old bolts in the past, but these days I collect them in containers and periodically get them stripped and re-plated. In past years I just replaced everything with stainless cap screws etc. but these days I like to use ‘new’ original fasteners where practical. Once I was satisfied that paint could only land upon surfaces requiring the coating, I did a final clean off with panel wipe using clean disposable workshop rag. I sprayed the smaller parts in front of an extractor fan installed in the rear window of my workshop. In the winter it’s too cold to spray outside. For the engine itself I engaged the services of SWMBO, who bravely held the big flexible pipe from my portable extractor fan while I carefully painted the engine. I tipped it on its back to do the bottom and then carefully rolled in on to its sump to paint the remainder. Even if you don’t mind inhaling chemicals banned by the nanny state, you should never spray without extraction indoors as the over spray will land on everything in your workshop and is no respecter of expensive candy paint finishes. I always cover the bikes with sheets even though I’m using extraction, just to be sure. When painting with any form of spray paint, the secret is to keep the spray moving and don’t stop on the workpiece. Use very light coats to start with and build the thickness up. It’s always wise to leave any paint finish for at least a week to harden off before putting any pressure on it. This can be speeded up by cooking it on a low heat in the oven, but curing fully at room temperature cannot be beaten. Next month I’ll be tidying up the frame and shoe horning the motor back in the frame, again with the help of my good friend Noel, the Irish electrician – must be a joke in there somewhere!