Sloth's 85 Tri-Z project

[slothminx]

I bought my Z way back in november as a long term project to fix up over time. For £410 ($740) I had spotted it in a picture of an auction for an ATC70 and contacted the seller asking if he would sell it. She was good value, and almost complete. A smokin deal here in the UK

There was one problem, I kept finding things wrong with it. Heres how she looked after I got it home.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c90/slothminx/DSC07083.jpg

Definitely not a looker, But all there with all the exspensive stuff in good condition. But..... me being me I decided to take it apart and give the frame a quick clean and it snowballed from here. Before long I had the engine out... I was really please that my swingarm bolt slid right out.

http://img286.imageshack.us/img286/1989/dsc072125uy.jpg

Then I started to take the rear suspension out

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9573/dsc000051tb.jpg




The frame itself was in quite good condition and the purple powdercoat looked to be in good conditon, but after some vigorous cleaning a few bits started to chip off. I could see where this was going.

I had soon decided that the purple had to go, Wasnt orginal and not even that nice a shade too.

Got the frame blasted for $40 The guys there were great, only charged me $40 even tho it had to go though the blaster machine 12 times to get the powder off.:eek:
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/5051/dsc000352xo.jpg

I had a nice clean frame to start with. It looked great but after a few days of sitting inside the house rust spots were starting to appear. So off to the sop to get some primer. An anti rust, etching primer was used, meant to hold the rust at bay and I hope it will.

After a few coats of the primer I had trouble.... The media the blasters had used on the frame had been very coarse and was textured all over. So after mixing some filler-primer up and spray gunning it on was I able to put the yellow on.

I started with the brackets first, knowing these would be the hardes parts to get, shooting paint inside some of the brackets was real hard without getting a run!

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/2543/dsc000498bg.jpg

[slothminx]

My first try with the colour of the paint was wrong, I started with Ford-signal yellow it was way too light for the plastics and so I went back to they shop with a shroud and matched up Fiat-Broom yellow. A little orangy compared to the ford colour, But a much better match to the shroud
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/6325/dsc000613az.jpg

With the paint on, I could start work on the motor, At least the side cover and head would need to come off. I had coolant in the gearbox a sure sign the notorious water seal had failed. But a replacement from moshman355 arrived and pressed in the old ones place even those it was from a banshee.

The head was a more simple fix, Just popped it off and put a new gasket on.

I couldnt leave the engine as it was, so after a thoughough degrease and keying of the side cover it got a fresh coat of "satin black" and so did the cylinder after masking up all the bit i didnt want to be painted.

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/4352/dsc000785pb.jpg

Looked alot smarter with the paint :)


Next... I had some faded shrouds front fender and a very cracked rear. I knew this would be a problem and new of these would be alot of $$. Wet sanding held the answer, After hours of arm breaking sanding and polishing they were finally looking good. Saved myself $150 there :2finger:

Time to assemble it!


I got straight to work with the front end.
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9739/dsc000874aq.jpg
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/3007/dsc000904dx.jpg
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/610/dsc000985tt.jpg

I got the front wheel on and then remebered.......... swinger bearings were toast.

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/2743/dsc072609sh.jpg

A quick call to the dealer and $100 later they were on there way still gonna be 3 days till they arrived.

After 3 days I called the dealer only to be told another 3 days:fire:

They got the bearings and I picked them up, drove away.... they had screwed up my order! I had some V max parts DOH! Back to the dealer and got the right ones. Pressed them in double quick and got the rear assembled.


This is how she stands now :)

http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/3834/p10100235gs.jpg
http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/7796/p10100209xl.jpg
http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/448/p10100242gf.jpg
http://img313.imageshack.us/img313/5500/p10100266om9uh.jpg
http://img313.imageshack.us/img313/2020/p10100287zz0rc.jpg

Future plans

I have an answer silencer on the way, I will be replacing the rear fenders and rear tires. Along with a Baja PRM- grab bar.

But for now.... Im just gonna get out and ride her.

[mywifeknowseverythin]

Nice Work:headbang:

[Gdkarma]

DUDE, that looks great! Nice to see photos of a complete break down and rebuild. Good work, and I hope it brings many hours of fun.

:headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: