Bank Holiday Weekend

Well, what a lovely weekend we had! Loads of news, but as I'm at work I'll have to do this piecemeal - people keep sending me work to do, how dare they! Don't they realise this is much more important...?!

Got a whole bunch of pictures to sort out & upload too.

The weekend was slightly marred by the return of the BUELL!! Oh No! It hasn't found itself a new owner yet and the guy who was looking after it for me at his workshop while trying to sell it is moving workshops so needed to get shot of it for a while. So it's come home. I have to say, it does make a nice noise with the "race" pipe on it and it does pull like a TRAIN, but overall I'd prefer three grand in my pocket than that bike cluttering up the garage. The alarm tends to go off whenever I try to get tools out of the toolbox now. Grrr! Anyone want a Buell?? It's lovely, really, just I've fallen out of love with it is all.

I spent quite a lot of the weekend at a proper old-fashioned May Festival in a local village (middle-england, me? Well, OK, if you insist...). With proper maypole dancing and morris men and barbequeues and all the local organisations - cubs, scouts, brownies, guides, children's playgroups, WI, etc etc etc having stalls on the village green. It was lovely in the sunshine I have to say, and I spent more time there than I really intended to so I didn't perhaps get as much done on this project as might have been possible. But then I do have a life outside of the project!!

Anyway, work completed this weekend. Almost got the entire frame stripped down! After all the faffing about over the last couple of weekends' work not really getting anywhere, suddenly it all came together. Got the engine out - aren't the 125 motors DINKY!! Sat it next to a 250 bottom end on the floor and it's about half the size! We still think the frames MAY be interchangeable, as the mounting points are in different places on the heads, but I'm not really sure. We'll see when I've got a big frame stripped down. I think the spine, from the stand up to the join where it meets the main tank spar, is narrower.

Innit dinky!

So, the frame with the engine out. Finally! I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever get this far. But as Justin keeps pointing out, I'm doing a restoration project (which I haven't done before and am learning all the time) - which is a different prospect entirely to dropping an engine to fix a given problem. Everything I'm taking off has to be identified, tagged, given a light smear of oil to stop it corroding while it's off the bike, bagged up in groups by component and stored away. That's something to add to the "to do" list actually, when I finish dismantling this frame I must sort out the storage before I start the next bike. It's a bit boring, but currently everything is just thrown into a couple of collapsible crates. I really must get one crate for 125 stuff separately, and clear one out for the next bike.

Clutch actuator...

I gave up on getting the clutch actuator out of the generator cover. If anyone can give me a hint on how this might be accomplished I'd be grateful - Justin had a look and we came to the conclusion it's something you're not really supposed to be able to do, so we left it. If I need to get it out to re-paint the cover or anything, I'll revisit the problem later on. Things like that can completely stop me in my tracks unless I consciously put them aside and make a note to work on them later. Here's a couple of pictures of the offending item, inside and outside, just in case anyone kind drops by who knows how to do this! I've got the clutch cable and spring off of the lever on the inside, but haven't managed to get the lever off the worm drive.

The brake caliper still hasn't bled through. I'm giving it one more chance as it's not in the way, but if it hasn't sorted itself out by next weekend I'm going to have to get the pliers onto it, as I'll want it out of the way when I've finished dismantling this bike so I can have a fresh start and a tidy workbench for the next one.

Once I got the engine dropped out, everything seemed to click into place, and I spent most of Monday afternoon happily stripping things down, tagging and bagging. The only component that gave serious trouble was the rear mudguard! The bolts have obviously never been undone (who would? For what reason?) in the life of the bike and were corroded to lumps of pure rust I think. The bolts at the side of the joint halfway along the mudguard were fun. One broke, leaving half the bolt in the nut (not that I mind, all the bolts are getting replaced anyway), and the other one first stripped its cross-point head so I dremelled a straight-across for a big b*stard screwdriver for some grip. That also stripped! So I ended up, as I had the dremel out, cutting the bolt in half. I've wrecked the hole in the mudguard doing this though so will have to do something about that if I want to use it later. Sometimes I love the dremel a bit too much - and forget to take into account the amount of heat it generates. The forward part of the mudguard is still attached to the bike as I'm letting the WD40 work its magic. Will have to try to get into the garage for 30 seconds a couple of times in the week to reapply it. And I might end up cutting this bolt too...

Another slight problem I have come across is getting the pillion pegs disassembled. Here's a picture of the problem. Only one peg was affected as the other one has obviously suffered in a spill at some time - it was fairly squashed and the strange through-peg had been replaced by a normal nut and bolt. If anyone can suggest a way to get this arrangement undone and the peg off the mounting, again, I'll be grateful! I've gotten the whole assembly off the bike as the retaining bolt is captive in the mounting there. Sometimes getting things off the bike isn't the best plan though - being attached to something solid can be an advantage if leverage is to be applied. I get the feeling though, that intelligence is the key here, not brute force. There's nothing to apply brute force to, anyway!

So, this is where I left the project at about 8pm last night. The rear wheel spindle & peripherals need tagging and bagging, and as you can see I've got that forward half of the rear mudguard to remove and the forks & front wheel to sort out. I'm intending to strip the forks down as I expect the fork oil will be seriously manky. That front disc is one of the better ones in my collection though, so that'll have to come off - I hope it'll go onto a later cast wheel - it looks the same from here... So, nearly there - one maybe two weekend's more work, depending on how much time I put in and if there are any problems...

L8r!

One thing just occurs - what is that strange rubber snorkel for, that goes up the big frame spine from just in front of the airbox almost up to the steering head? I can't fathom any purpose for that at all!

Found a Forum

Found a nice-looking MZ/MuZ forum while trying to Google myself. It's definitely alive, but not busy like some forums I've been on in the past - which is good because I won't feel the need to monitor it all the time. I tend to get in trouble at work when I'm forumming...

I've put a link to them in my useful links slot, although probably the only people who are ever going to visit this blog are people from the forum (and not many of them and not very often). Hey ho.

So hello to everyone from http://www.mzriders.com/, see you on the forum!

Shopping (again)

You can tell I'm a girlie! I've been shopping again. Just to get some more tags and a permanent pen (I noticed the biro had mysteriously disappeared from a couple of tags the other day).
Haven't been in the garage since last weekend as I was away in Hoofddorp (nr Amsterdam) for the early part of the week. That wasn't as interesting as it sounds because I was doing an audit on one of the contractor companies that I work with, and basically saw the hotel and their offices. I hate it when people do that, but I didn't have much choice. I could have got on a bus and done some exploring on my own, but knowing me I'd've got lost. If I'd had the Skorpion with me it would have been a different story!

Up to date!

Hooray, that was all of the previous items I'd created and saved to the memory stick promising myself I'll set up a blog "soon"... So now you're up to date, apart from this weekend...

Well, yesterday. A trip to Halfords yielded a can of 3-in-1 oil and a nasty plasticky modern version of the oil can I was on about. It works, but isn't as aesthetically pleasing as the old-fashioned variety. Oh well. Still haven't tracked down any barrier cream though. I NEED to get some of that, it takes days for my hands to be clean again after a proper session, and I'm supposed to be doing an audit in the Netherlands early next week. Ah well, they'll just have to think I'm slightly mad. They won't be far wrong, will they?
On to the work. I realised I'd made a basic mistake with the brake caliper when, after an amount of huffing and puffing and leaning on spanners etc to get it apart, I realised I'd need to push the pistons out from behind in the normal way (ie with brake fluid, which would mean putting it all back together and rigging up a master cylinder & lever etc). Biscuits. I don't wan't to damage them by pulling out from the front if I can help it. So I spent a lot of the afternoon taking the front brake setup off the 251 in the corner, getting that caliper broken down properly & rigging the 125 caliper to its brake line. I'm not sure it's ever going to bleed through though, as there was a lot of a kind of waxy substance in all the channels in the caliper, and of course I'd disturbed the (rather dry and old-looking) seal too. At the time of writing, the system is hanging from the garage ceiling with the lever cable-tied open and the bleed nipple open to see if the fluid will just seep through given enough time. I seem to be getting more fluid out of the joints in the brake line than the bleed nipple though. We'll see next weeked I guess. If it hasn't made any progress by then I'll have to think of another plan. I also got the exhaust off, broken down, cleaned and bagged up. Now I've got the oil can, all the components that are going into bags are getting a smear of oil so hopefully at least won't deteriorate any further. Many of the nuts & bolts etc probably won't be used again, but it's a useful discipline and it'll be good to be able to identify them for replacement purposes... That was about it for yesterday, aside from formally christening the kettle and getting the CD player to work for 2/3 of a CD, until I started hitting things on the bench which put it right off its stroke. It still hasn't forgiven me. Will have to keep an eye out in charity shops etc for a new one...


Today, 20th April. Thinking back on the day, I don't seem to have got very much done. I faffed around with the brake caliper some more, and got that rigged up to the ceiling to gravity bleed over the week. I made a bit more progress towards getting the engine out - carburettor and generator cover off. This engine is the ETZ version (I think of as the "old" style) with the clutch actuator on the right hand side, and a pin all the way through the engine to the actual clutch on the other side (no, I don't know why, either). So I'm struggling a little to break down the clutch actuator assembly inside the generator cover itself. I need to fabricate a tool as the retaining system for the arm is, um, interesting. I'll try to remember to double-check the manual before doing too much more next week. Haynes are quite good at suggesting alternatives to the "special" tools.
The carburettor is all broken down, oiled and bagged up. It wasn't in bad nick really, there was a bit of jellified fuel in the bottom of the float bowl and bottom end of the main jet, but that'll clean up with some brake cleaner (something to add to the list there) apparently. It could have been a LOT worse. I couldn't get the idle adjuster screw out though, will have to attack that again sometime.
I also had to spend some time fixing the chain on the Skopion again. It had managed to lose the retaining clip of the joining link... I seriously didn't think it was a good idea to ride the bike, knowing it was like that - obviously I must've ridden it a bit before I saw the problem - but I have no idea how far. So Justin (bless him) took some time out from finishing coursework and starting revision to help me out with that - the chain tool just doesn't have long enough levers for me! I made a good stab at it myself first though, I promise. Then Justin wanted a lift up to town to go in to the Uni for a while, and (cheeky sod) a lift home too when his friend wasn't available for a beer... Still, he's cooking a bacon and mushroom omelette for tea, so perhaps I shouldn't complain too much.
Taking the generator cover off also confirmed my suspicion that this little bike was once well cared for, under the rubber bung that hides the end of the clutch mechanism on the outside, was evidence of a generous smear of grease last time it was assembled. I'm impressed. A lot of the alloy is furry, but it cleans off fine and hopefully the oil should stop it coming back while in storage.
Basically I ran out of time today. I was in the garage until after half past nine last night, and as I'm going to be away for three days this week I figure Justin deserves some of my time tonight. So when I got back from picking him up from town I really only tidied up and called it a day. I do prefer to finish the component/assembly that I'm working on, but I can see that clutch actuator taking a while to extract. And it's going to have to come out if I'm going to repaint or otherwise refurbish that cover...
TTFN
@

08 April 2008

08/04/08
Had a lovely shopping trip today. Walked down to Halfords, which was disappointing as they didn’t have any barrier cream, but I got a catering size can of WD40. Tescos only had Large resealable bags – will have to go to Sainsburys sometime for small and medium, although my local Savacentre doesn’t always have small ones. WHSmith provided a magnetic dry-wipe notice board which I hope will be very handy. Wilkinsons supplied their usual line in el-cheapo stuff, a handful of notepads, washing up brush, toothbrushes, little food storage pots for tea/coffee/sugar/milk. Finally, a trip to Argos yeilded a kettle for under a fiver. I’ve decided to keep an Accounts spreadsheet, and this shows I spent £25.64 today, which isn’t bad for the amount of stuff I got. I’m nearly there with the scrounging list, although I haven’t really managed to “scrounge” much of it yet… I’ll steal some teabags, coffee, sugar and dried milk (only bought for breadmaking – we don’t normally use it!) from the kitchen at some convenient moment, that’ll make me feel better about it. Now, how to get all this lot home from Uxbridge…?! I’ll have fun loading up the Skorpion tonight. It might take a couple of days… Although I always say “where there’s a will there’s a way”, so I’ll give it a good go before I leave stuff here.