New project 1986 FZ600

[oldjeep]

Bought a winter project off Craigslist yesterday - 86 FZ600. This seemed like the closest forum I could find for that particular project, so here goes. Paid $500 for it, it is pretty complete and original except for some K&N pods that will get removed and sold. Supposedly been sitting since 2007 with the guy I bought it from and maybe since 2003 with the previous owner. The engine turns over and has spark on the one cylinder that I checked.
Ordered up some carb kits, and I'll do all the basic stuff like check valve clearances and cam chain tension. Meanwhile I'm cleaning up some boogered wiring repairs and trying to figure out what one particular connector is supposed to be for. Fairings look better in pictures than they actually are, but should be usable.

 

[oldjeep]

Carbs looked to be "rebuilt" at some point - but most of the o-rings got shaved or cut during installation and one of the seat screens was missing. Kits show up saturday.

 

[Gary in NJ]

Carbs look to be clean. You might want to break-down the rack to check the condition of the o-rings between carbs...of course then they would HAVE to be replaced. But better to replace them then to discover a leak.

 

[oldjeep]

Carbs look to be clean. You might want to break-down the rack to check the condition of the o-rings between carbs...of course then they would HAVE to be replaced. But better to replace them then to discover a leak.

Definitely - learned that lesson on a 2003 FZ1 that I had. Rebuilt all the carbs in the rack and then got to pull them all back out when the fuel log o-rings were leaking. Once the kits get here I will take them off the rack one at a time, dip them and then reassemble one at a time. Just got done doing a rack off a 2002 FZ1 2 weeks ago for a friend.

 

[oldjeep]

Hasn't been the most interesting project in the world, except when I found that some previous owner reversed the valves in the head and that is why it had no compression. Just finishing up the brakes now.

 

[Gary in NJ]

How in the wide world of sports could someone swap the intake and exhaust valves?

 

[oldjeep]

How in the wide world of sports could someone swap the intake and exhaust valves?

Crack doesn't smoke itself? The funny thing was that it took me a while to even notice it

 

[oldjeep]

Meanwhile I finished up this one:

 

[Gary in NJ]

Nice job on the Triumph. Is that a 955i? Great choice on the color & seats. Did you shoot it?

 

[oldjeep]

Nice job on the Triumph. Is that a 955i? Great choice on the color & seats. Did you shoot it?

Yeah - 2003 speed triple 955i
Local(ish) craigslist painter that does bikes on the side. The original seat covers I added were black, after the repaint seemed like they needed to be brown. Both sets of covers were from Volcano in Italy. They do really nice covers - easy install.

 

[oldjeep]

Pretty much done. All the new brake stuff is done. Just need to sync the carbs some day when it is warm enough to have the door open for a while and then start repairing some of the broken tabs on the fairings.

 

[Motogiro]

She looks cool with that upper fairing. Maybe fashion a chin fairing? Are this slotted discs factory?

 

[oldjeep]

The rotors appear to be stock - other pictures of 1986 FZ600s have them. If I was planning to keep it I would just replace all the body fairings with some fiberglass stuff that is available in the UK. But its a flip, so I'm going to do my best to return the stock fairings to better shape and move on to the next project. (A 1964 Honda CA95)

 

[Gary in NJ]

Looking forward to the CA95 project.

 

[oldjeep]

Looking forward to the CA95 project.

That one is gonna be a while. Just built the wheels and working on motor at the moment. Plenty of parts to choose from, got 4 partials and 5 bins of parts from a guy on CL. Should be enough to build one

 

[Gary in NJ]

Yeah...don't be shy...post lots of photos.

What was the polishing method on those wheel hubs? Fantastic shine...they look as good as the chrome on the hoops.

 

[oldjeep]

Yeah...don't be shy...post lots of photos.

What was the polishing method on those wheel hubs? Fantastic shine...they look as good as the chrome on the hoops.

Just an orbital buffer and some buffing compound. The rims are new

 

[oldjeep]

Fired it up on the fuel tank, rather than the hang bottle for the first time this weekend. After puking fuel all over, replaced all the squeeze clamps with proper twist clamps. Starts right up and runs decently. Still need to sync the carbs once it warms up enough outside to let the bike run for a while. Tach is not working, need to figure that out - and the headlights are intermittent. So I'll yank the front fairing off so I can get to all that wiring a little easier.

 

[Gary in NJ]

All little things. Is the tach on that bike electronic or mechanical?

 

[oldjeep]

All little things. Is the tach on that bike electronic or mechanical?

Electric