South African rebuild of a XTZ 750

[philb]

Wot about the old classic "How many bikes can you ride at the same time?"........

"Probably about the same amount as the number of shoes / handbags / frocks that you can wear at the same time dearest first wife!!"

or

"How long are you going to be playing out in the garage with those bloody bikes?"..............

They have got some nice attributes tho'........




For the Welsh & Kiwi's.........

[CharlieGreger]

Good job sofar.

What color are you doing the frame. Powder coat or paint?

Sound like restoring can cost relationships.
Still worth it I thinks

I have had the frame powder coated. I think the colour is called charcoal but don't hold me to that. I was thinking of doing it black but after having a quick mock up with the tank and plastics on before i shipped it off to see if black would do her justice in the end. I reckon that black is going to be too much of a contrast, or too stark if you will. Unfortunately the powder coater fella didn't have too much in the way of colour choices, and i don't like the look of white for a frame, i decided on the charcoal.( pics to follow in a day or two) The rest of the bike is going to be white with red and yellow to break it up a bit. Not quite sure yet how i am going to do it, am busy in photoshop doing a fiddle here and there to see what it might look like, but i cant seem to settle on a final design just yet. probably too early in the project anyways, and i need to do more research on the theme i am after

As for the missus, well its quite a thing really. I have to treat her like i treat my bike in order to have some 'me time' for my project.... that being, be loyal to her and not look at other models , make sure she is well looked after and not treated to harshly , and keep her serviced on a regular basis

[55W1985]

[xtjoe]

Good luck there Charlie, as your last line reads its hard work keeping everybody happy

[Just Dan]

I will have to sand the dent area back down to metal again before i apply the filler putty. But for now at least the tank is protected. I have had a look at the swing arm and the crash bars, but so far they seem to be unaffected by any rusty growths.

A little word about leaving the tank in primer. Not sure if you live in a high moisture climate. Primer is not water proof like a top coat and actually acts like a sponge and sucks up moisture. Two things can happen if you leave your tank or any metal part in primer for a long time. The tank will rust again and the moisture that has absorbed into the primer can cause your top coat to bubble as the moisture trys to escape. Store your tank in a sealed plastic garage bin liner until needed.

Wonder who`s going to be the first in the divorce courts over building bikes then.

Mezo.

That would be me after all the hassle and grief my Tenere has caused.

[CharlieGreger]

I will have to sand the dent area back down to metal again before i apply the filler putty. But for now at least the tank is protected. I have had a look at the swing arm and the crash bars, but so far they seem to be unaffected by any rusty growths.

A little word about leaving the tank in primer. Not sure if you live in a high moisture climate. Primer is not water proof like a top coat and actually acts like a sponge and sucks up moisture. Two things can happen if you leave your tank or any metal part in primer for a long time. The tank will rust again and the moisture that has absorbed into the primer can cause your top coat to bubble as the moisture trys to escape. Store your tank in a sealed plastic garage bin liner until needed.

Now that there is a handy tip I had no idea about that to be honest...

[CharlieGreger]

Man oh man... getting a gap to work on my bike these days, just cant seem to get out there
In the mean time i have been doodling on Photoshop and have come up with an idea for my paint scheme....



Its not 100% decided as yet but i think it will be close to that. The font for the Chesterfield decal with be different as well. I am not sure about the two tone seat either. I am thinking that a bit of black along the sides of the seat will break the red a bit.Seeing as there will be a lot of red on the tank and panels My seat is red at the moment, but is in need of a recovering and a bit more foam adding to it. What do y'all think??? I had a very fleeting idea of doing a tri tone like Geoff had on his bike, but then thought better of it

collected my frame and headlight mounting bracket a while back from the powder coaters...



My swing arm and engine guard sand blasted and waiting to be primer coated, which i have done since i took the photo here



And to really start my week on a good note, i get a polite knock at the door on Monday morning and there is the delivery fella bearing gifts.
a complete gasket set


and a set of progressive springs for the front



And last but not least a shiny new ignition with keys



Having had enough of this "working for a living crap" i have decided to take the week off and work on my bike. Even my missus thought is was a good idea...
which has me feeling a tad suspicious here!!! With the worry of work out the way and plenty of time on my hands, I have decided to do all the small bits first. things like the brake master cylinder for the front and rear brakes, the side stand switch, handle bar switches etc.

first on the list...






with a bit of sanding and the wire brush on my bench grinder i managed to get it clean and spray painted.

Following that was my front brake... and why oh why does there always have to be one bolt or nut that tries to piss you off??? I managed to fuck this up pretty good before i wanted to throw my hammer across the workshop.


So off to the hardware store to find a stud remover.... and 54 beans later i head home


with a bit of careful drilling and we have a result

[Mezo]

Me thinks we have a S10 rebuild race on our hands here.

"and in the left corner we have Geoff from the UK up against our contender Charlie from South Africa"

Mezo.

[CharlieGreger]

I had thought of keeping the front brake resevoir black, but after cleaning the lid on the wire brush, i quite like the look of this. The body of the resevoir will be black, but i think i will keep the lid silver.

After a few coats of clear laquer


Next in line is the side stand switch. I have been thinking i might just remove this switch altogether, but for now i will clean and paint it and put new heat shrink on the wiring. I can always pawn it on fleabay later if i decide to remove it.



the inside is not too bad



After this was primed and painted, i started on the front brake resevoir.

[Dirtybrit]

Looking Good Charlie! I like the Cesterfeild paint job!