womble's winter wheels....

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womble
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Re: womble's winter wheels....

Post by womble » Tue Dec 20, 2011 11:44 am

Greybeard wrote:Nice Job there.

I must be old, that MZ looks a nice bike to me, ( apart from the top box ) nice Alloy wheels :mrgreen: oh and the colour, :lol:
Yeah - thats a cheapo Rickman box. Did come in handy at times.

Those are Akront flanged alloy rims on stainless spokes. Somehow the MZ's fitted with the Rotax engine were never as much fun to ride as their two strokes despite the extra weight of the engine putting a little more weight on the front-end which helped the handling. The MT is a better place for the engine and most of the rest of the MZ rolling chassis will go into another project.

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Murdock
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Re: womble's winter wheels....

Post by Murdock » Tue Dec 20, 2011 6:10 pm

Just had a thought :idea: Does the MZOC and other owners of makes with Rotax engines fitted brake MTs for their engines :?: :lol:
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womble
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Re: womble's winter wheels....

Post by womble » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:07 am

Murdock wrote:Just had a thought :idea: Does the MZOC and other owners of makes with Rotax engines fitted brake MTs for their engines :?: :lol:
Dunno - I reckon there's probably more MTs around than most of the others and I can't see too many people wanting to either go down to a 350 or lose the electric foot..

As for the MZ Riders Club, I'm not expecting a lynching, and it was worth more to me for what I could do with the bits than what any of 'em were prepared to pay me to have it.

Anyhow - its my bike so I'll do what I like with it........ :lol:


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Last edited by womble on Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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womble
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Re: womble's winter wheels....

Post by womble » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:36 am

Next instalment.......


Fuelling – Even after my quick tidy up, the slow running, ease of use from cold and tickover seemed much better on the MT cv carb than it ever had on the MZ’s 34mm Dell Orto pumper. However, the throttle slide in the cv carb was completely knackered. Replacement was an expensive business, but for me, a reliable tickover and less likelihood of that horrible cough and stall on pull-away is worth it on a winter commute in heavy traffic even if the top-end performance is not so good as with the slide carb.

Exhaust mount / clamps – the bike already had stainless front pipes. The mid-pipe and silencer were the originals, the latter already displaying a patch at it’s lowest point as seems to be the norm. The clamps and mounting flanges were all replaced with stainless. The front silencer mount underneath the rear mudguard had to be repaired – some animal had forced the bolt in there at an angle. The silencer was scrubbed up and given a blow over with heat resistant paint. Hopefully it will see out at least the first winter.

Electricals

The electrics were given a general once-over and all the connections got a good dose of contact cleaner and a brush up. Some other stuff was either modified or augmented as follows:

Rear indicators. I didn’t like the floppy originals that were on there so I used a pair from the donor bike which were sprayed black. These units are fitted with smaller size 10W bulbs so I changed the bulbs in the front indicators to match and also fitted a 10W compatible flasher unit.

The rear light as fitted when I got the bike appears to be the same as that fitted to 80s Kawasaki GPz machines with a black looking lens when the lights are off. I like this – it seems to suit the bike very well and twin bulbs are a bonus.

Image

Voltmeter – This was an auto-jumble find about fifteen years ago and is an original BMW item designed for fairing mounting in one of the old air-head boxers. I think I paid about a fiver for it but have never had a bike where it looked like it would mount nicely til the MT with that big blank space under the warning lights. Seems to work very well and typically indicates dead on 14v with the engine running. This drops to 13v when both lights and heated grips are switched on.

Tacho – from the donor bike; takes its trigger feed from the green wire on the CDI. A mate made me a bracket that uses the original mounting pattern and is bolted to the inside of the headlight unit.

Image

Oil pressure indicator – as fitted to the donor bike. I used the switched 12v feed also going to the neutral indicator to feed the warning light. This then earths out via the oil pressure switch in the filter cover.

Image

Left-hand switchgear – original was very battered so replaced with the item from the donor bike which was identical save for the addition of an on/off switch for the lights. I had to re-arrange some of the wires in the connector block and bypass the on/off switch.

Heated grips – These are some Oxford over-grips that were in my stash. They are the type that velco over the existing grips. I replaced the rather cheap and nasty standard switch and warning LED arrangement with dash-mounted examples. The feed is via a relay mounted behind the headlamp.

Other stuff

All the cables were replaced and the originals kept as emergency spares. The decompressor unit from the donor was taken across to the MT and I used the clutch lever fittings from the donor bike also as this assembly already included a decompressor lever.

Image

The fuel system was cleaned out and I also had to repair the filler cap retainer. Surprisingly, there was very little dirt in the system and the inside of the tank looked clean and rust free. I re-connected the chain to the fuel cap after retrieving the plastic retainer. An in-line filter replaces tilt switch.

The rear mudguard had been broken in the past and badly repaired. It was also showing signs of having been melted against the silencer. The rubber spacer where it is near the silencer was missing. The mudguard and heat buffer were replaced with new items.

The very rusty looking chain was replaced and so were the sprockets. I went up to a 17T on the front as I already had a new one in my stash. Its raised the gearing up a bit to help take account of the bigger engine, but the bike remains much lower geared than the MZ donor which runs a 17T front with a 38T rear – quite a bit smaller than the 47T on the MT. Incidentally, the chain I took off the MZ when removing the engine – a fully enclosed fitment – was still the original after 70k km.

Image

Chain oiler – I bought a twenty quid Lubeman oiler. Not sure I like it yet, I keep forgetting to press the button to allow some oil out and then when I do remember, I always seem to end up with a load on the tyre. Had Scottoilers for years, but didn’t want to go to the expense of buying another one for the MT.

Image

Top box. This is an old Nonfango box I’ve had for years. It last saw action in the mid-nineties fitted to a Suzuki 650 Katana. The mounting plate is also the Nonfango item fitted to the MT rack with some bits and bobs that were lying around. The box locks onto the mounting plate and is quickly detached.

Image

Tomorrow, finishing touches and getting out on the road....


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womble
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Re: womble's winter wheels....

Post by womble » Thu Dec 22, 2011 7:44 am

Screen – Another item from my stash which has been fitted to a couple of bikes in the past but again last saw action on my 650 Katana back in the mid-nineties. A couple of extra brackets mounted in place of those intended for the tyre pump saw it fitted fairly easily.

Handguards – I fitted a set of genuine Triumph parts intended for an early model Hinckley Tiger. I had these fitted to a carb-engined Sprint for about eight years so they don’t owe me a lot and were very cheap to buy new back then anyway. The curve of these guards matches that of the MT bark busters so they look quite neat. I have simply zip-tied them to the bark busters. The clutch side needed a bit of hacksaw modification to clear the de-compressor lever.

Image


Number plate – The bike must have had a new plate made when it was registered, but it had been fitted really badly with umpteen holes drilled in it and then bolted to the twisted rear mudguard. It looked awful so I replaced it with a new bendy offroad one in a slightly smaller 8x6 size. MOT man didn’t bat an eyelid which was handy.

The tax disc holder is a cylindrical one mounted on rear pannier frame bracket on RHS.


On the road……..

Following a short shake down run, the bike was taken for an MOT. This wasn’t due for another three months, but I didn’t want to be messing about trying to get this sorted over Christmas/New Year, plus it decouples the tax expiry which simplifies renewal of that too.

After a small amount of adjustment to mixture and tickover, I then pressed the bike into daily service on my commute. It didn’t take too long to get used to the foibles of starting – it seems to like a couple of twists of the throttle before attempting a cold start. Tickover, however, is very reliable and once the choke is taken off after a couple of miles, the bike will tickover quite happily. Running on full choke from cold is reliable at about 2k rpm and its only when pulling up whilst the engine is still on partial choke that care is needed to ensure the engine does not die. With the 17/47 gearing, I don’t tend to use first gear at all on the road and although the speedo will run off the clock easily enough, I tend not to keep it over 60 or so for too long. If I was doing longer or faster journeys then a change to an 18T on the front would definitely be on the cards. Early indications on fuel consumption indicate around 55 - 60mpg which I guess isn’t too bad.

Handling and brakes are acceptable enough given the mild performance of the machine although a bit of recalibration was required at first. I like the ‘anonymous’ nature one can assume when riding this sort of bike – nobody including other riders has any expectations of you – something I’ve not really enjoyed in the same way since my last MZ two-stroke bit the dust.

Image

Overall, I guess I spent a bit more than I originally intended, but as a cheap way of getting about through the winter it puts a grin on yer face. I’ve plastered it in ACF50 especially the already rusty bits of the chassis and don’t intend washing it before it gets a little rest somewhere around March next year. Talking of which…..



Future

I have already started making a list of jobs for next year:

Ignition Switch – The action of the switch is very stiff. Not sure if this is normal, but I sometimes feel like the key is going to break if I’m not careful so this is likely to be replaced.

Seat – The cover is torn along the base on both sides so a new cover is on the cards.

I’ll probably replace the RHS mirror just so I’ve got a matching pair.

I will be inspecting the silencer carefully to see if it can go another year. If it looks like it won’t then my ideal is to just get a link pipe so I can utilise the CCM stock can I have stashed somewhere.


Finally I’d like to mention the excellent service received from the usual suppliers – MTRC Shop, Apophis, KL Motorsport and Force Motorcylces. All provided parts or tools for this project and without exception, the service was fantastic. Thanks Guys.


womble
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Apophis

Re: womble's winter wheels....

Post by Apophis » Tue Dec 27, 2011 8:31 pm

good to read this
did you keep the 660 cam in the engine or did you put the 350s 667 in it
I found the 660 to be very mellow and swaped it out for the 665 which is the 500 standard
the 660 inlet closes a little premeture compared to the 665 or 667
also what did you end up with on the CV carb jets in the end it would be good to see what a range of ppl use
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womble
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Re: womble's winter wheels....

Post by womble » Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:10 am

Presently I'm running with the standard 660 cam. I toyed with the idea of trying the 667 but in the end I was running out of time in getting on the road for my October deadline.

Did you notice much difference in performance between the cams ?


I've currently got the cv carb running a 42 pilot jet and standard main with three washers under the needle and the top cut off the airbox. Set like this it ticks over sweetly, doesn't bog and runs off the clock. Only on sub-zero mornings is it a little more tricky til its really warmed up so I'm happy enough with the settings.

Cheers,
womble
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Apophis

Re: womble's winter wheels....

Post by Apophis » Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:21 am

as i said the 660 is very mellow so it winds up through the range with out pulling on your arms.

but if you put the 665 in it is a totaly diferent animal again the cam is open a touch more on induction with the 665 cam

I didnt notice the top end beeing any more though

the Straight cut gears are no longer avalable and the helical cut gears are a direct replacement for them.
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