Wee Z - A Tanking and a spot of Carb Loading

Previously on Wee Z (again insert your own here, that’s not penis related by the by...): One Kawasaki Z200 had become two Kawasaki Z200s. (No further breeding has been noted, although who knows what really goes on under that cover at the bottom of the garden) “Miraculous, marvellous, magnificent!” I hear you cry! We spoke about an elder gentleman and badger bottom consistency plans were set out, or perhaps thrown out, "excellent!". And now we begin to question whether the soap style intros to each post have, already, become tedious, and we wonder whether we may actually see some progress.... highlight ‘may’.





So I took stock of what was needed, ordered some parts and procured a Haynes manual. M&P delivered a battery and some acid, an oil filter* and the wrong spark plug. All was good in the hood but after the friendly advice from our neighbour, going something like “you better chain them to something or they’ll be away”, I bought some more locks. The next purchase was an Oxford bike cover. I’ll try and get a picture but it’s been over the beasts for a year and is looking worse for wear, any suggestions on a replacement?( Issue now fixed, bless you for your guidance within the ‘General’ section of the PB forum.)


So the Pimpernel and the Phoenix were chained together and snuggled up at the bottom of the garden with the cover hiding them from prying nob jockeys. The battery was injected with some electrickery and just to see, the engine turned over. Nice!



So for something to do I pulled the carb off and decided to investigate. The poor beastie looked liked this

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

So I gave the float bowl a good clean as it was gunged up and generally had a poke about and a good clean. Everything seemed fine so I put it back together and couldn’t resist giving the outside a bit of a clean too.
Now I say everything “looked fine”, what I mean by that is that there was crap in there and then I cleaned it out. Whether this will actually ‘be fine’ when we try and spin her up we’ll see... So after some more, possibly unnecessary, polishing it looked like this.

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

There is something ridiculously pretty about a carburettor, simple or otherwise. Bits of bikes verge on ‘art’ for me, (if you could ever possibly define what art is?) One of those pictures was my screen saver for quite a while.

Anyhoo that was bolted back on and I turned my attention back to spending money on things that I probably couldn’t afford.

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

And then I got glandular fever. Arse*. That meant I was back home in Caithness for most of the time and only down in the ‘deen to see mates and the wondrous woman in my life. For the first while I was properly buggered but once I got over the initial knockout I began to tinker with bits and make the odd purchase and would occasionally take bits back Northwards.

So the Pimpernel’s tank came home, although the gun barrel wouldn’t fit in the back of the car. It must have been around Easter time and I was reasonably fit but had a pitiful immune system so was catching every bug going. In a healthy period I got going and slapped some Nitromors on the fish bowl. Rust was coming through in a few places but after a couple of paint strips and then a good going over with a sander, bits were looking quite good.
However I then got ill again and the tank got left in the garage for a while. Bare naked metal which was already a tad rusty in parts didn’t really like that, so hopes of getting her sanded right down and then just clear coating it went out the window. This was how it was looking before it was unjustly abandoned and the process up to that point.

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 94% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

They're lovely little things those clip ons Should change the look of the little bike completely too. Issues may arise with the lock stops but we’ll deal with them when they’re on. The tank has had some more work lavished upon its metal flanks and we will peruse this at a later date within a further verbose out pouring




As you were Update complete, roll credits...






*What do you mean you’ve never heard of ‘glandular fever arse’! It’s a million times worse than the usual gf I tell ye’!

*Although Mohawk from the forum now says that they don’t even run one of these... so have they in fact sent me a plug and oil filter for the 250? A gander at the Haynes should explain everything but there are other things to do at the moment so I’ll investigate with Kato later...