Time for an update....
a few weeks ago - basically the weekend before the Aussie Historic Titles up at Lakeside - I had Shadowfax up and running under its own steam
The top-end swap went pretty well - all pistons/rings etc coming from my other Z1000 (Cherry) - as well as the cylinder block and the cylinder head including the cams. I found some interesting things when I pulled the top-end off Cherry to swap over to the 'Fax.......the pistons in Cherry were high-comp MTC forged ! So that is a bit of a bonus for Phil and the 'Fax. Not new - but still in far better condition than the Moriwaki pistons fitted to the 'Fax motor originally. I added some new bits to the changeover - cam guides and damper rubbers - as well as new gaskets all round. Some fresh engine enamel to the old block and head - and it all started looking very clean and tidy.
The carbies I ended up using were stock Z900 carbs. These were given a once-over to make sure everything was clean and tidy. I took a guess at jetting, and advised Phil that he would need to take the bike to a track so that some better jetting could be completed. The original velocity stacks fitted up fine to the stock carbs and look the part. A starter motor has also been fitted as well as a starter-clutch mechanism. This meant removing the older engine sidecover and fitting a full-size alternator cover. No alternator fitted, just the rotor as this is part of the starter clutch. All this went together without any real issues.
Had some minor issues with the spare igniter coils that were fitted (they didn't work
) ......and ended up using the system straight off Cherry. Once the wiring to the kill switch and starter button was complete......time for a start !
With fuel in the tank and a good spark to all 4 plugs - it was pretty much an instant start. The top-end sounded fine - but the bottom-end is a bit grumbly due to 2 things - one - this is the original race-bike engine so the bottom end has had a pretty hard life. The 2nd thing was the rotor I ended up using on the starter-clutch.....it was an old one with a bit of play in it. These 2 things combined, give the old girl plenty of character when its fired up
....
I went for a short strop up the street and back and everything worked fine - clutch was good, gear selector worked fine - the rearsets are very high and very rear .....but the important things worked 100%.
Gave the old girl a good tub and Phil then swung down on the Sunday arvo to collect his baby. He was pretty happy when the bike started with 1 touch on the starter button
. It is running a total-loss system so will need the battery charged up before any demonstration runs - but the good news is - Shadowfax is now up and running under its own steam and Phil will hopefully be able to complete some demo laps at selected Historic meetings in the future
Here is a photo of the bike, on display up behind the pits at Lakeside.
That pretty much brings my involvment with this bike to a close, for the time being. Its been a great honour to be part of the build team and seeing such a piece of Canberra road-racing (and road-riding) history, come back to life. The swap for the top-end of Cherry to the 'Fax, means that the ported big-valve cylinder head, smoothbore carbs, high-lift cams and a few other bits and pieces - will now all be fitted to Cherry ! Matched with a new piston kit of 1105cc - I expect that Cherry should get along pretty well .......will update that thread once I get back to work on that bike.
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