As the title says just bought a 86' ZX600R and was looking for a direction to start in for trouble shooting. I'm no stranger to wrenching but its my first motorcycle and don't know what to look for in terms of good and bad.
Just bought NR 1986 zx600r
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Presume from the outset that every bit of rubber on the bike has become so brittle it is not going to perform as needed.
Don't try and make it pretty until you have worked out how much it's going to cost in time and money to make it safe to operate. Whatever you estimate, double it. If you have that much budget, go buy something that will be much less painful to restore.
I wouldn't think a 37 year old bike would be ideal for learning to wrench on bikes, as there is going to be quite a lot of issues with spare parts. Especially as a bike that old will almost certainly have passed through many hands before landing with you. Ignorance and neglect, faulty maintenance, attempts at 'hot rodding'.... possible stunting activities..... the list of things that could be wrong has a fair potential of exceeding any value that bike may have when you make it whole, no matter how little you may have paid for it at the start.
We I in any way interested in working on something like this...... I would recognize that it will require a complete and total tear down of every sub system on the bike.
Because this bike hails from the very beginning of the 600cc SS invasion, it has quirks that are no longer mainstream which will make restoration that much more difficult.
Brake fluid. Sucks in water. SHOULD be replaced every year. If not, then the droplets of water will stat corroding the lowest point in whichever component they are settled in. Caliper piston bores are a common failure point. Brakes lines are pretty much certain to need replacing.
Suspension components (forks and rear shock) contain rubber seals, which will become brittle as they dry out and will cause leaks. No damping on the fork or shock means it's possible you would only have the springs for suspension.
Not a very stable ride.
Battery? Bin it and start fresh.
The wiring harness is almost certainly going to be an issue, as are the switches, and sockets on the harness. Idiot switches are a common failure point. Not to mention the home mechanics who have likely been fiddling about, as well as whatever rodents have chewed on the wiring.... And the corrosion inside the connectors.....
Fuel system? Carbs. take them off, completely disassemble, and run through an ultrasonic cleaner before trying to do anything else. Expect the inside of the fuel tank to be full of rust and debris.
Final drive chain? Sprockets? Best bet is to bin all of it and start fresh.
Don't try and make it pretty until you have worked out how much it's going to cost in time and money to make it safe to operate. Whatever you estimate, double it. If you have that much budget, go buy something that will be much less painful to restore.
I wouldn't think a 37 year old bike would be ideal for learning to wrench on bikes, as there is going to be quite a lot of issues with spare parts. Especially as a bike that old will almost certainly have passed through many hands before landing with you. Ignorance and neglect, faulty maintenance, attempts at 'hot rodding'.... possible stunting activities..... the list of things that could be wrong has a fair potential of exceeding any value that bike may have when you make it whole, no matter how little you may have paid for it at the start.
We I in any way interested in working on something like this...... I would recognize that it will require a complete and total tear down of every sub system on the bike.
Because this bike hails from the very beginning of the 600cc SS invasion, it has quirks that are no longer mainstream which will make restoration that much more difficult.
Brake fluid. Sucks in water. SHOULD be replaced every year. If not, then the droplets of water will stat corroding the lowest point in whichever component they are settled in. Caliper piston bores are a common failure point. Brakes lines are pretty much certain to need replacing.
Suspension components (forks and rear shock) contain rubber seals, which will become brittle as they dry out and will cause leaks. No damping on the fork or shock means it's possible you would only have the springs for suspension.
Not a very stable ride.
Battery? Bin it and start fresh.
The wiring harness is almost certainly going to be an issue, as are the switches, and sockets on the harness. Idiot switches are a common failure point. Not to mention the home mechanics who have likely been fiddling about, as well as whatever rodents have chewed on the wiring.... And the corrosion inside the connectors.....
Fuel system? Carbs. take them off, completely disassemble, and run through an ultrasonic cleaner before trying to do anything else. Expect the inside of the fuel tank to be full of rust and debris.
Final drive chain? Sprockets? Best bet is to bin all of it and start fresh.
Thank you I just started doing the tear down got the fairings off and found a rats nest under the rear fairing where they chewed through the brake lights harness. Got a pretty bad valve cover leak, and can't the transmission to shift more than two gears that I'm not even sure is first or second. I'm going to strip it down to the frame and remake the harness and give it a fresh coat of paint. Other than that I think it's in pretty good condition.
It doesn't feel like it's going into neutral if fells like it's fully engaging two of the gears.
Is there a way to force it lower, it feels like it's locked out of any higher or lower gears.
It doesn't have the cabin on it, could I rotate the sprocket and get the same thing?
The chain sorry
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I got it all pulled apart I'm doing at this point s full restoration it looks like they blew the head gasket on it before and got some metal throughout the motor I still need to get the trans apart because the shift linkage into the trans is super loose and I could get it to shift at all outside of the two gears I had. I'm in the process of making a new harness for it and I'm gonna strip the paint and rust from the chassis and give it a fresh coat. I'm just trying to source all my parts right now only really having trouble finding a head and piston rings. Once all's said and done and the engines back in I'm gonna prbly go with a top gun color scheme form the original top gun.
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I got it all pulled apart I'm doing at this point s full restoration it looks like they blew the head gasket on it before and got some metal throughout the motor I still need to get the trans apart because the shift linkage into the trans is super loose and I could get it to shift at all outside of the two gears I had. I'm in the process of making a new harness for it and I'm gonna strip the paint and rust from the chassis and give it a fresh coat. I'm just trying to source all my parts right now only really having trouble finding a head and piston rings. Once all's said and done and the engines back in I'm gonna prbly go with a top gun color scheme form the original top gun.![Product Circuit component Font Passive circuit component Electronic component]()
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Well buddy. My hats off to you for following through on this. For sure not a project 99% of guys woudnt even attempt. So I’m hoping you have good luck and see the end of this. What’s your location?
We have a pretty decent size motorcycle junk yard here locally I know the guy well I can inquire about some parts for you. He a pretty old dude does it himself so idk about shipping but I’d be glad to handle that part if he doesn’t
so head? Anything else to ask about??? And I will check and see if we can still order rings for this old of a unit. Kawi is starting a vintage branch here soon and has been letting us dealerships send back old stock for 100% value so maybe that’s something I can get for you. We have kawi parts as old as early 80”s but I have sent so much stuff back.
on the rings do you thing the cylinder and pistons will be useable with stock bore?
We have a pretty decent size motorcycle junk yard here locally I know the guy well I can inquire about some parts for you. He a pretty old dude does it himself so idk about shipping but I’d be glad to handle that part if he doesn’t
so head? Anything else to ask about??? And I will check and see if we can still order rings for this old of a unit. Kawi is starting a vintage branch here soon and has been letting us dealerships send back old stock for 100% value so maybe that’s something I can get for you. We have kawi parts as old as early 80”s but I have sent so much stuff back.
on the rings do you thing the cylinder and pistons will be useable with stock bore?
I'm located in Arizona. I'm just going through disassembling right now and finding what I need I think the bottom end and might be good but I've yet to pull the oil pan start checking clearance but from what I can tell the sleeves look fairly full and the pistons in good shape. Im already looking for another head as on of the cam caps was damaged and it's just easier to replace the head then try to get all the caps line bored and honed just to replace a cap. Im suspecting the trans gears are bad but I can't say for sure yet hopefully tommorow I should be able to the case seperated and take a look. The only other big thing is the fuel tank as of right now it appears to be rusted pretty much through so I'm gonna have to try to find one of those unless your guy might have one.
I'm also gonna double check on the pistons and sleeves and Ill let keep you updated on that.
Yeah I kinda figured I've seen one pop up on eBay but it was all rusted out not much better than mine. I checked the pistons and bore and I should get away with using the same size pistons.
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