Bits & Pieces

Repainting :D

Evening stroll with Mui Mui

:)

Fender works

This is an all-original Z50M:

Charming!

This is how ours look like now:



The rear fender is a custom piece. I think the fabricator made it look too much like a chopper piece, which is the majority of bikes they do custom bodywork for. Although the work quality is good, the fender's style doesn't suit the bike too well. I wasn't too bothered about it back then, but the more I look at it these days the more I think the huge chopper-style fender is a bit too chunky for the petite Z50M.

I did a mock-up this morning :p

I think it looks better this way, plus the fender will be more functional too!

In the evening, I got to work making marks and Dad helped me off some metal with the grinder, making a 3-minute job out of what would have taken me way longer with the metal saw :D Many test mounting, marking, and drilling later:





Looks about right now! I've still gotta change the rear lamp, maybe make a tool box for the bike, and some other stuff, but the bike is finally looking the way I want it, nice :)

Here scooter scooter!

Haha, before I forget again, we have a new two wheeler at home:

350 bucks including registration. Seriously? I never knew they were this cheap. I mean, I can and do spend about that much money on a plastic model kit, and that money could actually buy a real working scooter? Woot :D It was meant to be a parts bike for a project, but Dad thinks it's a bit too good to be parted out, so this will be the new grocery getter for now. Nice number plate too, "Business Die Die Prosper, 生意死发", better than the last one anyway, "Dicky won't grow, 67不生" :D :D Hm, I've never rode a scooter until the day we got this, Tuesday or Wednesday I think, pretty docile, and quite amusing at low speeds; I'm surprised how stable it is at a crawl, it doesn't even feel like it's gonna topple anytime soon!

Xantia ran away again

Dad got home at a bit after 1am this morning and was surprised when I opened the door for him.

Dad: "You're home already? Where is your car? Broken down again? How did you get home?"
Me: "Broken down? Where got, mai parked opposi...... Eh wtf? Car not there oledi?"

...and sure enough, my car wasn't to be seen beside the field in front of my home where I parked it an hour ago.

Me: "Haha, fark la, must have rolled off somewhere again"

The road has a slight downwards gradient towards the left of my home, the first time this happened, the car rolled backwards and took a right corner at the junction to the left at my home, then bumped into a tree and stopped at 30 degrees on the road.

I brought my car keys out and started looking for my car. Dad thought it was the car on the right of the junction but it was the neighbour's KE30.

Disarmed my car alarm. BEEP BEEP from the left. And there it was, nicely reversed and tucked to the left of the junction, in a very dark corner. Parked nicely! Apparently it rolled pretty slow this time; a little curb was all it took to stop the car this time :D

I started the car and parked it back, this time remembering to apply the handbrake firmly, we had a good laugh about it and woke Mom up. Hot parking brakes on the front wheels and locked steering, good for letting your car roll and hide around corners :D

Tuesday night out

Heavy rain, and on top of it I wasn't informed of a venue change, so I went from home > old town > Ipoh Garden East :p











Take care Shen! We'll be missing you T_T

The Z50M's new carburetor!

OK, back to this! As you can see, the Z50M is now equipped with a Keihin side draft carburetor from a Honda GBO!


While the Keihin down draft unit works perfectly fine, it doesn't connect to the airbox (the black round thingy with a funnel) and that's always bugged me, so I figured best do something about it before I give the bike a respray!


Here's how it looks like originally, but these carburetors are way too rare and pricey, we're talking RM400 onwards per pop! The price doesn't bother me at all, but my current plans are more resto-mod than a period correct restoration, so something more modern fits the bill nicely, and that's where the GBO unit comes in. I gotta say my thanks to the boss of Ban Hin Loong for putting up with me bothering him for days. I've tried quite a few carburetors until I found one that fit! I bought an EX5 unit earlier and it wouldn't even fit into the gap, so I hauled the bike out to the parts shop just to be safe!

Haha, anyway, so I finally found a carburetor that somewhat fits, but couldn't find an intake manifold that fits the application, so it's off to the machine shop we go!




As you can see the insides are smooth , but the exterior is just plain old rough and fugly.

2 hours later:

Looks way way way way way way way way way nicer rite? For 2 hours I patiently put a file to it and ground away! Manual labour! I wish I could use the huge buffing machine but the sanding wheel isn't good anymore, so a small sanding wheel and electric drill was all I had. I think this is about the most I can do, I could probably clean off a bit more weld, but that's it. It's plain iron, so rust and corrosion is imminent, oiled it up now and sending it off to be chrome plated once the GT750's parts are ready!

With the new carburetor, the bike doesn't leak fuel anymore, idling can now be set lower, rev and power comes a teeny bit slower now, but they do drop a lot slower on easing the throttle now, so the bike has more torque coming out of corners. The bike jerks noticably less during gear changes too, nice, and I just love the new induction sound, it's beefier! As an added bonus, the bike is a lot smoother when slowing down, and the crackle pop sound I love so much is still here, woohooo!


Here's how it is now. Need to reroute the hoses for a cleaner look, and the airbox opening obviously does not line up to the carburetor now, so I've got more to do! Yay, no more ugly carburetor setup to bug me!

Oh, btw, had lunch at Akamomiji with my family this afternoon, my treat, since for Father's Day last week we all gave Dad conjunctivitis too, and had to stay home, Sis was the only one who wasn't infected :D Anyway, Akamomiji, I'd say the price is lower than what I expected, and the quality of food, higher, nice! Thanks for the heads up TK, or I wouldn't even notice it's there :D