TOPIC:

Ok I thought I should start a new thread here as it seems I now have a Project rather than a few odd fixes.

Background/History
So first I will give you some background of the bike since I have owned it (8 years now). I purchased the bike as it is and I haven't added nor taken anything away from it. The gentleman who owned it before me had passed away and I purchased it from his daughter, so I was not able to ascertain what mods, maintenance had been done to it. Although it certainly looked the goods. It has hardly had a spanner on it the whole time I have owned it, mainly because I never had the time to acquire the skills to look after it other than changing the oil and spark plugs when needed. Finding a local mechanic who wanted to look at it proved impossible (I was always recommended to go somewhere else). In those 8 years it has been on a few extended tours with 3 up and towing a small trailer, other than that it was the occasional Sunday drive when the weather was good and the bike would start.

You probably have worked out by now I have few skills in the area of motorcycle mechanics/electrics and so forth, so I find myself on a very steep learning curve on bikes in general and the idiosyncrasies of the beloved Z1300. I have a reasonably well set up workshop but there are a few tools that I could do with that would help in this process but until I find I can't improvise I will stick with what I have. The most used tools so far are my eyes and the internet, burning the candle into the wee small hours and chipping away at the unknown. I think I have progressed to the stage where 'I now know what I don't know' and I have found that to be a milestone in any project. Moving on from here should be a tad easier hopefully and I am finding the process quite rewarding.

The Birth of the Project
It all started when I decided I was better off selling so I started cleaning and polishing for the photo shoot, at which point my 'better half' mentioned that she loves going for a spin in the sidecar and 'why don't we keep it?' and here we are now! At this stage the bike was still starting when it was cold but proved problematic to start when hot, although it was running pretty rough.

I found the brake light wasn't working which led me down a path of an electrical loom nightmare (for a novice anyway). You can't ride without a brake light right?! Well one thing led to another and pretty soon I had stators, regulators, ic ignitors, starter relays, starter motors, carburetors all taking over my life. I believe I am very persistent (my wife calls it compulsive) but no matter what you call it I have found that it aids in getting the job done. Probably the worst thing though is that I have a quality assurance background based in the IT industry so things tend to happen a little slower for me and procrastination abounds.

The Idiosyncrasies of this bike


Sidecars are not always a problem - You can just undo a few bolts and Bob's your uncle, sidecar removed right? Well not always and this is not a complaint by me, just letting you know the differences. So located in the sidecar is: -

• a fuel tank as big as the tank on the bike.
• a fuel pump
• a car battery
• a radio connecting back to the bike
• an air compressor back to the bike
• a second driving light

The bike itself has an electric motor on the right hand side, down by the back wheel that turns a spindle that is actuated by a handbrake like mechanism (between the bike and the sidecar) that moves the spindle hard onto the tread of the back tyre whereby the electric motor turns the spindle and the bike reverses (deep breath). I don't use it any more but it is still there.

There is no tool tray and where the original battery used to be is all wiring and two solenoids (one is supposed to provide a boost for starting). The rest of the switches are located on a steel plate that screws down onto the top of the air filter housing. There are spare wires here and there not being used (some of them live) and I presume that the wiring here is unlike any other Z1300.

It does have a manual cam chain tensioner but I still have yet to work out how to use it

What I've done so far

• Fixed the hand brake switch with a part from Jaycar, from what I can tell the existing brake wasn't original and looks nothing like the switches I've seen for sale on the internet.
• Cleaned out the air boxes and filter.
• Removed and cleaned the fuel tank, petcock and fuel level sender
• Removed, broke and fixed the foot brake switch.
• Removed and tested the Regulator/Rectifier
• Removed and tested the Stator
• Removed and broke the Starter Relay
• Removed and cleaned the carbs
• Removed, cleaned and tested the starter motor
• Built some ramps so I can work on it without removing the sidecar

What's Next?!

• Set up a winch for winding bike and sidecar onto ramps
• Sorting out the starter motor (failed test)
• Stator rewind.
• Waiting on replacement regulator/rectifier
• New o rings for carbs. Still trying to source them.
• Reconnect the carbs (nervous breakdown time )
• Find the Earth/ground strap where it connects to the engine. Both cables running from the battery are RED in color. This makes it difficult to follow the leads.
• Further investigate Cam Chain Tensioner

When I have the bike going again I will investigate if it's burning oil or not. It may have been running rich or lean, if not then you all know what happens next and it's time to pull the engine.

In the last photo, is that the rear brake pedal, the round thing on the end of the long shaft from that master cylinder in front of the toolbox ??, just wondering, wow the last owner sure added a lot of stuff, mines very bare, only wires going to the chair is for the extra stop/tail light and side light, last chair I had I did put a "nudge bar" on the front welded to the chair frame and mounted a spot light hooked up to the high beam, and I had a really posh stereo FM radio with 2 speakers in the chair , we are talking the early '80s , was thinking of a spare battery in the chair also, but after I fixed the starter, the on board battery works well, bike starts as soon as I touch the button, guess i'm a minimalist, less on there, less to go wrong, cheers Pete.

Good luck with your project. We're here to help.

PM sent,

KB

Looks like a lot of fun electrically. The starter motor for reverse is interesting.

kza13 wrote: In the last photo, is that the rear brake pedal, the round thing on the end of the long shaft from that master cylinder in front of the toolbox ??

Hi Pete, it is a foot brake that doubles as a parking brake except the brake is on the sidecar wheel. It was one of the most useful upgrades to the bike in my opinion. When I rode the bike a lot I used it to help steer the bike around left hand bends, but only used as a parking brake these days.

I agree with your minimalist comment I live by the kiss philosophy.
Cheers Paul

Yaegunp wrote: When I rode the bike a lot I used it to help steer the bike around left hand bends, but only used as a parking brake these days.
Cheers Paul

Tell you what with all that ballast in the chair she would be hard to pick up, makes a lot of people look when i'm going along the highway at 100 kph with the chair in the air, guys at work always say i'm a sissy cause I have a "training wheel" on my bike, but then I tell them to take it for a ride and see how good they are. They can't understand that when taking a left hand turn you power on, it holds the chair down, if you back off the chair will lift, when learning how to do it I had quiet a few sphincter tightening moments , it's good to have a chat with a fellow sidecar user, although there seems to be more around these days, cheers Pete.