boboneleg Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 So last week I got a message from I guy I know saying that his old Zebra bike was now residing in Somerset and the new owner was giving it away for free I made contact with the guy and sure enough he he was willing to pass it on , the catch was that it wouldn't start and there was a strange noise coming from the engine. So this morning my boss and me set off in his van for the 45 minute journey across the Mendips to Wedmore. The owner (Dominic) was a very cool guy , ageing surfer an ex French Paratrooper After removing the screen and mirrors we managed to fit it in the van......... Once we got it back to the workshop we started to try and find out what the problem was . It wouldn't turn over so we put it into top gear and rocked it see if there was any resistance, then we tried to start it on the button but just got a loud clunk. We wheeled it inside and I started to strip off the fairing panels, seat and then the tank . For a 30 year old bike it didn't put up too much of a fight, so then I took off the rocker covers on the rear cylinder. From that we found that the valves were moving freely so no problem there. My boss also put a scope with a camera to see if there was anything untoward.... Next I removed the carbs to give me access to the front cylinder and then removed the rocker covers on that cylinder as well. There was no movement on the valves when we rocked it in gear. Next I drained the coolant out and removed the two rads and the front coils to get the valve cover off to see if the cam chain was ok........ The cam chain was fine so we're now suspecting something a bit more terminal. That's as far as I got today, next it will be engine out and see what else we can find. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Interesting project Bob! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Fallsalot Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 4 minutes ago, boboneleg said: So last week I got a message from I guy I know saying that his old Zebra bike was now residing in Somerset and the new owner was giving it away for free I made contact with the guy and sure enough he he was willing to pass it on , the catch was that it wouldn't start and there was a strange noise coming from the engine. So this morning my boss and me set off in his van for the 45 minute journey across the Mendips to Wedmore. The owner (Dominic) was a very cool guy , ageing surfer an ex French Paratrooper After removing the screen and mirrors we managed to fit it in the van......... Once we got it back to the workshop we started to try and find out what the problem was . It wouldn't turn over so we put it into top gear and rocked it see if there was any resistance, then we tried to start it on the button but just got a loud clunk. We wheeled it inside and I started to strip off the fairing panels, seat and then the tank . For a 30 year old bike it didn't put up too much of a fight, so then I took off the rocker covers on the rear cylinder. From that we found that the valves were moving freely so no problem there. My boss also put a scope with a camera to see if there was anything untoward.... Next I removed the carbs to give me access to the front cylinder and then removed the rocker covers on that cylinder as well. There was no movement on the valves when we rocked it in gear. Next I drained the coolant out and removed the two rads and the front coils to get the valve cover off to see if the cam chain was ok........ The cam chain was fine so we're now suspecting something a bit more terminal. That's as far as I got today, next it will be engine out and see what else we can find. Looking forward to this Bob keep us updated 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 The pictures helped a lot Bob.....otherwise I wouldn't have understood a word you said. Having said that, I'm not entirely surely what I was looking at in the pics! So it's time for...... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 So what are the plans for it, Bob? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Is that Whealies old bike? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 12 hours ago, Pedro said: So what are the plans for it, Bob? I hope to get it running again Pedro but it will definitely depend on what's gone wrong in the engine. It's already covered 104,000 miles so I'm not prepared to just chuck money at it willy nilly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 11 hours ago, yen_powell said: Is that Whealies old bike? It certainly is Ian, i've got a great photo of him on it somewhere. I'll see if I can dig it out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 1 hour ago, Bruce said: Ooooh resto and repair. I shall have my eye on this one Bob. Make it happen! It won't be a resto job Bruce, I shall leave it with it's present 'patina' but sort the mechanicals if I can. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 9 minutes ago, boboneleg said: It certainly is Ian, i've got a great photo of him on it somewhere. I'll see if I can dig it out. I've ridden that in a 'going slow between the cones' competition somewhere on the Norfolk Broads. I was trying to do it on my glitchy Varadero which did not like slow riding until I added a power commando and I asked to try again on Chris's bike. The winner rode a bloody Varadero!!!!!!!! I have video of it somewhere, the bloke just stopped all the time and stayed still without putting his feet down, it was amazing to watch. Sadly he died on the same bike later on I heard. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 Was that when the XRV meet was at a site near Lowestoft ? If so I was there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 21 minutes ago, boboneleg said: Was that when the XRV meet was at a site near Lowestoft ? If so I was there. Possibly! It was on a camp site with very warm weather despite it being nearly winter and in the evening there was a fog so dense I got lost walking back to my tent. I rode to Bungay afterwards using a torn out page of an AA road atlas which seemed to show a direct route but was a bit misleading. Ended up on a very small ferry for a pound (Reedham?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Aha, found the pics on my back up drive. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 Nice one yen, that was a cracking night in that club. My mate Tone was dancing until he dropped 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooN Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 3 hours ago, yen_powell said: Possibly! It was on a camp site with very warm weather despite it being nearly winter and in the evening there was a fog so dense I got lost walking back to my tent. I rode to Bungay afterwards using a torn out page of an AA road atlas which seemed to show a direct route but was a bit misleading. Ended up on a very small ferry for a pound (Reedham?). Aye, Reedham chain ferry that'd be. My old stamping ground that, still a member (honarary) of the Suffolk Coasters bike club in Lowestoft. I guessed that was whealies bike too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 I found it, Whealie on the Abbey Road crossing made famous by some pop group 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Just now, boboneleg said: I found it, Whealie on the Abbey Road crossing made famous by some pop group I think he had a couple of striped bikes at one point. I met him one lunchtime in Greenwich and he'd turned up on a push bike, he loves 2 wheels. He's also a member of the XRV 2 stroke club, we both had one whilst owning an XRV, only he was riding in France when he had his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 6 minutes ago, MooN said: Aye, Reedham chain ferry that'd be. My old stamping ground that, still a member (honarary) of the Suffolk Coasters bike club in Lowestoft. I guessed that was whealies bike too. It was a bit of a shock to me, I was expecting just a country lane not a body of water to get across. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooN Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 1 minute ago, yen_powell said: It was a bit of a shock to me, I was expecting just a country lane not a body of water to get across. well it's fecking miles round it if you hadn't stumbled onto the ferry, middle of bloody nowhere too and the sort of place where if you stop and ask the locals how to get somewhere they'll reply something helpful like " Narritch? ow to git to Narritch? well yew don't wannoo start from'ere bor..." andthen wander off aimlessly into the fog 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 7 minutes ago, MooN said: well it's fecking miles round it if you hadn't stumbled onto the ferry, middle of bloody nowhere too and the sort of place where if you stop and ask the locals how to get somewhere they'll reply something helpful like " Narritch? ow to git to Narritch? well yew don't wannoo start from'ere bor..." andthen wander off aimlessly into the fog I gathered from the locals attempting to communicate that the ferry had been out of action for a long time and I was lucky it was actually up and running. I'd never been to Bungay before so as I say, I just tore a page out of an old AA map and headed cross country. My mate, for reasons known only to himself, had just uprooted himself and moved there because he could buy a bigger house, He had no job to go to, his wife was still working in Barking so they ended up staying at her parents in Dagenham and visiting their house only at weekends???? When he told me where he had moved to I thought he was making the name up or mispronouncing it! Thought I would drop in on my way home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooN Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 3 hours ago, yen_powell said: When he told me where he had moved to I thought he was making the name up or mispronouncing it! You could have been trying to find Stiffkey ( pronounced "Stukie") or Wymondham ( pronounced "Windum") or Happisburg ( pronounced "Hazebruh") the list is endless in that part of the world so Bungay ("Bung'y) maybe isn't so bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 1 hour ago, MooN said: You could have been trying to find Stiffkey ( pronounced "Stukie") or Wymondham ( pronounced "Windum") or Happisburg ( pronounced "Hazebruh") the list is endless in that part of the world so Bungay ("Bung'y) maybe isn't so bad Up the road from me is a place called Furneaux Pelham. Never known how that is pronounced. Do you say the X (Furnex) or say it like a French person would which I am only assuming is Furno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busabeast Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Where bouts are you yen? Ferneaux Pelham was too very close to where I used to live (stortford) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyrider Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 10 hours ago, boboneleg said: I hope to get it running again Pedro but it will definitely depend on what's gone wrong in the engine. It's already covered 104,000 miles so I'm not prepared to just chuck money at it willy nilly. worth a go for a freebie though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 3 hours ago, Richzx6r said: Where bouts are you yen? Ferneaux Pelham was too very close to where I used to live (stortford) Braintree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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