ZG1200 Experience 99

[cbrfxr67]

Thanks for letting me be a part of this great forum. THankful to have access to all the information and experience here!

A buddy of mine wants to ride again and he asked me to start looking for a bike. I came across a $950 Xii on CL and he was salivating for me to pick it up. Well I missed that one but since he seemed to actually like this bike, I kept looking. Found a $200 99 in sad shape and went to pick it up (with title!). Had been sitting about a year and the guy said he got it from a preacher who'd dumped it pretty bad on the right side. I'd like to chronicle my build with this bike here and hopefully get some tips from all that know and love this bike. Honestly I thought it was fuuugly to start but since I've had it a couple weeks now, it's grown on me alot. If he doesn't like the finished rendition, I think I'll keep it. If he ends up riding it into the sunset, I want to try and do another one! Anyways, let's get started,...


what a poc


was a ____ to push with rotors like that


home at last,...


that stay took most of the hit,..of course all right side fairings are mia


smells like sweet sweet gas. Pumped out the tank and scooped out the black heroin tar in the bottom,... replaced ignition,...


looking to see what i need to get


finally got that stay off


need to clean these up and do the seals, oil etc


replaced this one,...how does it even get bent like that


look ma no brakes! rotors rusted badly so cleaned them up a bit


need more time to work on this


this was encouraging, at least something is working, license plate light working too yay



got new stay on,...them's some big cupholders!


gauges etc on and lighting up,....

So far I still can't get it to try to fire up. I went through the starter and got it working after roloc to the copper where the brushes had left some black marring(?). Solenoid clicks and fuel pump works but starter doesn't turn. With remote starter i can turn it over fine. Ordered a solenoid and working my way through the craptastic wiring. That's where I'm at and hoping to keep track of my progress and share it with the community.

[VoyKimmer]

IMHO that bike is to far gone and going to cost you a lot of time and money to make it run and drive straight. You would be much better off and money ahead using it as a parts bike and getting a running Voyager XII for $1000. There out there. My cousin got a pretty nice running 03 for $1200. He just changed all the filters and fluid and is riding it.

[cranky]

... my first thought Voy.... THAT is a challenge!!!!!

[Nails]

I bought one in much better shape than this, but I could've done much, much better to wait for one in better shape. The plastics alone would cost a ton to replace. This is a parts bike, IMHO.
If you're hell-bent on starting this one, consider putting it back together as a rat commuter. There are examples on the web that look nice and functional, having minimal bodywork. Basically, strip it down to the parts you actually have, and then see what you can live without, maybe with junkyard stand-ins.
But even those rat bikes I've seen apparently are ready to ride and cost a lot less than you're going to spend.

[cbrfxr67]

Thanks for the tips! I saw an episode of counting cars one time where the guy did vans. He says to the count, 'no i have to save them,' haha I feel that way though about bikes. I just finished this ninja turd so the voyager is the next turd to save





Nails, I did want to do that but my buddy says that he loves it the way it's supposed to be. THere are some sweet ones out there with all the fairings mia but hey he's paying for it so I just do what he wants on this one.

Again appreciate the input. Hoping to get this one done fairly quick so he can ride this summer. 'hoping'

[triton28]

Well cbrfxr you will definitely get to know Voyager XIIs after this. I also hate to see a XII go to the scrapheap so I arm myself with a printed version, or online equivalent, of the microfiche parts list, the hard copy shop manuals, and go at it. It never pays for itself as the bike is never worth the $$$ and effort put into it but I enjoy bringing these bikes back from the brink of internment. Sort of like that car show Graveyard Cars. While the other posters are perhaps financially more correct, I enjoy doing it as a hobby with, at least in my case, no time limit. To each their own I say, keep at it. You will really enjoy a well running and maintained Voyager XII. They are bulletproof if looked after.
Regards,
Dave

[Nails]

On the plus side, there's absolutely no impediment to limitless modification. If I'd gone with a (much) more "sensible" bike, I'd probably still have a radio and a bunch of other stuff I don't really want. In short, you could end up with EXACTLY what you want. (Never mind it isn't really your bike.)

[SgtSlag]

That Ninja resto is gorgeous! Looking forward to seeing what the XII looks like when you finish... If you are able to do the same level of work on the XII, it will be amazing to watch it unfold here, on our little forum.


Thank you! Cheers!

[Eydugstr]

Cbrfxr - Congrats on the new project. Outside of my Voyager and Concours, most of my bikes started out as basket cases, so definitely can understand wanting to save them all. This forum has been a great source for info.

Do have some questions, though. Is that a one piece Corbin aftermarket seat on the bike? Also, What are the other bikes in the background and foreground of your pics of the ninja?

[cbrfxr67]

With new solenoid it turns over great now, fuel pump working but no fire. Checked 1 & 4 and nothing. Still have some open terminals and chased wiring yesterday, sewing up a bit but still no spark. Could anybody please tell me what goes on this bracket? Also that terminal is open and I'm not sure what it goes to. I'm missing parts but trying to figure it out

eydugstr,...yes it does have a corbin seat which is going to be interesting to recover. Hopefully not too hard. The other bikes are a little chinese 125cc grom clone (my daily), a yamaha xs400 (customer project). and a 929rr frankenbike (had this one for years but has a 2nd gear slipping problem now unfortunately) under the sheet. Thx for asking,...I talk about bikes too much

sgtslag,...the ninja came together alright. I'd finished this poor k5


and managed to blow through the ninja in half the time. That was a hard bike to sell. Too much fun on that one!

triton28,....exactly like that! I always say that 'i don't watch alot of tv' when people ask 'why?' haha

Nails,...I think I will build this one with what I see in my noggin. Hopefully he likes it. If not, well errr,.. i guess I'll have to buy it back from him

[Nails]

Could anybody please tell me what goes on this bracket?

Set of three solenoids (servos, relays, whatever). Three more (same rubber mount) are above/left of the headlight.

[cbrfxr67]

Nails,....I have three on the left side of the bike and 4 up front. This empty bracket is on the right side though. Thanks for your help cause I don't know wth is supposed to go there. Yesterday watched YT videos to figure out where the amp went

[Nails]

Sorry. I have a canister in line withe the air hose to the tear shocks. Other end porb goes to the Schrader in right fairing to fill the shocks. Maybe you don't have stock shocks?

Edit: geez, really gotta use glasses with this phone.

[triton28]

That bracket, as posted by Nails, is in fact the bracket for the rear suspension air/oil separator canister. Said canister is held against the bracket with a rubber strap having rectangular steel eyelets, one at each end of the strap. It looks as though there is an air hose across the top of the rear fender from shock to shock so I'm thinking the rear suspension system would still need the separator to be OEM design. If you aren't already doing so, don't overlook the online parts suppliers such as bikebandit, Dennis kirk, revzilla etc. as the illustrations can be helpful. Happy assembling,
Dave

[cbrfxr67]

Thanks again Nails and Dave too! I found that air dealio tucked in there along with the air lines. Nice,... Hopefully I can scrounge up some progressive springs after reading all the good about them.

Yesterday, pulled the airbox to find,...


The plug looks like it's been that way for awhile too. Also the wire to #3 was pulled out of the boot.



I blew out about an inch of crud and then sprayed lube to soak overnight. Hopefully today it comes right out. fun fun

On another note,...I found

and the guy said that he'd take $340 for it. This would give me everything I need instead of piecemealing ebay/yard parts together. No paperwork, no key and he doesn't know what's wrong with it. It's a 96. Thinking about it!

[cranky]

... I don't know what u'r thinking about!!! You can sell the floorboards for almost
the entire cost of the scoot!!!!! ... I know, you can great deal u'rself right into
the poorhouse and overfill u'r garage..... sigh... your life - your choice....

[Nails]

Those plug wells are supposed to drain to the rear. You might check that those channels aren't clogged.

[cbrfxr67]

Cranky,..i'll probably go get it if he still has it this weekend. I think it'd save me alot of time and $ trying to get parts and then I can sell whatever's left over.

Thanks nails for the tips,...!

Last night plugs came out easy and replaced them. Still no fire. Traced wiring and everything 'looks' plugged up. Searched on here for no spark issues and found a couple threads where people dumped their bike on the right side and had no spark afterwards. Of couuuuurse nobody had a 'solved' thread of what it was but both had damaged pick up coil covers. I replaced mine but didn't look too hard inside. I'll give it a looksee later.

[SgtSlag]

A lot of usable Tupperware on that red donor bike. Plastic parts go for insane prices -- if you can find it! For $300, I'm tempted to ask where it is... Cheers!

PS:
Looked you up... Houston, TX, is too far from the Great White North Country of Minnesota. Too bad. Easy to make a profit on that donor.

[Mr Jensee]

Let me give a piece of advice that happened to me. A former friend, I wont go into details had this 79 GS1000LN he had in his garage. He fried the electrical system hooking up the battery wrong and tried to start it. Well after he figured out what he did he let it sit in his garage. I came along with a little Honda CM200T bike that couldn't keep up with his Suzuki Bandit. After charging the battery the GS started. Despite it's condition which was poor it ran strong with fresh gas. I used to ride it on the backroads with him on it until the battery ran down. I knew this because it would start to buck wanting to die. Later one day he called me and told me he was trashing it because he didn't want it and needed to clean out his bike stable. I told him I wanted it. Fine he said ride it home and I could have it. Free. Well I did since up to that time it was the largest bike I ever rode. Long story short I spent over 4 years searching Ebay for parts to bring it back to like new. I spent a good $4000 in doing this. I still didn't get it running like I wanted to because it would over heat and die and became very unreliable. I talked my wife into letting me look for another large bike. I did purchasing a low mileage ZRX1100 Kawasaki and the Suzuki just sat. I ended up giving it away to a guy in Baton Rouge who knew GS motorcycles. To this day I never regretted it.

This was the Suzuki when I got it.

2 years later and a couple thousand dollars.