Noobie Zane 750s

[Touringtwincent]

Hello All,
I'm new to the forum as I have just "invested" in a zane era 750... yes yes, silly boy I know, cue all the finger pointing and ribbing I'm going to get for not buying a real laverda!... Anyhow;
I have had a good read through your some of the tech threads, there's some really interesting theories and ideas.. over-oiling of the crank causing big end rollers to skid - causing crank failure. Reluctant starting fixes and starter motor gear train / sprag modifications. Oil filter Alto mods etc... I have found the manuals and parts books already, cheers!
I was wondering If anyone had put together a library of the good and not so good mods to do to these bikes to keep them on the road, without resorting to grafting an SV1000 lump into the chassis - even though that does look good...
I have joined the Zanelist too and will be asking a similar question on there. Many thanks to all in advance for any help or pointers, Drew.

 

[Sir Sidney Ruffdiamond]

Welcome

https://groups.io/g/zanelist/topics - did you join this one Drew ?

Looks like you have come across the biggies - a lot depends on whether the bike has been used recently as the fuel system is not a fan of old fuel

When i bought mine one of the Race team owners said - have every electrical connection apart and clean each one - you will discover some of the known issues there like the regulator connection behind the seat pad which burn out - of course someone may already have done some of the work

Fresh Oil is critical - have you got a cartridge filter fitted or a flat plate with a red annodised nut in the middle ( front of engine) - with the flat plate fitted you should change very 1000 miles as there is no filtration

Make sure the cooling fluid is just below the low mark on the expansion tank under the airbox cover as the reservoirs can split and are pretty well no unobtanium

be very careful taking the plugs out - water has a tendency to collect and some have had the plug rust in and break

the main thing (imo) is to ride the thing if its running as its great fun - i was out yesterday and its a fun ride - brakes and steering are exceptional

It could go bang but i think as long as you don't track day it and watch the oil every mile is a winner - you can have the crank sorted BBU or ABU ( before and after blowup ) and the price of doing this depends on which one you go for - i have now done 2000km still good to go

 

[Touringtwincent]

BBU - ABU, I love it.
Thank you for all the above, the plugs and the lack of oil filtration I was not aware of yet, yes, mine only has the flat plate, I assume there is a course gauze in there to stop the lumps! I will be going for the filter ass'y ASAP.
It is my intention to get the bike fit for the road and use it when the weather permits. Yours is spectacular in the silver and orange, I thought my red one looked good! The blue and orange that has just been for sale is truly beautiful IMHO.
Thanks for the heads up on the coolant level, is there a preferred coolant / antifreeze for these? red OAT or blue glycol - water wetters etc? Although I have had the bike running, she needed full 'choke' till she was at full running temperature before it would idle. However she did sound very crisp and surprisingly revv'y for a parallel twin with no nasty noises thankfully. I have not yet ridden it as such. I guess this reluctance to idle is down to stale fuel... I am also concerned about the E5 being in super unleaded now. It has been suggested the fuel hoses are not ethanol friendly so I will be on with them too. Swapping out the fuel hoses / battery / fuel pump looks to be a major strip down, In this case I think it best to do all of these mods in one go too.
I have the fork seals and the steering head bearings to sort first. Do you recommend any particular seals / oil / levels with the piaoli's, on the parts diagram they look surprisingly complex compared to my Kawa's showa's.
Thanks again for the help so Far.

 

[Sir Sidney Ruffdiamond]

Nothing wrong with the flat plate - many including mine have it - you can run with either - however if you do go for the filter someone will buy your Alto plate , there is a gauze but i guess if that is full of bits you are a bit late - just good antifreeze at the right ratio 60:40 with distilled water ( measure what you get out 1.6 litres is the full capacity , 1.3 to the bottom of the tank) - workshop manual for a 750S is in the files section of the either the Zanelist website or FB page - It is not a choke its a fast idle so just holds the butterflies open - get some injector cleaner in fresh fuel and run it through - getting the tank out is fairly time consuming but not difficult just take pics of everything as you take it apart - for parts www.3Cmoto.it pretty well have everything , website a bit hard work but persevere - there are some people who have some parts in UK ( Alan James on the ILOC site) - get some pics up - no idea on the forks sorry - E5 super unleaded is fine - check the breather pipe between the gearbox and the airbox - easy to do with the tank out - complete bastard to do without , i lengthened mine by about two inches and got it on easy - Battery is an easy not - hugger off , gearchange foot guard off , inner mudguard off and slide it out the space where the foot guard was

Good luck - some very knowlegable guys on here

 

[Paul Marx]

A well built Brit twin would be much better in it than the Aprilia lump.

There were plenty of coolant tanks in the factory when we were let in through the back door just after the Aprilia takeover.
Help yourselves.

 

[chrisk]

A well built Brit twin would be much better in it than the Aprilia lump.

There were plenty of coolant tanks in the factory when we were let in through the back door just after the Aprilia takeover.
Help yourselves.

But I do like Clems BMW/Rotax conversation........ if he ever gets to it.