My 1979 MZ TS250 Cafe Project

Hey Guys & Gals,

Thought i would put a thread up for my current project and see what people thought. It may seem a little disjointed as its a combination of posts from my normal forum but please forgive me

Well i recently picked this little puppy up very cheap with the original plan to strip it down and cafe style it. When she turned up i realised it was a lot cleaner than i had expected so i think im going to spend some time cleaning up all the alloy parts, rims etc. Give the metal work a fresh coat of paint ( doesnt really need it but would like to paint the mudguards black too so may as well get it all matching ) and replace the exhaust and bars with nice shiny new ones. May also need new brake and clutch levers as the fixings are a little loose. Anyway, heres some pics as it stands and hopefully i may have a few more bits after the Beaulieu show and autojumble this weekend. Any comments welcome. Cheers Marc







Well after i started to strip it apart the other night i may well be cafe racering it. Found quite a few little parts that would need replacing if i wanted to do a proper restore and after pricing them up on a few sites the amount was getting a bit silly! So ordered myself a cafe seat and cone filter to replace the rotten airbox.

Started stripping the bike down and fitting a few parts. Have the stock airbox replaced and the battery is in the tail. Need to get my clip ons fitted and do a whole lot more body work but its starting to take shape







new exhaust has just turned up so will hopefully get that bolted on tonight



also got someone coming round to possibly buy my old KE100 which will mean a few pennies for parts on this project. Been in touch with a company called Burwins who made parts for the MZ racing series and will hopefully be ordering some rear sets from them as im struggling a little with building my own and by the time i have done some trial and error to sort it buying their kit will work out cheaper. Happy days!

well, couldnt help myself so popped out at lunch time and bolted the exhaust on. Looks much better and sounds rather nice too!



Well it was a little like christmas in the BBSparky household today. Mr Postman brought me lots of nice goodies for the little MZ.

Got the new seat unit which i think looks a lot better than the old one i tried. So i have shortened the rear of the frame to suit.











woohoo, new toys. Rear sets have turned up.



Hi guys,

Did think about using the front end off a ETZ but was going to see what i can achieve with this one first. Would love one of the racing drum setups thats on eBay at the minute but that would cost more than the whole project so far so not an option at the minute.

Well I got the rear sets fitted this weekend. They clamp onto the frame rather than weld on due to regulations for the race series but seem sturdy enough. Got my angle grinder back from the old man too so will be removing unnecessary brackets and rear footpeg mounts this week. Also ordered a side side so i can remove the large and heavy center stand.







Small update. Bike is now all stripped down and frame and cardboard pattern has been sent off to have a custom under seat tray made to hold all the wiring. Then it will be on for powder coat. Idea of the tray is it will follow the underside of the frame rails, up the back of the frame which will allow a strip for my lights then off at about a 45 angle to follow the back of the seat. Plan is for 7 led's across the back of the frame ( 3 for tail and 4 for brake ). Indicators will be flush mounted in the tray under the seat hump and white led's will down light the number plate. Will mean that the lines of the bike should stay very clean and uncluttered.

Also got a small battery which will fit easily in the tail.





Will get the frame back when i get back from my hols in a couple of weeks time so will get some pics then. In the mean time i have to try and clean up the engine and all the other ally bits, pick a colour for the tank and light and find someone to trim the seat. hmmmm busy busy

Little bit of an update. Undertray tacked in place. Just need to drill the holes for the LED's and it can go off to powdercoat. Then i can start to put it back together and figure out a paint scheme.





Well the frame/swingarm is now with the powder coater. Should be getting it back next week in a nice coat of gloss black. Been making the most of a little free time while its away and given the wheels a little freshen up,









still need to give the rims another polish but they are getting there. Also thought i would make use of some of the carbon style wrap i had left over from an old project. Its my first attempt at wrapping and its not as easy as it looks! Luckliy i still have enough left to redo this one and the other side so i can have another go. The right hand side is covered by the rubber knee pads which slot into all those bumps and the original MZ logo goes in the indent.



Finally decided that the tank, headlight and seat unit will be going a metallic dark grey. Think it will look quite tidy once its done. Just trying to decide if i give the paint job a go myself or save up some pennies and get the professionals to do it. Guess i am best getting a quote

Well got the other panel done so just waiting for bits to come back now.




and how they will look when back together


Well, finally got the frame and swing arm back from the powder coaters, has been nearly 6 weeks but have to say that they did a nice job. Probably better than it was when it left the factory 30 odd years ago. Were moving next weekend so bike will be moving to the new house in boxes but once there it will have a nicely fitted out garage to be rebuilt in over winter.

oh and pics ( excuse the quality as they were taken on my phone )




PHEW and thats up to date

Any opinions or comments are always welcome but if i dont like them they will be ignored

bike looking good I remeber those ball breaker tanks I had the TS125 whilst at collage back in the 80's also MZ did a version of the 125 with a cafe racer based styling MZ's used to be very succesfull at road racing back in the 60's also there is a very popular clubmans class of MZ250 road racing

-Hello
-Looking good so far

Nice looking wee bike, keep up the good work!

Cheers guys, Well, moved into the new place and got the garage almost set up. Need to take a trip up to MachineMart and pick up a few bits including a parts washer and possibly a compressor.



So i started to put it back together. Wont be able to put the engine back in yet as it needs more cleaning ( hence parts washer ) but its starting to come back to life.

-Hello
-Looks like the project is going along smoothly.

hey sparky
liking your choice of seat unit
buy a compressor mate they aint expencive and with the modern paints available nowadays it really aint hard to get a good finish and its there for all your other needs even if its just to blow tyres up

only in my opinion dont use the wrap think of somthing else or just leave as old chrome a little patina looks great and adds character

great little build thread keep the pics coming

Like that, good work.....there is a strip led you can buy on ebay for a tenner if you struggle with the leds, fitted one to my Norzuki, so easy

Cheers guys. Will be looking into the compressor when im out and about tomorrow.

Did a little bit more assembly and decided to wheel her out into the daylight for a couple of pics. Tank, light and light mounts are getting colour shortly as im just waiting for a call back to confirm prices. Still keep getting a little gremlin in the back of my mind telling me to do something lairy with the paint but we shall see. Got my home made rear light fitted, not 100% with it yet but it does blend in quite well. Also need to redo my seat pan as i made a bit of an engineering error as it was a tight fit before but now after a nice thick layer of powder coat its a no fit.

Sweet, looking the part already!

Hey guys, bit of an update. Having bad thoughts about changing the seat unit to a honda rs 125 style one like the MZ racers use. As much as this one fits with the cafe style its not that comfy and i dont have any where near the skills required to fabricate my own. Ive also started to toy with the idea of using this on tracks rather than the road ( would keep swmbo happy! ) so going to ditch headlight in favour of a number board and anything that isnt necessary for track use but want to keep anything that is required for a daylight MOT ( thinking at least then i can test any set up changes on the road prior to going to the track ).

Well, ordered the new seat and it arrived on friday afternoon...


Made a start at fitting it over the weekend but needs a bit more fettling to get it to sit how i want and need to trim the front to fit the lines of the bike a bit more but im happier with it and its certainly more comfortable.

Couple more pics. Definitely need to change the drop bars to clipons and do some more trimming to both the seat and front mudguard but its starting to get the look. Also finding out about a race number plate for the front but not 100% sure if i should go for a simple plate or some kind of fairing. More decisions

Personally and only an opinion I prefer the other seat unit, it gave it more of a stripped to the bones racer, looked like it had done a few laps of the TT, I think the RS unit spoils the lines, but as said only my opinion and we all like to be different, stick with it, my bike would have looked completly different if i had listened to other people

Still looking good, are you sure about the track only idea, would it be competative? Nice looking job though, keep the piccies coming

The MZ`s used to have their own race series a few years back, dont know if they still do tho

Hey guys, there is still an MZ race series, BMZRC, but wont be entering it. Will just be looking to do track days locally on it. It wont be massively competative but then as i have never been on track before neither will i

Just looking to use it as a cheap way to get some track experience to see if its for me before spending out on something faster etc. Bike doesnt really owe me anything and im enjoying the challenges of making bits work on it. At the end of the day i will have something that has been built by my own hands ( so cant blame anyone else when it goes wrong ) and will definitely be unique. Who knows i may even take it to goodwood revival or the beaulie (sp?) meet next year for a laugh.

Hello there mate ive just been reading through your thread and the bikes looking real good although i have to agree with one of the other users i think the other seat unit suits it better but thats just me. I remember meeting a guy from beaulie while in brockenhurst who had an mz250 and he had fitted carb of a yamaha 2 stroke and he was saying it made the thing fly not sure if it was of an rd or what but might be worth looking into anyways keep up the thread im looking forward to seeing the end result.

Simon

Cheers mate. Will have to look into that carb idea. Main reason for changing the seat was to make it more comfortable for track use. Would still be able to put the other one back on if i felt like is as the fixing points are still there

Well a bit more progress. ordered the clip ons and front plate and they turned up pretty quick! also got some new levers on the way.





Then made a start on the paint work. Decided to paint the tank and seat the same colour as my car which will be towing the bike to any track days i want to do. Pictures show the paint to be a lot brighter than it actually is but still have a few more coats to go yet and then the clear.











Oh and this is the tow car that inspired the colour ;-)

Yeah point well made I forgot you were using it for track days i think it will still look a mean green machine at that. It looks almost kawasaki green in the pictures which i thinks a nice unique little touch. I have to say i have a bit of a love for mz's especially the ts250s so am looking forward to the end result.

Good luck
Simon

Cheers Simon, Paint is actually not as bright as the kawasaki green but looks a lot brighten in the pics for some reason


Well managed to get the top coat on at lunchtime. The proper Audi paint has added the metallic sparkle that the halfords paint just didnt have. Its not a perfect paint job but i think its perfectly acceptable for a predominantly track oriented bike. Have enough clear for 1 coat but will need to get some more as was thinking it would need 3-4 coats.



My new levers also turned up so i can get all the front end back together now too

Did a bit of a mock up. Its getting there...

Sparky, thats' looking very nice, keep up the good work.

Cheers Paulie, im starting to get more motivated now thats its looking like a bike again

The mz starting to look less of a tired commuter and more of a track weapon and the green and the rs back im starting to really like what did you say you do as a job again artist? Keep up the good work mate.

Cheers mate will do. Still have lots of little jobs left. Im actually a computer programmer by day so its nice to get properly hands on and practical of an evening