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1974 MZ TS250/0 Resto, cafe?

18K views 56 replies 19 participants last post by  lovethosetwins 
#1 ·
Ok, so starts another project just before the CB 175 resto has come to a close. The CB will be on the road soon as I get the carbs sorted. I'm thinking about just swapping out the old carbs for new keihins, but that's a story for the other thread

I picked up this bike from a guy on Craigslist for $400, delivered to my door from halfway across Houston. I know it was never a rocketship when it was new, but I've been looking to get into a two stroke street project for a long time, and RD's are a mythical creature around here. Plus I can say I own a bike made in a (then) communist country that isn't a piece of junk... There's a lot of neat little peculiarities on this bike that other makers could take a lesson from, and some that just make you scratch you head.

But first, some pictures!!

Day one, trying to get the wheels free (the drums are TOTALLY stuck!)




This is a glovebox, tool holder under the seat. Sucky, I have no key for this.



On the headlight nacelle is the ignition key, a weird one at that. Unfortunately that key I don't have is also for the fork lock...


Here's that ignition key...


This tank is TOAST. The metal up top is so corroded it's as flexible as a dixie cup. Though, the paint has held up remarkably well compared to the metal inside.


The gas cap is interesting. I THINK this 74 was the last year they were made like this, and the last year they were 6 volt.. so maybe they felt sentimental or something..


I think this odometer is accurate too. The chain is perfect, drive gears in the motor look new, and the bike has no signs of ever being laid down or anything. Nothing at all is bent, it's crazy... like a time capsule, a very oxidized, aluminum one...


Here's one of those peculiarities I mentioned. Well two actually. It has a completely enclosed chain drive. There are long rubber boots that enclose the chain with flexible bellows at either end, and a housing that protects the drive gear / bearing assembly. It reminds me of shaft drive bikes, but with a chain...



Also check out that brake lever, it curves OVER the exhaust pipe and is nice and straight otherwise, not all curved under and around like an old honda would be.

nice of them to put zerk fittings on everything (swingarm) that requires grease. Even the drums where the shoes mount have them.

Here's another odd bit. They use an exhaust nut kinda like BMW bikes... The muffler is clamped onto the tube from the head also which is going to be nice if I want to throw an expansion chamber on instead..


Here's the front wheel. Note the wire. That's the brake light switch. I've never seen one on the wheel like that before. Only thing that SUCKS is they put that little hole in the TOP of the drum which lets rain in and makes the dang drums freeze up. The wheels are aluminum too. Kickass! The bike is actually really light overall. It will be lighter when I'm through with it...


Forks are toast I think... This rust goes all the way down. Not as bad on the travel region, but I don't think they will be serviceable. I'll know for sure once I get em apart.


The headlight nacelle underside it pretty rusty, but no holes as far as I can tell. The headlight trim / mount ring is pretty bad. The headlight itself is a replaceable unit, 6 volt, lucas made. I'd like to keep the nacelle and just replate or PC it. Because it had the key, speedo, etc in it. We'll see... At least the cables and wiring is in great shape, and oh so simple.


Actually, it has Lucas lighting all around..

And luckily all of it is pristine.

Check out the underside of the rear fender.. Amazing... They painted their fenders from the factory, a silver color. I guess that's why it survived.


That big daddy yellow box is the air box. The actual filter is behind that rusty circular plate on the bottom. I wonder if I'll be able to find another filter. And by the way, that entire box, it's cast aluminum!



Ooh.. stock bar end mirror... Needs new glass though, it's replaceable at least..


Next post: motor guts.
 
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#2 ·
So here's some pics of the motor broken down.

When I got it, the engine was frozen. I filled the cylinder up with PB blaster and waited a couple days before trying to break it free. It still wouldn't budge with the kickstart (gently massaged) so I popped off the clutch adjustment cover on the left side cover and spun the crank with a wrench. Presto! It wouldn't turn a full rev but it was free and didn't have TOOOO much drag. At least I didn't have to worry about valves being bent or broken, being a two stroke and all.



Look at those pretty teeth on the gears.. Immaculate.

This looks really bad, but it TURNS free...


Check out how LONG the skirt is on the piston. Two strokes usually are, but this one doesn't use a reed OR a rotary valve. It uses port timing, fairly ingeniously, but of course not as fuel efficiently as a 4 stroke.


Maybe hard to tell from this pic, but the bore is actually nice.. kinda grungy from all the oil and light rust, but it's not scored at all, piston is clean too.


Dude, I got a HEMI! Check out that squish plane... the piston ALMOST hits the head, except for the little area in the center which is the combustion chamber. That's a pretty neat design. I can imaging what the flame front would look like. I wonder why they didn't center mount the spark plug though...


Big fins...


The clutch cover is really clean. The throwout / clutch pusher, is a little chewed on the inner hole which is kinda weird. They use thrust washers in between it and the clutch unit which is mounted to the crank (see previous photo) and the drive gear mounted to the inside of it. I guess it serves as a flywheel as well as a clutch.


The slide is frozen in the carb. That sucks. I'll be realllly gentle taking it out. Heat gun should work wonders.


Check out the wiring block. Instead of those annoying bullet connectors, it uses a terminal block. And the connectors are actually brass not aluminum. Crazy. I like that flat plane for the seat mount too. It has 4 tabs, totally screams "cafe me!". Hell I don't even need to change it. The pan and the old seat is pristine. Could use a recover, but otherwise perfect, if not a bit on the heavy side.



Oh and guess what? I drilled out the lock on the seat... It has ALL OF THE TOOLS! Not only that, it comes with an unused factory tire patch kit, a rusted up air pump, a spare master link, spoons... Freakin awesome! I'll derust them all and put them back into service. No pics though..

That's it for this post. Stay tuned for more. Based on how I feel about the motor after I wash it out with the parts washer real well, I may or may not split the case. If the crank turns without much noise, and it doesn't feel like there's any play, I might just leave it be.

I've got a 12 volt conversion kit ordered off ebay coming from Australia. Complete with a modern regulator rectifier new relays, coils etc. All for 100$ us with shipping! Nutty huh? Bidding on a factory service manual too, hardcover A4 format to boot (and in english..).
 
#7 ·
MZs were made in what was then, East Germany, in a town called Zschopau. MZ stands for Motorradwerk Zschopau.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MZ_Motorrad-_und_Zweiradwerk_GmbH

Ebay is hit and miss for what I need at the moment, and somewhat high priced on many things. I've located some bits here and there though, like brake pads. Not sure if I'm keeping the front end yet or swapping out for something easier to find and more modern. I'm generally one to keep things stock while improving on the workings in ways that don't alter the original character of the machine.
This bike may prove to be a slight exception based on whether or not I can get the parts for a reasonable amount or not. I'm sure if I went over to France or Germany for that matter I could find them a dime a dozen.

Thanks for the compliments though. I think it's gonna come out cool.
 
#9 ·
not sure if my shop mate contacted you or not, but i'll tell ya straight you could drive to austin buy his entire bike and all it's spares for a lot less than it's going to cost you to restore that one.

if you're interested send me a pm with your number and i'll get the two of you in contact.
 
#8 ·
not sure if my shop mate contacted you or not, but i'll tell ya straight you could drive to austin buy his entire bike and all it's spares for a lot less than it's going to cost you to restore that one.

if you're interested send me a pm with your number and i'll get the two of you in contact.
 
#10 ·
I don't know much about that eastern bloc bike but if the gas cap isn't just fluff

and the blinkers are somebody's add on

and it is an actual ISDT bike missing a few bits maybe

I think I'd clean it and conserve it as much as possible
 
#11 ·
I don't know much about that eastern bloc bike but if the gas cap isn't just fluff

and the blinkers are somebody's add on

and it is an actual ISDT bike missing a few bits maybe

I think I'd clean it and conserve it as much as possible
 
#16 ·
I think the hubs look very much like R26 R27 BMW single

I'd also think an actual ISDT bike would have a high pipe

did the gimages thing



there is some info out there on Hailwood's road racer too

I think the cap is just fluff and I'd either do a road racer with it or ISDT it
 
#19 ·
HackA,
I think it as a Commie thing. When you don't have very many international accomplishments, you have to make the most of any that come along.

Ken
 
#20 ·
LOL! A commie thing! Gotta love em!

My friend who works at a local euro resto shop said the same thing, that it sounds like a lot of parts are the same as on BMW's, like the Bing carburetor and that weird exhaust nut.

I got a reply from Martin at Burwin's (burwin.co.uk) who said they could get me most of the parts I'd need but shipping would be pricey. I'm finding this out already ordering things off ebay. 20 bucks to ship a manual.. outrageous...

I might be interested buying the one in austin. This bike might just turn into a parts bike. Still a lot of good bits on it.
 
#21 ·
I worked for a dealer selling them in the late 70's/early 80's.
It would be a real good idea to fit new main bearings and seals, they are 'stock' sized so pretty cheap
You do need to be careful getting crank out as cases are pretty lightweight for the time and will distort if you do it wrong.
My boss won 'civilian' class at Pau-San Sebastian-Pau Rally a couple of times on MZ 250's in 70's~80's (south of France/Spain)
There used to be a racing class for them in Europe, was pretty well supported so you should be able to find a lot of information on tuning it if you want to go nuts (120mph+)I'm pretty sure I had specs for expansion chamber for it at one time (disappeared now) but I seem to remember seeing plans online a couple of years ago at MZ racing site. Gave length, diameter of center and cone angles
Modified to later model specs, it will be easily able to out accelerate a stock CB350 or similar and, they also handles surprisingly well (probably because they weigh next to nothing)
People used to get really shocked when they saw one wheelying (surprised the hell out of me as well :D)
The direction indicators look like Lucas (Triumph) probably fitted to comply with laws in force at the time or maybe it was an 'upgrade'?
I thought they used a Jikov carb, its similar to Bing but 'cruder'
They came stock with alloy rims as well, only problem, 16"
PJ
 
#22 ·
The carbs are BVF, which actually aren't Bing, bings were used as well, but on the ETZs I believe from what I can gather...

So a little update. I got the manual, it's freaking sweet. Has all the drawings, like engineer drawings, for all the special tools. Apparently though through time and experience people have made this jig for separating the case halves that makes 2 of the over complicated tools unecessary. Cool.

I found everything I need from an online shop in France, though I still want to get the bike from the guy in Austin. It's going to cost more to fix this one than to get his. What I DO intend to do with this one though, is just mod it with whatever I can find off the shelf that is good and affordable and reasonable. Right now I'm trying to find a disc front end for it. It's kinda odd I guess because I can't find 32mm forks at the junkyard. The ETZ used 35, or maybe it was 36 mm, and its almost the same bike but it had disc brakes. I don't mind going larger, I just want to be sure whatever I get fits. If it doesn't fit the tree (bigger) then I'll have to use the tree that comes with the fork which means I need to get one that fits the yoke on the frame. This naturally presents all kinds of difficulty in finding something that will actually be compatible. On that note, I seem to remember someone posting a listing with like every fork and their specs... Anybody know where that is?

These forks are 32mm diameter and are approx 77cm unloaded in length. The front brake is as locked and the rear, so I don't have much if any hope it's still serviceable.

I saw an H1 at the junkyard today. Its a pity it has been sitting outside for quite a while and is totally locked up :(
 
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