Project Kawasaki Z900 Stocker part 2 Ralph has a blast!

For the best finish on his Z900’s motor Ralph wants the best, so he visits Stephen Smethurst Casting Renovation to find out how it’s done properly.

- RALPH FERRAND

Last time out, you’ll have heard me gloating about being the fortunate recipient of a far from shiny example of Kawasaki’s 1976 flagship Z900A4 in boxes for nowt.

I did promise the generous benefactor that I would do justice to his kind gift by restoring it to the very best level I could afford to. To this end the naked aluminium castings would need to be cleaned to the very best standard available in the UK and that meant visiting Greater Manchester with my trusty Nikon. To the best of my knowledge I am the first ‘gentleman’ of the press (if that’s not an oxymoron?) allowed to cross the threshold and see the secrets of Stephen Smethurst’s business (called Stephen Smethurst Casting Renovation). Stephen took a wee bit of persuading, but I did point out that to copy him, someone would need a very big bank account given the huge financial investments he had to make, and even then they wouldn’t have the years of experience and experimentation Stephen has undergone to perfect his system of making aluminium castings appear as if they just left the machine shop.

Stephen had worked his magic on engines for me in the past, so I knew that the quality of his work surpassed that of any of the competition’s efforts that I have ever seen or heard of. Most folk believe that vapour blasting is all that is required to clean engine cases, but this is far from the truth. Vapour blasting alone makes parts look better than they were, but it is far from a serious restorer’s goal.