New member from Aberdeen

[Cerberus73]

Hi all, Greetings from Aberdeen. I just cut a deal to trade one of my C90 Cubs for a Rather nice 1986 MZ ETZ 250 with around 9600 miles (or is it km) showing on the speedo.. before this i looked at a 250 saxon which had the speedo in km on the odometer, so this has me a little confused as to whether the etz is miles or kilometres.

i owned a TS 250 many many years ago.. which was nicked by a scrote back in the mid 90s. now i have already got some plans for this bike. to make it mint condition it needs the engine casings cleaned and painted with high temp silver, and the barrel and head can do with a clean and repaint as well. and the seat cover was put on rather sloppily, so it needs taking off and laid down properly with a hair dryer and spray glue to remove some creasing. i will also go through the bike and replace fasteners with stainless wherever possible. she is a very sweet old bike, not bad for 28yo.

In the future i want to add some proper hard luggage, a screen of some kind. and go from 250 to 300cc, electronic ignition and better charging.. and halogen headlamp bulb/led elsewhere.

I have done some looking around on the interweb.. seeing how easy it is to do these mods. especially the 300cc conversion, and the electronic ignition. my long term plans for this bike is to turn it into a camping/touring bike, the reason i wanted an MZ is there reliable, cheap to maintain. and they are higher up than my other bikes (a suzuki intruder 1400, and a GS500E, Honda C90 Cub)

Now the 300cc conversion, is it a case of sourcing a 300cc piston kit, and reboring the 250 barrel, or do i need to source a 300 barrel and head as well. and a larger 32mm mikuni carb. and perhaps an expansion pipe silencer to give a bit more torque/power for hauling my arse around loaded up with my camping kit. any info or links to previous posts covering this would be great.

[arry_b]

MZ ETZ 250 with around 9600 miles (or is it km)

Miles

better charging

Save your money, it's unnecessary. The ETZ alternator is massively better than the 60/90 watt TS dynamo was. It'll supply 170 watts, more than enough for everything at once.

expansion pipe silencer to give a bit more torque/power

Don't. They're all junk. You'll be down on power and get worse fuel consumption. The original pipe is a work of engineering art designed by a genius. The "power pipes" are anything but.

Now the 300cc conversion, is it a case of sourcing a 300cc piston kit, and reboring the 250 barrel, or do i need to source a 300 barrel and head as well.

Take care here, the way to go is to fit a complete top end off of a 301 but you need to make sure that the cylinder liner outer diameter fits into your crankcases. Most early ETZ250s would need the crankcases machined out a little as the hole isn't big enough. I suspect if you were to get the liner turned down, it may leave it a little on the thin side.

Getting a 250cc barrel bored out MAY be doable if you can persuade a machine shop to bore it out that much for a reasonable price. You'd need a 301 head, but the standard 250 carb works fine, usually without rejetting. The 300s are also fitted with a bigger gearbox sprocket which allows you to take advantage of the better torque.

My own ETZ250 (see cover of MZ rider no. 176) has been converted to run a 301 top end, on the standard carb with a standard exhaust with a 301 gearbox sprocket. You couldn't accuse it of being in mint condition but the changes have it's made it a nicer bike. It's also got optically triggered electronic ignition, so no points to fiddle with. Fuel consumption isn't as good as a standard 250 (I'm getting around 53 mpg), but it's taken me all around the UK and Europe several times and the extra oomph is worth the slightly higher fuel cost.

[Srinath]

Its going to be hard pressed to compete with the GS500 for the mantle of "cheapo bike"
You on gstwin.com ?

Cool.
Srinath.

[Cerberus73]

yeah I've been on gstwin.com, but mostly gs500e.co.uk.. also suzuki-intruder.org and intruder alert, the US centric club for same bike. but I'm most active on C90club.co.uk and retro riders forums.

yeah my GS500 is a cheap bike, cheap to run as well, fuel wise i get 70mpg.. not a patch on the cubs 125mpg. cheaper than a bus that! but I've always liked MZ's. I'm still a commie at heart the gs has served as my hack, and camping bike, and i covered 5000 miles on her last year. but for a big 16 n bit stone 6ft 2 lump its a bitty cramped and after 50 miles my thighs were in bits, and calfs seized solid. I'm not a speed demon, and have no interest in a crotch rocket, I'm happy sat at 60-65 on the dual carriageways, and 50-60 on A n B roads. the MZ is intended to take me up into the highlands, where the roads are twisty, but not the best surfaced in places. and the load carrying ability is more important than rip snorting horsepower… i got the intruder for pulling out tree stumps!

Thanks for the tips, looks like i will invest in a powerdynamo kit for sparks. and look around for a 301 barrel and head.. if anybody has one for sale!.. drop me a message

heres a pic of the bike.

[Srinath]

You in UK ? One of the GStwin admins (cal price) is also in UK.
I've generally been both impressed and disappointed in the 660 compared to the GS myself. I am truly split ... Like the way it runs, but the GS is a heck of a lot easier to work on.
Cool.
Srinath.

[Cerberus73]

ah you can't get much more simple than a "classic" MZ.. 2 stroke, no valves, no cam chains etc to worry about. a little thirsty fuel wise. i don't know if i would have a more modern MZ, the draw for me is the old school 2 stroke simplicity and sturdy build, they didn't really have much plastic on em. my GS is fully faired, simply adjusting the clutch involves a lot of bodywork removal before you can get access to anything. i like the idea of a bike i can fix at the side of the road with some basic tools. as i intend driving up into the highlands of scotland on it far from most bike shops. and yep I'm in the British Isles.

[Srinath]

Oh yea that GS type, post 04. What a crappy excercise in "If it aint broke we need to put some fragile crap on it that will be broke".

Cool.
Srinath.

[Cerberus73]

not its a 1995 GS fitted with a TCP fairing from new (it was an option here in the uk.. its the one with the twin round headlamps off an aprilia) they only did this style of fairing for about a yr before they replaced it with the seconds style with an enclosed headlight. she's a lovely bike, just needs some tlc to get her mint, i do have a new pair of headlights and a replacement screen to fit.. but i still need a good left side belly pan to get the fairing crack free. i do intend on keeping her and doing some work to it…. as you can guess i got t a thing for so called commuter bikes.. GS500, Honda C90 Cub (passport for the US members) and now the MZ ETZ 250… I also have a pair of jawa 350's lined up as a winter project, and intend fitting a chair to one of them just for shits n giggles. as a car boot bike (flea market for the non UK residents)

[Lpo90]

Have you bought or fitted your bike with the electronic ignition yet? Been thinking of getting one for mine.

[Cerberus73]

No i haven't yet. f you see my post in the "vintage motorcycles section" of the forum, you can see I'm having some trouble with the indicators/headlamp so as a matter of urgency I'm looking for a solution.. i think this will come in the form of fitting electronic ignition, regulator, flasher unit etc.. and converting the bike to LED lighting wherever possible.