1974 army MZ TS250 restoration project

[Andy_C]

Well impressed with your efforts - especially given that you have no garage to work in.

Keep posting and keep up the good work !!

[NVA250]

The seat in the middle is the one that came with the bike and was too far gone to save. The seats either side were a set I got from eBay. They’re from an ES250 and not quite the same but I can adapt them easily enough.

After months of scraping paint of rusty bits of metal things were beginning to go back together into something that actually looked like a bike. That said I was still finding unexpected problems. One of the first things I did when stripping the bike was making a large order of parts that I knew I would need when putting it all back together again (bushes, spacers, rubber parts, etc). I chose a supplier in Poland and bought a whole load of bits. They sat on the shelf for a few weeks until I was ready to fit them, it was only then that I found that most of the parts didn’t fit and were of really poor quality.

I had to reorder the majority of the parts again from someone else (ost2rad.de) leading to the old adage “buy cheap, buy twice…” I wish I’d kept that in mind from the start.

The rear shock absorbers caused me no end of problems. I could not get the metal sleeve covers off the old shocks so I bought, cleaned and resprayed a second hand pair off eBay. Unfortunately these sleeves would not fit on the new shock absorber springs, even with the aid of lube and spring compressors! In the end I gave up and ordered another set of shocks complete with sleeves that did fit.

I decided to move onto the engine. Not knowing the history of the bike, why it had been taken off the road and how long it had sat, I decided that I would completely strip, check and rebuild it. I made the slightly extreme move of or taking it to an uncle 65 miles away in Bedford! This was mainly so I could use his garage where I could leave the dissembled engine should I need to get parts.


Judging by the spanner rash inside, I don’t think this is the first time it’s been messed with!

As with everything else, stripping the engine did not go well… I had bought a clutch puller for the 4 speed engine in the order from Poland. Now when I came to use it it’s the wrong size! I did try using a universal puller and some heat, but no joy. The flathead screws holding the crankcase together proved exceptionally difficult to move, especially when the Impact driver won’t fit into the small areas. I came away to order a smaller impact driver as well as a new (and hopefully correct) clutch puller. More delays…


Getting the side of the crankcase off was as far as I got this time.

Oh, and then I fell off my everyday bike and broke my leg. I’m left with a half built bike in the living room just in time for Christmas and the engine sitting in a garage in a different county…


This year the Christmas tree will be replaced with an MZ. At least it’s green!

The other half is not impressed!

[Guesi]

On your picture there is a 5 gear clutch, so you need a 5 gear clutch extractor.

Also the front fork is from the 5 gear model, so maybe you have a TS 250/1 model ?

Or someone had changed these parts in the past......

[Blurredman]

That clutch basket is a bit rusty but that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

By the way, the expense you pay on it now will be superficial, seeing as it is both MOT and Tax exempt. You'll be saving like £70 a year! I can't wait until some of my vehicles are exempt.. They should be anyway!.. I don't have a vehicle over 25 years old..

[NVA250]

On your picture there is a 5 gear clutch, so you need a 5 gear clutch extractor.

Also the front fork is from the 5 gear model, so maybe you have a TS 250/1 model ?

Or someone had changed these parts in the past......

Well now, that explains a bit. Thanks!

I think this bike is very much a "bitza". I know the forks are from a 250/1, I added these as it had ETZ forks and wheel fitted when I bought it. The engine has the finned cylinder head from the early 250, so I was assuming it was the 4 gear engine. Annoying as I have bought a seal and bearing set for the 4 gear rather than 5 gear engine.

The engine has definitely been apart before and I don't suppose I'll know for sure until I've got the engine apart completely. Is it possible that someone has fitted a 5 speed crank in a 4 speed engine?

[NVA250]

That clutch basket is a bit rusty but that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

By the way, the expense you pay on it now will be superficial, seeing as it is both MOT and Tax exempt. You'll be saving like £70 a year! I can't wait until some of my vehicles are exempt.. They should be anyway!.. I don't have a vehicle over 25 years old..

I like the positive thinking there! I have lost track of how much I've spent so far, but I think it pales into insignificance with £70 tax and MOT!

[Guesi]

On your picture there is a 5 gear clutch, so you need a 5 gear clutch extractor.

Also the front fork is from the 5 gear model, so maybe you have a TS 250/1 model ?

Or someone had changed these parts in the past......

Well now, that explains a bit. Thanks!

I think this bike is very much a "bitza". I know the forks are from a 250/1, I added these as it had ETZ forks and wheel fitted when I bought it. The engine has the finned cylinder head from the early 250, so I was assuming it was the 4 gear engine. Annoying as I have bought a seal and bearing set for the 4 gear rather than 5 gear engine.

The engine has definitely been apart before and I don't suppose I'll know for sure until I've got the engine apart completely. Is it possible that someone has fitted a 5 speed crank in a 4 speed engine?

If you find a round cover with 4 screws on the housing under the carb it is a 4 gear housing.

So you need oil seals for the 4 gear engine.

And putting a 5 gear gearbox into a 4 gear housing is not possible.

They did it on the "enduro" models like MZ ETS 250 G . But all the gearbox parts are different from the normal 5 gear speed box.

[NVA250]

If you find a round cover with 4 screws on the housing under the carb it is a 4 gear housing.

So you need oil seals for the 4 gear engine.

And putting a 5 gear gearbox into a 4 gear housing is not possible.

They did it on the "enduro" models like MZ ETS 250 G . But all the gearbox parts are different from the normal 5 gear speed box.

Looks like a 4 speed then

[Guesi]

Yes it is 4 speed.

Someone must have put the 5 gear clutch on it, which is possible .

In these times they put on the bike what they had in stock...

Many parts are (thank god ) interchangeable...

[Blurredman]

What is the cover under the carb for then, out of interest?

[Guesi]

To look into the gearbox. You need it to adjust the gears.

[NVA250]

This is the other half's input into the project: Christmas decorations!

I can't blame her really, the bike is taking up most of the living room at the moment.

[DAVID THOMPSON]

i rewired a BMW R50s in the front hall in 1975 have to do what i needed to get to work
it was too cold out side to work on it
Dave

[NVA250]

i rewired a BMW R50s in the front hall in 1975 have to do what i needed to get to work
it was too cold out side to work on it
Dave

Knackered motorcycles in the house isn't a new things, but I'd hoped that I could afford a garage by this point of my life!

[NVA250]

I hate electrics; I always have and probably always will! I don’t know what it is but I just cannot get my head around amps, volts, circuits, wiring diagrams and all that stuff.

When I was stripping the bike down it was clear from the state of the wiring that pretty much most of it would have to be replaced. I bought a complete wiring loom from Ebay a while ago and this was put aside awaiting a bit more progress. Partly because I hate electrics and partly because I thought it might be best to sort all of the wiring out last when all of the other major parts were fitted.

Breaking my leg somewhat changed my plans… Whilst recuperating the electrics was about the only thing that I could work on without having to do any lifting or real moving about. The wiring all looked nice, shiny and new and had an instruction sheet showing which wire should collect with what part of the system. The downside was that this instruction sheet was in Polish! I downloaded the 6V wiring diagram from this site, dug out the MZ manual, translated the Polish instructions and set about wiring the bike up with great enthusiasm.



The wiring loom in place, not sure if it’s the right route but I have very few photos of this area so it’s a bit of a guess.

After a few days of chipping away at it and I was not so enthusiastic. I started at what I could figure out (earths and indicators) and worked backwards. Combined with the various plans, instructions and wiring diagrams I think I did reasonably well. That said there are a few loose wires left which I could do with some help with…


So these are wires relating to the lights/indicators inside the headlight. I have no idea where they go! The black wire on the left splits into two spade connectors. I believe that the black and green wire in the middle is for the left side indicator, no idea where this connects to. I think the black and white wire on the right is for the left indicators. Again, I don’t know where this goes, I do know that one of these will probably connect to the flasher relay, but which one!?


This is at the other end. The red connector block has caused me some issues as it’s not on the wiring diagram which is a real bummer. The black cable with a spade connector is a split from the one plugged into the middle of the connector block in the photo. The other end of this black cable runs to one of the coil terminals and the green and black cable runs to the other one. I have no idea which terminal on the connector block the other end of the green and black cable connects to.


The MZ manual shows both fuses as 15amp, unfortunately the only bullet shaped fuses (from my Trabant) I have are 16amp. One amp shouldn’t make that much difference right?
Also the wiring diagram shows a green and red cable running from the positive fuse to one of the regulator terminals, what’s that all about?