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[pyromancy5]

This is my rebuild project.  I picked this wrecked 2014 Zero Sr up from a local guy. 15k miles.  He had purchased it at a Copart auction for a considerable amount more than I paid him for it. Was selling it because of a recent divorce, and he was a motorcycle technician, he didn’t get EVs. 

Within a week I had it stripped down and had a parts order placed with the local dealer.  Frame, tank, fender, plastics and some other bits and bob.  I was told the frame was stamped with a matching VIN yesterday and shipped out today. With any luck, parts will be here in a week.

The bike was in a front end wreck and the frame bent    at the shoulder.  Best I can tell, the bike hit something dead on, and didn’t really fall over.  Not even a scraped foot peg.  The tire made contact with the stubby chin and broke the center and side plastics but the battery box is unmarred.  The wheel is still true.  The right fork is leaking, so an inspection and rebuild is in order.  There’s no scoring on the tube, and all appears to be straight.  Hopefully things stayed straight with the stout 43mm tube width and the fork doubled up under full compression (assuming heavy braking on impact).

Surprisingly easy to work on this bike.  The wiring loom was well organized, labeled and has unique connectors for just about everything. The rear brake was the only pain to get apart. I drive an EV, but this is my first time wrenching on one beyond a tire rotation. I've rehabbed bikes before, and it's really nice to not have gas and oil to mess about with.

Does anyone on this forum recognize this bike from the forum?  Anyone talk about getting in a wreck?
This is the auction w/ photos I found before going to look at it:

https://www.copart.com/lot/37359938







Up on the lift before I strapped it



Motor out then frame off.  This order made it very easy to keep the battery stationary

[clockfort]

Nice!
If I had to recover a wreck of unknown age-since-last-charge the first thing I'd do is grab a voltage reading off the battery and then close the battery contactor and start charging the battery before it goes bad.
The bike also has a serial terminal direct to the BMS, if that helps you diagnose things.

[pyromancy5]

Nice!
If I had to recover a wreck of unknown age-since-last-charge the first thing I'd do is grab a voltage reading off the battery and then close the battery contactor and start charging the battery before it goes bad.
The bike also has a serial terminal direct to the BMS, if that helps you diagnose things.

I was  able to sync my phone to it when I picked it up (rode it for a few blocks, too) SoC was 90%.  Unfortunately there was no SoH reading.  I’m wondering if it went flat at the copart lot. Once it’s back together, I’ll do a full capacity check.

[carldev]

So... I just watched Rich Rebuilds latest video and at the beginning it featured him working on a wrecked red S from a Copart auction that looks very similar to this one.  Just curious if this is the same bike

[pyromancy5]

Definitely resembles the damage on mine.  Definitely not the same one though.  I’m curious what he does with it.

[carldev]

Me too, he is close by so having someone who could potentially work on my bike is pretty cool.
Pyromancy5 good luck with your rebuild, I am excited to see the finished product.

-Carl

[pyromancy5]

Thanks Carl, I'll try to do a better job of documenting the rebuild process now that I will have plenty of time.

I was in a bit of a rush to get a parts list together in hopes I could ride the bike to marshal a 100 mile bicycle ride for cancer on 8/3. That's not going to happen because I need the fork seals before I can get the shocks rebuilt.   The dealer was so unresponsive about this order.  I had a written parts list to them and it took them almost 2 weeks to place the order. I sent them an email with a spreadsheet of part names and numbers on Sunday 6/30, and called to confirm on Monday, they say they will call me back.  No call back.  Tuesday I call, they're too busy to price all the parts (like 12 items) and no call back.  By the time I spoke to someone on Wednesday, Zero was closed for the holiday weekend. They tell me they'll call me and place the order first thing on Monday.  But no call back.  I call Tuesday to ask whats up and they return me the quote, I amend a couple things and submit. But they had a question about a part from the diagram, so they won't place the order, but zero is closed. So they say the order will go in first thing Wednesday, the parts manager promises.  But I call Wed. and they tell me the parts manager is off that day, and that is the only person who can do it.    I expect a call Thursday, but nope.  so I call Thurs and get more "we're busy, call you back later".  They do and they got their question answered (the part I listed was correct), but now Zero is closed again. The order is finally placed on Friday, twelve days after I sent the parts list.  I feel like this whole thing should have taken about 20 minutes on the phone.  I never thought it would be this hard to spend a couple thousand dollars. I was told the frame would be stamped on Monday and would take a week to 10 days to get here.

[pyromancy5]

So... I just watched Rich Rebuilds latest video and at the beginning it featured him working on a wrecked red S from a Copart auction that looks very similar to this one.  Just curious if this is the same bike

I don’t usually watch him, but he teased the SR and he got me. I was wincing a lot during his tear down. Get a bike stand for fk sake.  He paid $3,200 for a one year newer SR with equivalent miles, more damage and had already been torn into.  If I was going to cannibalize my bike, I would make an old school three wheeler.

[carldev]

Ha yea a lot of what he does is a hack but it's always entertaining.  While it would be neat to see him retrofit a sport bike the work involved getting everything to fit would be tremendous.  He should do exactly what you did and order a new frame and then see if he can find a salvage fork and front wheel.  It was pretty crazy seeing everything apart and working on the floor thou.

-Carl

[pyromancy5]

Ha yea a lot of what he does is a hack but it's always entertaining.  While it would be neat to see him retrofit a sport bike the work involved getting everything to fit would be tremendous.  He should do exactly what you did and order a new frame and then see if he can find a salvage fork and front wheel.  It was pretty crazy seeing everything apart and working on the floor thou.

-Carl

I like the direction he is headed in with the rat rod.

Not much update on this build. I called the dealer last week to see what's going on.  They told me some parts had arrived, and they're just waiting on the tank plastics to come in.

[pyromancy5]

Parts are in!

[pyromancy5]

Picked up parts today and I learned a few things. 

When ordering new tanks plastics, they sent me the newer keyed-cover type.  I wish I had known this so I could have ordered it keyed to the originals.

The frame is also updated with the two vertical supports between the upper and lower parts of neck and shoulder. This was not present on the original frame, but it should add strength.  Hoping everything else bolts up OK. It's sticker has all the same information on it, including the original date of manufacture.

It also came with the swing arm bearings already pressed in place.  I had pulled these from the frame, but this makes it easier.

The races for the steering head bearings also were in place, which fine, I guess.  I had planned to replace the stock bearing with the allballs. I already tried pulling these from the original frame, and it was a pain in the ass, so I'm going to re-install the stock ones.  They seem fine.

Fork seal kit came with bushings and all, so those will be nice and fresh.

[pyromancy5]

A bit of a curve ball thrown my way.  When Zero changed from the Fastace to Showa suspension, they changed the rear mounting bracket on the frame too.   I should have taken pictures, but when I'm in the middle of something I forget to document the process.  The new bracket is the same width and location, but has more material (larger radius from the mounting hole) which does not allow for clearance for the mounting of the Fastace.  Some modification to the tab (removing about 2 mm of material) was necessary. 

Steering head bearings cleaned and inspected. They looked good.  Re-greased and steering head is assembled. 

Rear swing arm is assembled and back on, but I removed the rear wheel for cleaning, and I'm contemplating wheel bearing replacement since it's already apart.

[carldev]

Nice sounds like some good progress.  Did Zero know you where ordering a frame for a 14 with the Fastace?  Do they only make and stock newer year frames?  Hopefully you don't run into any more surprises.  Foe the wheel maybe just check to see if there is any play with the bearings.  Not sure how often people are replacing them but with only 15K you'll probably be fine until the next belt change or set of tires is needed. 

Good luck!
-Carl

[pyromancy5]

Nice sounds like some good progress.  Did Zero know you where ordering a frame for a 14 with the Fastace?  Do they only make and stock newer year frames?  Hopefully you don't run into any more surprises.  Foe the wheel maybe just check to see if there is any play with the bearings.  Not sure how often people are replacing them but with only 15K you'll probably be fine until the next belt change or set of tires is needed. 

Good luck!
-Carl

Thanks Carl! Yeah, I think Zero must only make the most current iteration of products.  They etched my old VIN onto the new frame, and the info sticker has the same 2014 date of MFG as the original. 

I'm itching to ride as much as I can... winter is coming.  I checked the bearings and they're fine.  Zero says replace at 20k, but new tires are needed very soon, so I'll do both this after the riding season comes to an end.