Huge thank you to all you great guys....she lives!!!!

[spyug]

Guys you are absolutely the best for hanging in with me. Thank you all so so much for the encouragement and great ideas. One gigantic Attaboy to friend Ponderosa for his suggestion to use saran wrap on the carb mouths. That's what it took, that and about 5 minutes solid of cranking and oddly enough choke off.

I'm so happy I'm like Scrooge on Christmas morning after the 3 ghosts have been, as he said, "I'm as light as a feather, I'm as giddy as a schoolboy. I don't know anything....I never knew anything".

It feels like the weight is finally off.

I'm going to "wet the baby's head" with a drop of the water of life ( Scotch to you heathens).

Cheers all you beautiful bastids!!!

Spyug

PS it runs like a banshee (wailing Scottish ghost again for all you sassenachs)

 

[marvinsc]

Congrats on Slaying the Dragon (or Katana)

 

[Turtleface]

Congrats! Nothing better than the feeling of great accomplishment after completing a particularly difficult task. Well, maybe not better than the feeling of tearing ass around on a GS. Hope the wait for better weather doesn't turn you nutters.

 

[DMorris]

Congrats, spyug on getting her running. I troubleshoot electronics for a living so I understand that you learn the most from the really difficult problems. Meaning you have learned a lot from this exercise--I'm sure.
That being said, I have a bunch of questions about this problem and fix.

Covering the intakes is functionally the same as a real choke vs a enriching system but I would have thought starting fluid would have given a 'pop' if fuel starvation was the problem. And 5 minutes of cranking with covered intakes seems like a recipe for a flooded engine.

I guess I just don't understand the how and why of all this.
Do you have a theory?

I do want to thank you for sharing your misery with us so that we can all learn from your experience.

PS did you hear the one about the Scots Highland Guardsman and the condom?

Best,

PPS I forgot to ask....does she start easily now?

 

[spyug]

Thanks guys.

I don't really have an idea what exactly happened to cause this to go. I agree that the huge amount of gas and ether straight to the cylinders should have caused some big bangs and not being able to get them really had me confused. I have always been able to cause explosions with ether.

The carbs that I had on at the time were the old ones that came of the GS about 3 1/2 years ago. They had worked but one of the airscrews was buggered and I couldn't tune them properly so I replaced them with a primo set from our good buddy KingofVenus. They had been sitting on the shelf all that time and I never even peeled them open. They were running rich as she was revving around 4000 without choke.

When I changed back to the set that came with the bike ( the ones I had meticulously cleaned and rebuilt) she fired right up and ran nicely around 2000 on 3/4 choke.She dies without choke so some work still to be done on them (can't wait to try out my new Morgan carbtune).

There are no weird sounds or nasty fumes coming out the pipe although there is some oil burning off things (When first started the valve cover was off and she shot oil everywhere.....good strong oil pump).

She is not charging either but that I can sort out so no worries as our Aussie brothers say.

I am so relieved that it runs as I can now go ahead with the project, knowing that if I don't keep her I can at least get my money and maybe even a little profit out of a 'runner".

Lots to do, of course, but with it running the indecision about how to proceed is taken away.

This is one of my happier days that's for sure

Cheers all,
Spyug

PS No I don't know the one about the Guardsman and the condom.....do share!

 

[Guest]

Amen
Are you sure you had it plugged in?

 

[Joe Nardy]

SWEET! Soon you can post a pic of the bike and you (wearing your spiffy Kat t-shirt!)

Thanks,
Joe

 

[spyug]

SWEET! Soon you can post a pic of the bike and you (wearing your spiffy Kat t-shirt!)

Joe, I was starting to feel that I didn't deserve to wear a Kat shirt but now I feel like a real Kat guy so as soon as they turn up I'll be struttin my stuff.

Cheers,
Spyug

 

[old_chopper]

Big ole congratulations from Oklahoma! I guess it took a while for the fuel to get thru the passages in the carbs! I have learned (but I don't always remember) some mysteries will never be answered. Enjoy the skotch.

 

[KiwiGS]

Well done mate!

 

[salty_monk]

Congrats... glad that's cleared up. It's weird it only runs on 3/4 choke. EVERY bike I've ever started after a long lay up with meticulously clean carbs, strong spark & adjusted valves has always run well off choke too.....

Perhaps you need to adjust the idle stop? Does it run on part throttle (as that bypasses the choke).

Mind you, having said that if you still don't have an airbox on it that would explain that for sure....

Dan

 

[spyug]

Thanks guys.

I don't have the carbs dialled in even slightly, the idle screw is not adjusted and the throttle cable is just losley attached and not adjusted.

I stopped working on it this afternoon as the boss was yipping at me about noise and fumes......and chores that needed doing.

Tomorrow, I'm going to order up the airbox rubbers and when I get the box on I'll be able to properly dial in the carbs .

While I'm waiting, in the next day or two I'll pull the wheels, forks, brakes etc and start in on those. I want to get the running gear in order in the next few weeks and will then get to the bodywork,lights and such.

Now I'm pretty confident I can have a new bike by April in time for the spring thaw.

I know there will be other snags from time to time but its looking a lot brighter now.

Cheers guys.
spyug

 

[salty_monk]

Any sign of oil leaks from that re-used gasket?
You'll prob find compression will improve with an "Italian tune up" (a good thrashing)

 

[spyug]

So far no indication of leaks but its early days yet.

The plan is to get the carbs in tune with the airbox on then allow the bike to run abit at idle to seat things in again. Then I will do a retest of compression.

On my local site this morning one of the fellas is talking about low compression in one cylinder of a ZX6 and the others are talking about running a leak down test to see where the problem lies. I might just do that myself as it could give me a better idea of where I stand with this engine.

I was thinking that if there are no significant engine issues over the next few weeks, I will leave it and just get the bike on the road in the spring. If it runs right I may not tinker with the engine any further this year.

Due to the ergonomics of the bike, I'm still not even sure its a keeper so it still might get flipped. For the time being I'll be working on getting it presentable and safe.

I'll be keeping you all informed.

cheers,
Spyug

 

[Ponderosa]

Great!

Great!

Now you can fine tune her after getting the airbox on, lots of old engines and carbs are fuel starved, carbon rich, takes awhile to get fuel to em. Congrats, I will be sticking the kids 1100 boat anchor back into the frame this next week, soaking carb parts as we speak. They are really huge dollar eaters, but not as huge as ten-twenty thousand for a new bike..

I have found that old, cold, long dormant engines will have low compression numbers, I am betting your engine picked up 20-30# just by finally running a couple minutes. Look for drops in each cylinder, not across the board.. Again, congrats, and I can hear the Pipes a playin...

 

[Nessism]

Sorry if this sounds overly negative, that it not my intention but...I hope you plan to pull the engine back down and replace that used head gasket since it's about 90% likely to start leaking in short order. Even if you are going to sell the bike to someone else the gasket should be replaced since it's a known issue.

 

[spyug]

Ed, I was thinking about that this morning and have my usual mixed emotions about it. For me, a lot hangs on if I decide to keep it or not and I likely won't know that until I get to ride it. If it does turn out to be a keeper, it will likely mean that I'll be wanting it as perfect as I can get it since it will be a replacement for the GS which will likely go on the block. As you know, owning multiple bikes up here is costly vis-a-vis insurance since each bike must be insured alone and there are no multi vehicle policies for bikes.

If I do sell it I will be sure to inform the buyer and will include a gasket. I may even do the work. I just don't know at this point.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

cheers,
Spyug

 

[DMorris]

OK, spyug. Here it comes....
"Scots Highland Guardsman strides into the town pharmacy and back to the pharmacist's counter. He lays a rather nasty looking condom on the counter and says to the pharmacist ' I'd like to have this cleaned.'.
The pharmacist is more than a little taken back but manages to tell the guardsman 'Lad, those are not designed to be cleaned; they are to be used and then disposed of.'.
The Guardsman appears shocked by this and picks up the condom and leaves the store.
Later that same afternoon, the Guardsman returns and again strides to the counter at the back of the store. He, again, lays the condom on the counter.
The pharmacist steps over and says 'Well, lad. I see you're back! Can I help you?' To which the Guardsman replies ' Yes you can. Although I think its a terrible waste, the regiment has voted to replace!"

 

[Guest]

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!!!

Makes me wanna get to work on mine now.

 

[spyug]

:clap:Good one! Not too cheap are we.

It's really strange how we Scots have this reputation. It actually gets me steamed when I see the caricatures of penny pinching Scotsmen shown in advertising and cartoons and such ( Scrooge McDuck for instance) however its not far from the truth in some cases.

I once caught my old grannie taking a 2 hour bus trip to buy some socks that were on sale for 75cents (that originally cost $1.50 maybe) when they were available for around $1 a pair at a local store. My grandfather on my mothers side would make toast in the morning for breakfast and I was always facinated to watch him spread the butter on , then spend the next 2 or 3 minutes scrapping it off and putting it back in the dish. He'd make a big pot of tea as well and use the tea leaves over and over again during the day.By night time he was drinking hot water.

My father would never allow food to be wasted and would always eat all the leftovers. I've inherited a lot of these traits myself it seems as I hate to waste food and am the only one in the house to eat leftovers too. I hate spending money and will make do for as long as I can ( thus my reluctance to dish out $75 on a head gasket).

I draw the line though at sharing or even reusing rubbers Mind you, at this age, I'd never use them as I don't ever get sex anyway anymore.

Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
spyug