My rebuild thread

[Mr Rogers]

Thanks Steve, yes I should've clarified that statement... I know better



Good call KK! Definitely kerosene for that.

I used kerosene to clean everything during my engine rebuild and it has never ever caused me any grief. I don't have a parts washer but I use an old paint brush and scrub it in the chunky bits and it always works.

I buy the 3 litre bottles from the supermarket, dirt cheap and last forever.



Yes and yes! Anything rubber will be damaged by carb cleaner, although if you're using the spray carb cleaner you might be ok because it's too weak to be really effective.

If you dip the carbs in Berrymans or whatever, you can kiss all rubber bits good bye, so make sure you remove anything you need to save first.

Ok so yesterday i got the tires off so that i can get new ones in my local shop on wednesday. I'm going to replace the rear drum brakes once they get here in the mail. and the front brake pads look good but i'm going to replace the brake lines.

I pulled the carbs for the second time and they're being dipped right now.

With the gaskets and diaphragm i sprayed them with carb spray since they were not being dipped. I figured the spray was less damaging and would be alright but i went out this morning and scrubbed them with a little kerosene.

As for the chain... it's really stiff in some spots i'm sure the slowing that i was concerned with was due to the chain being a POS. i'm going to scrub the chain with kerosene tomorrow after i get my tires changed. Do you think that the chain will be saved by scrubbing it down and re lubing? I guess i'll just have to see after i'm done with it.

And one las thing i would like to do before i put the bike back together is check the valve clearances. they only reason i hesitate is that someone once told me that when working on a bike i should only fix one thing at a time.
Right now i feel like i'm doing almost everything at once...

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Mr Rogers]

So I got the carbs back together and they looks nice and clean. i went to put the choke assembly on the side of the left carb and sure enough the main pivot screw for the choke striped out... So now i'm chokeless until i can figure out a way to fix this.

Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

So I got the carbs back together and they looks nice and clean. i went to put the choke assembly on the side of the left carb and sure enough the main pivot screw for the choke striped out... So now i'm chokeless until i can figure out a way to fix this.

Any ideas?

A thread repair kit will solve that nice and easy, just take your time and make sure you drill straight and don't go too deep. Just go deep enough to fit the thread insert.

Alternatively, you can do what I did and make a bracket so you can use a 'bar mounted choke setup, and that way you don't need the pivot screw at all.



As for worrying about what maintenance to do and doing one thing at a time, well that does make some sense, however more applies to troubleshooting than necessary maintenance.

I'd definitely do the valve adjustments regardless of anything else.

 

[Mr Rogers]

A thread repair kit will solve that nice and easy, just take your time and make sure you drill straight and don't go too deep. Just go deep enough to fit the thread insert.

Alternatively, you can do what I did and make a bracket so you can use a 'bar mounted choke setup, and that way you don't need the pivot screw at all.



As for worrying about what maintenance to do and doing one thing at a time, well that does make some sense, however more applies to troubleshooting than necessary maintenance.

I'd definitely do the valve adjustments regardless of anything else.

in that picture you've got your choke connected to an old throttle cable or something right? i cant tell quite what it looks like but i like the idea!

Yeah i'm doing more general maintenance than repairs as the bike runs fairly well already. I just want it bullet proof

I'm also having a little trouble with the fact that my bike is going to have to be out of commission for at least four days if i want to do the adjustment because i'll need to order shims or maybe a gasket... maybe my local bike shop though. either way it must be done!

 

[Mr Rogers]

It's christmas! In april?

Well i got three packages today in the mail, a really great feeling when all i've been thinking about is turning a wrench on my bike...

Unfortunately i've got to put everything away for two weeks while I finish up this semester or i'm going to be crawling over the finish line in pretty sorry shape.

I'll be back soon don't worry. In the meantime if ya'll got any suggestions send em' over!

John

 

[Guest]

in that picture you've got your choke connected to an old throttle cable or something right? i cant tell quite what it looks like but i like the idea!

Yeah i'm doing more general maintenance than repairs as the bike runs fairly well already. I just want it bullet proof

I'm also having a little trouble with the fact that my bike is going to have to be out of commission for at least four days if i want to do the adjustment because i'll need to order shims or maybe a gasket... maybe my local bike shop though. either way it must be done!

Yep you got it spot on, it's my old throttle cable actuating the choke.

I got a later model GSXR left control that has the choke lever on it and made a couple of brackets to allow me to use that choke lever instead of the one on the carbs.

The throttle cable runs into the choke on the left control:

Couple of dodgy videos to show how the adaptor on the end of the choke arm allows the cable to pull it up and then let the springs pull it down again:



The forked bracket on the diaphragm cover acts like the stock throttle cable bracket between the carbs by allowing the nuts on the throttle cable to be tightened down to hold it in place but also provide some adjustment:

And that's how it all hooks up:

I always hated the carb mounted choke lever so was absolutely stoked when that all worked out.

Good luck with the end of the semester!

 

[Mr Rogers]

I know you guys like photos so here are some of the new tires waiting to be put on the bike... (they're begging me!)


IMG_7030 by John stanford Rogers, on Flickr


I had a quick question about this part here \/

Is this the proper positioning of this spacer? it seems like it should not be hanging like that...


IMG_7032 by John stanford Rogers, on Flickr

here is a picture of the black plastic cover off along with the spacer.


IMG_7033 by John stanford Rogers, on Flickr

 

[Guest]

Looks about right to me, mine doesn't have the plastic cover at all, and that spacer gets held in properly between the fork leg and wheel once the axle goes through.

 

[bakirkwold]

Yes. Try putting the axle in and see how it looks. But I am pretty sure its right.

 

[Mr Rogers]

Ok i thought that that might be the case.
Do you guys ever add additional grease to your wheels before you put them back on the bike? I'm cleaning all of these huge spacers and then I was thinking the whole axle setup needed a good coat of bearing grease.

Also as far as cleaning goes what would you use to clean mag wheels?
Just the simple soap and hot water?

 

[Guest]

I greased everything when putting my wheels on... bearings, spacers, whatever the axle passed through.

As for cleaning, I think that will do it, although I don't think we have Simple Green here.

Mine got a re-paint and I wire wheeled the old paint then sanded the bits I couldn't get to with the wheel.

 

[Mr Rogers]

great I greased everything!

The bike is really coming together! I was supposed to write a paper for school but I had to get outside and do something so here's the list for today!

put the back and front wheels back on.

I had to wrestle the exhaust pipe for about an hour to get it back on... I just hope that the gaskets are going to last because i don't want to do that again!

Emptied and removed the brake lines and squeezed a bunch of brown goo out of the caliper and cleaned up the master cylinder. The new line is half way built.

I removed my broken old throttle cable and put on a new one. i'm still not sure about the proper routing so it's not really set in place yet.

then i did a bunch of cleaning so right now the bike is looking tip top!

I started to take off my engine top to do valve adjustments and realized that i had been at it for way too long ha so now it's back to home work.

I'll get some pictures for you guys. The bike is looking beautiful!:dancing:

 

[Mr Rogers]

Here are some pictures of the bike after I got it all together yesterday!

I cleaned all of this up. The chain was a mess some spots barely bent at all So thank you guys so much for the kerosene and dupont lube suggestions it looks new to me now! Also there are the new IRC tires that i had put on. I replaced the brake pads and now the rear end really tip top!


IMG_7039 by John stanford Rogers, on Flickr

Here is the front with the new tire. I replaced the brake lines, They're a little longer than i would like but i probably wont bother shortening them. I cleaned the master cylinder and got a bunch of brown muck out of the caliper as well!
All clean now.

IMG_7038 by John stanford Rogers, on Flickr

And here is a picture of the whole bike. i've got sync the carbs because they seem to be struggling just a bit and the throttle cable is the wrong size so i'm taking mine back.

I checked the valve clearances and three of the four were in spec and the fourth one was just a little tight so i'm going to replace it very soon here once i pick up some calipers. I think my carbs are running a bit lean because of the blue pipes but the pipes have always bee a bit blued from the PO...


IMG_7037 by John stanford Rogers, on Flickr

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been helping me get this bike into such great shape, by showing you a photo of the completed (or nearly completed) bike.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Guest]

Mate nice work, she looks real good, you should be proud

They're jetted a bit lean from the factory, so don't be surprised if they're just stock at present. Search for the highest idle method and get the details of BassCliff's site and that will probably take care of it.

 

[Mr Rogers]

So i went ahead and changed the throttle cable then I went to work on the carbs.

it seems like i couldn't get the idle to change at all when I adjusted the air fuel screw... So what i ended up doing was taking the bike and riding it real aggressively for a couple minutes then stop and checked the spark plugs. i Kept adjusting until i got the plugs to start turning out a light brown color/ tan yellow color. that's where i'm at now.

I made sure to lightly clean off the deposits every time as it turned black when the mixture was too rich. correct me if i'm wrong: the screw adjusts air so turning it in (right) would be less air/ more fuel. where turning it out (left) would mean more air/ less fuel?

The clymer said it was an air screw but i know that there are also fuel screws...

 

[Guest]

It's actually a mixture screw, so in is leaner and out is richer... by default from the factory they're typically a little too far in and therefore a little lean...

 

[Mr Rogers]

Hmm well i doubt that it hasn't been messed with in the past given that the bike runs much smoother at around 1 and 1/4 out on both.

Do you know what the color of spark plug means pete? i would get some pictures but unfortunately it's raining hard here for the day.

Oh yeah i've got to change my oil and filter because I flooded my engine with fuel... hopefully i'll learn before it happens a third time...

 

[Guest]

Hmm well i doubt that it hasn't been messed with in the past given that the bike runs much smoother at around 1 and 1/4 out on both.

Do you know what the color of spark plug means pete? i would get some pictures but unfortunately it's raining hard here for the day.

Oh yeah i've got to change my oil and filter because I flooded my engine with fuel... hopefully i'll learn before it happens a third time...

1 1/4 out? That's leaner than stock typically.

Look up the highest idle method of tuning on BassCliff's site which should help sort that out for you.

There's also better pic's of spark plug colours on there I believe, but white is lean, black is rich, and a nice tan colour is spot on.

Bugger on the fuel in the oil though! Fuel tap left on pri or something more drastic like your fuel tap is on its way out?

 

[Mr Rogers]

i was wondering if anyone has used this carb sync system http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carburetor-...ies&hash=item4165f77ff3&vxp=mtr#ht_2064wt_904

I'm going to be doing a valve adjustment tomorrow and i would like to get my carbs properly synced after I do that. i know everyone raves about the morgan carb tune but it's a bit pricey for me right now so i was wondering what your experience was with these.

Thanks in advance.
also i've been riding the bike daily for a few weeks and it has been completely reliable.

I washed the bike properly the other day and she looks better than she has since i got her.

 

[Mr Rogers]

I checked my spark plugs this morning after a longer ride. one is nice and tan colored, but the other one is black (but not wet). so i cleaned the plug and turned the mixture screw in just a little.

My concern is this. the mixture screw on the left side is only about 2/3 of a turn out from seated. and i might even need to go in a little more to lean the mixture. Should i replace this mixture screw so that i can have it around 2.5 turns out?