Manawatu mechanic/mentor needed

[Mumbles]

Hi folks,
I'm in a real pickle again with the ZXR (1989 750) running crap last week and after ordering parts and then being either out of stock, after saying they were in stock, and wrong stock ordered, I'm pretty buggered.
I can do basic stuff and have the manual to work on the bike, but lack the confidence to pull something apart, and then not being able to get it back together, as well as having a limited array of tools.

So here is the story (there always has to be a story)...
Tuesday 6am: pull up at work and the bike is running like crap and won't idle. So I figured if I finish early I can have a look at it later in the day. Get back to work yard at 6pm and start the bike to get home; it starts and runs with choke on. I head off home and it's spluttering and farting around but I get home ok... even starts to run ok under load. But with the family and all I never get a chance to look at it.... my week is pretty much the same with the bike getting me to work and home but under protest. Thrsday rolls around and I'm killing the job at work so figured I'll take friday off and get the bike sorted then so I rang the local bike shop, give him the correct info on the bike and order Air filter, fuel and oil filter. Yep, they are all in stock and ordered and I can pick it up Friday :2thumbsup.
Friday rolls around, and well, I should have been more thorough on checking stuff but air filter that was in stock wasn't in stock. Ok I say, I can deal with that, they offered me some foam that I can use over the top but was not the correct size. And the oil filter sold to me was a internal one and I run a external (but this isnt a biggie as not to do with the running of the bike).

So I digress, pulling the bike apart to work on it and I notice that one of the bolts holding the cover on the airfilter is free spinning and won't come undone, so I have to remove the airbox off the carbs. No problem I say and then I miss a bolt in the airbox and can't figure how to pull it off so end up removing the carbs so I can get a good look at it in some light and find the resulting bolt and fix the problem. But find a new one all the 'O' rings are oversized on the carbs so run around Palmerston North on a sat am trying to find replacement and have to say all the bike shops I went to had nothing but they were helpful to try to get me sorted.

Purchased a special glue to be able to cut and glue 'O' rings to fit (done) and have cleaned out fuel filter because aftermarket one sold was 1/4 of the size of the existing one and didn't seal correctly. Replaced the sparkplugs and put everything together, and do you think I can get it to run...... no and now its even worse.

So anyone want to help me out? With work and family I'm struggling to find time yet this is my transport to work! (If I could afford to send it to the shop I would, parts yes but shop labour no).:done:

[quickbuck]

Sounds to me you have an air leak between your carbs and your engine.

So, these O rings you cut and glued... are they the Carb Intake Rubbers?

Now, I'm guessing they are over 20 years old and are a bit perished....
This can lead to the intake increasing in length as you accelerate too... also opening up cracks in the intake.
Really the only fix is to replace them, and take care when reassembling the carbs onto the engine...
Yup, I know, easier said than done.

[Mumbles]

Sounds to me you have an air leak between your carbs and your engine.

So, these O rings you cut and glued... are they the Carb Intake Rubbers?.
The rubbers between the Airbox and the carb.

Got the bike to run today but when I took it for a ride it started to miss again and then wouldnt rev out over 8k (norm 12) then would stall until I came off the throttle.

So maybe its my coil? :wacko:
Thanks for the help though

[dogsnbikes]

If your not Confident working on your bike......if you have a Digtal camera take photos as things are before you pull them apart so you have a ref to work with when putting the bike back together

cheak and test the basics first.......

cheak fuel line that its not block or crushed in any way.....

and that you have a good seal between airfilter and carbs..

why you have tank off clean the tank..

and test or get your HT leads and coils tested may be a possible short due to age

[quickbuck]

The rubbers between the Airbox and the carb.

Got the bike to run today but when I took it for a ride it started to miss again and then wouldnt rev out over 8k (norm 12) then would stall until I came off the throttle.


Thanks for the help though

Okay, without photos I will still stick with my original hypothesis for a few reasons.

Hypothesis is that there is an air leak between the carbs and the engine (Intake Rubbers).

Reason:
1) Won't rev out, because your carb jets will only provide enough fuel to mix with the metered air going into them. Add air after carbs, and you are leaning out the mixture. Fine (el be it a little hot for the engine) at lower RPM's, but once things get really busy, not enough "food" to carry on.

2) Cuts out, because things have got really hot (Due to lean mixture) and things are really starving. Coming off the throttle closes off all the air, and heads beck to the idle jets. This is a richer jet and will let your engine run again.

Of course it could also be one of your main jets blocked....

Now, if you aren't really confident, I wouldn't suggest pulling your carbs apart...
You could take them off and look at the intakes if you have managed to get down as far as the carbs though?

Hope this helps a bit.

Wouldn't go blaming the Coils just yet..... Could be though...

[Mumbles]

Okay, without photos I will still stick with my original hypothesis for a few reasons.

Hypothesis is that there is an air leak between the carbs and the engine (Intake Rubbers).

Reason:
1) Won't rev out, because your carb jets will only provide enough fuel to mix with the metered air going into them. Add air after carbs, and you are leaning out the mixture. Fine (el be it a little hot for the engine) at lower RPM's, but once things get really busy, not enough "food" to carry on.

2) Cuts out, because things have got really hot (Due to lean mixture) and things are really starving. Coming off the throttle closes off all the air, and heads beck to the idle jets. This is a richer jet and will let your engine run again.

Of course it could also be one of your main jets blocked....

Now, if you aren't really confident, I wouldn't suggest pulling your carbs apart...
You could take them off and look at the intakes if you have managed to get down as far as the carbs though?

Hope this helps a bit.

Wouldn't go blaming the Coils just yet..... Could be though...

Thanks, i'll look at it tomorrow if i get home from work in time (its a bugger when the kids are in bed so i cant run the bike). But I have managed to rip it all apart again tonight (well down to taking the air box off the carbs so can look at the carbs tomorrow)

Will advise how things go, but maybe need to order some 'O'rings for the carb onto the airbox

Working from 6-6 just making it harder to pick parts up... maybe I can order them from the bike shop in Taihape while i'm working over there?

[7mmWSM]

Does the bike have a fuel tap with on/off/pri? Try running it on Pri if it does as it could be dodgy fuel tap.

Sounds fairly certain that the bike is running out of fuel or leaning out. I would check for:

Fuel

Blocked jets

Air leaks

You keep saying about the orings between the airbox and carbs but I would check the seals between the carbs and motor.

[quickbuck]

Does the bike have a fuel tap with on/off/pri? Try running it on Pri if it does as it could be dodgy fuel tap.

Sounds fairly certain that the bike is running out of fuel or leaning out. I would check for:

Fuel

Blocked jets

Air leaks

You keep saying about the orings between the airbox and carbs but I would check the seals between the carbs and motor.

True,
Reminds me.... a cracked/ loose/ vacuum hose to the tap, OR a dodgy check valve in the tap can cause these symptoms too....
Along with kinked fuel hose.....

Mumbles, how are you getting on???

[Mumbles]

I would check the seals between the carbs and motor.

see below


True,
Reminds me.... a cracked/ loose/ vacuum hose to the tap, OR a dodgy check valve in the tap can cause these symptoms too....
Along with kinked fuel hose.....

Mumbles, how are you getting on???

Waiting for parts at the mo, like the fuel filter and Air filter tomorrow pick up. O rings for my carbs (between Carb and airbox is a 3 week x Japan thing)

Will wait for fuel filter so can then do the check on the fuel line again check for kinks then will prob pull the carbs apart and inspect to see what i can see (and yes will be careful not to damage the jets trying to remove anthing i find stuck in there) Did a spark test last night to test coils and got a nice little blue spark to jump the 7mm gap so can rule that out.

thanks for your help more to report :soon: after I've pulled the cabs apart and inspected them

Will also take the intake rubbers off and inspect them to thanks 7mmWSM

The wife not liking walking to work with the kids ... but she realllly hate's the smell of gas in the garage more :innocent:

[Mumbles]

Update.

Intake rubbers removed off the engine and cleaned and gasket glued back onto motor.
Carbs pulled apart and cleaned and inspected found 3 of the 4 jet needles had some damage so just gave them a quick sand to get back into shape (will order replacements once bike running) everything else looking ok was some rust dirt in bottom of the carb chamber in each carb I ended up using break-clean to help clean out the jets as was the only way i could think of to have a pressure spray that would not leave a oil on things.

So have just put the carbs back on the bike and attached fuel line and started bike and let it run for 2 min before giving it a good rev and it reved past the 6k that it was stopping on before but I only reved it out to 10k.

Pat on the back and a quick coffee for me before I'm off to bolt on the airbox attach tank and seat and test the bike under load fingers crossed. I might be able to go for a :ride:

[Mumbles]

Sounds to me you have an air leak between your carbs and your engine.


So close to what is could have been but ... read below


and that you have a good seal between airfilter and carbs..

Also your so close to what is could have been also read below



Sounds fairly certain that the bike is running out of fuel or leaning out. I would check for:

Fuel

Blocked jets

Air leaks


Yet again So close to what is could have been but read below

Now this will make you laugh.. or maybe :Pokey:

but I have to give a little more info in my defence :o
Last time i got the bike fixed they told me off :argue: for cutting the air box up, I said I hadn’t and he reckoned I had WTF? I told him I had only removed 2 side covers that looked like handle bar grips that bolted to the outside of the air box but these things where just a frame so had not air restriction. He said he had to cover up these holes to make the bike run better when tuning the bike... I said ok and thought nothing of it (but I also didnt look at what they had done.)
When I was pulling the Air box out I noted that this tape had gone, so did the old note to self thing "re-tape those holes" (see where I'm going with this) which I did but I was not happy to tape up the whole thing so only covered 80% of each one (before the tune up I had this open anyway).
Stripped down the carbs and rebuilt, a bit of crap in each of them so they needed the clean anyhow put them on the bike and started her up. ran fine so after 2 min gave her a good rev out to 10k and she went.... ok me thinks this is all good will bolt on the air box and tank and see what happens under load.... pull off down the road and yep it starts to bog down again (big yell of F U C K IT inside of the helmet as I'm getting really :brick:shitty with it) then I get her home and pull up outside my place and try to rev it but this time its not going to the 10k only 7 WTF? :( what's changed? I've only bolted on the air box?? then it hit me.... its not that fucken tape i replaced is it? so in go the fingers and just pull the tape off. give her a quick rev... whops off the limiter at 12k ok nicky dont get your hopes up, try it under load. So I head off down the road and yep we're all good again she revs out :clap:

So I had a running issue, replaced the plugs and thats when I had taped up the airbox. have since done the following
Tested the coils, replaced the fuel filter (must have been factory original) replaced the Air filter tested the pickup coil. cleaned the carbs (ordered 4 new jet needle's as 3 where burred).

I cant for the life of me figure out how come parts are so expensive! only to be told if we dont buy off our supplier we could loose our franchisee, well mate I purchased my bike for 4k almost 5 years ago and the price to rebuild the carb was going to cost me almost $400 a carb x 4 carbs and when i found cheeper parts online they didnt care
(yet i was going to just give up rather than plug another $1600 into a bike when I could maybe buy another one for that money to get me to work), If i was running a business I'd be intrested in who was supplying parts cheeper and why (yes i know about the factors why other countrys can sell cheeper parts but we still getting parts X Japan so who taking the margins - thank god for the internet, and a brother inlaw living in Japan).

Thanks everyone who posted helpful stuff I needed it!

Why do parts take 3 weeks to come X Japan? maybe i'll start another thred about this! (yes I will) I can purchase stuff online (nice big box of stilts) in the US on a friday night and they are landed in Auckland Airport Monday.... It costs the same price in freight but atleast its my choice to pay for that service rather than waiting for 3 Fn weeks!!!

[ynot slow]

I can purchase stuff online (nice big box of stilts) in the US on a friday night and they are landed in Auckland Airport Monday.... It costs the same price in freight but atleast its my choice to pay for that service rather than waiting for 3 Fn weeks!!!

I ordered a set of twin H7 bulbs plus 80 ex GB and ordered 10pm Friday,confirmation email on Sat morning to say been despatched should take 5 days,arrived the following Thurs morning courier.Went into both major auto parts and nobody knew about +80 H7,let alone time to get.Cost 25.00GBP

Also saw a wicked rad guard in bandit site in GB,looked a better version than rad guard with motifs on it,so sent for it 55.00GBP delivered,took 4 days to arrive,was good as ordered at 9.00pm via email,get an email about 15mins after saying it was being despatched.

[quickbuck]

Why do parts take 3 weeks to come X Japan? maybe i'll start another thred about this! (yes I will) I can purchase stuff online (nice big box of stilts) in the US on a friday night and they are landed in Auckland Airport Monday.... It costs the same price in freight but atleast its my choice to pay for that service rather than waiting for 3 Fn weeks!!!

PM Sent......

[Mumbles]

I ordered a set of twin H7 bulbs plus 80 ex GB and ordered 10pm Friday,confirmation email on Sat morning to say been despatched should take 5 days,arrived the following Thurs morning courier.Went into both major auto parts and nobody knew about +80 H7,let alone time to get.Cost 25.00GBP

Also saw a wicked rad guard in bandit site in GB,looked a better version than rad guard with motifs on it,so sent for it 55.00GBP delivered,took 4 days to arrive,was good as ordered at 9.00pm via email,get an email about 15mins after saying it was being despatched.

I said i would and i did, you could post the site you used in this thread http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=1129359477#post1129359477 :niceone:

[sugilite]

Pity I not seen this thread sooner, been through all this and more with my 750 H1. I removed those airbox snorkel restrictors and jetted accordingly, no worries.

I get loads of bits from e-bay, and new bits from http://www.google.co.nz/url?q=http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/product_catalog/Category.jsp%3Fstore%3DMain%26catId%3D4&ei=VmuLSrSWCo-SsgONj52-DQ&sa=X&oi=smap&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=1&usg=AFQjCNEaVvJaiF_cXBENkLAZmY3Kbk5jnQ (takes about 4 days delivery)

I can prob help you with other stuff too....I'm only 45 mins from your town too :lol:

[Mumbles]

Pity I not seen this thread sooner, been through all this and more with my 750 H1. I removed those airbox snorkel restrictors and jetted accordingly, no worries.

I get loads of bits from e-bay, and new bits from http://www.google.co.nz/url?q=http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/product_catalog/Category.jsp%3Fstore%3DMain%26catId%3D4&ei=VmuLSrSWCo-SsgONj52-DQ&sa=X&oi=smap&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=1&usg=AFQjCNEaVvJaiF_cXBENkLAZmY3Kbk5jnQ (takes about 4 days delivery)

I can prob help you with other stuff too....I'm only 45 mins from your town too :lol:

Thanks for the link to the site :2thumbsup: i'll send ya a PM about the help
Nick

[sugilite]

Sweet, this nz based site has a few bits n pieces too.
http://www.bits4bikes.co.nz/parts/kawasaki/1250.aspx