Frozenpoodle

Two weeks further on and finally feeling that the first milestone is just around the corner…having the bike registered and getting number plates!! :-)

I’d been struggling to refit the gearbox to the bell-housing, not being able to centre everything just right for it to slide back together. So, using the dimensions given in my Haynes manual, Mace Engineering machined a tool to help centre the clutch assembly for me. Took quite a bit to work out the best way to hold it and tighten everything up, but eventually I got it all back together, then refitted the rest of the bike.

With eager anticipation I cocked the choke lever, pulled in the clutch and hit the start button…Awesome!! The starter motor and now the engine wind over…and over…and over…and over!! Nothing! The engine just wont fire. Huge disappointment and sadly back to the drawing board.



So with the gearbox I learnt a lesson in persistence…and breathing deeply! Now here was my next lesson in fault-finding. The process of elimination and working through things in a logical order. I instantly thought I’d missed something or not put it back together right. That wee brown wire on the coils…did it really go there!?? Quick check of the wiring diagram courtesy of Haynes…yup there is a brown wire,…and that looks like the place for it…

So, what have I got?

Starter is going, in fact now that it’s clean it’s going like a champ! Engine is turning over, so cleaning the sprague clutch (starter clutch) seems to have worked. I can hear the compression from the exhaust. So…it’s either no spark or no fuel.




I can hear the fuel pump whirring away and the fuel hose has fuel in it…as I discover by splashing petrol all over myself…hmmm. So must be electrical…spark plug check. Hmmm…all the plugs have spark. Could be a bit weak, so I charge the battery overnight and get the same result. That’s the end on of the electric line except for relay or cpu so I sit down and have a wee melt-down and a think. Has to be fuel…so I follow the sequence…pump, filter, fuel hose, fuel rail, injectors…oooh I have a spare set of injectors, as you do…maybe they’re blocked!?

So I whip them in and hey bloody presto the damn thing roars into life! Woohoo moment but still I have this uneasy feeling.

The bike starts and idles beautifully the next day and then the next and so I decide to take it for another sneaky spin just to make sure it changes gear and all is actually well. So once again all dressed to kill I rock up yesterday morning, push the bike out into the drive and with a ‘something feels odd’ feeling I hit the starter button.Dressed to Kill

Wont start! F*&K!! AArGGh!! Not AGAIN!



Hang on…I think I know what it is! I never cleaned out the hoses from the first time and the injectors must be blocked again! Straight to uncle google and youtube…cleaning fuel injectors… wow! There are actually videos on this stuff and there before me is basic rig for cleaning the injectors…I can make that! So $20 later, some rubber hose, a bit of wire, connectors and a push-button switch and I’m ready. Oh and a syringe…that was the hardest to find. Every pharmacist thinks you need it for drugs but eventually I am given one for free by a vet.




So I rigged it all up and found it was pretty easy to do…well I haven’t tested them out on the bike…that’s tomorrow morning. But I no longer have that uneasy feeling…it has been replaced by a quiet confidence and a realisation that a project milestone is about to BE.



Till next time :-)