Wanted: Hutt / Welly KB'r who knows about old Zeds

[hmmmnz]

if it were my bike i would be stripping the carbs and giving them a going over,
changing the plugs, and probably most importantly doing the valve clearances,
obviously this isn't something your wanting to pay a garage to do as its time consuming to say the least,
but if you knock those 3 things on the head, and the compression is all good then she should pretty much start on the button

[Ratti]

We bought the bike early 2008. Put in a new battery at that time. I only rode it a few times before my husband became unwell with what turned out to be terminal cancer. he died a year ago to day as it happens.
For various reasons I didn't even start the bike from May 2008 until Sept last year. SInce then I have been making an effort to get the niggly bits and pieces fixed.

I am usually out for hour or two on open road once or twice a week. Not a commuter.

Valve clearances have been checked and sorted

My thought is battery replaced soon and then see how that goes before I send him back to mech for carb/enricher overhaul.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Valve clearances have been checked and sorted

My thought is battery replaced soon and then see how that goes before I send him back to mech for carb/enricher overhaul.

You honestly can't go past Mark/John Boyle for sorting early Kawasakis out.

[Pedrostt500]

Before you replace the battery, give it a good hard charge, say 12 hrs, then turn the lights on for 10 mins , then charge the battery again for say 4 hrs, run the lights for 20 mins then charge again, some times batteries need a bit of conditioning after they have been sitting in storage for a while, If you still don't want to trust the battery after this then replace it, but keep your old battery and store it charged, giving it a top up charge every 2 to 3 months, it may be handy in the future for you or a friend to get out of a tight spot.

[pete376403]

And check the water level before you do that

[Voltaire]

If the battery is one the way out, with the starter on there is probably less then sufficient voltage for the ignition to fire.

Do the easy stuff first.
Battery, have it tested or replaced. )I took mine down to Century Batteries who are the Yuasa agent and they checked it, and the number told how old it was.)
New plugs,
New petrol,( this is important as some bikes don't like old stuff)
Clean or replace air cleaner,( I fitted a K and N to my Z)
Start with choke and no throttle ( as mentioned)

my tuppence worth...oh and I had a Z1000j back in the day....
but then they were newish then and the rubbers and seals were not 30 years old.

[Hawkeye]

We bought the bike early 2008. Put in a new battery at that time. I only rode it a few times before my husband became unwell with what turned out to be terminal cancer. he died a year ago to day as it happens.
For various reasons I didn't even start the bike from May 2008 until Sept last year. SInce then I have been making an effort to get the niggly bits and pieces fixed.

I am usually out for hour or two on open road once or twice a week. Not a commuter.

Valve clearances have been checked and sorted

My thought is battery replaced soon and then see how that goes before I send him back to mech for carb/enricher overhaul.

If the battery was allowed to go dead in the time it was left standing, you will probably find the battery is one of the root causes of your starting problems. If there isn't enough charge to turn the engine sufficiently, then the spark will also be substandard. Batteries don't like that being left to go dead.

[Ratti]

god I love you guys! Bloody magic. Followed suggestions and BINGO.

left it for a week so it would be hard to start
topped up water in battery
charged said battery until the charge light went green
enricher out all the way, wanted to catch but not quite so I pushed it back in to about half way.
no throttle, in spite of right hand wanting to twist.
took several blips but fired up within a minute
apart from scaring the bejesus outof the cat who was sleeping in the workroom where i store the bike, all good. warmed up nicely with no sputtering, idling nicely once he was warm.

whew! I owe you guys. thanks a lot.

Still seems to be a lot rattlier in the motor than I remember my one from 20 years ago being...but then so am I.

[MSTRS:Me]

g
Still seems to be a lot rattlier in the motor than I remember my one from 20 years ago being...but then so am I.

That's not age...it's abuse and lack of maintenance!

[Ratti]

yup, so how rattly are you???

[Paul in NZ]

when was the last time the valve clearances were checked and carbs balanced? If the carbs are out of whack (and they seem to have been pulled off and on) then at idle it will sound like two cheese graters fornicating in a rubbish tin..

[MSTRS:Me]

yup, so how rattly are you???

I have my good days...

[Ratti]

valves and carbs done recently. Idles a bit loud 'cos of noisy 'boy' pipes. COuld be that is all it is. If I threw real pipes back onto him then everything may well quieten down.
Cheese graters fornicating in a rubbish tin..nice imagery

[pete376403]

Air cooled motors with roller bearing cranks tend to be noiser than their modern, water cooled, plain bearing crank counterparts. It's how they all were back then. Plus your aftermarket pipes are probably only single wall tube, where the originals would have been double wall (to keep the chrome nice, but would have also reduced noise a bit). My GS1100, with cycleworks 4-into-1, has been likened to two skeletons fucking in a biscuit tin. Putting a quiet muffler (stock CBR600) only emphasised the mechanical noise of the engine. Rest easy, the Kawasaki and Suzuki 8 valve motors are still the strongest things put into bike frames - thats why drag bike engines are still built around them.

[Ratti]

update
bloody magic!

battery was the final bad link in the starting problem issue.

SO far so good, has been firing up first pop, using the brilliant advice on enricher.

woohoo!
thanks guys I owe you. coffee and bikkies on me