Hey aD'ers, do we have any motorcycle mechanics about, or any backyard mechanics that work on bikes? I bought an old 87 ninja 1000R and it has some "issues" that need addressed. I figure the people here are so cool about everything else, i'll see if we got any good "bike people" around. plus it was about time we had a bike thread going.
darthnip hi..have you done a search? ha ...ha only joking is it a us or uk bike i have a workshop manual which covers most early Kwaker's. i own a 1985 Gpz600r and a 1987 Gpz900r just of to watch the MotoGP ON TV will be back after race .i'm not the best mechanic ,but if i can help i will try Geoff
This fellow most likely can help you or steer you in the right direction. He also sells used motorcycle parts. He belongs to several motorcycle forums. He's a very busy guy, so might take awhile to get back to you. Sundays, especially. http://www.cvvm.com/motorcycles/index.htm
well here is my issue, i got a 1987 ninja 1000R that has been sitting for a year. after finally getting it running, which took a week of begging it to start and used about 3 cans of starting fluid in the process, i noticed that after it warms up i got a steady drip of coolant coming from the overflow tube. It's very hard to get started and sometimes wont start at all unless i give it a little shot of starting fluid. after it does fire up it runs fine, it's just like it wont get that initial "pop" to get it fired up. I'm sure the carbs are varnished up from sitting so i'm not too waorried about it not wanting to start, the main thing that bothers me is the coolant coming from the overflow tube. I thought maybe i had a blown head gasket and i was more or less pressurizing the cooling system, but it seems like it would drip right from the start, but it only does it after it's warmed up.
darthnip hi i'm assuming this is the ZX1000A first the starting.....could quite easily be after standing for such a time that some of the compression piston rings are stuck in there grooves. have you tried a compression test? pressure should be ..119-185 psi. at cranking speed with the engine fully warmed up. second...yes in all probability the carb's will be varnished. only real answer is a complete strip. iv'e tried carb clean spray's with mixed results. third...water...could be the radiator cap spring has got weak allowing the water to by pass the seal. replace cap cap pressure should be 11-15 psi. this the quickest and easiest tests i could think of before resorting to more dire method's . hope this helps a little Geoff
Engines, man I love engines. I was a mech engineer for 17 yrs working on industrial diesels, CATs, Cummins, Deutz (air cooled crap!), My fave were the V16 Detroits. Worked on a whole load of other engines & various stuff! Bikes were a hobby for me, I did moto-cross on a CR500 (ANIMAL!) then progressed to road bikes & GSXR-750s. Your carbs will need cleaning. Petrol goes a bit like shellac & needs a little persuasion to move. Your jets & float chamber needles etc will need stripping & cleaning out. Replace any "O" rings. I steer away from after market kits. I just prefer the manufacturers parts. I would be tempted to remove the head(s?) & do a de-coke. Possibly get away with a quick hone out to get rid of the bore glaze (with the pistons still in) Get the head skimmed & possibly the block surface plated to get rid of any high spots. This would lead to shrapnel falling down the oil galleries, so I would be hesitant in doing this, unless you blocked the galleries & drillings with grease or masking tape. If it has been stood for a while I would change the oil in quick succession a couple of times after you have it running smoothly, this will get rid of any crap that will have built up due to the oil emulsifiying with the water (along with all the other particulants!). The selectors & gears will appreciate a couple of changes too! Hope this was of some help! Pulsar When I re-rung my CR I put in 2 head gaskets in a vain attempt to lower the comp ratio & make it more handleable. Not sure if it worked. When it hit 6000rpm, you hung on for dear life. Beach racing was fun!
cool, thanks guys, yeah i'm heading in the same direction you guys are thinking, was just really looking for some added confirmation on it. yes it's the ZX1000A. I actually have a complete head with valves and cams sitting in the garage that came off a bike that was totalled at 2000 miles. i might juts go ahead and put that on since i definately need some valve work. I had the bike out for a run yesterday and it was crackling and popping thru-out the throttle. i didn't take it far, never got out of 3rd gear. if i hit the throttle hard it bogged down pretty bad so i know the carbs need a good cleaning. hopefully i can find the time to get it torn apart soon. I'm also going to go ahead and buy a complete gasket kit for it, i figure what i dont need now, i will sooner or later so it's good to have on hand. now first and foremost i'm on the hunt for a new radiator cap to hopefully stop the damn flood from the drain tube. i talked ot the guy i bought it from and he said it never did that before so hopefully it's just from sitting a year. hopefully we can keep this thread going as a "bike talk". feel free to post pics of your bikes as well, that'll make it a bit more interesting.
The plug leads (& obviously the plugs too!) may need changing. Can't think of anything else at the mo'! Pulsar
@darthnip.hi...your welcome. if by chance you do'nt own a manual on said bike, if you need any relevant pages with the info you need. just PM me and i will happily e'mail them to you. Geoff
Hey Darth I didn't know you were into bikes!! Cool.. Well I was actually a motorcycle mechanic for several years before joining the Army and still work on bikes a lot. I just sold my 2003 ZX6R as I never realy rode it to much and wanted to get my daughter a dirtbike S(Suzuki RM85L) I currently ride a KTM525. More into motocross what can I say Anyway to your situation. Your bike should have a bleeder screw on the top of the head and possibly one on the second radiator. This will release the air from your head and could be the reason for your fluid comming out the overflow. Just open up the radiator cap and then open the bleeder bolts until fluid starts running out and then close them. Thats pretty easy to do and could save you a bunch of work in the long run if thats all it is. If not it may just be the O-Rings and/or seal in your water pump. Anyway thats an easy and unexpensive fix as well. As far as the way the bike is running you are probably right and shouldn't keep riding it until you get the carb cleaned out really good you fuel has more than likely turned into varnish and that's not good you may just end up ruining your bikr if you keep running it with that craop in there. So drain all that old fuel out and clean out the carb really good again this doesn't cost anything except for a can of carb/choke cleaner. Good luck buddy
oh trust me, that was the first thing i did was drain out the old fuel, then flush the tank with some 93 octane, then drained that and added a couple gallons of 93 octane shell gas and a bit of gumout carb cleaner, thats how i eventually got it running at all. now i just got the monor things to deal with to get it right. you think i got air in the cooling system? would that cause it to come out of the overflow tube constantly after it warms up? I'm dying to get this puppy on the road, but not until i'm sure it's road worthy. - since i seemed to have got some good info already i went ahead and changed the title of the thread
Yes air in the head will cause the fluid to overflow because the air is pushing it out and when it gets hot it builds up more pressure which blows it out the overflow. It seems to me that this might be the problem if it only happens after getting hot anything else and it would proubablly leak even when cold. This is comming out of the overflow right? If bleeding the system doesn't work then I would lean towards the seal and O-rings in the water pump. I just replaced those in a buddies of mine about 2 months ago in his GSX750 because his antifreez kept coming out of the overflow, but his actually was doing it all the time. There really isn't much to the water pumps it's just a little fan on a shaft with maybe 2 seals and a couple O-rings it's an easy fix
just to confirm, yes it's the overflow tube that runs down the frame and ends down by the right side foot peg, the other end of the tube is connected right by the radiator cap. I'll try to find a new cap just for good measure and see if that helps before i do anything else. i'll pull it out first and see if maybe it's in there cockeyed or something and isn't seating correctly.
ok guys here's the latest update, the rubber seal on the radiator cap is chewed up like hell so there's my leak out of the overflow tube. and i just readjusted all the valve clearances last night and every damn one of them was way off, i'm surprized i had any compression at all on a couple of them. i'll be getting it back together today and seeing how it runs. if that takes care of the hard starting problem all i have left is to get some new sealing washers for the oil lines and i'll have the beast out on the road. you know, i'm really surprized we didn't have more bikers in here on this thread with all the bikes you see in peoples sig's.
