| Author | Message | ||
     Interex2050 |
The petcock is not rebuilt and ready to back in the tank. Unfortunately the fuel level sensor appears to be shot, so I will have to buy a new one ($75... ick!). Waiting for the tank is painful, but oh well... That leaves me tomorrow to fiddle with the alarm/sidestand issue. | ||
| Mbsween |
Interex FWIW, My 83 KZ750 gas gauge reads empty at about the 1/2 tank mark. Its done this since the day I bought it way back in 1983  . Rely on the petcock, its a hell of a lot more accurate. Matt | ||
| Interex2050 |
I figured they aren't too accurate. The only reason I would like to have it, is just so I know that everything on the bike works. If it doesn't it will just bother me, even though I may never use it. Quick question though, would it be wise to put the old sensor back in the tank? I am not sure how they seal them (if they seal them from the inside), because the outside has a coating but its chipped and uneven (but then that could be the varnish)... OR should I just make a little panel to plug the hole? Much thanks, Peter | ||
| Interex2050 |
Natexlh1000, You were right, it was the sidestand switch. Well at least I think so although I also took off the alarm. But instead of taking it off and bypassing it, I just cleaned up the slider and oiled it really well, perhaps before it became disconnected enough to disable the light on the dash but still have a good enough connection to cut the ignition. | ||
| Interex2050 |
This is something everyone may find interesting... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUr4BOp18iM | ||
| Sleez |
very cool, congrats | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
YESSS! Now how to title it? | ||
| Tom_b |
cool! but your driveway is a mess. LOL! | ||
| Slaughter |
Congrats Peter! This has been a really interesting read - for freaking sure. | ||
| Mbsween |
Congrats peter, You must have decide on the sensor (fuel tank), I clean up the old one and put it back. Once you get used to how it reads, its useful. Man the video made it 1986 all over again! | ||
| Interex2050 |
Much thanks to everyone who has followed this thread and provided their support and knowledge. It hard to believe that it actually runs, and well at that! The driveway really does need to be cleared out, the other ninja that I had will be taken to a bike salvage yard... so things should clear up rather nicely. Natexlh1000, There is a loophole in the California DMV system, which would allow me to register it without much issue. I hope it will work as well as it did last time... Mbsween, I put the sensor back in, but it does not work at all. So its sole purpose is to just act like a plug... When I gather some more funds I will order a new one. But the battle has not been won yet! The ninja strikes back... Well I decided to take the ninja out this morning to get brunch with a buddy, and well something went terribly wrong: So I go over to the bike, turn on the key everything lights up and is peachy... Push the starter button cranks over once and all the lights go out... even once I let go of the button then eventually they "fade" back in At first I thought that it was a faulty starter solenoid, but that was not the issue I replaced it with the one from the 750... Then I thought it was the battery but that held a nice charge of 12.56V but when the starter was pushed it would drop to roughly 2V. Some head scratching later, I decide to hook up another battery. This time the lights did not go out when I pushed the starter but there was some angry buzzing from the starter solenoid and it cranked over a few times and then there was a very unpleasant sound that came from around the starter... So at this point I am a bit lost. I think the starter may have eaten itself alive. I also did try to push start it without much success... Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! I will be tearing her down tomorrow and see what I can find in there... | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Sounds like a grounding issue in the wiring. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Hondas has some sort of relay that would turn off the lights when you cranked over the engine. Do Kawasakis? | ||
| Blackbelt |
my starter went out on a couple occasions. it was a poor design in the starter. had it re-built by a local guy on the last time.. lasted forever | ||
| Diablobrian |
could be as simple as cleaning up the starter internally. any motor shop can clean it up and replace any internals that need it, such as brushes, and make sure the Commutator <sp?> is clean. I just recently had to do a similar job on a riding mower that I picked up for free. It had similar symptoms when attempting to start it. | ||
| Interex2050 |
Many thanks for the responses I did not get to it today, I finally cleared up my driveway instead. Tomorrow I hope that I will be able to dig in and figure things out... I must admit this bike is not fun to work on, so many things that are just such a pain. For instance: -airbox removal/installation -oil changes are a major pain, as the headers get in the way of both the drain plug and filter -to get to the battery the tank needs to be removed -To adjust the tappets the coolant needs to be drained -to get to the starter motor the coolant and oil need to be drained Its a shame the engineers over looked all these things and likely more that I am not yet aware of... Its frustrating to a point where I am tempted to sell this one and get something that is more enjoyable to work on... But then I know that I will get used to it and the above is nothing more then just a rant (plus I am bitter because I will have to miss a trackday)... Any whom stay tuned I will be reporting tomorrow... | ||
| Tom_b |
some of those of those japanese bikes are stupid simple to work on, but many others are stupid complicated. Kind of like Japanese cars | ||
| Mbsween |
Peter, I had the same experience last Saturday on my 99600 mile KZ. I was syncing the carbs, and the bike backfired and stalled. No big deal hit the starter and it looks like it backfired again, try again, more smoke. Luckily I had the whole thing apart (bodywork wise) so I was able to see the smoke coming out of the starter. I haven't torn it apart, but it acted as you describe. Fully charge battery and the starter would turn over once or twice and then the bike acted as thought the battery were dead. I was able to get another starter from a friend and I'm back in business. Once thing about kawis, there are tons of used parts about. As to packaging, I don't thing engineers overlooked anything, what you have is a highly concentrated (for the time) racebike. Is the header stock? A lot of the aftermarket stuff requires removing the exhaust to get to the oil filter/drain, the stock system usually doesn't. Try taking apart a modern 600,its amazing to see how they can fit everything, especially inside the motor. good luck (and happy bump starting till you get it fixed) Matt | ||
| Interex2050 |
As it turns out, that ninja has more then just a slip-on its a full system... So that would explain the oil change issues. The parts for the Buell came in so no real work was done on the ninja, boy did I miss the Buell! Its just way too much fun! I did find something interesting though (well more confusing really) The part #s for the starter motor for the GPZ600R and ZX750F are the same although they are obviously different... (according to bikebandit) Any ideas why that is? (Message edited by interex2050 on June 22, 2007) | ||
| Interex2050 |
Another quick question... the petcock has three settings and they are as follows: reserve on primary now which one is off? and if there is no "off" then what is the difference between on and primary? | ||
| Doerman |
It is vacuum operated so an "off" position is not needed.I.e, lack of airbox vacuum shuts the petcock off. Reserve and On is clear Primer is the position that will allow fuel to flow (w/o airbox vacuum) to fill the bowls (in the event the bike has been sitting for a while) (Message edited by doerman on June 22, 2007) | ||
| Interex2050 |
That is very interesting... I have never had a bike where there was no "off" and quite a few had a vacuum operated petcocks Thanks for the info... I knew I should have studied the passages more when I was rebuilding it... | ||
| Interex2050 |
Well not much has been going on with regards to the ninja the past couple of days... I have just been avoiding working on the starter motor primarily because I need to drain all the fluids to do so... Here is the situation with the oil filter and the drain bolt:   I thought this was interesting...  This is the routing for the emissions in the fuel cap. | ||
| Doerman |
So how is the project going. Haven't heard for a while. Asbjorn | ||
| Interex2050 |
I was getting set up at my new job so did not have much time to get anything done... Today I will try to figure out if it is indeed something wrong with just the starter... I will disconnect the starter from the solenoid and see how it behaves. So if the lights do not turn off then slowly dim up, then we have a faulty starter and then I will take it out. | ||
| Interex2050 |
So this how things are arranged in there:  Not much fun... This is the interesting bit: Bikebandit claims that this is the same part #:  So I am keeping this around in case I may need to salvage a few bits from inside (assuming they are even remotely similar). | ||
| Tom_b |
that is strange, bike bandit is usually dead on with parts. i and several friends have purchased from bike bandit numerous times without problem. am currently working on an FJ1200 every part has been dead on. did you look at the exploded parts view on your bike beforehand? this helps. | ||
| Interex2050 |
Actually I made a mistake, I was looking at only the schematic drawing part # (or the description #), the actual part #s are different... http://www.bikebandit.com/partsbandit/assets/schem atics/Kawasaki/1989ZX750F3US_E1840.gif Part #: 566619-001 http://www.bikebandit.com/partsbandit/assets/schem atics/Kawasaki/1985ZX600A1US_D-7.gif Part #: 566657-001 I must have not been paying close enough attention when I looked at the part #s... | ||
| Interex2050 |
I am a fool! | ||
| Dbird29 |
Better vote yourself 1 star. |
