Hello From Melbourne (Kawasaki F11B)

[JADERD]

bit of a update, spent a little bit of time today on bike.

disconnected the tacho again and also the temp sensor pickup off head - no different

inspected the coil, the grey insulation appears to have no cracks at all so think that is ok at moment.

chucked battery back on charger to see if it would do anything different, it did, it went to 100% after a while on fast charge, put it in bike and within 5 clicks of indicator it was dead....checked it, dropped back to 2v approx, then out of bike on the bench the Volts began to climb again ...WTF ? so its back on charger now on trickle charge, already shows 100% though ill leave it overnight to give it a good charge and see how it is.

Havent checked cap yet...dont think it would be that and havent bypassed the kill switch yet, thats next.....might have some cash coming in soon so might handball to a shop i think as im starting to deplete tests really.

i think the points are fine, though i could swap them out....will see.

[JADERD]

Havent touched bike in nearly 3 weeks!

awaiting points and condensor in mail, also looking at buying another ignition coil just need to spend a little time checking ebay etc.

Cheers

[VMX247]

Nice to have a bit of a break..then you can get stuck in again... 
Lifes a journey enjoy the ride 
cheers A

[JADERD]

summed it up very well mate, i think i needed to step back for a bit so i didnt lose interest or get disheartened re. trying to get it running prob.

cheers

[JADERD]

My 4 week hiatus from playing with bike is over, i feel happy to get back into it now.

points and condensor arrived, just bought a coil off ebay that suits 6V and appears perfect fit re. mounting holes, will see, i will try it first and see how we go before i fiddle with taking things apart to get to points and condensor

fingers crossed

cheers

[JADERD]

Got new coil, installed, zero difference , so next it's condenser and points to swap over.... Getting frustrating now lol

[VMX247]

Even a Electrician can get it wrong sometimes..one wire can make you come screaming out off the shed..    can understand your frustration... 
Cheers for the Christmas Festive Season and well done on this great project   

[JADERD]

Ok,

quick update.

let bike sit another 3 weeks or more, then i fired it up the other day just to fang around the estate same problem as always ofcourse, also clutch stuck....will sort itself out due to sitting around not being used.

Also seems to hunt a little when backing off in gear....

i stopped off at a motorcycle shop nearby (Greensborough motorcycles for the locals)

Spoke to owner steve about bike symptoms etc, he mentioned he thinks it could be main bearing and the movement alters the point gap at higher revs etc.....now i dont know much so could be the exact problem.

what do you think?

he said to do main bearing if required would be like 50$ part and 500$ labor so that would be a DIY myself if it is the case as i dont want to spend the cash and would rather fix it myself and learn.

Any other ways to test main bearing ?

I still think its electrical...soo as ive said heaps i am going to .

Disconnect kill switch (steve from shop said they either work or dont shouldnt be that etc)
change points
change condensor

he can do points and condensor for me etc but once again id rather battle it myself and learn + i hate parting with cash unless i have to on a hobby like this.

i know im slow but as from the start ive not wanted to rush or become annoyed with the bike, the journey may be frustrating at times but will be funny to look back on when i figure out what the problem was.

anyone who rides around doreen area next time your out for a ride on a sat or sunday, please feel free to drop by (simon - 0418569006) and have a listen / look / ride and let me know what you think, would love an opinion from someone who isnt biased re. getting cash off me lol

Cheers

[tony27]

Main bearing normally rumble when they wear, can be a bit hard to hear on a air cooled motor. Try taking the ignition cover off & see if there is any movement up & down etc when grabbing the flywheel/end of crank

[JADERD]

Cheers Tony, will do, thanks for tip.

[JADERD]

Hi Tony, i did the test the other night, there is movement but bugger all, had a mate from the DTT forum pop around on weekend, weather was poor so more chatting than anything but he believes the slight movement is normal not out of norm etc...

Had a bit of a play last night, noticed smell of fuel in garage, noticed fuel was dripping slightly from the nipple at base of carby, from bit of reading on net seems that it may occur as overflow when too much in bowl or float stuck etc....tested the float height with a bit of hose etc, seemed a little high so pulled carby apart bent tang slightly and lowered the level, still not 100% happy if i have level low enough so may do again soon.


Either way it made no difference to bikes symptoms - stammering as get high in rev range and hunting on deceleration, also set points properly at around .35mm no difference either.

Although i have got nowhere with this did teach me how easy float height adjust is etc and that ive cancelled out one more thing that could have been the problem.  Busy next 2 weekends so in time i will replace the points / condenser and reassess again.

Pics below of float height prior to adjust...looks 5mm + too high

[JADERD]

Checked carby tonight.

The o ring on the main needle jet where it seals to the bowl was old n perished, I broke it off in pieces etc, replaced with an o ring i had, almost a perfect fit, you can feel it slot in when placing bowl on, not 100% perfect will source proper one, also the red crush type washer under the brass float needle seat thing was looking old n measured .39mm thick, spare I had in carb kit was .49 so put that on instead. Went for a ride, zero difference. Took carb back off an is in bits until I get o ring I'm 100% happy with , I feel though that this is not the problem and that it is ignition related which is next step once I'm happy with how carby is

Also another forum member mentioned that inline filters on 2 strokes can starve the fuel bowl making it run lean, from checking on net its a 50/50 decision it seems with others stating zero problems with similar inline filter to mine and running 40mm carbies.  Its an easy test though so i will run no inline filter and see how that goes.

Petcock has new screen filter in it so doesnt worry me even if i have to pull carby down yearly to clean, ive had it apart about 4 times in the last 2 days anyway

slowly but surely it will run perfect one day

cheers

[JADERD]

Well well well, I got to go WOT tonight 

I removed the inline filter which I don't think was the actual problem. I then spent some time playing with o rings and the needle jet holder. Realized the ok fitting one I added last night that had no effect wasn't fat enough, so I fitted one that is slightly larger, though sits a little loose on the holder once pressed into the fuel bowl it makes a nice solid click together, still will source a o ring that fits 100%.

Put carby back on bike and bingo, soooo happy, rode it around for 15 min, clutch released which was good as it had stuck over last 6 months  etc.

So now I'm done with trouble shooting its time for tuning. Feels a bit wobbly at speed think back wheel is a little off centre, need to re align or also check might be a bit buckled. Then I'll take it to someone off forum or a shop to get it tuned properly before I give it a good ride.

Thanks for everyone's advice over past year, now the fun times begin

Cheers

[JADERD]

OK, back at work now refreshed after a 9 days of holidaying in Rutherglen and Sydney, lots of awesome food, sight seeing and still managed to fit in some training for tough mudder (only 2 weeks to go)

Arrived home to find the carby o-rings i ordered arrived, 2 identical so should last me forever, so on saturday after a 9 hour drive back from sydney straight to garage pulled out carby and installed the new o-ring, fits very nice and tight that you force to carby bowl on before you can put screws in etc.

also checked a few main nuts / bolts to check still torqued up, tightened chain a little.

Adjusted point gap back to around .40mm and spark plug at .80mm

Sunday gave bike a good 30km ride approx on road mainly with bit of dirt.

Bike seemed fine, able to cruise along ok at 80kmh although sounds like its revving a fair amount (havent hooked up tacho yet.

Bike feels fine other than the rear wheel / tire feeling a little wobbly, may be i had a little too lower PSI and being a trials tyre with soft side wall it was moving around a bit.  Think i will take off rear wheel and have a go at truing it up rigging up a little stand to hold axle on bench etc, from memory it always had a slight buckle and its ephasized when at speed on road.

Also looked into getting a fold away trailer as dont really want to do that much road driving if possible and would rather cart bike to where i wanna ride and hopefully future Vinduro type casual events.

Easytrailer seem to be the goods and fold up to only 65cm wide so easy fit beside car in garage.

Good value also


Still want to drop bike off / meet up with someone who knows 2 strokes heaps to get there opinion on how bike is running / tune up. The trailtech dash i have showed engine temp (read off head bolt) peaked at around 165 celcius and hovered at around 155 while riding along.

See pic below of plug after around 15-20km of riding peaking at 80kmh etc, looks nice chocolate to me, this is with bike on stock carby settings and needle on stock position 3, running a new oiled Unifilter.....look ok to you ?

[tony27]

Plug looks fairly good to me.

Glad it sounds like you've finally gotten it running properly, normally turns out to be something small causing the frustrating running problems & always the last thing you check