Ducati

Oil change and filter for Ducati. The old oil is pretty clean and nothing (really) on the magnet. All good.

FZR jetting

Just a note to add that I upped the main jets on the FZR, so they are now at 117.5. The jetting now seems perfect, plenty of pull everywhere in the rev range, although I could get fedup with the (really) loud induction roar from the filters....

The thing still white lines badly though, I really need to get that sorted.

Triumph Bonneville

Well, cleaned the carbs and tank, added new fuel filters (the old ones were not flowing much), new battery, new master cylinder and brake set, new fork seals and oil (ATF), a bit of a clean and away she goes, oh and a new kickstart.

It really needs new paint, new mudguard etc... And it's a real mixture of metric, BS screws which is a shame. We'll have to see this winter.

Triumph and FZR

I received the factory Pro jet kit for the FZR, this provides different profile needles, plus a variety of pilot and main jets. I had also ordered their hardened emulsion tubes, which should improve smoothness at low revs. I installed just the needles on the middle clip position, but removing the shim under the original needles. This with the K&N filters. The first run out was far from good, it seemed very uneven from idle and wouldn't rev out. So I decided to increase the pilots and the main jets, given that the mid range seemed pretty good.

The pilots are upped to 35(?) And the mains were up to 115s from 107.5 quite a jump. I also noted that removing the pilots there were two that were slightly blocked so this was probably the reason of the rough running from idle.

Anyway the second run was instantly better, the engine picks up instantly from idle and then runs through all the way to the red line, if I am hyper critical I could probably change the mains again, although it's not clear if they need bigger (try first) or smaller (try second).

I have received the parts for the triumph, but I am still suffering to get fork seal out so will take that in to MotoLabo when I get my Suzuki parts.

New Triumph in the shop

A mate wanted me to get his Triumph T120 going again. So I have been busy getting that together. It's in a bit of a state but fortunately the carbs and tank were relatively clean, I put a couple of new filters inline as the old ones were drastically restricting  the flow of petrol also the tank has 2 taps and the right hand one is broken. Now on this model there is a pipe joining the float bowls of the Amal carbs so it should work and sure enough with a new battery and plugs it fired up.

On the chassis side of things, there was worse news, the front disk brake master cylinder was completely seized up, with brown mud like fluid all over... I tried in vain to release the piston from the master cylinder, but in the end I bought a new one complete with lever, if the caliper cleans out OK we should have a brake. The other thing that needed doing was a knackered kickstart, which I had to weld up and in the end we wanted to swap out as well. All new parts ordered from LP Williams in the UK.

The Suzuki just needs the carbs balancing and we'll see if has improved with standard emulsion tubes and needled in the carbs.

I also need to install the K&N filters on the FZR and reject the carbs, so lots to do!

Work on the bikes

Keihin unadjustable needles

Keihin Carbs

New plate for chain adjuster in the process....

Have been doing bits and bobs on the bikes since back from SRC. The first priority was to get the road going FZR back running. I got stuck because I couldn't fit the air box with the new carbs on it. I ended butchering a 3HE airbox and finally got it going only to find that it wouldn't run cleanly, it was alright on small throttle openings but wouldn't take any larger openings. Unfortunately the only way forward with those carbs is to buy adjustable needles as the standard Keihin needles don't have any clips - they are fixed. I could of course add shims, but I don't have any either, so it was off with those carbs and back on with the standard carbs and air box, everything went OK except they leaked which meant another strip down and this time added some gasket silicon to the float bowls.
The bike is still a bit fluffy at low rpm due to wear in the emulsion tubes caused by the vibration of the needles. I have purchased new emulsion tubes and needles appropriate to running k&M's and we'll see what that does - should be perfect. The handling is far improved with the shock factory shock although it makes the front feel very bouncy....

Other jobs :- fed up with my wobbly gear lever and he problems st the SRC, so decided to use a spare FZR one in it's place the advantage is that the gear lever pivots around the footrest the same as the RG so I just neede d to run up a new footrest and adapt a tie rod. Yamaha in their wisdom reversed the normal sense of the tie rod as you will know that one end a right hand thread and the other is  a left hand thread, well they put the normal thread at the gearbox end and the other one at the footrest end!

I am also taking the 500 TM34 carbs back to standard to try and get some semblance of mid range, so motocarb is sending me some new needles and emulsion tubes.

I am also in the process of replacing the chain adjuster plates at the end of the swinging arm to enable me to add some nipples to get the stand on easier - I am fed up with trying to fiddle the stand on and then it not supporting the weight of someone trying to start the bike.