Workshop Session - Saturday November 2nd 2024
Kawasaki KZ550 Limited (Hybird!)
A.J., Jack and Andy Joiner worked on the bike and the bike was started up. However a short developed in the wiring which blew the main fuse. Andy Joiner, our budding auto-electrician detached components one at a time until the huge current drain on the battery ceased. It did so when he disconnected the small harness of wires leading to the bulbs in the tacho. Working with Graham and testing each bulb holder in turn with a volt meter Andy deduced that one of the bulbs had been wired up with its polarity reversed leaving the bulb holder on the live side of the bulb instead of on the earth side. Although the tachometer is largely made of plastic there were metal components where some of the bulbs pressed in and it was concluded that the live bulb holder had shorted out on one of these. Whether this would ultimately prove to be behind the fault would have to wait until the harness On leaving the session A.J. took the bike’s fuel tank and side panels away with him to get a quote for respraying. Graham has ordered a battery that was supposed to fit the KZ550 Limited but was physically too big for the battery holder. A.J. offered to measure up the holder and identify the correct battery for the job.
Dnepr 650.
Annablle and Dave worked on putting the replacement cylinder barrels and cylinder heads on the bike. Hopefully this, along with replacing the pistons, would see the seizures overcome. We would have to wat until the following workshop session to see if the replacement parts had done the trick. Because a little further reassembly was still needed come the end of the session. To help future compression issues Graham had purchased a leak down compression tester. Put simply, this tester applies air pressure generated by a compressor to the cylinder. Any leakage can be seen on its gauge and no doubt heard if its leaking under the valve seats.
Kawasaki Z250
Graham had ordered a replacement clutch actuating mechanism and the piece containing the 3 ball bearings that cause the mechanism to push on the clutch pushrod when the clutch lever is pulled towards the handlebars. They had both arrived and fitted perfectly. A New clutch lever and front brake lever had also arrived which looked as though they should fit. However when Graham eventually got the front brake master cylinder piston out of its housing, the replacement that he had ordered was a different size and would have to be returned to the supplier. That brought work on the front brake to a halt for the time being. Perhaps a complete new front brake master cylinder would be needed if one could actually be found. Steve worked to reassemble the rear brake master cylinder by carefully cleaning out the bore that its piston fits in. The seal on the piston looks quite serviceable so we concluded that it would be worth trying the old piston before resorting to installing the slightly different cylinder that was on order. The original item has the brake fluid cylinder and the piston housing cast in one piece. The item that was on order would fit the existing bolt holes on the bike but its cylinder would have to be attached elsewhere as it was mounted on a flexible pipe.
Jiailing 125 Trials bike project.
Andy continued working to improve the finish of the bike and during the session its engine was mounted in an engine stand ready to be sprayed up.
There was no progress on any other following bikes in the workshop.…
Honda Vigor - Its owner’s vehicle had broken down leaving him without transport.
Yamaha TX500 - on hold pending completion of other projects.
Yamaha Majesty - Wade our resident enthusiast wasn’t present at this session.
Peugeot Velofax - Insufficient time so it still awaits work to get its spark back!
Yamaha V-Click - Awaiting fettling to see if it can be made roadworthy
Ducati 250cc Racer- Its owner wasn’t present at the session.
Honda NS125F - Its owner wasn’t present at the session.
Other activity…
Don had managed to detach the front fork of his Kawasaki VN900 and bring it with him to the workshop to replace the front fork oil seal. He had already spent some time trying to remove the fork spring retainer from the top of the fork tube. Normally the pressure of the spring underneath it would force it out once its retaining circlip had been removed. However in Don’s case the retainer would not come out for love nor money. Repeated tapping of the retainer and the fork tube around it failed to move it, as did the application of heat. Don and Andy Joiner found that it was possible to remove the fork seal without disassembling the top of the fork tube but refilling it with oil would be tricky as it would have to be done through the small (6mm) opening at the bottom of the fork slider where the securing bolt normally fits. Graham suggested that another option would be to drill a hole in the fork spring retainer and either use an easy out to try and start it twisting in the fork tube, or thread the hole so a bolt could be used for the same purpose. Unfortunately it transpired that Don had been supplied with the wrong front fork oil seal so it would have to wait for another session.
