Triple Whammy

[Lucasind]

......So these two boys over here have beem keeping me busy here,the last couple of weeks ! First Brian went to move Brad's ZRX 1100 out of his way and while pulling the bike backwards he lost control of the bike and it fell against one of the forklift's raised forks and wham #1 occured ,busted up the fairing,twisted up the fairing bracket and turn-sigs broke , The fairing, and the decals for the fairing are separate orders,and very expensive !

The parts came in ,and after coughing up nearly $800. bucks,,,,the rex is put up on the lift for repairs.



Here's a look at the size of the crack the forks caused,and what the new decal-less fairing looked like.



So after alot of hours of labor and $$$ The Z=REX is back to perfect again
(boy ,am I glad the tank wasn't crunched ! )

[Lucasind]

......Next Brian had a gal drive thru a redlight head down, looking at a communication device
instead of hitting her ,he layed the 03 connie down on the right side and did some minor damage to footpeg bracket,mirror,paint....nothing major, but costly,and the connie is no longer in excellent condition. After repairing all of that....a few days later ,he told me the engine was making a strange tapping or knocking sound ? ...NOW WHAT ? I listened to the noise, and back up on the lift THIS one goes for investigation....the problem was easily solved, after taking all the plastic rapping off
I found the #3 plug wire blown up out of the plug well and that plug had backed it-self out a couple of turns,and what he was hearing was compression leaking at the same time as the spark trying to jump a inch....sorta like fffffttttttt-crack,fffffffftttttt-crack,ffffffffttttttt crack
No thread damage and new Iridium plugs were installed. all is well with the connie again.
I made the boys take me out to Fricker's and pick up the tab, and I wasn't shy about what I ordered



So these two bikes are back in business again ,and I can get back to doing my own work on my own stuff again in my "spare time"......so I thought......

[Lucasind]

O.K. next....patience is wearing a bit thin ,but Brad comes home from riding, and asks me to come listen to the noise HIS Ninja F/I 1400 is making
Sure enough she has a top end rattle/knock/slap kinda sound that don't sound good !
So up on the lift this one goes for inspection,Takes forever to get the plastic off this pain in the butt of a bike(boy I miss the "old school bikes)
Was hoping that something may have gone wrong with the automatic cam chain tensioner, but after inspecting it,and the tension of the chain ,I knew that was not the problem,but decided to order a new APE manual one, as long as I'm doing this !



Unbelievable the amount of disassembly required to get the valve cover off of these new superbikes.
The manual says to remove the fuel injection system before proceeding, having a blast now !

[Lucasind]

After peeling back the rubber blanket that covers the top half of the engine......there's a valve cover!After removing the valve cover I
Began looking around to see if there is anything broken than may jump right out and show itself,everything looked normal,so I ran thru the valve clearances and all were spot on . next I started checking torque on every fastener that was before me, and on the very last thing I checked I found the problem, The 2 screws that hold the intake cam sprocket were loose, So I thought this may be quick and easy......thought wrong !



As it turns out ,one of the cam sprocket screws, was snapped ofF IN the cam end ,and the screw was barely hanging on by a thread, and was soon to fall out ,and down into the engine to tear things up,so all in all , a bullet was dodged there ! Things could have gotten way worse.
So I had to remove the intake cam and go to the work bench and begin the broken off screw extraction Here's a look at what went wrong ,to cause all of that racket !



With these two fasteners in this shape..... that ol intake cam sprocket was doing some "big-time" wobbling and slapping .setting off one heck of a bad noise !! .....more later ...tony

[Mr Jensee]

I agree that in the OLD days bikes were a heckava lot easier to work on, especially after a fall. The plastics are all ridiculously expensive. My black ZRX1100 got the light housing scraped up in a fall in Arkansas. Fortunately it didn't break so I was able to sand the area and touch it up so it didn't look bad. One option a lot of ZRX owners do is to buy an aftermarket headlight or one off the old GS1100 Suzuki lights, buy the headlight mounts off the early 2000 model ZR7R bikes and just give the completely naked look. BTW, the removing the carbs off the ZRX is no pleasure either!

[Lucasind]

TRUE DAT , Mr Jensee !!..... when we got the ZRX a couple years ago I installed the Dynojet stage 3 kits into the carbs,cause my son said the bike wasn't fast enough Your right, It takes a minute to accomplish that !

[cushman eagle]

So,Tony,what do you do in your spare time?

[voyager55]

I wish I had your mechanical skills- And Patience!

[grumpin]

Yes, your patience is good! I think I would have blown my own gasket by now. I try to find the good things in stuff like this. I think they are, you have the tools, place and skills to handle it. And after this triple whammy, your boys still come to you for help, they probably know you may be "torqued", but know you will help. Plus they also know Dad can fix anything!

[Lucasind]

...Well thanks for those kind words guys .......As dad's, we try to set the example of going above and beyond the call of duty,in turn,then the seed has been planted for them to do the same when and if they become dads !...As far as what do I do in my spare time ? Well I like to have one heck of alot of firewood hauled up the hill from the lowland,cut,split and stacked by Nov. 1st.....well, as you might guess, I'm way behind this year ! As far as tools go... after 37 years of doing this sort of thing ,I may have 2 of everything by now ........................tony

[Lucasind]

....So ,who knows what caused the two screws to fail on the cam sprocket, factory loc-tite WAS present on everything that I looked at, did Kaw get a bad batch from some fastener supplier, did this bikes ability to hit unbelievable rpm's cause this ? she redlines at 11,000 revs,but I have no desire to ride at those speeds anymore



One good point about reassembling this engine was ,that someone had a good idea in making the intake boots "2 piece", very limited space for installation,a little over a inch to work with,would have made those two center ones a bear to deal with.



some engineer ,actually had a mechanic in his thoughts on this part



I use a heat gun,or warm these rubber parts up in hot water before install ,so they are more pliable.

[Lucasind]

....The eyglass looking piece is installed first (quite easily) then the intake boot just pushes straight thru and right into place. brilliant !
Next, the fuel tank is installed to start the engine and test the job out, can't use a auxiliary fuel supply tank on this,cause of the F/I.....Brad said he was afraid to hit the starter button
Oh ,go ahead was my reply. Here's a shot of him standing on the air lift.."thumbs up" after the bike started , at this time ,putting the plastic body back on the bike was all his job.



So the bike is all done ,and back to normal,running great ,and sounding great !all along this process, I kept encouraging him to sell this bike, and buy a touring bike,but I think 20 yrs. old may be too soon
55 degrees here, he took off out the driveway, happy as a clam .......tony

[cushman eagle]

I got to thinking,Tony,you would had even less spare time, if you would have gotten to the bike after the cams stopped turning,but before the crank stopped turning. I have had a couple repair jobs in my 45+years as a part time mechanic where valves got in the way of pistons in farm tractors.In case you are interested,neither the piston or the valve wins the contest

[ekap1200]

Gee Tony where is that happy smiling face we always see. Remember what my wife says " A BUSY MAN IS A HAPPY MAN"

[Lucasind]

.....HA HA GENE !........ Good eye on my signature smiley face being absent from these latest posts.... with good reason ....It's hard for me to reach all of MY objectives lately. as you might have gathered. Everything (as you know).... about living in the north is based on, how much time is left till...... ......................

[Lucasind]

Yeah Gene .Brad got that "unhappy picture" of me while I was sweatin the details of that job....
BUT.....for every bad moment ,we seek for a good !
Here is the good.....................
Last Sunday was 72 degrees here , and we rode 200 miles !
O.K., .....a good portion of that was to go get,and add a new bike to the stable,(I LOVE IT)
This bike WILL be in Denver in about 8 months for the rally

More Later,..........................tony

[Lucasind]

Here's the details on the new bike :2008 Concours 14. ABS model. High Performance Sport-Touring Motorcycle. Mature owner.

10,300 miles. Super Nice Condition. Good rubber. These bikes are loaded with features like electronically adjustable windshield, onboard computer, tire pressure monitors, KIPASS security system, High Tech shaft drive system, adjustable suspension front and rear, Quick detach hard bags, etc...

Comes with the following nice extras:

Heli-Bar Horizon ST bar risers. $700 accessory not including installation. Transforms the bike into an all-day comfortable ride.Also improves the handling of the bike over the stock bars, just a fantastic setup. Fully adjustable to rider preference, nicely finished. Top quality. I also have the stock bars and 2 sets of risers for them.

5 position Oxford Heaters heated grips. Once you have had these, you won't ever want to be without them.

3 seats: Original seat, Sargent "space-age foam", shown in the pictures, ($400) and a Laam custom seat.($500)

California Scientific touring windshield.

Quick detach trunk. Shown in some pictures.

Powered speaker system for ipod, etc...

Two Brothers performance exhaust. Not loud, but gives the bike a nice sound. I have the factory silencer tip to make it a little quieter if desired. NO other performance modifications to the bike.

Properly Lowered 1 inch front and rear. I have the stock dogbones to raise it back up if desired. I have a 33 inch inseam, and it is just right for me.

This is a very nice, well kept, low miles, motorcycle that will make it's new owner very happy.
There are a couple of small scuffs from garage carelessness, nothing major at all.

This is a cash sale. No trades, no weird checks, No BS.

You MUST have the full purchase price in hand, to test ride the bike. Sorry, but that is how it has to be, I can't take the chance. You drop the bike, and you own the bike. These are the terms.

[Lucasind]

So ....sometime has past since I made this post ....and some changes have been made as well.
Two of the bikes in this thread are now gone from our stable,never to return, as they have been sold to out of town buyers. The red 03'connie is gone ,and the 1400 F/I Ninja that my son Brad rode to last year's rally has also been sold. Immediate funds were needed to settle up on some credit card debt caused the sale of the connie (young people must learn to NOT whip out that "plastic" too often!) The green Z-rex is getting a new rear tire ,and will be at the estes park rally. I am also fitting a new rear sprocket to the bike... with 5 less teeth than what is currently on there, to lower the high-way speed RPMs . These boys are sure hard on tires ! Here is a look at a couple :



Here you see the 1100 Zrex up on the lift ,and the "past worn out" rear tire after removal... He got one year out of this tire. I fitted a new Michelin on it this time ...and and hoping it lasts longer than that Brigestone



Here you see the condition of the 1400 F/I Ninja rear tire (am noticing a resemblance to the other )
I told my son that he should spend the money,and get a new rear tire for this bike as well before putting it up for sale...I told him he would have a hard time selling the bike ,with the tire looking like this.... put the bike sold immediately !

I really don"t mind being wrong about that ...cause I am pleased to have a little extra space around here ! ..............................tony