Who likes blue?

[forestfarm61]

My old girl, just 50 k miles

[Nails]

Sure is blue.

[cushman eagle]

My 1958 Cushman Eagle is blue,does that count
It is Guardsman Blue Metalic,the same color as my first car a 1964 Ford Galaxy 2 door fastback with a 390 Police Intercepter engine

[forestfarm61]

The previous owner had it professionally painted at no small expense. He had it stored at his summer home and mice took it over. The surge box was completely filled with acorns. They had a large nest atop the radio. Luckily Kawasaki had the forethought to equip the radio with a rubber sheet on top of it, preventing any damage. I had to take all the vent ductwork apart and soak them in bleach. I could smell mouse pee on hot summer days coming thru the vents. The worst issue was the mouse pee down in the spark plug wells, corroded the plugs threads effectively locking them in the head. I was only able to get two of them out. At 50 k + miles it’s still running two original plugs. I’m considering trying to remove the other two this weekend, have been soaking them in ATF/ acetone mix. Don’t want to have the plug break during removal attempts, it runs great as it is, just hunts about 50rpm at idle. The other two I was able to get out required 1/2 breaker bar and a length of pipe, pretty scary stuff. If I encounter too much resistance on the first plug I will probably leave it alone, not worth creating a huge problem for myself

[SgtSlag]

It looks really nice, IMO. They did a nice job on it. This also makes it unique.


Good luck removing the plugs. If you get them out, I suggest NGK Iridium plugs as replacements. They're spendy ($10+/plug), but worthwhile, IME. They require less energy to fire, which means they will likely never fail to fire, unless the wires from the coils open. The other nice part is that in a car, Iridium plugs will last 100k miles, possibly longer in a bike -- not sure.

I recommend applying anti-seize on the replacement plugs' threads. Cheers!

[Nails]

Caution advised. (Personally, I'd soak them in PB Blaster.)
My XII still isn't running, just sitting there next to the spare cylinder head I need to transplant into it. A sparkplug was cross-threaded sometime before I bought it; and eventually I had to tap it. Now I'm replacing the whole head because Dave was taking bets on whether I'd end up needing to have a sparkplug removed from my leg.
And I don't think that's even why my XII broke down. Hopefully that'll come to light in the above surgery. Hopefully (again), that's not a scored cylinder.
But alas, I've still got a long list of higher-priority tasks ahead of the XII.

[GrandpaDenny]

If you get them out, I suggest NGK Iridium plugs as replacements. They're spendy ($10+/plug), but worthwhile, IME. They require less energy to fire, which means they will likely never fail to fire, unless the wires from the coils open. The other nice part is that in a car, Iridium plugs will last 100k miles, possibly longer in a bike -- not sure.

When I replaced Gertrude's carbs, the NGK Iridium plugs had 50k miles on them. They looked pretty worn so got replaced. 50k with those kronked up old carbs that ain't bad at all.

I don't know about on spark plugs, I guess the same would apply, but you can't put anti-seize on wheel studs because they won't hold the torque and will come loose. Second-hand information, I've never tried it.

[GrandpaDenny]

Hopefully that'll come to light in the above surgery.

I could have sworn when I read this it said "head surgery" and I was thinking "Geez, Nails, what did you do to yourself now, are you OK?"

[cushman eagle]

If you get them out, I suggest NGK Iridium plugs as replacements. They're spendy ($10+/plug), but worthwhile, IME. They require less energy to fire, which means they will likely never fail to fire, unless the wires from the coils open. The other nice part is that in a car, Iridium plugs will last 100k miles, possibly longer in a bike -- not sure.

When I replaced Gertrude's carbs, the NGK Iridium plugs had 50k miles on them. They looked pretty worn so got replaced. 50k with those kronked up old carbs that ain't bad at all.

I don't know about on spark plugs, I guess the same would apply, but you can't put anti-seize on wheel studs because they won't hold the torque and will come loose. Second-hand information, I've never tried it.

I have been using never-seize on plugs for about 50+ years and have always been glad at plug replacement time
I have never had one come loose,if it was properly tighened

[forestfarm61]

50/50 acetone +ATF mix is the best penetrant on rusty threads.Ive used them all.Dont take my word for it.Yes, i have the Iridium plugs already.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BikeMechanics/ ... ?rdt=36290

[forestfarm61]

Yes, i always use anti seize.I live in rust land where you can remove all the lugs on a car steel wheel and still need the torch to break it free from the hub

[forestfarm61]

I was able to get the plugs changed without drama, my home brew acetone/atf certainly made it easier.I changed all four with new NGK standard plugs.I plan on pulling the carbs soon to clean the pilot jets and install some sexy knurled brass thumbscrew idle mixture screws i bought years ago but never installed.It runs great as it is,but not quite perfect when cold.I havent ridden it much in the past few years as my motorcycle hobby has led me in many different directions,german,italian,and certainly japanese bikes.The voyager is just too good of a machine to just let sit in the basement.I have been pricing new inlet rubbers for the carbs, probably change those as well.Probably hard as rock.I just picked up a used corbin seat on ebay from a fellow member.Typical corbin hard as a wooden stool but provides much needed leg room and it accepts a backrest which i "borrowed" from my BMW.

[SgtSlag]

I was able to get the plugs changed without drama, my home brew acetone/atf certainly made it easier.I changed all four with new NGK standard plugs.I plan on pulling the carbs soon to clean the pilot jets ...

If it runs, you may have a partially plugged pilot jet. I would suggest either treating the gas with SeaFoam, or a similar varnish-dissolving fuel additive like Techron. I've used SeaFoam, many times, to cure stalls and stumbles, just by adding it to the gas tank. I've had friends who achieved the same positive results just be adding SeaFoam to their gas tanks.

You may not need to pull the carbs for a while yet. They are pain to put back in, so if you don't need to, why bother? Cheers!

[GrandpaDenny]

I've had friends who achieved the same positive results just be adding SeaFoam to their gas tanks.

When I got Gertrude she wouldn't even rev up to 3k. I used Seafoam for four years - about 50k miles - she would do just shy of 100 by then, and I think once I hit 102. When I *FINALLY* got around to replacing the carbs and burnt-and-taped lower air box, very interesting things were revealed. The carbs had actually sucked melted plastic at least partially, and one of the carb slides was visibly awfully worn. After replacing the carbs and lower air box, and resealing the carb holders (the rubber boots)(that were brand-new) over and over and over again I finally got all the vacuum leaks (surprise, there is a notch in the air box that a protrusion on the boots fits into), she would cruise all day at 120 smooth as silk (113 by GPS IIRC). Well I don't actually know if she'd do it all day, I only tried it for about 10 minutes on the PA Turnpike. Rock steady. Still seemed to have plenty of power, ye gods that bike would FLY. Shame she died traumatically nine months later Just when I got her 100% fixed.

Christ that bike was a death trap when I bought her. Amazing she didn't fall apart under me. Hindsight is 20-20 y'know.

[forestfarm61]

When I bought mine in 09 it ran great coming home from Vermont,even though the surge box was completely full of acorns.Ive used seafoam and berrymans over the years to keep the idle circuit clean.It runs great now,as usual but it would certainly benefit from a good carb clean because I've left it sitting unused for too long.It just has a slight burble at idle.I have had the carbs off twice before,its really no big deal.It doesn't stumble or cough or have any issues riding it,I just know from experience that it should be smooth as a dream idling when cold when the carbs are right.I agree I could just leave it alone and ride it the way it is but I enjoy tinkering on bikes,I have many.They all run terrific.Its a good hobby,keeps me busy.I have a Honda hurricane 1000 that I will be rebuilding the front calipers this weekend and replacing the brake lines with some beautiful ones from the UK.After that the voyager carbs will be sorted out. I did see that Kawasaki lists two sizes of pilot jets on the voyager parts list,one is for "racing use" which is quite comical for a 750lb touring bike.The voyager 1200 motor is rated for 90hp which is definitely under stressed by design. My other vintage 1000cc bikes put out 130 hp.It is such a great big hunk of a motor,designed to run for a very long time,easy to maintain.The only real negative I have experienced is the way it handles at high speed when you encounter dirty air behind a big rig,due to its enormous aerodynamic area.JUst have to be careful,the riders manual points it out specifically for good reason