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....but is becoming one
The new to me FZ750 that I traded the GS550 for was supposed to be a ready to go street bike having just gone through the certification process a few hundred kms ago. As I have to get it recertified, I figured I'd sort out a couple of issues that could cause me some grief in that process.
The primary issue has been hard starting. The bike would start with a bunch of fiddling but the carbs were obviously gummed up so having a spare set that came with the parts bike, I figured I'd clean and rebuild them, which I did last week thinking I'd swap them out on the weekend.
Now since the carbs were quite dirty, I figured I'd best look at the plugs too since the previous owner only had the bike for a few months and didn't know the history. To get at the plugs, you need to remove the rad as these bikes are liquid cooled. Now the rad did leak a touch when hot and when I took off the bodywork, I could see why:
It had been smucked. Luckily, the parts bike had a good one, so I cleaned that up and repainted it.
Not perfect but leakproof.
Now once the rad was sorted, I got to the plugs and that turned out to be another adventure. They are damned hard to get to. The engine is canted about 45 degrees forward and the plugs sit deep in the head. The plug holes are also quite narrow and you need a deep and thin walled socket to get at them. Luckily, at Mr. Gatekeeper's innaugral firing up the previous weekend, we found all of this out and that the tube socket from a GS toolkit worked perfectly with the aid of a long L shaped allen key to turn it. Very fiddly and time consuming but it works. The holes also accumulate grit and grease so you have to clean things out well before pulling the plugs.
The plugs were fine and reuseable. The caps not so much. Two were cracked and one was completely broken. Again the parts bike came to the rescue.
Finally, with all the plugs back in and the rad on I could pull the old carbs and get the fresh ones on. One of the easiest carb swaps ever IMHO. As the engine is canted forward the carbs sit straight upright between the two frame rails. Easy off and on and no more than 5 minutes work.
With the carbs back in place and the I/V gas taank set up, one thumb of the button and a tad of choke and she fired right up. Joy was short lived however as 2 float bowls are leaking.
Unlike GSs, these carbs have o-ring float bowl gaskets which are not cheap at $12.50 apiece and of course my local dealer had none in stock. It wasn't exactly a wasted trip however as they have a new counter guy there and he too is an FZ owner and he has a freshly cleaned and rebuilt carb set with all new o-rings that he would sell me for $100. So $50 for new o-rings or $100 for new o-rings & carbs....difficult decision
These bikes while similar to the GS series in some ways are quite different in others but its all good and I'm glad I've cut my teeth on the good old GS. I'm sure I'll have another one sooner than later but for now I have to muddle on with the project that's not a project. What's next, you just know there is going to be something.
Cheers,
Spyug
The new to me FZ750 that I traded the GS550 for was supposed to be a ready to go street bike having just gone through the certification process a few hundred kms ago. As I have to get it recertified, I figured I'd sort out a couple of issues that could cause me some grief in that process.
The primary issue has been hard starting. The bike would start with a bunch of fiddling but the carbs were obviously gummed up so having a spare set that came with the parts bike, I figured I'd clean and rebuild them, which I did last week thinking I'd swap them out on the weekend.
Now since the carbs were quite dirty, I figured I'd best look at the plugs too since the previous owner only had the bike for a few months and didn't know the history. To get at the plugs, you need to remove the rad as these bikes are liquid cooled. Now the rad did leak a touch when hot and when I took off the bodywork, I could see why:
It had been smucked. Luckily, the parts bike had a good one, so I cleaned that up and repainted it.
Not perfect but leakproof.
Now once the rad was sorted, I got to the plugs and that turned out to be another adventure. They are damned hard to get to. The engine is canted about 45 degrees forward and the plugs sit deep in the head. The plug holes are also quite narrow and you need a deep and thin walled socket to get at them. Luckily, at Mr. Gatekeeper's innaugral firing up the previous weekend, we found all of this out and that the tube socket from a GS toolkit worked perfectly with the aid of a long L shaped allen key to turn it. Very fiddly and time consuming but it works. The holes also accumulate grit and grease so you have to clean things out well before pulling the plugs.
The plugs were fine and reuseable. The caps not so much. Two were cracked and one was completely broken. Again the parts bike came to the rescue.
Finally, with all the plugs back in and the rad on I could pull the old carbs and get the fresh ones on. One of the easiest carb swaps ever IMHO. As the engine is canted forward the carbs sit straight upright between the two frame rails. Easy off and on and no more than 5 minutes work.
With the carbs back in place and the I/V gas taank set up, one thumb of the button and a tad of choke and she fired right up. Joy was short lived however as 2 float bowls are leaking.
Unlike GSs, these carbs have o-ring float bowl gaskets which are not cheap at $12.50 apiece and of course my local dealer had none in stock. It wasn't exactly a wasted trip however as they have a new counter guy there and he too is an FZ owner and he has a freshly cleaned and rebuilt carb set with all new o-rings that he would sell me for $100. So $50 for new o-rings or $100 for new o-rings & carbs....difficult decision
These bikes while similar to the GS series in some ways are quite different in others but its all good and I'm glad I've cut my teeth on the good old GS. I'm sure I'll have another one sooner than later but for now I have to muddle on with the project that's not a project. What's next, you just know there is going to be something.
Cheers,
Spyug
) and cockups happen to us all.
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