fastbob

I don't think you've read that back to yourself before posting .

Good luck with that .

I assumed it was EFI when you mentioned the Petrol Pump .

Well on most , but not all fuel taps , there are usually three positions . Run , Res ( Reserve ) and Pri ( Prime ) Prime is for filling up the carbs by bypassing the vacuum operated fuel tap after work has been done that required the carbs to be drained . If you have a defective vacuum line , the bike should still run on Prime position thereby identifying the fault .

Yes , I do like the ER5 . I think it's because I had such a good time touring Scotland on my last one . Plus it's nice to do the same bike twice because you know everything off by heart the second time around .

Oh , it's fuel injection is it ? Sorry then , I've no idea . ( Visually check any sensors ? )

Kinked , split or detached vacuum hose . Does it run on PRI ( Prime Position ) ?

I've balanced it and played around with the mixture screws but I still can't get the revs to fall as quickly as I would like . Some say that's indicative of a lean condition and of course some disagree and say it's a rich condition . I've tried to make it richer and there was some improvement but maybe I should try the other way .

Finished . All it needs now is a shakedown . Anybody got a litre of petrol ?

What a f*****g idiot ?

Looking good . No leaks and I've almost got a steady idle speed . Another quarter turn out on those mixture screws and it's good to go I reckon .

Come on .

Got a bloody water leak now but at least I know what it is and how to fix it . Top Tip when you're fettling a bike , fill the rad system with tap water until you're sure it's leak free . Then drain and fill with coolant . The cheapest of which is B&Q by the way at £3.99 a litre .

You couldn't make it up .

I was thinking of going to the Rugby bike weekend but I don't think I've got enough gas to even go looking for any more .

What's the petrol situation around your way chaps ?

Over night I did a bit of googling on bike sites that use the same engine ( KLE , EN , EX and GPZ ) and discovered that glowing header pipes is more common than one might think . Anyway I started it up again this morning and all is well . As soon as it's off choke it settles down to a steady tick over . It's hunting a little bit and when I rev it the revs take a long time to return to normal again . So the next job is to double check for air leaks and then take the mixture screws out a quarter turn or so . I cannot help but wonder what guardian angel made me decide to shelve the project for the summer . If I'd ridden it and a cam sprocket had fallen off it would have been pure carnage . On a positive note , the Wilkinson's Barbecue paint on the exhaust seems none the worse for being heated to red hot . Other good news is that the ridiculously cheap Chinese carb kits ( £8.00 for 2 including diaphragms and floats ! ) are not leaking despite my bypassing the petrol tap and there being a head of pressure from the auxiliary fuel tank .

I've already checked the thermostat operation but not with a thermometer . ER5s usually only require a few seconds of choke before the revs rise and you can knock it off so I've never run one at a high idle for longer than necessary so maybe this is no cause for concern . The fan didn't kick in and I know it works . I'll set it up for a correct idle with the choke off tomorrow and see what happens . It's all good fun ..

Right . Put the bike back together racing against the failing light . Hit the button and and the thing is absolutely whirring and purring . What a difference ! The best sounding ER5 engine I've built so far . ....... However , having not had time to connect the throttle cable and completely forgetting that I can set the idle speed with the throttle stop screw , I can only keep the thing running at a fast idle by manipulating the choke ( Enricher ) So I let it run at a fast idle for no more than a minute and a half and , lo and behold , both the exhaust pipes are glowing bright red ! I had to do a double take because I've never actually seen a pair of glowing exhaust pipes before , not in real life anyway and certainly not on a humble ER5 . I'm packing it in for today but I really don't know what to make of this latest twist . Any ideas ?

I was in denial . It started easy enough but there was a clacking noise that even an ER5 shouldn't make. Oh this forum is driving me bloody mad ! Why can't I make a new post in this thread without having to quote myself ?

I was in denial . It started easy enough but there was a clacking noise that even an ER5 shouldn't make.

An update . Started this thing up back in the Spring and I did not like what I heard . It sounded like a bag of spanners . So I put a cover over it and walked away . Until today . I've just popped the cam cover off and all looks good . But do not rely on your eyes alone , give everything a wiggle . WTF ! The inlet cam sprocket is rattling loose ! I had replaced the camshafts but it never occurred to me to check the bolts . They must have been just finger tight all along . So I'm going to torque them up and see what it sounds like after that . The moral is , take nothing for granted when buying second hand parts .

Here you go . https://youtu.be/ch-BF2QXAQU

There are two sides to every story and none of us were there .

That does sound like a great idea .