rosszx9r

looks like some sort of sealant compound (sometimes used instead of a gasket) if you bought it from the bike shop, are they owning up to having done any repairs to the engine? it's hard to tell from the image but it looks to me like a hole for a bolt to go into. is the plate with the oval holding the alternator in place? the oval shape sugests the position of the plate is adjustable. get a small screw driver and push it into the oval. if it's deep, it's a bolt hole. if it isn't then i'm stumped without more info.

halfords have a new range of paint chip repair kit for around £5. it comes with a steel pin to remove the rust and the paint pens have a needle tip to get the primer and the final paint colour into the chip mark. they even do a metalic paint version. i used it on my car bonet and it came up really well (with a bit of t-cut afterwards to remove the excess paint!) the hard part is choosing the right shade of paint!

the bike will backfire if you get fuel in the exhaust then it fires up (ignighting the fuel in the exhaust) it sounds like you flooded the engine. take the plugs out and dry them off. leave them out for a while then try again...

the ignition is a possible cause of the bike not running very well. if you have oil over all 4 ignition leads or plugs, that could also be a cause if your rocker cover seals are leaking, that wouldn't put oil on the electrode. it's unuasual for all 4 oil seals to leak simultainiously. have you had the rocket cover off recently? if you clean all the plugs and the HT leads and it still doesn't run smoothly, you'll need to delve a bit deeper. fixing the simple stuff first is always best though... it is possible if your engine is worn or if the crankcase breather os blocked, that pressure is building inside the engine case causing the seals to leak. simple test is start the engine and take the oil filler cap off. put your hand over it and see if you feel air being expelled. you will feel air movement but is you put the palm of your hand over it and rev the engine, you'd have a possible problem if air is pushing against your hand. one other cause is the crankcase vent system. look at part 1109B in the exploded view WalneyFrankie gave you. this causes excess crack pressure to vent into the exhaust port so it can be burnt off (reducing bike emmissions) but can stick. it did on my ZX9r with the same system and can cause oily deposits on the exhaust valves and ports. really need to know more about the bike though. how many miles has it done, is this issue recent or has it been this way for ages. has it been serviced and have the valve clearances been checked recently?

which way did you turn the plug? clockwise or anti clockwise? if you snapped it by turning clockwise, the thread should be relatively free (hopefully you realised that clockwise was the wrong way! i.e. clockwise tightens the plug) WD40 and gentle tapping in an anti clockwise direction should ease it out without too much trouble. if it snapped when you turned it anti clockwise, then the thread is seized and you'll be lucky to get it out without taking the head off. best of luck...

if it's using oil and lost top end power it is almost certainly going to need a rebore.

puddle of oil sorry but i couldn't help myself

try http://www.cornwallkawasaki.co.uk i've found them really helpful in the past. you can look for the part on the parts viewer but call them before you order so they can double check it ok for you. i bought a new throttle cable for my ZX9r from them but couldn't identify the right part from the drawings. spoke to them in the morning and it was with me next day!

the worst scenario is the valve stem seals have poped or you've got a bent valve or a poped piston oil ring. is it all cylinders or just one or two? the best test at this stage is a compression test on each cylinder. halfords sell a simple gauge for this although you will probably need some form of adaptor. you should get good compression on each cylender and they should all be roughly the same. once you've done that, it should be pretty obvious what to do next.... buy a new engine or investigate the ignition/carbs etc

i've done a bit research on the net and found a few nuggets on this... first is http://chain-guide.com it tells you all about the construction and maintenance requirements. an o-ring chain is effectively a sealed for life bearing. the lube is purely for the surface between the o-ring and the chain surface to ensure a good seal. WD40 washes the greese out of o-ring chains and it's very hard to replace. i found a link that shows the effect of WD40 on bearings!... http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/motorcycle-chain-lube/ (scroll down to middle of the page) the point i was making was that it doesn't matter a huge amount what you use it's just important to lube it regularly. there is a vast industry created around motorcyling and it's hungry for our cash. this really grates with me (not just because i'm a scotsman you understand ) as the sales pitches are offten misguided. chain maintenance is a case in point. do a google search on it and you'll find hundreds of pages of advice all for different products. the general gist is though.... oil it regularly if you want it to last. i don't know any top motocrossers so i can't be sure what they do with thier chains but if you get the chance, find out if they use o-ring chains. they may not as o-ring chains use more power while transmiting drive to the rear wheel. they most likely use a standard low loss chain that WILL require the hot grease treatment. i wasn't having a pop at you personally and didn't mean to offend. i just don't like it when marketing types convince people to part with hard earned cash when they don't need to

excellent, thanks. that's exactly what i'm after. i didn't think they were available in the uk

if you buy a bike with a fault like this you take a chance the seller hasn't mentioned something more serious! you should be able to get an old radiator for £50 and it's easy enough to fit. i would suggest though that you hold onto your cash if there is any doubt about the bike. make sure you see it before you bid for it if it's an online auction. i bought my ZX9r on ebay for £850 and it's fine. non issues. be patient and shop around. you'll find something decent that shouldn't need fixing straight away

i used to do this years ago when i had an old CB400n but it didn't have a modern o-ring chain! i don't think the hot oil method is suitable for modern chains as the heat would damage the o-rings. if you buy a cheap non o-ring chain then this will help prolong it's life but why bother buy a decent o-ring chain and lube it every week and it will last ages. you can spend a fortune on addatives and special oils and whatever else the marketing people dream up and tell us we must have.... you spend all your cash on fancy lubes and you get an extra 6 months out your chain if your lucky.... save your cash. chains are consumable items. buy standard cheap chain oil, keep it lubed once a week and you'll be doing as much as you need to to make it last. it will wear and stretch if you thrash the bike so if you ride like an old lady, it'll last longer than if you spend a load of cash on fancy products

that looks like a quick way to snap your wrist!!!!

you must have loads of time on your hands for all that

it could be the carb float hieghts are wrong or needles stuck. i presume the bike has been standing idle for a while? it sounds like your engine is floading. this could be caused by a number of things. the easy one is a stuck float valve. try draining each carb by opening the drain screw (bottom of the bowl (not easy to reach with them fitted!)) before you try to fire up again or reopen the fuel valve, you should remove the plugs and flick the kill switch then crank the engine over for 30 seconds or so to remove any buildup of fuel from past start attempts. open the fuel tap again and try that. even if the enginer just starts to fire up after this, it would be a clear indicator that the carbs are gummed up. you could stick at it at this point and just repeat a few times until it fires or you could just bite the bullet and take them out for a good clean. it would be worthwhile doing this anyway

i spotted the new EBC 6 pin discs on the EBC website in the US but none are listed for UK models. or maybe my bike is too old for them to make them for it!

first one was for a C model looked into the second, doesn't have a landline in thier office! think i'll avoid it! nice try though, thanks.

Hi, i need to replace the discs on my ZX9r B1 and i'm looking for something that looks better than the bog standard EBC ones which are plain steel with a few holes drilled. ideally, i'd like brembo discs with the gold rotors but... i have a budget!!! i don't mind going up to ~£130 per disc. any suggestions?

thanks, looks like a good idea i see some people are still using rucksacks. i wasn't looking for a bag to keep the laptop safe if i fell, i was more concerned about me wearing a rucksack if i fell off. thanks for the advice tho.... i forgot all about magnets in tank bags!

hi, i'm looking for a small bag to carry my laptop and a pair of shoes for when i take my bike to work. i've been using a rucksack up til now but i'm not really comfortable with that and i'm not sure how safe it would be if i fell off! i looked at tank bags but they look like they'd scrape the paint. i've got sport style bike so don't want to spoil it by putting a big lugage rail on the back. suggestions would be appriated.

i rebuilt a bike a few years back and used a foot pump to get the caliper cylenders out... it worked but it came out with an almighty bang! the cylinder flew past my left ear, bounced off the wall and landed 20m from where i was sat now holding my ears!!! never recomend it... use break fluid but wrap the caliper in lots of rags so the fluid doesn't get on any paintwork...

it is definately fuel related. kawasaki are known for carb icing issues but they fixed that after the almighty mess they made of the GPz900 by doing a recall and adding all sorts of extra plumbing to keep the carbs warm! ZZR's shouldn't be affected. they came along after kawasaki learnt thier lesson! i would recomend you get the carbs stripped and cleaned by a dealer (unless you fancy a go yourself, it's not that hard! honest!) with the age of the bike it will benifit from this regardless of wether it is carb icing or dirt.

that's nowt, you should hear my ZX9 crash into first when cold.... feels like it going to head down the road without my

looking through the haynes manual, i don't think so but can't be 100% the proceedure for removal of the silencer for C and F models is the same but E models are different and the fixings seem to be in different places.