Tinkicker

Took to the road on the VFR this morning with some trepidation. I know I have two venerable old bikes running perfectly. To have three running perfectly is unknown. Always some niggle that needs working out. So kitted up, got her out of the shed and running. Gave her a bit of a warm up as VFRs are notoriously cold blooded. A minute later and she was answering sharp blips of the throttle without bogging and time to open all the gates to get out of Fort Knox. Out on the road, through the village at 30mph and 3000 rpm and no problems. Reached the country lanes, opened the taps a little.. Hard misfire and popping through the exhaust at 5500 rpm. It cleared at 7000 rpm. Aha that must have cleared it Changed up a couple if gears and loaded her up. Hard misfire around 5500 rpm and popping back through the exhaust. Dammit, a plug starting to fail, probably because of all the abuse they suffered under the blowlamp when drying the stale fuel off them. I resolved to take the next left turn back to village and order some plugs. Left turn looming ahead and misfire felt a bit better than before. Do I go home or continue on to the next village? I resolved to continue. The misfire gradually went away over the next two miles and by the time I got to the next village, it was gone completely. Lovely silky smooth engine at all throttle openings and rpms. Must have been fouling due to all the crap they endured during the winter. This winter, I am draining the fuel and carbs and putting in a couple of litres of Aspen fuel in with a splash of two stroke oil in, just to keep things "wet"and corrosion proof. I will never trust pump fuel and those carbs ever again over the winter layup. Enjoyed a 40 or so mile ride on her, filled her up.with fresh Esso 99 premium and as ever on the first ride of the season, marvelled at just how good she is at everything. Of course, chassis being fully rebuilt, she feels like a brand new bike, which she pretty much is. A moment of consternation at the petrol station. Ignition on, pressed the starter button and nothing. What the hell? Five seconds of panic ensued until I noticed that I had inadvertantly knocked off the kill switch. Switch back to run and "ah thank God". It cranked and ran. Turned off the A19 and onto a long straight leading back to the village. Opened her up in first and at 7000 rpm, the front wheel lifted and hovered 6" above the road in that delightful way VFRs do. Second gear, 7000 rpm, sit back on the seat, and up she came again, floating 6" above the road. Very satisfying. Shakedown ride over. I have four days to work, then a week off. I hope the weather is good. The missus and I plan to do some trips out on her this holiday. Resting after an eventful shakedown ride. In my opinion there is no finer bike ever made, it just does everything so well (apart from two up, long distance touring) but then I am a tad biased.

Three bikes.. 1. Taxed VFR750 so it is officially back on the road. Shakedown ride tomorrow. 2. Took DT175 for a 30 mile ride to observe the CHT on the new gauge. Outside air temp 16C. Around the towns and villages at 30 mph ish.. 4th gear and maybe 3500 rpm she was running steady at 155 - 160C. Open road, wide open throttle or close to it, the max I saw was 185C with average around upper 170s. A nice bit below the danger zone. Only thing is the cylinder head is a fair chunk of metal. It takes a good while to heat and a good while to cool. Even with the gauge you have to bear in mind that the piston will heat quicker and run far hotter than the gauge would suggest. Now I can use the throttle without fear of blowing the piston, I am pleased with the way she is running. Crisp in the lower gears, but a tad over geared in 6th. I am thinking of putting her back on stock gearing. Now I am not afraid to let her rev, I think she will be much happier overall and with a higher top speed. Took little yeller out on the same route over 30 miles. By far her longest run so far. I had a big grin on my face the whole way round the route. What a lot of fun that bike is. Lovely crisp and free revving motor, fair chunk of power for its size and can be thrown about like a bicycle. I hit 55mph once, but she must have been at or very close to redlining, she is far happier at 45mph, and maybe 50 at a pinch. She is so small that 40mph feels like 80mph. So 60 two stroke powered miles today. Have not done that many two stroke miles in one day for over 40 years. Both bikes behaved impeccably. Little yeller. Tiny bike with a big heart.

Finally got around to fitting a CHT gauge to the DT175mx. Best looking and easiest way without making a permanent alteration to the bike was to simply cable tie it to the clutch cable where it is supported by the handlebar and chest protector. High temp alarm is set to a conservative 196C (385F) so a bit of headroom to account for gauge lag. Apparently it flashes red when max temp is exceeded and the temp numbers flash also. Danger point is around 225C (440 - 450F) . Would not want to be going much above that. It will be nice to know how hot she runs at various throttle positions. Since I fitted the genuine #130 main as per UK spec, I must admit the plug is a very nice dark tan colour. The gauge unit has no means to be switched off which is odd, but at least the CR2032 battery is easily replaced and the temp reading seems accurate as when I first activated it in the living room, it agreed with the heating thermostat readout. Hopefully no more blown pistons.

Not having a pop at you Stu. I only quoted you because you brought it up and I could jump in with some relevant comments. My intention was to point out the vested interests of the manufacturers in recommending replacing them every time and everyone else, from third party service manual authors to motoring journalists slavishly following the party line, leading to people spending cash they do not need to. Sure, it is best practice to replace them every time. No argument there. On the other hand, a waste of ever dwindling planetary resources and cash. At the end of the day it is a plug, a mating surface and a gasket. The cost benefit analysis is not complex. Fit plug and tighten. Does it leak? No. Great, a couple of quid saved ( dealer price). The vast majority of cases. Yes it has a slow drip. Spend a couple of quid on a new washer, remove plug, put finger over hole to keep oil in, put new washer on plug and screw it back in. Cost over price of new washer, a few pence worth of lost oil. A very rare case. I cannot recall it ever happening. In my case this is a good thing. Holding back 40 gallons of engine oil with the palm of the hand leads to very soggy overall sleeves. One drain plug washer I would always replace every time is one on a Skydrol oil tank. That stuff is proper nasty.

Change the washer! In 40 years of pissing around with changing the oil on everything from mopeds to 200 tonne dump trucks, this includes my own vehices, I have not changed a good condition sump plug washer once. How many leaks have I experienced from reusing a visually undamaged washer? Zero. Another £2.59 goes into the dealers pocket for replacing a perfectly servceable sump washer. When you are dealing with 27,000 commercial vehicles nationwide, with an average of 3 oil changes a year, do the math*.. If its not leaking after an hour of tightening it and warming the motor, it is not going to leak. Changing sump washers every oil change is not a thing on large fleets. It is done "on condition". There is a lot of dodgy info out there, mostly put out to part the customer with his hard earned cash or as a tick box measure. If a crush washer has not been tightened enough to severely deform it, it can be reused with care on LOW pressure applications like sump plugs and checked for leaks afterwards. Dowty washers can be felt for correct protrusion and hardness of the insert. Some washers are shaped to deform and lose their new appearance on tightening due to "sealing ridges" that have been stamped in getting flattened out. Consider changing one of this style to a different style that can be reused at the next oil change if possible. As an aside a valuable lesson while we are talking drain plugs. A plug should only ever have two positions. In and correctly tightened, or completely removed. It should never be put back loosely " for now". Plugs using O rings. Provided that the O ring has not taken on a conical shape and is still flexible, it can be reused provided when screwing the plug in finger tight, the plug stops and requires a spanner at least one full turn before being fully home and tightened. * 27000 x 3 x £2. £162,000 annually is a lot of money for sump plug washers! You can see why manufacturers " recommend" changing them at every oil change!

Git.

No harm whatsoever. Takes a tad longer and may leave a miniscule amount more of old oil in than hot, but otherwise no difference at all.

Thats a PAIR valve. It is not a fuel pump. It pumps air into the exhaust headers to burn off any excess hydrocarbons.

Perhaps I was a little ungenerous. I suspected we were being taken for fools esp after he apparently has enough knowledge to change other parts of the bike as detailed. It would have been nice to know that it was a simple vacuum operated fuel tap... I dunno how he managed to "remove" a non existent fuel pump though. Anyways. Pull off fuel hose from tap to carb at tap end. Place tap on PRI or prime. If fuel comes out, it is not a problem in the tank or tap. Reconnect hose. Pull hose from carb inlet end. Turn fuel on prime. If fuel comes gushing out of the end, it is not a blocked hose or fuel filter if fitted. I dunno if yours has a filter but if it has, change it "just because". Undo a float bowl drain screw and drain the bowl. Turn fuel on prime. If fuel starts to resume pouring out the float drain tube, there is no blockage in the fuel manifold between the carbs. Replace the fuel which if old has gone bad. Remove the plugs and clean them of excess "fuel" so you know they are able to give a good spark. Rejoice in the thrum of your 600. Put the fuel tap to the on position. If bike cuts out again a few miniutes later, you either have a vacuum leak between the carb the vac line is connected to and the tap, or the tap diaphragm itself is faulty If no fuel comes out the carb overflow on prime, you will have to strip the carbs.

I am completely lost. You mention fuel pumps and then mention the book says gravity feed to the carbs. Looking back at your original post, you say Suzuki bandit mk 2, 2003. No mention of engine size or anything else. How can we be expected to help if you are so reticent with absolutely required info. We do not even know what size your engine is. Sorry. I am done.

It will most likely only supply 12v when the engine is turning. My VFR needs to see an output from the crank sensor before it will switch on the pump.

Tempted, but not quite sure yet. I have a lot of expensive planes that I hardly ever fly. Probably the only ones I am current on are the A10C hog, the MK9 Spitfire, the Mossie, the UH1H Huey copter, fast becoming very inexpert in the FA18 Hornet and barely competent to fly the F15 Strike Eagle. The Northrop F5 and the F86 Sabre are complete hangar queens, cobweb encrusted, with dead batteries and sat on flat tyres. Poor Sabre. F5 is really down on its luck. F4E.

No sirree bob. Getting into an oil thread is like swimming in a pool of crocodiles.

Ooh goody. An oil thread.

And he never even bothered to come back for the advice... Far too much of that happening, which is why I do not get too involved with single post newbies.

And there you go. You simply cannot get better advice than this. Its the equivalent of winning the advice jackpot.

I did a bit of research into this risk score thingy, the doctor was bleating about. Turns out that my risk is on the low end of "moderate". A score of 10 is considered in the normal range and a score of 11 - 20 is moderate. Of course, I can see the need to reduce my cholesterol down to 10 or below and will continue with my tying the missus to the bed and other " adjustments" to my lifestyle, but I can see no reason why doctors try to put the fear of god into you for slightly above the norm readings. I am more concerned about my blood pressure. I was no stranger to emergency rooms in my youth as yet another high speed stunt went crashingly wrong and my blood pressure was always around 118/70. To find it to be 138/88 was a bit disconcerting.

Did not have a say in the matter. Who wants to live forever in a doctors and dieticians world. I never expected to see 30 the way I used to do the most dangerous stuff for fun. Hitting 60 is a bonus.

I have had the misfortune to get in the tight grasp of the medical profession since my bout of pneumonia. The buggers are not willing to let me go, now I have been within their orbit. I have been "appointed" to take a battery of tests with more booked in the future. I have been hooked up to a heart monitor, lung function machine, blood pressure, much blood taken. Ordered back to the quacks surgery to get my time honoured kick up the backside... Heart OK. Lungs OK. I have better function than the average, despite being an asthmatic. No sign of diabetes. Blood pressure 138/88 as an average over the week. My target is 135/85 for my age. Cholesterol. Hmm. He said I had a QRisk score of 13 whatever that means. He said he was considering drug intervention. No sirree bob, says I. No way am I taking statins. Quack got a bit sniffy over this statement, but then then discussed lifestyle changes. Not going mad with it, but: Reducing my added sugar intake by half by having the one sugar in my coffee instead of two. This will cut 4 spoons of sugar a day. Alcohol. 18 440ml cans of lager per week, friday to Sunday. No alteration. I have never smoked or done drugs. I need some vice. Cutting out red meat completely, not that I eat much of it, my favourite meat is chicken. I do enjoy the occasional bacon and sausage butty. Cutting out much processed foods. Replacing all my best butter with Benecol cholesterol reducing spreads. Drinking Benecol one a day bottles of yoghurt. Being more active. I have already explained to the missus that allowing me to tie her to the bedposts is good for my heart and surely this can only be a good thing... Oh and more walking/ cycling. The quack still peeved, thought carefully for his revenge. I have been booked in for more blood to be taken because he wants to test it for signs of prostrate problems. I am not looking to the "review" appointment. Dunno why, I can see no need of it. No change in the way I piss or other problems. Pure revenge. Now TK. If you would care to drop your trousers"... I trust you are not allergic to latex hmm"?

If you are a regular all day rider, I think it is fairly important that the arms are as thin and springy as possible. What may feel fine in the shop when trying them out can often be agonising after a 8 hour ride.

Thank you kind sir. I retire in 5 years and it will see the use it has been rebuilt for then. Just now it is just marking time with a couple of hundred miles a year.

Finished refitting the VFR bodywork this morning. A slight delay caused by the need to order and replace some perished rubber grommets. Also replaced some of the duller fairing "button" bilts with titanium ones. Should last a bit longer than the plating on the 4 year old OEM ones.

This site does not seem to like ebay links so.. eBay item number:256465725755 Original speedo and tach cluster.

Float gaskets arrived saturday lunchtime, so fitted those and fitted the carbs back on the bike. Plugged in my remote fuel tank and propped it up high to get a good head of fuel. No leaks and no overflows. Started bike to get fuel pump pressure. No leaks and no overflows. Left remote tank plugged in to keep more head pressure in the system than the bikes own fuel tank, locked shed and had beer. This morning, looked in. Remote tank level had not changed, oil level had not changed and no sign of overflowing float vents. Then calibrated the gauges on cylinder 1 and balanced the carbs. Hate it. Whoever designed that carb rack and adjuster setup is a damnable sadist. You cannot even see the screws, everything has to be done by feel and in a small space, surrounded by sharp, red hot bits of engine. Not a place you want to be sticking your hand in. My right paw is a bit of a burned, bruised mess this afternoon. But carbs are balanced to within specified tolerance. Fuel tank is back on the bike and connected up. Fuel is off. I have discovered that with seat removed and a long JIS screwdriver, you can turn the tap on and off by using the tap lever securing screw to operate the tap. Lesson learned. From now on the default setting for that tap when in the shed is OFF. Carbs now within spec and a nice smooth idle. They were not far out in any case. My initial bench setup worked very well. Always check the calibration of the gauges against each other before starting to synch the carbs.

Got the DT175mx out this morning for her first decent settling down run since her full engine overhaul. Fuel on, ignition on. Kick.... Ding ding a ling. Off she went first kick with aspen fuel in. I can certainly recommend aspen for long term storage. Put about four litres of fresh pump fuel in and set out on a trip around the local towns and villages. In fact the same route she took when she holed the piston. About 40 miles in total. She behaved impeccably, apart from a bit of a buzz through the pegs. I am convinced it is just the chain running over the nylon tensioner block now. Cannot be the motor because everything is brand new. The tensioner lblock is new and unworn, so the chain is riding over the edges on the sideplates rather than on the rollers and the tensioner is mounted directly to the footpeg bar. While taking nice and steady, I have confirmed that she will hit redline in 4th gear and will loft the front wheel briefly off the throttle in first, albeit a pitiful, ill co ordinated attempt on my part. What was once a natural and smooth, co ordinated manouvre is a clumsy and ugly attempt these days. While not caning her, she will hit 55mph with comparitive ease and if I geared her back down a tooth on the front sprocket, she would probably be happier. She does feel a little overgeared in 6th. But first gear with stock gearing is next to useless on the road. You makes your choice... I remember my brand new 1981 DT175 seeing closer to 70mph and being a little bit more perky, but I weighed probably 9 and a bit stone back then, not the close too 16 stone I weigh now. No problems this ride out.