1990 CBR1000FL...Sat for 14 years, alone....

[Simon Davey]

36 minutes ago, Egon247 said:

Also, I realise that the float and Vernier picture is a tad pointless as the measurements are on the other end....

 

 

Were you on the Shiraz before you'd finished? 

 

At least it's running, where do you and Hairsy get so much patience from.....

[Egon247]

14 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

 

Were you on the Shiraz before you'd finished? 

 

At least it's running, where do you and Hairsy get so much patience from.....

Maybe that's the key. "Shiraz and the art of motorcycle maintenance"

I have patience to a point. Then all hell breaks loose. I'm just lucky I work shifts and can do it while the family are all out. If I had a 9-5 I don't think I could. Hairsy has OCD.

[Hairsy]

Well done - those days are tough. But fantastic that you've got it making noise again.

This may be stating the bleedin' obvious but ... with the main fuel tap working OK but it not working so well on reserve, could it be as simple as the filter on the reserve pickup in the tank being clogged? The reserve is always at higher risk of blockage as it sucks up the sediment in the bottom of the tank.

[Egon247]

2 minutes ago, Hairsy said:

Well done - those days are tough. But fantastic that you've got it making noise again.

This may be stating the bleedin' obvious but ... with the main fuel tap working OK but it not working so well on reserve, could it be as simple as the filter on the reserve pickup in the tank being clogged? The reserve is always at higher risk of blockage as it sucks up the sediment in the bottom of the tank.

Yeah. Probably. Only down side is that you just can't get anything for that fuel tap. I imagine I can fudge something together. 

[Egon247]

Sleep. It's a wonderful thing isn't it.

 

They say your mind doesn't rest while you sleep. I have to agree. 

 

This morning I looked at the fuel tap in all of its hideous glory. More specifically the busted mess that is the screen. So here's some pics of what I'm looking at. 

Yeah. I thought that too. Junk. 

So here's what I did.....

[Egon247]

No, actually, here's what I did.....

 

Bought a length of brass tube. Cut it the same length as the "ON" tube and after a bit of improvisation flaring it, got it jammed into the hole. 

This will give me my main tank level, with the reserve now just feeding from the bottom of the tank. 

There's an inline filter on the fuel line now so junk and bits will be taken care of by that. 

I drilled the rivets holding the part with the selector ball in too. Wanted to make sure it was free of junk/varnish. 

The o ring was utter garbage and the two o rings that seal the ball were also pants.

I've found a guy on a vfr forum that's done his (same ball unit but the bit that fits to the tank is different!) who's given the sizes of the orings so I'll order them next. There's a little retaining plate for them but I'm not sure I can drill them out and tap them to m2/m3 as there's not a lot of material behind them. I'll space the spring out with a washer too to make sure they get good contact with the ball.

 

[Egon247]

So it seems the VFR boys have the same issues....just found the list of required orings here:

https://www.vfrdiscussion.com/index.php?/forums/topic/113000-petcock-rebuild/

Apologies for linking to another forum but that's too vital to lose for people

losing the will to live on older bikes. 

 

Blatantly stolen:

 

 

 

"Petcock to fuel tank: 24mm ID x 2mm wide, quantity one (not sure if still available as OEM? Disappeared from Honda p/n’s on revzilla, partzilla etc. but I found the size on one of the forums)

 

Side plate to petcock body: 29mm ID x 1.5mm wide, quantity one

 

Internal seal: 7mm ID x 1.5mm wide, quantity one (two if you are fastidious) (FYI I used 7mm ID x 2mm W and it was a little big, I’d recommend go down to 1.5mm W)

 

Shaft seal: 7mm ID x 2mm wide, quantity two

 

*If turning your petcock “off” doesn’t stop the fuel flow to the outlet after you rebuild, you’ll also need a new spring about 0.9 wire thickness x 9.5mm OD x 10mm L. You might have to try different springs depending on how firm or soft the new spring is, but this is what worked for me."

 

I've tried to log onto their forum to say thank you but I think it doesn't like the fact that I'm in the UK. 

Edited February 8 by Egon247
I can't spell

[Hairsy]

I've just had a look at my current O ring collection. I have some 6.07mm x 1.78mm and some 7.65mm x 1.78mm. Not exact spec but these might do the job for your internal seal and shaft seal. If you can't get hold of the exact spec you're after then feel free to PM me your address and I'll post them to you so you can give them a try. They're ethanol compatible.

 

I'm afraid I don't have anything bigger than 20mm so can't help with the two larger ones.

[Hairsy]

Or might this be what you need? https://nrp-carbs.co.uk/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=5260

[Egon247]

39 minutes ago, Hairsy said:

Or might this be what you need? https://nrp-carbs.co.uk/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=5260

Yup. I got all the o rings on eBay in bags of 5 for under a tenner. 

Taps drills and screws I already have.

[Egon247]

M3 capheads. Shiney.

[Simon Davey]

Lovely stuff. 

The whole petcock seems so overly complicated for such a simple task. 

[Egon247]

I like the ball and spring idea, that makes sense but add in the vacuum side and the whole thing just gets bulky and complex. 

Edited February 10 by Egon247

[Egon247]

Ok, teeny tiny update.

I'm not a fan of super glue. It is not a fan of me. Apart from sticking myself to everything my fingerprint on my phone stops working.

 

But that there o ring? That needed super glue that did!

 

Changed the ball seals and the shaft seals, outer o ring only theres a spacer between the fuel tap and the tank and that required the modification of the original fuel strainer so that I could get an o ring to fit and squish. It's not pretty but neither am I. Lol. 

Just having a cuppa then headed back out to fit it to the tank and see if all this was worthwhile....oh and fit the new choke cable too.

Then just have to drain the carbs again, take them off again, strip them again and work out why the bast*rd still takes forever to start. 

I'm going in......

[Egon247]

Oh, and do the washing, drop the kids at random places, sort out the gear for tomorrow's Airsoft games, then pick up kids and get ready for the bike show at excel on Sunday. Jees.. 

[Egon247]

After spending a day running around shooting other people and getting very much shot to bits, then a day looking at bikes that actually start when you press the go button, I'm back in the garage.

I ache.

Carbs out, bottoms off and (that sounds wrong doesn't it ) carby cleaner with 60psi of airline to follow. 

Wound the mixture screws in with a screwdriver bit so I could count each half turn all the way to 2.5 turns. 

Had a fight with the auxiliary fuel tank thing as it didn't want to feed. Eventually it relented and started working. 

Swapped the plugs back to the original ones in case the ones I got were dud and pulled the choke.....

And pressed the start button....

 

And it fired. 

 

Like a drunk two stroke but it fired. 

Carb balance tool dragged back off the wall and nearly 30 minutes later I had them close enough to be happy. 

 

I'm not counting.y chickens just yet but I'm a lot happier than I was with it.

 

Oh, and I've put the fuel tap back together with the vacuum tee on the wrong side. But hey, that's sortable. 

 

I need a rest now. I smell like a petrol station.

[Simon Davey]

I'm exhausted just from reading it. 

Good, positive results though. 

[Egon247]

Today's random purchase included some cbr1000rr coils and loom. After pulling one of the HT leads clean out of its cap I figured I might as well add some modern spin to the old girl ...

It's a well documented mod too.

Just a bit of soldering and wiring and we'll see how that works...

Edited February 19 by Egon247

[Egon247]

You know how films run two stories in parallel then at some point the two converge into the main story?

 

That was today.

 

I sorted the fuel tap pointy problem and then thought I'd follow up on a thought that occurred to me the other day....

When I was cleaning the carbs, i may have missed cleaning out the mixture screw holes. It occurred to me whilst watching my 50 millionth yt video that I may have omitted this. 

So off came the carbs again. Bottoms off, mixture screw with spring, washer and oring out, IPA up the hole and after improvising a bit of silicone tube around the spray tube and boom out it came. 

 

Clag.

 

Yay. 

 

Back together and the now improved aux fuel tank plugged in, pulled the choke and hit the button.

Second spin it caught. And ran. 

 

Needless to say I was more than a tad happy about this.

 

So dug out the eBay purchase, the soldering iron and some wire nicked from the Airsoft box and wired up the coil packs, confusing myself on several occasions and losing the ability to count to four. 

Tested it before mummifying it with self amalgamating tape (accidentally purchased a while ago) and it now starts straight away. 

No real power gains to be had by doing this mod just reliability as the coils are a bit old and at least they won't die on me. 

 

Hooked up the fuel tank and switched to reserve and all is well in the garage again.

 

Last few things to do like new chain n sprockets, tyres and a few broken lugs on the fairings and I reckon it might be ready to MOT.

 

And save up for the insurance. Not having a bike for a while it's a tad on the pricey side of £500+......ouch.

 

Right. Off to walk the dog. 

[Simon Davey]

That's brilliant news. 

[Hairsy]

Love this - puts a smile on my face. Amongst all the tough days, projects do also come with days like that!

[Egon247]

I am still alive. Honest.

 Nothing major, work and life getting in the way. So my Vauxhall Corsa coil pack repair rubber/springs turned up.

And instantly got cut in half

The cable stretcher tool didn't help much so it was silicone spray and much fiddling to get them on. 

Et voilà. Fit in the holes perfectly. 

Bunged the new plugs back in as my new spark plug socket arrived (Oem tool bag one gave up oops).

No fuel leaks from anywhere either. Yay. 

 

Right. Back to work.

[Simon Davey]

13 hours ago, Egon247 said:

 

 

That's just so perfect 

Edited March 4 by Simon Davey

[Egon247]

They make a satisfying "pop" noise too when you pull them out.

[Egon247]

Went out to start it up today as I hadn't done for a week. 

Wouldn't start on anything more than 3. 

Sounded boggy and grim. 

Eventually got some heat in it and it was fine. 

Turned it off. Walked away. Not in the mood for the same shit again today.

 

Meh.