Hi everyone! I've made a couple comments to posts but this is my first post about my bike. Brief history of me: went through riding class 2 weeks ago, am now legal :smile: I'm a chick, short and lightweight, lol. My last experience with auto/engine work was when I was a kid somewhere around 25 years ago I used to help my dad work on his POS '67 Ford Pickup, lol. I am basically too cheap to pay someone else what I can do myself and have found I love working on the bike.
I got a 1982 Kx750E last Thursday night, 12595 miles. When I got it, the paint (someone painted it with a a Chameleon paint job, but no primer coat) was dull, it ran like crap, wouldn't really idle for more than 10 seconds on its own without some pressure on the throttle. Front brakes didn't work. Here I am, after working on it around nine hours over four days and I have it looking a heck of a lot better and running pretty good.
I have:
drained carbs
cleaned out front brake lines and brake fluid resevoir
2 gallons of "the good gas"
2 qts of "the good oil"
added fuel system cleaner to the gas
added engine cleaner to the oil
Washed twice
Waxed five times - once with some gentle scratch remover/rubbing compound on the tank to some gas overflow spill tracks
wheel and tire cleaner
Chrome polished all chrome once (Blue Job Chrome cleaner is some amazing stuff!)
replaced a non-firing spark plug
restarted, worked choke while spraying copious amounts of carb cleaner
Adjusted idle
WD-40'd dang near every moving part at least once
Still have to air up the tires, replace grips (Well, I got irritated with the crappy split foam grips and ripped them off), and replace mirrors - one has broken glass, they both look like crap, just don't like 'em. Oh, and for whatever reason, my clutch lever is black and the brake lever is silver, lol. Which are they supposed to be???
The brakes now work great. She runs nice, idles around 900-1100 rpm with no throttle pressure. Still getting a few pops and backfires, but I think that will disappear as she is ran and gets the good gas/oil and cleaners through. Oh, forgot to mention, she's been parked mostly for the last 7 years before I got her, has a 2002 plate on it. Do you folks think I am right about the clearing of the popping/backfires as she runs more?
Question about the chain: I have some play from side to side at the back wheel. Enough that it makes me wonder if it has the right chain on it or not. Anyone have one of these that can tell me how to figure that out? Or is there anything I can do the reduce the side-to-side play, or is it supposed to be like that?
All right, here is a before and after clean up photo and I am sure I will come up with more questions! Love this forum. Have already found a lot of great helpful info!
BEFORE 4/24/09:
AFTER 4/27/09:
I got a 1982 Kx750E last Thursday night, 12595 miles. When I got it, the paint (someone painted it with a a Chameleon paint job, but no primer coat) was dull, it ran like crap, wouldn't really idle for more than 10 seconds on its own without some pressure on the throttle. Front brakes didn't work. Here I am, after working on it around nine hours over four days and I have it looking a heck of a lot better and running pretty good.
I have:
drained carbs
cleaned out front brake lines and brake fluid resevoir
2 gallons of "the good gas"
2 qts of "the good oil"
added fuel system cleaner to the gas
added engine cleaner to the oil
Washed twice
Waxed five times - once with some gentle scratch remover/rubbing compound on the tank to some gas overflow spill tracks
wheel and tire cleaner
Chrome polished all chrome once (Blue Job Chrome cleaner is some amazing stuff!)
replaced a non-firing spark plug
restarted, worked choke while spraying copious amounts of carb cleaner
Adjusted idle
WD-40'd dang near every moving part at least once
Still have to air up the tires, replace grips (Well, I got irritated with the crappy split foam grips and ripped them off), and replace mirrors - one has broken glass, they both look like crap, just don't like 'em. Oh, and for whatever reason, my clutch lever is black and the brake lever is silver, lol. Which are they supposed to be???
The brakes now work great. She runs nice, idles around 900-1100 rpm with no throttle pressure. Still getting a few pops and backfires, but I think that will disappear as she is ran and gets the good gas/oil and cleaners through. Oh, forgot to mention, she's been parked mostly for the last 7 years before I got her, has a 2002 plate on it. Do you folks think I am right about the clearing of the popping/backfires as she runs more?
Question about the chain: I have some play from side to side at the back wheel. Enough that it makes me wonder if it has the right chain on it or not. Anyone have one of these that can tell me how to figure that out? Or is there anything I can do the reduce the side-to-side play, or is it supposed to be like that?
All right, here is a before and after clean up photo and I am sure I will come up with more questions! Love this forum. Have already found a lot of great helpful info!
BEFORE 4/24/09:
AFTER 4/27/09: