'92 Kawasaki Vulcan 500

It's currently 9.8 degrees here in Lansing, MI, and my garage isn't heated... nonetheless I tackled a few problems today.

First off, I bought this bike as a tinker toy, something to tide me over as a project during these frigid months. It cost me $600, plus about $250.00 in parts and oil/filter/air cleaner.

I started with changing the oil, spark plugs and a new in line fuel filter. The bike ran well, but the battery was constantly needing to be charged so I bought a new one. (add another $35.00 to the running total. :whistle: ) I noticed a yellowish film on the engine below the petcock, and after pulling the tank and inspecting the petcock, determined it needed a new one. While the tank was off. I also noticed the carbs needed some work, so I pulled those off the bike as well. They were in pretty bad shape, but cleaned up well. I also noticed a short in some of the wiring, and bought a harness on ebay for $10 and replaced that.

So all the parts arrive, I reassemble the carbs and note that the airbox intake duct (the one on the side of the petcock) has fallen into the airbox. A bit of finagling, and I use a gasoline resistant adhesive to reattach the duct. Whammo, carbs back on.

Still leaking gasoline.

Fast forward a few days...

I re-pull the carbs since I can't tell where the gasoline is coming from (looks like it might be coming from the air intake duct side of the carbs) and everything looks good, so at this point, I'm stumped. I look up at the in line fuel filter and guess what? The darn thing is leaking. Grr.. if nothing else, I can pull carbs from a 92 vulcan in under 15 minutes.

While the tank is off, leaning carefully against a stand I erected just for that purpose, it slips off the stand and rolls over, scratching up the top pretty good. :pinch: The tank was in pretty good shape, but now will need to be repainted.

So now, everything is hooked back up, everything is running well, fires up right away, doesn't leak gasoline... but other than riding it about 3 feet in my garage (to test the clutch and throttle), the snow is too deep to take it out for a test run. Part of me says I could make it, but then common sense slaps me up side the head and says wait.

Here she is... I'll keep tinkering through the winter... at least til my fingers turn white from frostbite.



Post edited by: steell, at: 2007/02/04 11:26

I can relate man. My KZ is in storage at my neighbors snuggled up next to his HD Roadglide. The ol' KZ cost less than the chrome he has bought to put on it!
My Virago is out back, covered up on the patio with a motorcycle cover and a big blue tarp over it. I had it out running one day last week for someone to look at it to buy. As usual it started right up but as I tippy toed it around the side of the house over a little bit of snow and ice I got stuck going through the gate and came dangerously close to dropping it. It easily was trying to slide right out from under me.
So I say to you my friend go out if you must be careful but be aware of the risks. If you wait for a dry day it will be better.