'78 KZ1000A2A (now a hardtail bobber)

Thanks Scott. The second ride made up for it...

The re-installation of the plugs didn't hold even while tightening the cover down. One squeezed out. So I decided to try putting them in backward, with the lip to the inside.

I let it sit for a few hours to set up then took it out. A couple miles of easing along and checking things then I wound out first and second a few times.

:woohoo:

It was ready to go. It pulled hard and steady. I still didn't get crazy but wanted to know if it was ready to ride or not. Another few spins around the block and I will feel good about an extended ride.

And the cam plugs are dry. Not a drop of oil leaking. I do have a small leak at the base gasket I will watch and may end up redoing them. I got one little drop of oil that ran off the clutch cover from the jug. Maybe running it a little will get it to stop. I think the bike has sat in storage for a while.

So you will be riding the rat bike to lunch tomorrow? I came through there at about 2pm just like we thought, what time did you get the bike fixed?

I got it on the road around 4pm, but I was just glad to finally ride the thing.

I was debating riding it to lunch. That is still 30 miles from the house. I'm not going to go that far just yet. A few more trips around town before venturing out will build her reliability. I have a little front end wobble to look into and truly need to replace the rear brake line for ease of mind.

I get some slight popping on deceleration which may mean a wee bit lean on the jets. I mean I did change exhaust system from 4-into-2 to a 4-into-1. Neither has baffles of any kind(sweet sound). But I also have one or two exhaust leaks at the head which might be adding to the problem so I ordered new exhaust gasket rings and will install them first. If it still pops on decel, I will look into some different jets.

I'm starting to really like the bike now.

Well, since I missed the deadline for participating in the relay, I at least got to meet Kawickrice and his wife for a quick lunch and some good conversation. I caught up to them on their way home after handing off the flag in Macon.

Now I have the time to do some of the other mods. I started by trimming up the rear frame behind the seat. I decided to not reuse the tail fender and I wanted to drop the rear down more than the frame back there would allow.



Cut off, trimmed slightly and reattached at a new angle that puts this rear rail right up under the stock seat.





I also cut off the old lower shock mounts and made a new, heavier set and welded them on a little further back. I have it setting about as low as I can go and not drag pipe on right turns. With the front forks spaced 1½" lower, I like the stance.

I spent quite a few hours on the bike this week. I took it for a few spins around town and realized something isn't right with the motor, specifically, starting out in first gear it feels very rough like not all four cylinders are pulling. So I gathered the materials to build a manometer. I tried to sync the carbs but really couldn't get them close. So I decided to pull the carbs and tear them down for a thorough cleaning and inspection. That way I know what's in there.

I followed this Mikuni BS34 rebuild tutorial .

I found two diaphragms had tiny pinholes and a missing spring on one idle mix screw. Also float levels were set low. I suspected such as I think I was running out of fuel when pushing her through a few gears.

I used a tiny bit of rtv to seal up the two pinholes for now. I need to source some fresh ones. I bench tuned float levels, sync and idle mix and put them back on the engine last night. I am heading out today to run the vacuum sync again.

Yesterday I counted teeth. I was trying to learn why 1st gear seemed like 2nd gear. When starting out, the bike seems to want to stall or I needed to almost slip the clutch to get going. I had it in town cruising around and came to the realization that I could tool around at 35 mph comfortably in 1st gear! I don't have a tach mounted yet but the engine was not revved up at that speed. At 65 mph, I could drop to 4th gear and the engine revs would be right in the bottom end of the power range.

I took the front sprocket cover off to find a 16T front and 33T rear sprockets. :S Stock is 15/35.

This setup in Gearing Commander showed the bike tops out at 140 instead of the stock 124 mph. That is the only reason I could see someone gearing it like this. Let's just say it's not real quick off the line. So, I found a friend on this site that has a 41T rear to sell. That ratio will put me on the other side of stock gearing. Quick starts with 113 mph top speed. Yeah, that's the bike I want to ride. I am not big on top speed and I really am not too concerned about fuel economy so a few more rpms at highway speed and reduced mpg are a reasonable tradeoff for performance at the traffic light. This bike is a toy, not a commuter.

I got new exhaust gaskets yesterday and installed them. It sounds MUCH better and now I can tune to a finer degree.

I did a compression test too. Dry: 130,120, 120, 125. Wet: 150,140, 140, 145.

I noticed #1 plug is black (not sooty) and 2-4 are white. I know I have a slight high float in #1 and need to readjust all of the idle mixtures some more. Need to put the synchronizer back on now that I have the carbs cleaned and repaired and exhaust sealed at the heads.

I had #1 plug boot fall off the wire too. Dyna coils and wires are on the way. Any one know for sure if I need to gap plugs wider (.039") once the coils are installed?

what pitch is your chain?

i use the same plug gap with my dyna coils that i used with the stock ones.

leon

Thanks for the gap info.

My pitch is 630. According to Gearing Commander, I will move the rear wheel forward 1.6" to get this 41T sprocket mounted. I didn't really want to do that, but it will work for now. And my swing arm has the adjustment room available.

Hopefully there is a fat tire and offset sprocket in my future. So new sprockets and chain will be all done at one time. I imagine I'll switch to a smaller pitch at that time due mainly to more tooth choices and a little less expensive, as I understand from doing some reading on 630 vs 530 or 520.

Today was a good day. No, make that a great day.

I got a lot of things finished up today. Ramtough sent me the 41T rear sprocket. It arrived and in less than 30 minutes it was mounted on my bike.

I also got the Dyna coils from kz10006. They didn't fit in the original mounts so I had to fab some simple straps to put them roughly about the same location as stock. The wires that came with the coils didn't work out either. Some were way too long, some way too short. I happened to have some leftover 8mm wires from a Jeep tuneup so I made a new set for the bike.

I got the Harbor Freight mini tach mounted and hooked up. I read up on how to make a car tach work on a dual coil, waste fire system like mine. All I had to do was install a diode between each coil's ground wire and the signal wire to the tach. That way, the signal from one coil doesn't feed back through the other coil. It works great.

I had also gotten the exhaust gaskets installed and sync'ed and tuned the carbs again.

So,it was time for a test ride. I started out easy going through a couple gears and ran it up to around 45mph. All good. I stopped and checked everything over. No major leaks, no loose chain or adjusters, everything looked good.

So I took off and cranked it up through 2 or 3 gears. Man, that felt goooood. I was rolling steadily into the throttle and she just continues to pull harder and harder. With the 41T sprocket I am running 55 at 4k rpm. It is a very different beast. I absolutely love the feel of the bike and the sound since I fixed all the exhaust leaks. It really barks nice through the empty canister, especially that split second decel sound in between gears. OMG. I am ready to put some miles on this thing now.

I have a few things to finish up. If I had it to do over again, I should have done all the mechanical stuff before doing any painting. My tank has some bad spots from dropping stuff and a slight gas spill ate into it. So I need to pull it off and give it some touch-up. Not a big deal as the paint comes from a spray can.

My headlight seems dim even after a new H4 bulb. I need to check for full voltage at the headlight plug. I may have a bad ground somewhere there.

My front master cylinder is leaking. I am going to pull it off and try to seal it before ditching it for a better one.

Here's the new and old sprockets:



The old 33T on top of the 41T:



I'm liking the new gearing. A few more miles will be needed to make a final decision if this is going to be the permanent setup. I may want to drop one or two teeth (to 39-40T) to gain just a tiny bit of highway gearing. I almost feel like I could use another half of a gear when cruising above 55 mph. It's a trade-off.

AT least the stretched swingarm will keep the front tire on the ground. :laugh:

Sure feels good twisting the throttle in any gear and it being right there doesnt it? I miss it a little I am gearing back down some my 18/40 (520) is too tall 3800 at 55 mph feels good on the hwy but i heard somewhere 1 tooth up front is equal to 5 at the rear so we wil see gonna add a few to the rear.

have some fun blowing the tire off that thing tomorrow!!!

Kawickrice, I so wish I would have had it in this shape two weeks ago for the ride with you. How was Leesburg?

Ram, thanks again. It worked out great. I will be watching for a cheap deal on a 39 or 40. Otherwise this one is staying on long term. Yes, acceleration is just a blip away. Each time I get off the bike I am smiling.

I'll try to do better on pics tomorrow. I was just so close to riding and wanted to get it going today.

looks very good...you know what your doing it appears