New Member 1989 FZR250R

Connected up the cables for the exup valve today, Added a new Connector for the neutral and oil switch wires as the original was missing and the wires were just twisted together. Will need to make a little relay circuit up to invert the operation of the oil pressure switch, looks like this bike has had a later model engine fitted with the pressure rather than the level switch in the sump.
The main fuse holder had a bad connection, so fixed that and was able to turn the key and have all the electrics working and the engine turning over freely and set the exup valve.
There was an issue with the shipping of the fairings and they were returned to the sender, however they are now on their way again and should hopefully be with me soon.
Next job, rebuild the carbs....

 

Its a 3LN1 bike with 3LN1 carbs and a slightly later engine fitted with the external spin on filter.

 

No engine number on mine, it was imported into the UK from Japan in the early nineties. Just has the usual 1HX start and the rest blank, might get creative and stamp a little message there for the next owner.

 

Got started on the carbs today, they were pretty filthy on the outside, actually not too bad on the inside. So lots of scrubbing before splitting the bank and stripping them down to bare carb bodies. Then some more scrubbing to get as much dirt off as possible before they go in the ultrasonic cleaner at the weekend.
They will be getting rebuilt with new diaphragms, litetek seals and the parts from the keyster rebuild kits.

 

Yup, they are out too, Did plenty of reading on here before stripping them

 

Fairings arrived today, they look great and were well packed. Paintwork looks very nice, the plastic is definately a bit thinner and more flexible than the originals but should be fine once installed on the bike.

 

Its been a while since any updates, I had some bother getting the butterflies aligned nicely in the carbs that were getting rebuilt. That plus beng tired and working late at night resulted in a bent throttle shaft. Had a quick look on ebay and no carbs to be had. Then managed to find someone breaking some fzr250s. 2 sets of carbs were rapidly procured, one has some parts missing and seized throttle shafts. The other had some promise. After stripping them down and separating the bank but without touching the throttle shafts this time they went into the ultrasonic cleaner and got another scrub after before being blasted with carb clean and all the internal passageways cleared with a strand of wire. The new keyster jets, and seals, needles, emulsion tubes and parts from the rebuild kits were installed as well as a new set of diaphragms from aliexpress and the rest of the parts from litetek, Then built the carbs back up, got them joined together again and all is looking good and moving freely, ready to be fitted to the bike. Then some time to tidy as the kitchen feels like it has been overrun with carb parts with bits of them lying everywhere.

 

Got the carbs installed as well as the airbox and all of the remaining hoses and vent lines routed. The airbox to carb boots were replaced with new ones, the originals were rock hard and unsalvagable. Found a crack in the airbox and repaired it with epoxy resin and a layer of fiberglass from the inside. One of the plastic lugs at the front of the airbox that locates into a rubber inside the frame was broken off too. The remaining stump was filed flat and then the area was drilled and tapped and a bolt screwed through it to make a new mounting lug.

Next job was to rebuild the fuel tap and clean the petrol tank out, it was very rusty inside. It got filled to the very top with white vinegar and some salt and left in a warm place for 2 weeks and got given a shake any time I walked past it. Then it got emptied and a hose put into it and flushed through with water for an hour or so to float out most of the bigger rust particles. After that was into the oven on a low heat for a few hours to make sure it was completely dry inside. And followed up with an hour or so of blasting with an air line to blow out any remaining fine particles. Next a swirl around and a flush out with some fresh fuel. The reserve filter inside the tap was beyond saving so it was removed and an inline filter was fitted on the line from the reserve outlet on the tank to the petrol tap.


Reattached the tank to the bike, put the choke on and hit the starter and not a lot happened. After a few 15 second blasts of cranking I took the choke off, and sprayed a light mist of easy start under the airbox. It fired straight up on the next crank and idled and ran nicely. Seems responsive, revs freely, idles well and makes a lovely sound with the danmoto silencer. Oil and coolant levels got checked and topped off as necessary afterwards.

Im delighted, next job is to balance the carbs and see if I can get them any better then get the bike up in the air so the wheels can come out to be refurbished.

The oil light is on in the videos below because it is a later sump on a 3ln1 bike and the operation is reversed, off with ignition on and on with engine running. I can make up a little circuit with a relay to correct that.

 

I got the rest of the fairings fitted and secured properly today, using rubber grommets to help prevent cracking around the mounts. The fitment of them was pretty poor to be honest, it took a lot of time to get everything sitting nicely. The front mudguard was the worst, it left a large gap between the mudguard and the tyre at the front so some 10mm thick spacers were made from alloy rod to lift the rear of the mudguard where it bolts to the forks and change it to a more acceptable angle.

The original panels that sit inside the upper front fairing and cover the air ducts both had pieces broken off around the mounts. These were repaired by cutting the damaged areas away and making new pieces to fill them in and bonding them on with 2 part epoxy before redrilling the mounting holes and painting the repaired areas.

Next is to fit the mirrors and recover the seats, then get the wheels away to be refurbished.

 

Completed recovering one of the seats today, then got most of the way through the pillion seat and ran out of staples. Thats on hold until I get some more. Ordered some new mirrors also with the correct hole spacing, the ones I had purchased before were incorrect. Got to love ebay sellers that don't list things properly. Hopefully in the next few days the fuel tank will be getting sent off for acid dipping and paint stripping.
I wasnt happy with the original HT leads, so have ordered a length of a suitable replacement to be done when the tank is off again.