The water pipes from pump to engine block and radiator had rusted, so I went to our local engineering supply shop and bought two brass fittings. I tapped threads into the waterpump housing and sealed the threads with some Devcon epoxy. I will use silicone hoses from the fittings to the rad and cylinder block.
Nice work ! Would you recommend the ZZR250 to an FZR owner ? I found a cheapish one the other day, at a minimum it need's a paint job and a decent tidy up, it's a 93 model i'm not sure if it run's and ride's ok, ex NSW reg, so will need an engine/frame number inspection (cost's $50), plus $90 for 3 month's reg including new plate's. The guy want's $650 for it, and i'm thinking of it as a possible project after i sell my XT250. Roughly how much does a good clean bike sell for ?
They don't have the power of an FZR, but they go quite well. Light, handle good and are easy to work on (screw and locknut valve adjusters) and cheap to keep on the road. I sold my last one (1998 model orange/black) for $1950 which is about the average going rate.
Had a bit of a rebuild on the seat before covering. Have the barrels back from reboring. All the nice shiney bits ready to fit. First was to measure the end gap of the rings in the bore. Push the ring down with a piston to make sure it is square in the bore and use feeler gauges to check the gap. These were all withing the limits so no more to be done to them, just fit to pistons. Good American made stuff, err, umm. Guess the box was made in USA? Pistons on the rods and circlips fitted (note the rag to prevent errant clips from falling into the sump and having to go searching for them) into grooves. All snug in block.
Have the head sat on barrels and turned engine over to check the 12.5 to 1 comp pistons cleared, but they didn't. Had to chew off a small amount of the head to clear them. Checked the height with ruler and calipers. Refitted the head (again without the gasket) and a bit of grandkids play dough on top of pistons. Turned engine over twice with the cams fitted, checked the thickness of the squashed dough and all is good. Cleaned up and fitted gasket and torqued down head. Set the valve clearances with this little tool I made from a 9mm socket, piece of bar and stainless wire down centre to turn adjuster. All buttoned up and painted ready to be fitted. Filled with oil and spun on starter with plugs out to get oil pressure ready for start.
Have engine running and up to temp. Found the fan switch is not working so a new one on way. Had to machine up an adaptor to go from the original 22mm hose to the new 19mm hose that I had used to replace the rusted water pipes. Bought 75mm of 25mm brass rod and cut and bored it to fit.
Our favourite bike recycle person sent me some pillion footpegs that I was missing. I gave them a clean up in the blaster, two coats of clear and fitted when dry. Looks good.
This engine has had a clutch rattle ever since I started it. I thought I had done something wrong in the assembly as the noise sounded like a big end knock or something hitting the case. It went away above 2000rpm or when the clutch lever pulled in, so it must be clutch related. I did some u tubing and found that the rubber dampers in the back of the clutch drum wear and make a noise, seems a fairly common problem. I took the clutch off and found the drum would move about 7mm in relation to the gear (texta marks indicate). Could be problem found. Used a three leg puller to get the oil pump gear off. The gear retainer is riveted to the drum, so a few minutes in the drill press and we found this. The soft low speed dampers had crumbled (this would have been where the bits found in the sump on dis-assembly came from) and the others had gone hard enough to make a noise when the gear turned. I went to local engineering supply shop and got two sizes of oil hose and pushed the smaller inside the larger, then over the mounting stub of clutch drum. Trimmed of with sharp knife. There is still a couple of mm movement but the softer hose rubber will take up the slack before the harder ones contact. I put three bolts in to hold in position while I re riveted three rivets, then removed bolts and fitted remaining rivets. Pressed the oil pump gear back on, cleaned all bits and back into bike. Refilled oil and fired up. Runs like a new one. I wonder how many of these engines (and others with the same clutch design) have been replaced because the noise sounded like a big end bearing gone.
No, that sounds like chain to me. Clutch is more of a knocking noise that goes away when clutch in and in gear.
Brilliant work - where did you get the rivets to re-assemble the whole unit? I seem to recall @my67xr doing a similar investigation into the transmission noise from Fizzers and the clutch basket - hmm
Yeah i just tightened mine a bit. https://www.2fiftycc.com/index.php?threads/1993-zzr-250.8957/page-4#post-113621 I have bought some urethane rod from china ($12) and have used this to remake new urethane bush's. I have done this on a few pitbike race engine's, i drill out the rivet's and then tap thread's into the basket and use countersunk Unbreako bolt's to reassemble the basket/gear etc They seem to be holding up well, so far they've outlasted the original rubber's by 100%
Your thread link in this post linked to your post in this thread and I began to think I was in a french film about a book about a film
Oop's Here's the correct link https://www.2fiftycc.com/index.php?threads/fzr250-clutchs.9564/#post-103652
Found this good page on the net whilst researching solid steel rivets https://www.diymotofix.com/blog/how-to-repair-your-clutch-basket-dampers-for-less-than-30
But.... Where's the kx500 engine? I was keen to see that. Not that the rest of your work in this thread isn't impressive, just the 500 sounded rather unique. I have a couple of zzr skeletons to put other engines in, USD forks and make some custom fairings. Hopefully.
Although your harder dampers were still intact, it seems there are replacements available - these guys just use a generic photo for all of their listings, likely there's something compatible. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Kawasak...er-Cushion-Drive-Rubber-Set-of-8/282655232472 But it's nice to know the clutch dampers can be reconditioned Edit - searching for clutch cushion yields many more useful results - so odds on any clutch can be rebuilt