Please check part availability and price before bringing the big hammer to it. It all mounts up in a big way the costs can go through the roof. The inlet rubbers can be softened with soaking in winter green oil and isopropyl alcohol,this does work. All the best with the restoration.
🙄Not a heat gun but I fell foul of my sister's wrath after I used her Clairol Hair Dryer to help " ease the installation of rubbers on my old bike". Caught out by a small grease smudge on its cable which I missed when removing any evidence of such use, it was the New Year holiday period & she had only just received it for Christmas from Mam & Dad. What a naughty brother I was. 😊
Hi. Great vid. Those extra pipes on carburettors are coolant pipes. These bikes had problems with carb freezing causing full throttle and deaths . Bikes were re-called and warm coolant tubes added to circulate warm water around the carbs. Regards Alan
Yep there part of the carb icing recall. I was working at the dealers when it all went down, must have cost Kawasaki a small fortune as all water cooled and quite a few air cooled bikes had to be recalled. The water cooled bikes got a complete new set of carb with associated plumbing and the air cooled bikes usually got new float bowls with electric heaters below the main jets but even some of those got new carbs too.
My '86 A2 suffered terribly to the point of almost being unrideable. It would splutter and stall rather than anything happening at full chat. The advice at the time was to add a fuel additive from Audi garages. But, I was never notified of a recall by my dealer.
I've heard about this and feel like I need to do some more research, but at the same time wieirdly wish they were the original non-modified carbs for nostaglia purposes
Wow, you are doing an amazing job. And you sound just like me but you don't swear enough 🤭🤭🤭. My dad had a red and silver one, he says it's the best big bike he's ever owned , he put thousands of miles on his . I'm really looking forward to watching this project progress
Another fine episode... I had to use a massive metal pole to get my carbs off!! As for the throttle cables... Well, that was a flaff in itself that will eventually result in therapy!! Keep up the good work! You're getting there :)
Excellent video’s every step that you do makes me smile as I have lived every moment of them while working on my own Ninza so many years ago in my 20’s. Those carbs are the worst ever to rake of and needed constant attention. 😂
I would clean the cooling system before you remove the engine. Flush it several times , then add a suitable cleaning product and let it soak for a few days before flushing further. Carb removal is a pain in the rear! Shame the GPZ Zone has closed as they had all the small parts such as rubbers and correct fasteners. The carbs are notorious for leaking and filling the engine with fuel, causing either fuel in the oil via the breather under the carbs or hydraulic lock and a bent con rod when trying to start it. I sold my same colour 900R last year.
The guy in Birmingham is called Sean Jones, he runs an ebay shop, called the GPZ shop and can supply used and new parts. Fowlers do some New old stock parts and there is a Dutch company CMS who do New old stock parts for many bikes, got parts for 80's and 70's bikes from both those.
If you warm the carb rubbers up with a heat gun. It make the supple. And easier to get on and off. Just saying. If a screw head starts to give, tap it with a toffee hammer it will close up then tap the screw driver in to it. You get a tight fit and the tapping helps too, it works most of the time.
I would have disconnected the throttle cables at the handle bar end and then just thead them through the frame . I always hated removing the carbs always a lot of bruised and skinned knuckles and profanities that would make a sailor blush my hats off to you for not loosing it. You probably been told already but JIS stands for Japanese Industry Standard. Good vid keep up the good work it always great to see a classic brought back to life.
@@AshRowland It makes things easier for when you open the throttle housing to disconnect the cables & allows more room for the faffery involved in connecting the cables & getting the housing back together.
Fair play to you fella, that bike looks a lot of work to bring that back and restore it and a lot of money too I suspect. And to do it outside at this time of year. Hats off to you, and hope it goes well.
You can use Domestos bleach to clean those stainless steel exhaust headers. Just brush it on, leave it for 20 minutes and then wash it off with water. They come up like brand new.
Harpic 10x bog cleaner is the best, nice and thick, blue so you can see where you have covered and has hydrochloric acid in it so stronger than any bleach. Very efficient so wear gloves and only leave it on for 5-10 minutes. Usually in the pound shops and when I see it I stock up.
When refitting carbs use new rubbers and heat gun.Push carbs halfway in and connect throttle cable then push right through.The pipes that you refer to as fuel pipes are in fact water pipes probably fitted retrospectively as a anti carb freezing device.Best of luck most of us have been there at some time.
GPZ900R carbs are about the worst to remove, and even trickier to put back on the bike, you will sharp get to know a lot more swear words before you're done, oh and plenty of skinned knuckles too. The easiest way to remove the carbs it to take out the 2 x10mm bolts that hold the airbox in place, and then push the airbox rubbers into the case, and even then its a "PITA". Throttle cables are easier to remove when the carbs are off the bike then you can dislodge them, also put the cables back on the carbs when you come to refit the carbs. Sorry for the long post but believe me, its for your own piece of mind and sanity, 🤣🤣. Keep up the good work fella, 👍.
I reckon putting them back on will be easy as log as I can fold the rubbers back... pushing the airbox onto the carbs didn't work for me, I guess the rubbers were just too hard
@@AshRowland I've heard quite a few people soak the rubber boots in something called "Wintergreen oil" apparently it softens them up just like new, and they smell nice too, 😁.
I have a GPX750 that has the same style carb rubbers. They are hard as nails to get out. I found heating all the rubbers with a heat gun carefully helped a lot Reusing them when they are that hard is possible, especially if you treat them with wintergreen oil. But if you can buy new ones do it. Otherwise you are going to be fighting with vacumme leaks later I am sure someone else has pointed out. Those lines running to the front of the bike are not fuel lines. The carbs apparently had a tendency to misbehave in cold weather. Those hoses are there to heat the carb using the engine coolant.
@@AshRowland my reply keeps getting deleted, I think because I'm trying to tell you about a website repo rubbers are twenty three dollars for your bike from cruzin image. I got a set for my gpx750 and they were good. They have the air box rubbers too for thirty.
@@justblairthompson if you every have issues with comments you can always email me, its on my channel page and I usually pop it in at the end of every video 😊
My A2 had the water heated carbs, i believe the main jet size was reduced when this was done, might be worth checking it's got the right size. The stainless down pipes and collecters were made by Motad, mine had them with Marshall silencers. Also it might be an idea on reassembly to remove the upper rear engine mounts then remove the front ones and tilt the engine forwards.
Just to mentioned, if you put the screw driver into the head of the screw and bang with a hammer it helps loosen the screw, also bang the head sideways with a flat punch and hammer.. Just an old trick often helps... Where possible use heat and an impact. gun.. Could be a good investment..bty put carbs in a dish full submerged in a parafin for a long as you can before touching them..
@@AshRowland it's actually the opposite start low torque setting, doesn't work particularly well for rusty screws though. Your side driver is best as you found out.. Good luck with it
You should get a Vessel impact screwdriver. Mine came, in 1968, with JIS standard "phillips". It is a durable tool. It helps to have a brass mallet, but for years I just used a ball peen hammer with no damage. Otherwise, why don't you get a Milwaukee power driver (hex drive). It has an adjustable clutch, and it is very useful for fairing removals and other light duty work. You can set the torque consistently on fastening bolts / screws too. Also, when you get a work bench, look for a vice and a bench grinder with a wire wheel.
Hi Ash. Total kudos for attempting to strip & rebuild a bike without a shed or garage. 2 questions for you- What’s under the other bike covers & when is your rubbish being collected? as it appears to be piling up☺️ Keep up the good work, looking forward to the next instalment👍
The bin collectors have been on and off striking lately, we're never really sure when they're coming 🤣 the other bikes are my 650 Bandit, Kate's SV650 and my YZF600R Thunder cat... I'll feature them in a video soon, I've done a video with Kate's Brake lights if you want to check that out
Hi Ash. I'm watching your issues with rusted in screws. I highly recommend a manual impact driver ( the type you strike with a hammer.) The advantage with these things is that the twisting torque happens at the same time the drive bit is drive into the screw head. No slippage! Best idea since the dung beetle. Cheers.
Hi Ash, word of advice with situations like that. I have found that when I have had stuck or rounded bolts/screws normally a left handed drill bit will get them out, can normally get them from Screwfix etc.
ALOT easier if you pull the carbs, then yank the cables... The airbox can be somewhat difficult with old rubbers but a decent amount of bad words will solve it :)
Hi Ash, nothing so cool as to watch a guy struggle lol. I would recommend you watch Brick House Rebuilds, BJ has a very brilliant video on Carbs, he does a set from a 70s CB750 it is very confidence boosting and full of good tips. With your bike, I wonder if it would have been easier to get the throttle cable off from the grip end, I say this in case it goes back easier that way. I have a 77 KZ1000 to get stuck into, only 26k KMs on it as I now live in Canada, Great vid, Keep Calm, and Keep Mumbling. JIS Japanese Industrial Standard, a Must have 😁
I have a little tip that I found by accident - I was using a Bosch 18v cordless drill to remove a few setscrews but I had left the torque setting on about halfway when I was putting a screw IN the last time I used it (so that I wouldn't overtighten it). Most of the screws I was taking OUT came out easily but one was stubborn. What happened then was the torque setting on the drill started to act like a little impact driver - it would apply a little force then disengage, then force then disengage - that shocked the setscrew into moving - Tried it again on a few stubborn small setscrews on an outboard engine and hey presto! Handy little tip - Just make sure the bits are new/sharp. Also remember to tidy up or you'll get Jis all over the place like Ash here🤣
I must add (sorry for being such a chatterbox) that removal & replacement of carbs. on the GPz900R was the worst & most infuriating of any of my many bikes, I feared with dread every time, new rubbers, hot water bath helped but that job shattered me.
Hi I am just putting a 1985 gpz900r together got it in bits , theres a guy on ebay selling new rubbers engine side , note there's a mark to show orientation
Any time you're lubeing your chain or spraying penetrating oil on your bike always put a big bit of cardboard down it will keep you drive way clean and stain free.
Are you sure that not the screw you dropped last video and couldn’t find? And you should be spraying all the screws and nuts at the same time with WD when you start the resto to give it a chance to penetrate
Take the WD40 & spray down ALL the fasteners as a starting point, not when you want to actually remove screws & bolts etc. (& trade it in for some AeroKroil)
Heya nice looking bike but you could really do with editing your vids more heavily. Nice for you to have a screw by screw reminder but it’s incredibly repetitive I’m afraid
