Kawasaki 250 F11B - dads old bike
- Thread starter jaderd
- Start date
jaderd
Been Around the Block
yeah i havent cleared it yet, prob should, everytime i use rattle can clear it never sprays properly, always seems to get clogged nozzle etc, ill prob give it a go over though before i install, tool bag i think ill run permanently on the front dont think it will get stolen.....hope not, the base of tool bag has padded area, i might then run some saude like material under it or even a fine layer of foam.
i havent cleared the visor cover or the oil reservoir case either, id prefer them to stay matt look and if start to get crappy just repaint, even matt clears become too glossy sometimes
ppl have mentioned clear coat also for all the areas i have polished up such as forks and engine cases, im not going to bother, i figure if you polish up things atleast then have the patience to attend to them on a regular basis and re polish. The polish itself leaves a protective coating so shouldnt oxidise at all.
bike wont be ridden a great deal and bascally wiped down after every ride, if it was a daily commuter and getting dirty heaps i understand the need / ease of clearing the polished areas.
yeah i dont mind the visor, would have been better if wasnt missing the cracked bit of front but i guess adds to the age aspect
i havent cleared the visor cover or the oil reservoir case either, id prefer them to stay matt look and if start to get crappy just repaint, even matt clears become too glossy sometimes
ppl have mentioned clear coat also for all the areas i have polished up such as forks and engine cases, im not going to bother, i figure if you polish up things atleast then have the patience to attend to them on a regular basis and re polish. The polish itself leaves a protective coating so shouldnt oxidise at all.
bike wont be ridden a great deal and bascally wiped down after every ride, if it was a daily commuter and getting dirty heaps i understand the need / ease of clearing the polished areas.
yeah i dont mind the visor, would have been better if wasnt missing the cracked bit of front but i guess adds to the age aspect
jaderd
Been Around the Block
Little bit happened over last few days
got my official VJMC membership pack which is great, bike will be permit rego'd through VJMC once complete
reinstalled the swingarm and torqued it up
reinstalled the steering stem and it feels a good level of tightness, will recheck prior to riding etc
undid top bolt off forks, took out and cleaned the springs, both springs were identical lengths which is good neither have sagged.
from pouring out oil and releasing bottom screw i got out around 135ml from each fork, figure there is atleast the other 30ml or so sitting in and around all the aspects of the fork so leads me to believe again that they were never leaking.
Dont have a big enough allen key so didnt replace oil seals yet, refilled with 170ml of 10W oil per fork, all back together and feel great.
Fitted forks and torqued up
Fitted gauge assembly, cleaned instrument cluster wiring with circuit spray etc
fitted headlight and oversize cover
fitted handlebars and torqued up.
Liking how it is all looking and am at least able to straddle bike to see how it will be, the trailtech is perfectly viewable from seating angle whilst still protected.
boss was throwing out a single bed egg shell top, she thought of me n my shed work and gave it to me, works great.
Cleaned chain and checked tolerance, tolerance for 10kg weight on chain and 21 link measure is 314mm to 324mm, mine measure 327mm so def gone
so i need to buy a chain.
Big thankyou to Graham from OZVMX, helped him out with some pics of rear rim n spokes and some F11 articles, he gave me the oil line that i need as mine snapped....save me a good 70$ which can go towards chain, great bloke.
getting excited now coming together well.
Cheers
got my official VJMC membership pack which is great, bike will be permit rego'd through VJMC once complete
reinstalled the swingarm and torqued it up
reinstalled the steering stem and it feels a good level of tightness, will recheck prior to riding etc
undid top bolt off forks, took out and cleaned the springs, both springs were identical lengths which is good neither have sagged.
from pouring out oil and releasing bottom screw i got out around 135ml from each fork, figure there is atleast the other 30ml or so sitting in and around all the aspects of the fork so leads me to believe again that they were never leaking.
Dont have a big enough allen key so didnt replace oil seals yet, refilled with 170ml of 10W oil per fork, all back together and feel great.
Fitted forks and torqued up
Fitted gauge assembly, cleaned instrument cluster wiring with circuit spray etc
fitted headlight and oversize cover
fitted handlebars and torqued up.
Liking how it is all looking and am at least able to straddle bike to see how it will be, the trailtech is perfectly viewable from seating angle whilst still protected.
boss was throwing out a single bed egg shell top, she thought of me n my shed work and gave it to me, works great.
Cleaned chain and checked tolerance, tolerance for 10kg weight on chain and 21 link measure is 314mm to 324mm, mine measure 327mm so def gone
so i need to buy a chain.Big thankyou to Graham from OZVMX, helped him out with some pics of rear rim n spokes and some F11 articles, he gave me the oil line that i need as mine snapped....save me a good 70$ which can go towards chain, great bloke.
getting excited now coming together well.
Cheers
jaderd
Been Around the Block
Liam, much appreciate the info mate, i will get onto that right away, was talking to sisters BF who is into high powered ATV's and he was saying all i need is the most basic cheap chain really for my purpose the lack of real punishment i am going to give it.
Thanks once again
Thanks once again
jaderd
Been Around the Block
Gave Robert a call, he doesnt normally do 525 and doesnt have any chain so would have to buy some in etc, still even then he said around $50 so i said job done....he is emailing me exact cost and then we can go from there, good to know for other ppl needing basic chains for low Hp bikes...
thanks again liam
thanks again liam
jaderd
Been Around the Block
Spent today getting into bike,
Got my 525 chain all sorted, its Tsubaki japanese brand, cut back to 100 links for $72 which is great, pick up Tuesday night
Also got some Dririder Assen gloves off ebay they were size 3XL and won them for $1.25c Fit perfect which is great.
The guy then gave me a 8XL Dririder waterproof jacket for free !!, as the gloves and jacket were thrown in with bike he bought and he has no need, the 8XL is heaps to big for me im sure ill find someone who wants it at a cheap price
After researching tyres i settled on some Pirelli MT43 as they are a great on / off road and brilliant for letting down to low psi for bush trips. Got them at Pablos tyres in mulgrave, great bloke scotty and nice shop with some vintage Maicos hanging around to look at.
Then spent today cleaning and doing a basic polish of brake hub Front and Rear.
Pulled apart all apects of brakes, cleaned, regreased changed some seals etc, cleaned all aspects of wheel bearings / axles, repacked bearings etc. I decided not to worry about replacing the bearings as they were perfect i will keep the ones i bought incase need in future.
Fitted rear wheel so as a roller and fitted shocks and torqued up, fitted front axle and torqued up.
Was great to be able to hop on the bike and bounce up and down a little, rear shocks are nice and stiff the balance of stiffness up front to rear seems fine, once motor and everything in will reassess, may need stiffer springs in front or extra spacer to make stiffer.
Cheers.....i want it all together already
Got my 525 chain all sorted, its Tsubaki japanese brand, cut back to 100 links for $72 which is great, pick up Tuesday night
Also got some Dririder Assen gloves off ebay they were size 3XL and won them for $1.25c Fit perfect which is great.
The guy then gave me a 8XL Dririder waterproof jacket for free !!, as the gloves and jacket were thrown in with bike he bought and he has no need, the 8XL is heaps to big for me im sure ill find someone who wants it at a cheap price
After researching tyres i settled on some Pirelli MT43 as they are a great on / off road and brilliant for letting down to low psi for bush trips. Got them at Pablos tyres in mulgrave, great bloke scotty and nice shop with some vintage Maicos hanging around to look at.
Then spent today cleaning and doing a basic polish of brake hub Front and Rear.
Pulled apart all apects of brakes, cleaned, regreased changed some seals etc, cleaned all aspects of wheel bearings / axles, repacked bearings etc. I decided not to worry about replacing the bearings as they were perfect i will keep the ones i bought incase need in future.
Fitted rear wheel so as a roller and fitted shocks and torqued up, fitted front axle and torqued up.
Was great to be able to hop on the bike and bounce up and down a little, rear shocks are nice and stiff the balance of stiffness up front to rear seems fine, once motor and everything in will reassess, may need stiffer springs in front or extra spacer to make stiffer.
Cheers.....i want it all together already
jaderd
Been Around the Block
ok got home tonight, looked at the motor and thought, bugger it, im going to crack the head and have a look see / clean up.
so for all those with the tens of years worth more experience than me what do you see.
i have done a basic clean of the head ? it look ok, notice that its not completely smooth it does have like a slight sandy grain texture on most of it, appears like how it was cast ? and is normal ?
what is the easiest way to take the main part off, it says to use rubber sledge and tap away, i used some rolled up shirt and normal hammer lol, no go so far and dont want to tap too hard, is there another way to lever / loosen it off ? do i really need to take it off, all i really want to do is clean the top of cylinder, is that possible how it is, am afraid of bits of carbon falling everywhere....have vaccuum cleaner going at same time ?
cylinder seems to make a nice fit when sealing top with hand etc.....so i feel it would be fine once heats up and fits proper etc.
Cheers any info welcome.
so for all those with the tens of years worth more experience than me what do you see.
i have done a basic clean of the head ? it look ok, notice that its not completely smooth it does have like a slight sandy grain texture on most of it, appears like how it was cast ? and is normal ?
what is the easiest way to take the main part off, it says to use rubber sledge and tap away, i used some rolled up shirt and normal hammer lol, no go so far and dont want to tap too hard, is there another way to lever / loosen it off ? do i really need to take it off, all i really want to do is clean the top of cylinder, is that possible how it is, am afraid of bits of carbon falling everywhere....have vaccuum cleaner going at same time ?
cylinder seems to make a nice fit when sealing top with hand etc.....so i feel it would be fine once heats up and fits proper etc.
Cheers any info welcome.
jaderd
Been Around the Block
Other main reason I wanted head off was to go over head with paint stripper again and make it all easier to lightly sand fins etc, I'm guessing when you said springs you meant rings ?. Not sure that I'll get it honed etc, think I'll just clean top of cylinder as it's more like a crust than smudge, then I'll put it all back together. Already have the gaskets, seeing I haven't "cracked" the bottom half off at all ad gasket still sealed I might leave it as is an just scrape cylinder head clean while vaccuming up carbon so it doesn't go anywhere etc.... Sounds ok ppl ?
jaderd
Been Around the Block
Dont think im going to bother with removing the base cylinder.
Watched some videos and read heaps of articles / forums etc on when to replace rings / piston etc.
my consensus i think is that how it looks is typical / perfect regarding carbon build up etc.
from looking at the piston via exhaust port there is basically zero discoloration / blowby on the piston, zero scoring on piston or sleeve (of what i could see via exhaust port)
so i think i will just run a fine edge of premix oil around piston to act as seal to stop anything going past, put some premix on top of piston, let it soak in for 20-30 mins, clean cylinder head, then let piston slide down a little and clean up any oil/remnants of carbon on sleeve, then back up again and down, repeating till perfect and clean then job done, add a little premix oil to sleeve and piece everything back together.
Does that sound ok ? remembering this bike will do very minimal hours, very minimal effort and only reg. for 90 days per year.
would rather get it back together and going then do a rebuild maybe next winter.
From the net there is too much conflicting info from ppl saying if opened up do it all piston rings needle bearing circlips etc.....and some at 25hr intervals, i assume these ppl are riding hard and on track/comp.
others say aint broke dont fix etc.....
i need some advice from experienced ppl on here, remembering budget build is also in mind and does it have to be done now or can wait....orig i wasnt going to touch engine and most ppl said thats fine.
Cheers, any info be great
Watched some videos and read heaps of articles / forums etc on when to replace rings / piston etc.
my consensus i think is that how it looks is typical / perfect regarding carbon build up etc.
from looking at the piston via exhaust port there is basically zero discoloration / blowby on the piston, zero scoring on piston or sleeve (of what i could see via exhaust port)
so i think i will just run a fine edge of premix oil around piston to act as seal to stop anything going past, put some premix on top of piston, let it soak in for 20-30 mins, clean cylinder head, then let piston slide down a little and clean up any oil/remnants of carbon on sleeve, then back up again and down, repeating till perfect and clean then job done, add a little premix oil to sleeve and piece everything back together.
Does that sound ok ? remembering this bike will do very minimal hours, very minimal effort and only reg. for 90 days per year.
would rather get it back together and going then do a rebuild maybe next winter.
From the net there is too much conflicting info from ppl saying if opened up do it all piston rings needle bearing circlips etc.....and some at 25hr intervals, i assume these ppl are riding hard and on track/comp.
others say aint broke dont fix etc.....
i need some advice from experienced ppl on here, remembering budget build is also in mind and does it have to be done now or can wait....orig i wasnt going to touch engine and most ppl said thats fine.
Cheers, any info be great
jaderd
Been Around the Block
What a busy weekend, after man handling 9 tonnes of retaining wall blocks I still had half of today free to play with bike.
Head cleaned/ piston top cleaned & all bolts / washers cleaned up. Reinstalled everything and torqued up. Decided to reuse orig copper gasket as was perfect with no kinks at all, the one that came in the full gasket set was about 1/3rd as thick as orig, so may have increased compression if installed ? So thought I'd wait till hearing ppls advice and can chang it next time.
Bought some new bolts and I stalls front fork guard properly
Pulled apart clutch, as ppl mentioned they were jut stuck together, so as I reinstalled i smeared some oil between each friction plate / steel plate etc. Clutch springs and friction plates are basically brand new in relation to tolerances.
Refitted oil pump etc and all new gaskets for cases + new hex head bolts.
Also put the motor back in with zero scratches thanks to some left over packaging material from all the eBay purchases I've made lately lol. Pics below very happy it's all coming together now
Head cleaned/ piston top cleaned & all bolts / washers cleaned up. Reinstalled everything and torqued up. Decided to reuse orig copper gasket as was perfect with no kinks at all, the one that came in the full gasket set was about 1/3rd as thick as orig, so may have increased compression if installed ? So thought I'd wait till hearing ppls advice and can chang it next time.
Bought some new bolts and I stalls front fork guard properly
Pulled apart clutch, as ppl mentioned they were jut stuck together, so as I reinstalled i smeared some oil between each friction plate / steel plate etc. Clutch springs and friction plates are basically brand new in relation to tolerances.
Refitted oil pump etc and all new gaskets for cases + new hex head bolts.
Also put the motor back in with zero scratches thanks to some left over packaging material from all the eBay purchases I've made lately lol. Pics below
very happy it's all coming together now
Bamos3
New Member
The head gasket too use is the thicker one. kawasaki put out a service bulletin for the F11, to use the thicker gasket due to customers reporting problems with pinging. Your bike was produced after the bulletin came out and has it fitted as stock.
Another thing to watch out for is the carby. Kawasaki changed the jetting after the first model. The carby refurbish kits I've seen only have jets sized for the first model. Some of the jets for the second and third models (your one) can be very hard to locate.
Bikes looking good, keep up the standard, I've got lots of second hand bits if you need anything. contact me via the VJMC site.
Another thing to watch out for is the carby. Kawasaki changed the jetting after the first model. The carby refurbish kits I've seen only have jets sized for the first model. Some of the jets for the second and third models (your one) can be very hard to locate.
Bikes looking good, keep up the standard, I've got lots of second hand bits if you need anything. contact me via the VJMC site.
jaderd
Been Around the Block
Cheers Bamos
i ordered one on ebay the 1.5mm gasket should arrive soon was only about $7, id rather use a fresh one and keep the stock one to do the hot / cold treatment too if i ever need a spare. At moment the stock one is back in and torqued up but from advice i should replace with new one or atleast do the hot cold treatment to stock one etc.
Im really in two minds with what to do regarding the carby, its the only bit scaring me about the rebuild. I really dont know alot about carby's other than reading manual and online youtube tutorials.
From the outside it looks filthy, the black paint that kawasaki decided to paint the VM30 with is flaking and entire thing is coated in the purply dusty residue of old fuel and dust (petcock used to leak).
It ran perfect before removal (idled fine, choke worked fine, no flat spots etc), would the easiest thing be to clean it up (best method ?) external only and get it running then just pay some cash to service carby and tune bike ? id hate to pull it apart, not be able to get it started and have to borrow a ute to get bike and carby to shop to get going etc.
pic below, ofcourse the top cap and slide etc is out and the choke part so there is an open hole there.
i have carby cleaner etc, though for removal of outside gunk on external is degreaser ok ? any advice would be great
i ordered one on ebay the 1.5mm gasket should arrive soon was only about $7, id rather use a fresh one and keep the stock one to do the hot / cold treatment too if i ever need a spare. At moment the stock one is back in and torqued up but from advice i should replace with new one or atleast do the hot cold treatment to stock one etc.
Im really in two minds with what to do regarding the carby, its the only bit scaring me about the rebuild. I really dont know alot about carby's other than reading manual and online youtube tutorials.
From the outside it looks filthy, the black paint that kawasaki decided to paint the VM30 with is flaking and entire thing is coated in the purply dusty residue of old fuel and dust (petcock used to leak).
It ran perfect before removal (idled fine, choke worked fine, no flat spots etc), would the easiest thing be to clean it up (best method ?) external only and get it running then just pay some cash to service carby and tune bike ? id hate to pull it apart, not be able to get it started and have to borrow a ute to get bike and carby to shop to get going etc.
pic below, ofcourse the top cap and slide etc is out and the choke part so there is an open hole there.
i have carby cleaner etc, though for removal of outside gunk on external is degreaser ok ? any advice would be great
I wouldn't worry too much about the head gasket - leave the stock one in and see if it runs OK. It will be pretty obvious if it's not - and it's only a half hour job to change it over on a single cylinder 2 stroke anyway
As for the carby, that one is probably the most basic carb you are likely to come across on a motorcycle, so if you have the manual, just pull it apart and clean it. Brake cleaner is better IMO for carbs (it doesn't leave ANY residue). Just get yourself a clean workspace with lots of bench room and lay eveything out in order so you know how it all fits back together. Once you have all the jets and everything brass out of the carb body you can use paint stripper to get the old paint off.
As for the carby, that one is probably the most basic carb you are likely to come across on a motorcycle, so if you have the manual, just pull it apart and clean it. Brake cleaner is better IMO for carbs (it doesn't leave ANY residue). Just get yourself a clean workspace with lots of bench room and lay eveything out in order so you know how it all fits back together. Once you have all the jets and everything brass out of the carb body you can use paint stripper to get the old paint off.
jaderd
Been Around the Block
sweet i think ill go down that track then.
in relation to a carb kit, as bamos said they altered in the years and hard to find exact one, im guessing the plan is to use all the stock needles and everything that is in the carb currently so really its only the gasket set i need which would be same for 3 years of this bike i think.
Manual states it as a VM30SS carb.
ive heard ppl say the keyster kit like below are crap ? any opinions
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KAWASAKI-CARB-KIT-F11-F-11-1973-1975-KEYSTER-REBUILD-/250864347744?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a68ae2a60#ht_1283wt_1165
Cheers
in relation to a carb kit, as bamos said they altered in the years and hard to find exact one, im guessing the plan is to use all the stock needles and everything that is in the carb currently so really its only the gasket set i need which would be same for 3 years of this bike i think.
Manual states it as a VM30SS carb.
ive heard ppl say the keyster kit like below are crap ? any opinions
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KAWASAKI-CARB-KIT-F11-F-11-1973-1975-KEYSTER-REBUILD-/250864347744?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a68ae2a60#ht_1283wt_1165
Cheers
