1986 fz600 project

O

oconnor

New Member
I'm doing this project by myself and although i've restored an old bike before (81 xj650), this will be new territory for me. Any ideas/suggestions would be a great help. I'm not really sure what direction i'm heading in with this project but I do know its not staying stock. Cafe racer style/street fighter/naked... i'm open to suggestions.

I'll start off with some history on the bike. I bought it for $650 and I didn't hear it run before I bought it. The bike was last registered for the road in 2006 but has been down back roads and side streets since then. It has a full Hindle exhaust system and K&N pod filters. No jet kit though. The tank is pretty rusted inside and the carbs were a gummed up mess. The front fairings are cracked/badly repaired.

I've cleaned the carbs, adjusted the floats and cleaned the tank up as good as I can get it. The battery is all charged and i'm planning on balancing the carbs asap. I've changed the oil and filter and found gas in the oil. I'm not surprised, considering the prev owner was trying to get the bike running with the carbs in such a mess and with a stuck float. I also found some metal flecks in the oil... how concerned should I be?

I took the sub-frame off tonight and i'm removing the passenger pegs and all the extra junk that I don't need tomorrow at work. I'll post pics of the bike when i bought it, of the metal flecks in the old oil and tomorrow i'll post more pics of the sub-frame cut down.

Sorry for a long first post

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Hell yeah, Crystal! Cool to see--are you keeping it yellow? It looks good in yellow! Looks like yo've been busy on it, too. As for the flecks, I would not be too concerned yet--get it running, run it around a bit, and then check the oil again. Can't wait to see the subframe work ;D

.....And welcome to DTT! ;D
 
Yeah, it could be many things, some of which aren't "that bad." Cool looking ride. Hope you are able to get it running soon.
 
Thanks guys! Not sure if i'm keeping it yellow or not. It needs a new paint job so i'm still trying to decide the route i'm going to take with it.

I'll post some pics of the subframe tomorrow. I didn't get a chance to try and run the bike yet, i'll be doing that tomorrow if the weather co-operates.
 
lol... yeah, yellow isn't my ideal color for much.

Here's the most recent pic of the back of the bike for now. My brain is still trying to come up with something different for the tail light/passenger seat section.

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Now to the bad stuff. I ran the bike for a minute...until i noticed smoke from the engine (plus something didn't sound right). I discovered this...

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and once the valve cover was off, I found this...

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What should be my next move here? Pull the engine to see if there's any internal damage or just replace the part?
 
Hey Crystal,

I have another cam bearing cap for that if you want it. Yours for the shipping, just PM me your address, and I will mail it up to you. Maybe someone in the past overtightened the valve cover bolt at that one?

Also, the smoke is not that uncommon--the loose valve cover was more than likely allowing oil to leak onto the exhaust/ hot cooling fins and smokes. Mine did the the same thing until resealed the valve cover. And, since you have it off anyway... :D
 
Just wanted to give a slight update on my project.

Firstly, thanks Tyler (t71ford) for the replacement part that I needed! I got it on with no issues, gave the cam chain a small adjustment just to make sure it was nice and snug, and then sealed everything back up. That was the easy part. :)

I fired the bike up and ran it for a minute to see if there were any leaks etc. Besides some initial oil burn off from the previous issue, everything seemed ok. Changed the oil again to see if there were any metal flakes from the missing broken part and the oil was perfectly clean. Yay me right?

The bike was running on 3 instead of 4 and the night was only young, so I figured hell... might as well re-check everything. I changed out the spark plugs and drained 2 of the carb bowls to check my gas and found dirt. ugh... ffs!

Pulled the carbs, cleaned jets, passages, re-checked float levels etc. Replaced the gas line, fuel filter and anything else that might be hiding crap. Put the carbs back on, put the k&n pods back on and called it a night.

Today I went out with the intentions of balancing the carbs and maybe taking a spin around the block. When I started the bike to warm it up before balancing, I noticed almost sucking noise (if that makes sense) from #4 carb when I would crank the throttle. After a few choice words, it turns out that one of the bolts that tightens the carb boot to the engine was loose and won't tighten. I can get it hand tight but once I use the allen key to try and get it nice and snug... it becomes loose again. Stripped right?

It started to thunder/rain, so I threw the tarp over the bike and came inside. That's the full update on the mechanical side of things. Any suggestions on what I could do/try with this bolt issue?
 
That definitely doesn't help, but also verify that your mixture (fuel or air, don't remember which yours has ) screws are all set right too, as this can make a sucking noise sometimes as well (lean mixture setting).

Keep at it! :D
 
Thanks guys! I was able to tap it and get the boot on snug and balance the carbs. Fork seals are next :)

I'm still not 100% on what I plan on doing with the seat, I'm still in the brainstorming phase with that. I might just come up with something temp for now(so I can get out for a few rides before it snows) and work on the final product over the winter. I'm not kidding when I say i'm itching to get on the road! :)
 
This is the bike so far. I have the back section chopped a little more and basically stuck the passenger seat back on there until I get the look I want. I went with a black bedliner paint job because it suited the year and the budget build. My turn signals should be here tomorrow and i'll throw the mirrors back on. I really liked the look of the bike when I had the front fairing off, so i'm going to do some shopping online at dime city and grab some brackets for a headlight and an all-in-one gauge (if possible). That will probably be a winter project as I'll be lucky if I have another month of riding left.
I had it out for a couple laps around the block and it ran surprisingly well... now I just have to get plates on it and i'll be set. :)

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