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Went out for a skate this afternoon and the ice was like butter. That's not good. Nor was attempting anything involving balance and general wellbeing with a hangover a mile wide.
Regardless.
Skates hung, into the garage I trot. Got the carb all buttoned up with its new Dyno Jet jets and needle etc installed -
I dunno, I really like rebuilding carburetors.
Also cleaned up the cylinder head as much as I could, and the left the only mark I know how -
and then installed the thing along with a fresh 3 ply gasket. Got to torquing the head bolts according to Clymers, and found out that they need a final torque of 48 ft lbs which is bloody perfect as my torque wrench starts at 50. Asked over at advrider (another forum with a dedicated KLR section) and was told that as most torque wrenches can have somewhat questionable accuracy anyway, torquing them to 50 ft lbs instead of 48 will probably be ok. Probably is the takeaway I took from the conversation, but hey.
I'll torque them to 50 tomorrow and do so without double vision and a head full of broken biscuits.
48 ft lbs,
That’s sounds like a moderate 1.3 second closed mouth grunt to me.
Be sure not to go to far and use an open mouthed grunt. If you find yourself clenching your teeth you might be a few ft lbs over as well.
Won't be the only thing I'm using a torque wrench on today. Hit a fucking pothole/sinkhole and smoked the car's front rim -
Jesus Murphy. If I was pissed with the state of the shitty roads in this city last week, I'm livid with them now. Hoping it's just the rim that needs repairing and not the suspension, alignment or brake. Fuck.
Wow, must of been one hell of a hole.
It was a puddle wasn’t it?
Never hit puddles in Quebec.
Surprised it did that much damage actually, didn’t think you could go that fast in the Montreal traffic
I'm hoping VW will come through - called them this morning and with any luck they can pull it back into shape for around $200. I'd like to think that time spent calling the city a bunch of wankers would pay off but I doubt it'll do anything other than give me an aneurism.
Shit 200 bucks will buy you 4 wheels around here LOL. I run steel winter wheels, Big Fucking Hammer and you can sort them right out because the only province with worse roads than QC is NB. we have 3 of the top 10 worst roads in Canada, QC had 2 LOL.
Shit 200 bucks will buy you 4 wheels around here LOL. I run steel winter wheels, Big Fucking Hammer and you can sort them right out because the only province with worse roads than QC is NB. we have 3 of the top 10 worst roads in Canada, QC had 2 LOL.
Steel's the way forward. Balls to this whole alloy shite - sure they're fine and snazzy in any other part of North America, the First World, hell anywhere other than Quebec, but here they're a nightmare waiting to get mauled.
Fuck it.
Got the head bolts torqued (very satisfying as it happens), and now working on the cams and timing. Anyone reading this worked on a KLR before? Think I've got the process pegged but have a few question marks.
After a trip to the local Kawasaki dealership to pick up two tiny o-rings for an oil passage in the cylinder head for $6 ($6?? For two o-rings? Not for the first time and probably not the last either I'm reminded I'm in the wrong business), I installed the cams, got them timed and put to bed without dropping anything into the crankcase (minor miracle) -
Coming together mechanics-wise. Waiting on the frame to come back from powdercoat but with a big bike show here in Montreal this weekend I'm not expecting the phone to ring anytime soon. Not much else to report, other than my wife made a fantastic roast chicken for dinner. It's all about the bacon fat under the skin apparently, gets the skin nice and crispy.
Yanked the snorkel from the airbox - this will dump a load more air into the carb as the stock airbox set up on these KLR's is pretty restrictive. With the stage 2 dyno jet kit and needle in the carb flinging more gas into the combustion chamber, now that I have more air and a bigger piston, things should go boom - bigger.
Watched a vid on the process, and thankfully avoided the hernia the aussie guy gave himself trying to get the thing out
Air, gas and bigger cylinder/piston - get an iridium spark plug in there to heat things up and I'm off to the races. Hopefully.
Ya gonna be doing any water crossing with it tho? I know for myself I'm a big fan of snorkels on dirty bikes, because there's a 5 year old inside me that can't let a good puddle go unsplashed
Ya gonna be doing any water crossing with it tho? I know for myself I'm a big fan of snorkels on dirty bikes, because there's a 5 year old inside me that can't let a good puddle go unsplashed
Good point E. Jim I'd look at plumbing a bigger diameter snorkel terminating up high enough if you plan to do the water crossing. Hydro-locked motors are not happy motors. Someone on ADV rider or the interwebs must have done the same engine mods and may have a solution already thunk up.
Funny - I was out the other day for a walk with my mate's 10yr old kid and he did exactly that - charge headlong through Montreal's worst with the abandon that always makes me re-think adult sensibilities. Puddles put everything into perspective when you approach them with a kid. Or on a dirt bike.
I did a bit of research before pulling the thing, and asked the KLR guy here in Montreal too what mods to do on the airbox given the kind of riding I plan to do on the bike. Truth be told I'm not expecting to be fording any rivers any time soon - my offroad abilities are fairly conservative at best. I used to flog the things around Bali back in the day and nearly came a cropper half way up a volcano, and last year went on a bike trip in Nicaragua which - while not ending in tears - had a few hairy moments. And all that on dry land.
Incidentally, how high would be considered high water when riding through the wet stuff on a dual sport?
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