Cam Chain Tensioner?

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Madderz
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My Bike: 1992 Kawasaki ZXR400
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by Madderz »

Anyone know how long Cradleys delivery usually takes? Still waiting on that CCT. Ordered fri/sat, still no sign of it. I suppose it was bank holiday weekend so its bound to take a little longer. Hate riding it with a noisey cam chain just waiting for it to go while sat at 60 :smt009
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CaNsA
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by CaNsA »

I've ordered stuff on NDD, and it was here the next day.
Phone them.
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Madderz
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Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 6:59 pm
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by Madderz »

CaNsA wrote:I've ordered stuff on NDD, and it was here the next day.
Phone them.
I didn't choose a specific delivery must just have been standard delivery.

I'll double check the post when i finish work and if not give em a call.

Good to hear they are usually on form. Everyone on here seems to use them.
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Madderz
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by Madderz »

cargo wrote:I beg to differ with your final thought there


I reckon very few on here use Cradley..................most prefer to buy cheap crappy pattern parts or use home bodged parts.

I've seen people on here asking about parts that can ONLY be got from a Kawasaki dealer and people still are asking where can they get it and saying "I've searched online"

My experience is that lots of people have not got the first clue as to where to buy Kawasaki parts and that a Kawasaki dealer is the very last place they would think of :pmsl
Haha TBH I think i fell into that category to begin with. This being my first bike and my first Kawasaki, I had no clue where to buy parts.

From working in a car garage i always used the same parts companies that our garage used (Euro car parts, JMC etc etc), when i sat and thought "what companies do bike parts?" i had no clue LOL. I don't know many bikers or even bike places round here as i'm new to the bike scene and don't really have any bike mates.

I rang my local Kawasaki and pretty much got laughed at because my bike was 1992. A few google searches showed nothing in my area so onto the forums i went and after it staring me in the face for a little while someone kindly pointed me to there signature with Cradley in it, who i have now used to order a couple parts. (Still waiting on my CCT)

P.S Was that comment aimed at my previous lame attempts to find Cradley? Lol :smt003
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jezzawright
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by jezzawright »

any luck with the cct and hanging revs as yours sounds very similar to mine
Madderz
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner & Indicator Relay & Idle Hang

Post by Madderz »

Hello guys,

Time for an update. Gonna go over all of what i did, i know the title is CCT but be easier if its all in one hit.

Been a hectic week with wedding preparation etc but i did manage to get a Sunday to myself. Took the bike over to my Mothers house and plonked it in her conservatory to work on as its been windy as hell here lately. Pictures will follow slowly afterwards as they are a pain to sort on my phone.

First thing i did was get the fairing off with the help of my 2 year old LOL and start cracking on with this cam chain tensioner which i thought was the culprit for my noisy bike. Popped the cover off and had a look. I was surprised to find that the CCT was not fully extended. See here:Image

Which obviously means the cam chain was ok. Pulled her out anyway gave her a squeeze etc and she seemed fine. Had a good look around inside too. What i saw was that the cam chain blade and the pin it moved on both moved freely. Good news. So anyway, i fitted the new one as it was apart and why not, i'd paid for the thing and it was sat there. It clicked back straight into the same place.

Whilst i was in there i did notice some metal filings/shavings stuck to what seemed to be magnetic bolts :/ this freaked me out a little bit but i looked it up and apparently these bikes are prone to it especially with no clutching on the downshifts (Which i dont do, obviously previous t*at owner). See pics here:Image

Right so that jobs done, start her up wait for a second to see if this noise goes, nope. No luck must be something else. I'm thinking something in the head maybe? Or maybe she needs an oil change? Gonna whack in some fresh 10w40 semi-synth when i get a second.

Next job. Dodgy indicators. Stripped the bike down totally to get to the wiring and OMFG what a mess, someone has butchered lots of wires and bodged lots together TERRIBLY. I couldn't work out what all this was for the life of me until i traced all the wires back and found this little baby: Image
Image

Obviously an aftermarket alarm was fitted at some point and piggy backed of of everything!! Ripped all that out.

Next thing was locating the indicator relay which should be tucked nicely on the side off the battery box thing. Was it there? Course it wasn't. It took me ages following wires everywhere but finally found it tucked away underneath somewhere see here: Image
Image

Changed that for the new one and boom indicators work perfectly. The switch on the handle bars was a bit dodgy but with some WD40 and a couple of flicks she worked perfectly. Hoorah :excited one successful job.

Next: Carb balancing/idle hang.

Well after ordering a scarily cheap set of gauges from demon tweeks (Yes i know cargo, shake your head ;P) i got the airbox and everything off and got down to the carbs. First thing i did was start looking for an air leak, spraying wd40 EVERYWHERE but apart from the clouds of the stuff causing it to idle a little higher, no obvious leak. On go the carb gauges and i get her idling and adjust the little taps on the vacuum lines so that needles aren't oscillating crazily, but just nodding on there mark. Now at first i crapped my pants because the gauges were all sat in a red area saying air intake leak or late exhaust valve timing.....See here: Image

I immediately thought this could be my hanging idle or noisy engine. Had a quick look on the how to on here and it said something along the lines of it doesn't matter what they are reading as long as they are all the same. Anyway so after lots of shitting my pants because if you lean on the screw the revs rocket up i managed to get them all lovely and lined up. Job done there.

Now after all this the revs were still hanging like hell with even the slightest twitch of the throttle but i thought bugger it probably all the wd40 every, got her back together and took her for a huge blast, trying to hide my face as she was idling like crazy at the lights!! Pulled over somewhere thinking this aint right and fiddled with the idle screw for a bit and suddenly i hit a sweet spot and she started idling and the revs were dropping beautifully! I mean BEAUTIFULLY. She pulled perfectly and idled bang on the spot every time revs drop down so far, hang for half a second and then she sits at idle. I had a fantastic ride back to the old dears. That was until i stopped.....

The bike felt super hot and the gauge was close to the top. I immediately turned her off and couldn't hear the fan running like usual. So after lots of swearing and panicking about my head warping i quickly got some wire and shorted the fan switch, BOOM fan kicked in. Laid on the floor with all my gear on for a second with my mothers neighbors looking at me like i was mad, the bike cooled down. So fan was obviously working and it had been kicking in fine up till now, so i asummed it was me fiddling with the wiring that had effected it, back apart she comes :smt013 couldn't find anything anywhere out of place. I decided to take the plugs off the fan switch and clean them up and give em a spray as they were quite corroded and by this time it was 9pm and i wanted to get home so i rode it back making sure to avoid stop start rides and see how she was when i got home. Got home she was warm but not hot, but the fan still usually kicks in at halfway when i pull up. This wasn't happening. Then i suddenly thought YOU PENIS!! Fan plugs round the wrong way. Swap them over and she kicked in fine. What a relief!! Please bare in mind i had been working on this bike all day lol.

Next morning i come out all excited to ride her to work, bang they key in turn the ignition on and i am greeted with no lights and not even the slightest whimper from the started. Battery is dead. Now i mention in another thread that my rev counter was doubling and a couple of you guys said it was a weak battery. Hopefully it was a weak battery and its just finally given up. My battery charger wont even recognize there is a battery connected when i try to recharge it. I think it's as dead as a dodo.

So to summarise:

New CCT fitted, although not needed and has definitely not quietened the bikes vibration/noise down.
Indicator relay found, and replaced along with removing excess wiring.
Carbs balanced idle hanging reduced dramatically and the bike was running superbly.
Rev counter was still reading double.
Battery has now given in on me.

New battery will be sorted this week and hopefully after an oil change she may quieten down. Are these bikes generally noisy/rattly? I mean shes almost as old as me LOL!

Sorry it has taken me a while to get back to you guys but i hope this post will either give you older/wiser lot a laugh or maybe even help someone else out? I'm not sure whether i'm starting to love or hate this bike. One thing i know is it is making me swear lots and costing me money but damn when you get that nice bit of curvy road and things are running right she is a BLAST. Maybe its a love/hate kinda relationship. The bikes a bitch but someones gotta love her.

Stu
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jezzawright
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by jezzawright »

my zxr reminds me of my old rs125, its a pig and has lots of little quirks n faults but when its running right it puts a huge grin on your face
Madderz
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by Madderz »

jezzawright wrote:my zxr reminds me of my old rs125, its a pig and has lots of little quirks n faults but when its running right it puts a huge grin on your face
Yeah I know the feeling.

Rs125s were never quirky with me they just tended to explode lol

She will get there with some love and tlc. Just chose the wrong time financially so it's gonna go at a snails pace.

Tempted to just pull the engine and rebuild it.

I wanna be out in the bike as much as possible though as I've just passed and wanna get learning how to ride properly.

Meh.
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banner001
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by banner001 »

the fan connectors tend to get badly corroded being exposed to water/salt/general crap, just crimp on some new female bullet terminals and you will be fine.
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Madderz
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by Madderz »

banner001 wrote:the fan connectors tend to get badly corroded being exposed to water/salt/general crap, just crimp on some new female bullet terminals and you will be fine.
Yep added to my list lol
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CaNsA
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by CaNsA »

Madderz, I have to admit that I did think "oh f***, another one" when you 1st started posting on here.

However, after reading that I am chuffed that you got stuck in and sorted it out.
Top work there mate. :smt023
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Madderz
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by Madderz »

CaNsA wrote:Madderz, I have to admit that I did think "oh f***, another one" when you 1st started posting on here.

However, after reading that I am chuffed that you got stuck in and sorted it out.
Top work there mate. :smt023
Haha thanks CaNsA. :pmsl

I joined to be a member and get stuck in. I know how it is with forums and new guys. I was a long member of my Honda Civic community so we often saw new users sign up ask a question and bugger off.

That is not my intentions at all. I intend to learn from you guys, have a laugh and hopefully become a useful member and try and help others. Everyone's gotta start somewhere.

I apologise if my noob etiquette came across the wrong way.

Does this mean i'm accepted yet? Even just a little? :smt003
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CaNsA
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by CaNsA »

Madderz wrote:Does this mean i'm accepted yet? Even just a little? :smt003
Well... I am still waiting for those pics of your mum :tease
:pmsl
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Madderz
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by Madderz »

CaNsA wrote:
Madderz wrote:Does this mean i'm accepted yet? Even just a little? :smt003
Well... I am still waiting for those pics of your mum :tease
:pmsl

:smt018 What are we ten?

Pahaha. :pmsl
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kevwye
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Re: Cam Chain Tensioner?

Post by kevwye »

Hi
Did you solve the problem with the cam chain noise as i have the same new oil but still the same
thanks kev
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