Vaughns zxr

[Vaughn]

Right so I've decided to make a post here so I can keep track of the progress of my bike
Her name is pandora

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There's a lot that I want to do to her but its going to be an ongoing project

So first off the bike has been sat for a few months while I was doing my licence,
I finally passed my test and got her running and she had a terrible misfire.

I took the plugs out, which were finger tight and replaced with new ones and it's ran terrible ever since.
Cylinder 1 is running rich with a black sooty plug

I've got the carbs off and sonicated

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And remoulded the damaged inlet rubbers and got them to seal nicely

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I've de rusted the fuel tank and also drained and cleaned the cooling system which was filthy brown coloured water.

Went to check clearances and noticed the inlet cam is out by one tooth so just about to go fix that now

[RedexRobB]

keep us posted, carbs look great after being cleaned! mine will need similar treatment when the time comes.

[Vaughn]

Thanks bud.
The carbs were cleaned with a £50 sonic cleaner from maplin and some de greaser, they came out spanking and was cheap and effortless. Still takes about 8 hours though as you have to do each carb in 2 halfs and just keep turning it, a bigger machine would have done it in half the time.

Got my timing set today, it was a tooth out. No wonder it ran like a bag of pants, but when I lifted the cam I found this

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I've put it back together for now so nothing gets lost.
Next job is to find some suitable containers to store all the nuts and bolts, think i seen some stuff in asda that will be perfect, then I'm gonna whip the head off, then asses the condition of the pistons and cylinders and see if it's worth repairing the head or replacing the engine
Maybe even try get some racing cams in there.

Found a place local to me that specialise in engine reconditioning and stuff so I'll get in contact with them and see what they say,

Could do with them taking the exhaust studs out as well, snapped one of the broken ones off flush with the head earlier.
Stud remover and plus gas didn't help one bit, was like trying to pull a cheese string out of a fat kids mouth

[Vaughn]

Head off, no damage to pistons or cylinders

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Cylinder 1 looks a bit wet.
I think I'll go ahead and fix her then happy days.
Just come in for dinner then I'm gonna go out armed with pen, paper, micrometer and a cup of coffee to measure all the shims and get them safely labeled up and stored away

[Vaughn]

Shims taken out cleaned and measured, then taken indoors cleaned and measured a second time

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Looks like somebody has gotten a little carried away with the silicon sealant lol

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Sonicating thermostat and housing in washing up liquid and kettle water

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[Vaughn]

Washing up liquid didn't really do a lot but it definitely helped, the bolts came out gleaming anyway

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Tested the thermostat and all is well

[Vaughn]

Airbox has been stripped down and degreased & cleaned, also put new foam on the inlet snorkel

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Stick coils and loom off a cbr600 turned up yesterday as well, I'll wait till the bikes running properly before I fit them though

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Not a lot else I can do now, till I've made my mind up what to do with this head and cam issue.
Only the inlet cam was affected in one place, the exhaust was fine.
The cylinder jacket looks filthy with rusty coloured water, it just makes me wanna take it off and clean it

[Vaughn]

I'm a bit baffled now the shims in my bike are between 5.40 - 6.20 mm
Wemoto only sell up to 3mm, anyone know where I can get shims this big??

[ross46]

That sounds wrong, 6.2mm, are you sure you have measured correctly? I may be wrong as ive just woken up on the and started to look at this so I am very tired, but shims that are twice as big as the maximum you can usually buy. To me that says either, something is way wrong with/ has been massively changed with your head or you measured them wrong, try checking with a normal ruler to check they aren't 3mm and your micrometer is broken, if they are 5-6mm then I would be looking at your valves and/or cams to check for wear, max Cradley sell is 3.5mm

[Vaughn]

Yeah pretty sure I measured them right, I'll get a picture up after work.
That's what I thought it's not right is it, must of had some serious work done in the past to be that far out, maybe a new cylinder head is on the cards after all

[Vaughn]

Carb seals turned up today, just waiting for my pilot screw washers and one of the screws and washers for the external throttle slide bit to turn up then I'll strip and sonicate the carbs one more time and rebuild with new green gaskets, thanks maelstrom

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[Vaughn]

Got my new engine yesterday, today I decided not to bother with work and spent the day in the garage instead.

Gave the engine a thorough examination and everything seems fine.
Timing is spot on although I didn't get round to checking valve clearances
Did a compression test here's the results
Cylinder 1 165 psi

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Cylinder 2 148 psi

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Cylinder 3 135 psi

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[Vaughn]

Cylinder 4 145 psi

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So compression is a little high in cylinder 1, checked the manual and it says possible carbon build up in the cylinder head.

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I'm gonna go ahead and fit the engine and take a chance on it, maybe get some sea foam in there when she's up and running

Got the split in my exhaust manifold welded up and also got the new stainless exhaust studs cut to size and cleaned up the threads in the head with a tap and die set.

The thermostat has been removed so I will fit the one from the other engine and hope it works ok, should do I tested it in a pan of boiling water but didn't have a thermometer so not sure what temp it opened at

Everything is slowly coming together now

[Vaughn]

It's been a busy few days,
Got the engine bolted in and everything back together and torqued up properly

Carbs sonicated a second time and rebuilt with new seals, that took the best part of a day on it's own

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Got some new gaskets fitted

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I haven't done the clutch cover gasket yet as I haven't taken the cover off yet, might just leave that for now. I have done the generator cover gasket though.

Worked from 5 till 8 on her in the garage using the torch on my phone for light, everything was going fine till the battery died and I was plunged into darkness lol

Hopefully by the end of tomorrow she will be ready to run

[ross46]

That picture is a bit wonky, im hoping they did fit ok?