The Mrs's J1 SP
Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 5:39 pm
Hi everyone! After scrolling through reading everyone else's build threads, I thought it only right to let you all in on the one I'm currently doing myself!
The story so far -
The Mrs has been banging on about doing her test for years, and finally now has it booked...so I thought I'd better crack on and find her a bike, and what better place to start than a ZXR400! So on eBay I quickly found advertised a rather sorry looking non-runner 1990 'H' model, sat unloved in the fellas back garden since 2007. After agreeing on the outstandingly bargain price of 300quid, we jumped in the van and headed off to Essex for a butchers! Upon arrival, I quickly noted the fact it has an SP seat unit...which looked to be original. Not thinking in a million years it could be, I had a quick look at the frame number, and to my amazement it did look to be one! So I swiftly came on here to verify my theory, and sure enough the bike is a genuine J1 SP!! Obviously, I'd seen enough...the bike was paid for and loaded before the Mrs had time to finish her cuppa and we were off on our jolly way!
Upon arriving home with the find of the century, the detective work started on what was wrong with this poor little bike...the quick answer was everything! Lol - it didn't start, wasn't holding on to a single one of its fluids and was simply in a rather poor way! First thing was first, why wasn't it starting? Carbs out, stripped...and sure enough, pure grot! So a good couple of hours were spent cleaning them up, refitting and with a fresh gallon of fuel in the tank it eventually fired....kinda! Running like an absolute bag of sh**e...but it was a start. After lots of hours spent fiddling with idle screw and mixture screws and getting nowhere...I decided to re-strip the carbs and realised the idiotic school boy error I'd made - I didn't drain the tank or change the fuel filter! D'oh! Turns out they were both full of rusty watery fuel type stuff - that'll be the problem then! So, another clean of the carbs along with the required tank drainage and filter replacement, fired it up....far better, but still not right! Longer story short, it turns out there was an air leak from one of the inlet manifold rubbers, the fuel was set way too lean when it arrived and all the rubber airbox trumpets were missing!! - but yet it was apparently running beautifully before it was parked?? Ok lol, so anyway I borrowed the air box off my personal SP and she ran up lovely!!
That's as far as I've got so far, now need to work my way through the long list of other jobs - ie full service, fork seals, caliper seals, pads, tyres, throttle cables, starter solenoid blah blah blah! Lol. Will add photos if someone could tell me how?
I'm also looking for an airbox with good trumpets & seals to stick back on my bike if anyone reading this has a spare
The story so far -
The Mrs has been banging on about doing her test for years, and finally now has it booked...so I thought I'd better crack on and find her a bike, and what better place to start than a ZXR400! So on eBay I quickly found advertised a rather sorry looking non-runner 1990 'H' model, sat unloved in the fellas back garden since 2007. After agreeing on the outstandingly bargain price of 300quid, we jumped in the van and headed off to Essex for a butchers! Upon arrival, I quickly noted the fact it has an SP seat unit...which looked to be original. Not thinking in a million years it could be, I had a quick look at the frame number, and to my amazement it did look to be one! So I swiftly came on here to verify my theory, and sure enough the bike is a genuine J1 SP!! Obviously, I'd seen enough...the bike was paid for and loaded before the Mrs had time to finish her cuppa and we were off on our jolly way!
Upon arriving home with the find of the century, the detective work started on what was wrong with this poor little bike...the quick answer was everything! Lol - it didn't start, wasn't holding on to a single one of its fluids and was simply in a rather poor way! First thing was first, why wasn't it starting? Carbs out, stripped...and sure enough, pure grot! So a good couple of hours were spent cleaning them up, refitting and with a fresh gallon of fuel in the tank it eventually fired....kinda! Running like an absolute bag of sh**e...but it was a start. After lots of hours spent fiddling with idle screw and mixture screws and getting nowhere...I decided to re-strip the carbs and realised the idiotic school boy error I'd made - I didn't drain the tank or change the fuel filter! D'oh! Turns out they were both full of rusty watery fuel type stuff - that'll be the problem then! So, another clean of the carbs along with the required tank drainage and filter replacement, fired it up....far better, but still not right! Longer story short, it turns out there was an air leak from one of the inlet manifold rubbers, the fuel was set way too lean when it arrived and all the rubber airbox trumpets were missing!! - but yet it was apparently running beautifully before it was parked?? Ok lol, so anyway I borrowed the air box off my personal SP and she ran up lovely!!
That's as far as I've got so far, now need to work my way through the long list of other jobs - ie full service, fork seals, caliper seals, pads, tyres, throttle cables, starter solenoid blah blah blah! Lol. Will add photos if someone could tell me how?
I'm also looking for an airbox with good trumpets & seals to stick back on my bike if anyone reading this has a spare