Just balanced carbs, blimey big difference

[Jester7]

Well I just did a carb balance and what a difference it's made to the idle, MUCH smoother. Ordered a set of the Morgan Carbtune Pro gauges the other day, worked great, really easy to use.
The most difficult bit was getting the poxy rubber balancing pipes of the stubs, quite stuck and caused a lot of swearing :smt013
Doing the actual work was real easy, blip the throttle after each adjustment and carry on till all done, adjusting the idle to around 2k as I went.
Basically after balancing the engine was well up to temp, so I set the idle and job done!
I also noticed that to get any really meaningful readout on the gauges the idle need to be set to 2k+ rpm, otherwise it wouldn't really register anything. Something to do with smallish engine therefore little vacuum?

Very impressed with the gauges and the fact I managed to avoid bolloxing anything up.
If anyone round SE London or Kent way needs to borrow the Carbtune feel free, tech advice also supplied!

Oh, and here's an up to date pic of the bike now with new screen and can. R&G bung set on the way, and oil\filters & plugs service being done next weekend...

[RedexRobB]

balancing is really easy once you know how! worst bit has to be adjusting the screws sending the revs up, but i found if you hold the throttle stop down you dont get that problem

[crushedlizard]

Your bike looks mint! Got any more pics of it? I might have to nominate it for next months 'ZXR of the Month'! lol

[liam7200]

i love the look of it to has it been resprayed or just had the vinals tuck off???

[Jester7]

balancing is really easy once you know how! worst bit has to be adjusting the screws sending the revs up, but i found if you hold the throttle stop down you dont get that problem

Yeah I found adjusting the screws made it rev too, spent half a minute thinking I was somehow catching the choke or throttle cables before I cottoned on hehe
Just to put the pressure on it started to rain just as I was making the first adjustments. Thankfully it was just a 5 min light shower, typical though eh!

Your bike looks mint! Got any more pics of it? I might have to nominate it for next months 'ZXR of the Month'! lol

Haha I wouldn't say it's that good! Thanks though, appreciate it. Err there are some older pics here: viewtopic.php?f=32&t=9121
I'll get some more done at some point and put them in the appropriate forum section

i love the look of it to has it been resprayed or just had the vinals tuck off???

Thanks, as far as I can tell from research that's an official if somewhat uncommon standard scheme for the 99 year bikes. I could be wrong, perhaps it's had the decals peeled off but it's certainly the standard panels and paint still on it. Unfortunately my phone camera makes kawasaki green look a bit washed out. I think the black 'ZXR' on the seat panels may of been added later but I believe the rest to be as it left the factory. I'd be interested on hearing more feedback on this.

[RedexRobB]

Thats the standard paint scheme with the stickers taken off

[Jester7]

Thats the standard paint scheme with the stickers taken off

Haha really? I did wonder as the white\green border is in the exact same place! Seen loads like mine on the 'net, all '99 models too so thought it was standard. Logic has failed me! hehe
Not that I care, the paint is in great condition and it looks lush as it is

Speaking of pics, this bike will be taking me to Derby for the first half on next week on business, then onto Sheffield for the remainder of the week to help a mate fix his ZX6r and drink vast quantities of lager. I think I might turn it into a bit of a picture postcard journey, taking snaps as I go (of the bikes, not the beer but you never know eh lol).
I'll also have a lovely 4am start which Im not particularly looking forward to.

[Speedy]

Hi Jester,

Didn't realise there was another Bromley member on here, I'm from by there myself (up near Elmstead Woods) where abouts near Bromley are you? Will have to keep an eye out for your Kwak, it does look pretty clean (although with the milage/year it should be )

Just out of interest, what sympoms were you having that made you want to balance your carbs? I was going to check mine a year or two ago but never got round to it.

[Jester7]

Hi Speedy,
Well not actually Bromley, more Chislehurst but no-one usually knows where it is
Yeah I'm around on it quite a bit so you no doubt will. Should sort something out so you can have a look.

I balanced the carbs as the idle was quite uneven, difficult to set the idle speed and the revs would hang a bit around 1.5-2k before settling down to idle after a few seconds. Both those issues are now gone.
Another problem that didn't get fixed was a slight hesitancy below 4k on more than half throttle, I suspect the carbs may need a clean through, possibly the pilot jet or pilot mixture (still learning proper carb stuff so may be wrong there). I've ruled out air leaks.

[Speedy]

Small world, so you're probably less than 5 mins from me.

I'm sure you'll see mine around, I normally ride from Elmstead Lane all the way through Chiselhurst High Street, up to Orpington to meet my mate on his VFR 750 (Dark Blue F Plate) pretty much every time I take it out.

This isn't mine but similar paint scheme:


(Mine has a green screen, no funky spoiler on the back and silver can with silver rims to the wheels)

Have you tried dumping aload of Redex in there? worked wonders on my old 1.2 Nova about 10 years ago to clean the carb out. You can run it stronger than they reccomend too for really gunked engines. I did the old trick of pouring it down the air intake neat (Redex do reccomend that) presume it would be ok for a multi-carb setup as long as you didn't chuck too much in at a time. I wouldn't pour it down the plug holes like they say to do and leave it to soak though, as the carbon build up in there is needed to some extent on older engines.

It hasn't been jetted has it? I've heard a symptom of the jet kits will cause it to be a bit laggy lower in the revs, mine has always been like that and I've always taken it as a mannerism of the bike and been informed the jet kits will do that (the gain being more power higher in the revs)

[Jester7]

Yeah it is! If that, probably nearer

That's the same scheme my old 750 had, absolutely love it. I'll certainly keep an eye out!

I've chucked a fair load of redex into the tank tonight and run it for a bit to get it in the carbs. I'll get the rest of the bottle through with the next tank or two of petrol and see what it's like in a couple of days.

As far as I can tell it's had the standard pipe and carb settings all it's life. I made a point of checking all the fasteners etc when nosing about the carbs and endcan, I can see no evidence any of it's been disturbed at all. From what I can tell iffy running on the throttle below 4k is either an air leak, carb adjustment or dirty carbs. Pretty much ruled out the 1st two and a carb clean is cheap, sooo...redex, if no better after that then they'll come off. Bearing in mind I have new spark plugs and air filter going in this coming saturday, it may of course be down to a combination of those two being manky. I'll get them sorted before taking the carbs off cos you never know

[Jester7]

Couldn't resist haha:

[mongo]

Yep you`ll need the bike at 2k-4k to balance the carbs properly. As long as you check them at idle once your done also.

Best bet is to take the carbs apart if you are know what you are doing rather than just shoving redex in and clean them out.

Always found every zxr ive owned poor below 4k, and with a full micron system on without being jetted, will have a flat spot unless revved through cleanly at about 3.5k~4k rpm. If you have an aftermarket can on it, it will need to be jetted to suit, so this could be causing your poor running below 4k. No harm in giving it a nice service though. They aint really bikes you want to keep below 10k rpm anyway

[Speedy]

Yep, I'd agree with all of that If there's only a light-medium build up of gunk anywhere in the carbs cleaner seems to shift it, but if it has been sitting for any length of time especially if it has been damp the carbs probably will need a strip down and clean to get all the petrol varnishing out (dark brown cr@p that sticks to everything) It doesn't sound like it's running too far off what it should be like though.

I always find the red arrow white smoke effect is fun when you're putting the Redex in (all though the last time I did it I don't think the neighbours were too pleased, hehe)

[Jester7]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
Mongo, it was doing the slightly cack running below 4k with the std can on too. Can't say it's made any great difference to that with the race can on it.
General consensus is to clean the carbs, havign run a few redex filled tanks through the bike it may now be a little better, but not ideal. Really needs a strip and clean.
Hey-ho, as said keep it above 4k and no problem, can do!