Topic: Terry's Kawasaki ZZR1100 "Bring it back to life" project.

[Killer Canary]

It looks like close kin to the GPz engine; the counter balancer chain on mine made weird noises until I adjusted the tensioner.
May be a consideration.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bobby and Killer, I'm hoping it's something simple, but who knows?

Friday 27th of April 2018:

Tonight after work I'd intended to shove the carbs back on, re-install the plugs, pour some fresh oil into it, and light it up. I dropped the float bowls first, and discovered that after 18 years the carbs really needed cleaning, so I stripped them, blew out all the circuits and dumped all the jets into a jar full of carb cleaner to soak overnight.

I did reinstall the plugs and hit the starter and it turned over fine without any discernible clanking, but I'm not 100% confident that it won't come back once the engine is running. Anyway, it was getting dark, so I packed up and came inside. The weather is supposed to be nice with (hopefully) no rain, so I should have plenty of time to find out why it's been off the road for the last 18 years. Once again, we'll see.    

[ken65]

Good luck Terrance. Fingers crossed.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Ken, the sun is shining outside and it's still a bit cool out there, but I'll have to man up and get out there, I need to see what's up with the big Kwaka.

[spotty]

Look on the bright side, its a nice sunny day and you're not stuck in a shopping centre getting yelled at because nothing fits her...get out there and enjoy mechanical sanity

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Spotty, it was a magnificent day, what I saw of it through tears of frustration.........

Saturday 28th of April 2018:

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis 7 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

I finished cleaning the carbs, the pilot jets had been soaking with all of the small parts in a jar of carb cleaner, but were still plugged. I looked around for something to poke thru 'em, and found that my stainless steel wire brush was ideal. There was one though, that just wouldn't un-plug, so I ended up running a small jet drill through it. I'll need to replace it with a new one eventually, but it'll do for the diagnosis. I replaced the old oil filter and filled the engine with nice fresh oil.

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis 8 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Even though it runs 4 CV carbs, the ZZR has a fuel pump, so it was easy to hook up a "temporary" tank for testing.

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis 9 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

CV carbs are way more sensitive to fluctuations in airflow, so run really lean with no airbox restricting airflow. It didn't matter though, because as soon as I fired it up it rattled/tapped like a rattley/tappey baastard! Hmmnnn. It really does sound like it's coming from under the cam cover, but I watched some youtube vids and one thing I noticed was that I could see if my cam chain tensioner had failed by removing the cover on the left side of the engine.

I removed the cover and buggered the gasket, but no biggie, if the engine has to come apart, I'll be replacing all the gaskets anyway. A little oil dribbled out but I paid it no heed, of course, I should have. The chain looked fine, a little bit of slack on one side but tight as a drum on the tensioner side, so it's not the problem. I thought I'd fire it up with the cover off, and then realised why I shouldn't have, oil everywhere! Fcuk!

ZZR1100 Clanking diagnosis 10 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Oh well, that'll lube the concrete nicely. I wiped a little sealant on the remains of the gasket and stuck it back on, and thought about life for awhile. I saw another vid where the bearing in the alternator had collapsed making a tapping noise, another where a chain that operates the alternator had lost it's tensioner, but I must admit I'm still leaning towards that old ZZR issue, the knackered conrod bearing. I think tomorrow I'll pop the cam cover off and take a peek at the cams etc, but the more I think about it, the more I think I should just drop the engine out, it's heading that way...........      

[ofreen]

because as soon as I fired it up it rattled/tapped like a rattley/tappey baastard! Hmmnnn....... but I must admit I'm still leaning towards that old ZZR issue, the knackered conrod bearing.

You've got the suspense building for sure.  Could you leave it running long enough to put a stethoscope on it or an ear to a steel rod to probe around to try to narrow down the source of the noise?  Can you feel anything with a hand on the engine that coincides with the noise?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Greg, to be honest I'm too scared to leave it running more than a few seconds at a time, ZZR/ZX11's have a nasty habit of throwing rods out their blocks, but I did the "ear to the screwdriver" trick for a moment on the cam cover, and it seemed noisiest (and believe me, it's noisy, louder than the engine) right above #3 cylinder.

I had pizza last night, and I shouldn't have. Pizza at night always guarantees me a bad night's sleep, but that in turn gives me plenty of time to think, whether I want to or not. I've decided to just bite the bullet and pull the engine. More later, stay tuned!

[Terry in Australia]

Sunday 29th of April 2018:

Before I started stripping the big black girl, I thought I better pull the 1969 CB750K0 cases out of the back of my car. They've been sitting there since I collected them a week or so ago, as I was worried about getting them dirty, or wet. I decided that my industrial oven was the best place to store them , but first it needed cleaning, so I scrubbed it out, dried it, then put the cases in. I've got all the outer covers getting blasted as I type this, and once the ZZR is done, I'll start a build thread.

Terry's Blasted K0 engine by terry prendergast, on Flickr

I did take the cam cover off, but sadly, eveything was perfect. Damn.

ZZR1100 Strip Show 4 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

I dropped the fresh oil out, and even though it's hard to see with the yellow background, there was more silver bits in there, and some gold bits too. Good, at least I think I'm headed in the right direction.

ZZR1100 Strip Show 3 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

The fairing has to come off to get to various bits, but it turned out to be pretty easy to remove, as did the radiator, oil cooler, exhaust, etc. Actually it'll be good to have all that stuff out of the way when I rebuild the front brake master cylinder, and replace the fork seals.

ZZR1100 Strip Show 5 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Check these out, 2 piece header clamps, what a great idea!

ZZR1100 Strip Show 7 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Speaking of exhaust, I removed the right muffler, the bracket for the left muffler, then the fancy header clamp, and everything came away nicely. Because bad luck is my middle name, I was jiggling the headers out of the way of the engine when I managed to crush my thumb between the exhaust and the engine, and tear away a chunk of flesh. Fcuk! I flipped the flap back into place, and fashioned another home made band-aid.

ZZR1100 Strip Show mortal wound by terry prendergast, on Flickr

ZZR1100 Strip Show mortal wound repair by terry prendergast, on Flickr

It was about this time that I decided that I'd done enough for one day, so put the cover back over it, poured myself a large drink, swallowed down a handful of Advil, and jumped into the rain box. Monday tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get some more done after work. I better go order that gasket set, I'm gonna need it....................

 Leo the bathroom lion by terry prendergast, on Flickr

[ken65]

Ouch. Those little nicks hurt.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Ken, I bravely strode back outside after work today to continue removing anything that looks like it needs removing, so I can drop the engine out without doing any more damage to my poor old bod. The front down tubes are bolted in, so I unbolted one side then realised that once I removed the other side there was only one bolt holding the heavy arsed engine in place, so decided to come inside and consult the manual before I drop it on my foot.

I came inside, washed up and changed my dressing. My thumb's as black as a ZZR1100 and I reckon the nail will fall off shortly, but I'll live to fight another day and get this bike done, I'm really hoping to have the engine out and fixed then back together before the weather turns to sh1t, although it'll still be a nice winter rider, it reminds me of my old FJ1200, ironically.

Terry's Fcuked thumb by terry prendergast, on Flickr   

[BobbyR]

Looks bad, probably feels worse.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bobby, it stopped hurting about midnight, so either it's dead, or the codeine has kicked in. Either way, I'm happy. I checked the manual for the first time last night and it looks like I've disconnected everything I had to, prior to pulling the engine, so if I'm feeling particularly energetic tonight after work, I'll "whip it out"..........

[cb750k7]

Hi Terry,
Find a friendly dentist,  and ask for some manual  dental drills.   They come in various sizes. (to clear the clogged jets)
I'll try to attach a photo….
Cheers

[jgger]

Probably too late to drill his thumb nail. I think it should be done in the first 24 hours to relieve the pressure.

Dental drills are a great idea though. I have heard a paper clip bent and heated works too.

[cb750k7]

Probably too late to drill his thumb nail. I think it should be done in the first 24 hours to relieve the pressure.

Dental drills are a great idea though. I have heard a paper clip bent and heated works too.

I meant to use it to drill the Carb Jets  :-)  :-)

[mrbreeze]

Probably too late to drill his thumb nail. I think it should be done in the first 24 hours to relieve the pressure.

Dental drills are a great idea though. I have heard a paper clip bent and heated works too.

I had to do that back in the late 70's. I slammed the driver door in a big rig on my thumb and boy did it hurt! I had a roommate that had a real small drill press at work for doing work on circuit boards. We went down to his job and drilled into my thumbnail. As soon as the bit went through it shot out a fountain of blood which made me twitch and break off the bit still stuck in my nail. The relief I felt was immediate but it was throbbing again a couple of days later. This time I went to the doc and he took a paper clip and heated it up on a bunson burner. He melted into my nail but this time there was no blood coming out so I had to take pain pills for a few days until it healed. Good times man!!......not!

[Terry in Australia]

Hi Terry,
Find a friendly dentist,  and ask for some manual  dental drills.   They come in various sizes. (to clear the clogged jets)
I'll try to attach a photo….
Cheers

G'Day Jona, how are things in Haifa mate? Thanks for the tip on dental drills, I'll check them out!

[Terry in Australia]

And thanks for the sympathy everyone else, the throbbing stopped after a couple of days, but I imagine the nail will eventually fall off, like the one on my other finger did when I squashed it a year or so ago. I've got just about all the bolts out, wires and hoses unhooked etc so, on Sunday when I get back from visiting my old ma, I'll whip that sucka out, and see what's kept it off the road since 2000. Should be interesting!  

[BobbyR]

Hi Terry,
Find a friendly dentist,  and ask for some manual  dental drills.   They come in various sizes. (to clear the clogged jets)
I'll try to attach a photo….
Cheers

G'Day Jona, how are things in Haifa mate? Thanks for the tip on dental drills, I'll check them out!

Those are actually dental files used for root canals. I know them well. 

[754]

Its a reamer they use for cleaning out the roots, they used all the length of 20mm ones on me.
 The dentist let me look at them, amazingly flexible, look like tiny fencing foils with ridges on them..

[Terry in Australia]

Sunday 6 May 2018:

Well only three or four weeks until winter. Poop. The nights are getting longer, it's definitely getting cooler, so it's time to move the ZZR engine rebuild project into the relative comfort of the patio. Before I could drop the engine, I had to remove the chain. After discovering that it's an endless chain, and fcuking around for an hour with my rattle gun on the sprocket nut, I was inspired to whip out my beaut Dewalt cordless angle grinder and lop that sucka off.

Dewalt Chain Breaker by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Dewalt Chain Breaker 1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

The chain actually looks very new, as do the sprockets, so at least that's one thing I won't need to replace. I wonder if I could MIG those links back together?

The whole bottom cradle unbolts, so once the front mounts (with their rubber bushes) are removed, 4 allen bolts on either side are removed and the whole cradle drops out, making it simple to wheel your bike jack in underneath, to support the engine while you remove the last two rear engine mounting bolts.

ZZR1100 engine removal by terry prendergast, on Flickr

And it's out!

ZZR1100 engine removal 2 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

I hooked up my ex-hospital body lifter and wheeled the victim up to the patio.

ZZR1100 engine removal 5 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

ZZR1100 engine removal 7 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

And set it down. As you can see in the pic, they have a big "sump plate" that pretty much covers the whole bottom of the engine, with a deep sump well, so you can't sit them up straight, but tomorrow I'll drop that plate off and hopefully I'll be able to see what's going on with that journal.

ZZR1100 engine removal 9 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

Back in 1999, I swapped a complete running Suzuki GT750J for a ZZR1100 front end, if only I'd known that a few years later I could buy a complete ZZR1100 for 1000 bucks ($760 USD) and a GT750J is almost unobtainium now, I would never have done the deal...........

ZZR1100 engine removal 10 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

 

[spotty]

has mrs terry worked out this is a new toy yet ?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Spotty, nope, when there's 14 bikes located in 3 different places, she sees a different bike every couple of weeks as I pull one out to go for a ride or do some maint, so thankfully, she's none the wiser.............

[BobbyR]

Thanks Spotty, nope, when there's 14 bikes located in 3 different places, she sees a different bike every couple of weeks as I pull one out to go for a ride or do some maint, so thankfully, she's none the wiser.............

You are the Houdini of the bike world!