Got GM running again after huge problems starting
My friend came by with with his truck to tow Green Magic north to his home workspace, confident we’d get it running whereas I was not.
Turns out, he figured out no fuel was going thru the system at all. Well, I did know and show him fuel would easily gush out of the petcock at ‘on’ or ‘reserve’ setting.
But the fuel would not enter the system. Some sort of like reverse vacuum.
Taking off the tank, I find the fuel pump dry, the lines to the pump empty and the fuel line to the carbs empty.
Had just before drained the carbs of ‘bad fuel’ or ‘water in the fuel’ idea, but there was hardly any fuel to drain in the carbs – not normal!
We manually filled the hose to the fuel pump with fuel. Then hit the starter, my friend put his thumb over the end of the fuel line to the pump and could (now) feel suction.
Re- hooked it back up and GM fired up near instantly!
So we know the issue was, and how to fix it. But the cause… that’s unknown for sure right now.
I know there are some minor fuel leaks, where hose clamps are missing and around the fuel pump was wet with fuel.
Maybe given enough time sitting, 3+ weeks will do, 5 months is so much worse, the fuel gradually gravity drains down to the pump area where it very very slowly leaks / drips out. and mostly evaporates.
Then the system has trouble priming with fuel again when empty. Clearly this last part is true.
Why? Maybe the pump is weak / malfunctioning?
I need to look all these possibilities up (about the pump function and failures).
Posted in repair by green
Ride after work – checking property and joyride
Riding after work. Looped out towards Half Moon Bay and 92 up to Skyline south.
Looked at a few pieces of land for sale. Looked at an interesting spot in La Honda.
I really like that out of the way location.
Posted in Uncategorized by green
Mines Road run Mt Hamilton whole circuit!
Just did the fantastic Mines Road run today. What a treasure this road is, amazing!
It felt like another world out there.
Parts of it felt like the greater LA mountains, like the drive up to Big Bear and Snow Summit and around that area.
One small rear tire slip a inch or two, not a big deal today.
Drove fairly conservative, just enjoying the scenery.
It was hot on the Mines Road side of the mountain I will say that.
I thought “The Junction” bar grill looked pretty cool to check out another time.
About 160 miles altogether.
Just after the Junction area was some pretty straight roadway. I scoped it out and then did 3 blast down it. First Pass, 95 mph, which felt very fast on this small road. 2nd pass, 105 mph. 3rd pass 120.
It was pretty crazy feeling.
Even the pavement was odd colored in spots, just after the Santa Clara line. A blueish grey sparkly color. Very little houses or ranches along the whole road.
Was a gorgeous ride, I will definitely do this one again (and again).
Posted in Touring and tagged Mt. Hamilton by green
Mines Road mile 17, Delvalle Park, Palomares
Did a great 150 mile joyride today.
I went down Palomares Canyon after the 100+ turns on Redwood and stopped by two wineries for pics. A guy who worked at one that was closed was really nice and walked down to the gate and chatted me up for a bit and told me about their September black and white horror movie tradition there. Hoping to catch one this year.
Rode down to Calavares and had intended to do that road, but it turns out it’s closed for the next 18 months M-F for work on the dam. So had to double back and rack my brain where to go ride. I remembered a wrong turn once over a short stunningly beautiful pass and then back down to a park.
I finally figured it was a wrong turn off Mines Road and headed over that way up 84. Sheesh the commuter hour traffic was awful although I enjoyed bobbing and weaving behind a standard adventure bike.
Finally got onto Mines around away from the crazies, and was loving it.
Delvalle park was late enough to drive right into and check it out. West Beach area seems nice to return to one day for a BBQ / swim.
Then I rode back to the Mines Road turnoff and up that beautiful road to mile marker 17.
mile 17 marker where I turned back around:
I was battling time and fuel. My tank was on ‘E’ and I was 12 miles past switching to reserve when I turned back towards Livermore.
At one point I was so worried about fuel and making my night flight that I shut off the motor and coasted a couple miles down the pass. I made it to downtown Livermore and filled up.
Then I got asked to work another day out west… so I wound up not taking that flight after all!
Was getting cold anyway, and a cold ride back to Oakland awaited me. I picked up Champa Gardens take out for 3 of us and stashed it in my tank bag and brought it up the hill.
Mines Road really charmed me today. I’m going to spend a bunch more time riding that road now.
I did have one slide on the way out – which was pretty ridiculous as I was putt-putting along going slow to conserve fuel.
Posted in Uncategorized by green
Dumping fuel thoughts. And none.
Well.
About 6 times or so, maybe more, GM has dumped fuel pouring out the carbs on startup.
Tends to near always happen after sitting awhile like a month or longer.
Start up is hard, multiple attempts and then fuel pours out and pools on the ground.
Two days ago I tried to re-start GM and three separate cycles it poured out fuel.
Fuel tap can be on, key off and no leaks. But with fuel pumping after startup it pours.
After third attempt I cut the petcock supply to “off” and ran motor until leaks stopped. I let it sit in the shade then for several hours. Came back and on fourth attempt it ran Great with no leaks! Great yes, but vexing why.
I don’t understand if the gaskets dry out, or the float needles get sticky and stick open or if the float bowls themselves get stuck. I think not.
Posted in repair by green
Morgan Territories run to Jaguar E Type!!
Rode the long way to work via the Morgan Territories loop. Which is always gorgeous.
Got some fuel and then stopped in Clayton’s cute downtown and got a cup of coffee to start the day. It was a beautiful day out and nice to sip the coffee seated outside. Needed a coffee after several margaritas late last night.
And then I got to drive my favorite car again – a 1964 Jaguar E Type convertible (XK-E). Wow is that car sweet!
Amazing. Gorgeous. Sexy, brutally fast. (60s metric)
Posted in Uncategorized by green
Had to rig up 12V hot to power headlight out. Ride home at dark.
Headlight still kerfluey. I lost the high beam about 7-8 weeks ago, but the low beam had been working. Now back to the bike, both my headlights are out and rode to work as I wasn’t expecting to work after dark, but I did.
Put in replacement headlight early in day at work and the new known working bulb did not work on high or low beam. Shit. Not good.
Disassembled the left handgrip. All contacts look very good. No trouble spotted there at all.
Then I lost the small ball bearing into the bike somewhere. Grrr. Whatever. No biggie.
Here’s where it gets interesting:
Mechanic I worked w yesterday (I was living the dream – rocketing around a 1964 jaguar E Type!!!)
Had some crazy tool. Electrical type. Never seen one before. Not a multimeter. (It was a power probe).
Anyway he attached one lead directly to my battery post and then could instantly test all the circuits by touching each the top of each fuse WITH ignition off and activate each circuit!
So he told me my replacement headlight worked fine. We saw it light up.
Then he probed the 3 way switch handle grip headlight at the solder points individually and could then tell me the white/red lead was low beam one of other was high beam as they each activated the light.
He said I should just wire a 12V hot wire to either solder point. Actually he wanted me to cut the wire and twist a new lead together. He had done a 13hr day w me and had to go then.
So I decided to dumpster dive their dumpster and easily found a bunch of old scrap wiring. I cut up a lead and wrapped it around the solder post of the handgrip switch lo beam and reused some electrical tape to try to insulate it.
Used the 12V ACC connection that comes from under the seat that I had rigged up a connection to by the front gauges to a cigarette lighter adaptor that I used for moto camping to power GPS, my iPhone, and Nikon batteries if needed.
So I unplugged that connector and jammed the lead into the long vertical lead and voila! Low headlight!
Mechanic said for some reason the handle grip switch is NOT getting 12VDC power and that’s my headlight issue.
So would this be an ignition key / area contact / wire that is suspect?
Biked after dark after driving E Type w the crazy wiring at 80-85mph on highway and she worked great for 40 miles! But only temporary solution and I have to manually plug / unplug wire for headlight as the ACC circuit is always hot even without the key in and bike off.
Posted in repair by green
Just re-wired the charging system. 2nd Regulator / rectifier unit replacement
I’ve had charging issues with Green Magic. Recall that was the first major problem of this bike, it would eat batteries.
I’ve cut out crispy wires and trimmed back charred wires that hook into the regulator / rectifier unit now twice. Both times I got some good life out of the charging unit – the first time I swapped in a low mileage ZR7S R/R unit.
The second repair job last year I cut back the wires again, but I knew it was only a matter of time…
The final day I was out west again, the bike was not charging riding and about to die soon I could easily tell. I throttled the bike at high rpms back home. And parked it and drove the van that day and flew east the next day.
6 weeks later I got back to the bike and took of the rear left panel, expecting to see fried wires at the R/R again. Which I did find. BUT, this time I also found a melted stator to regulator wires connector. That’s new and bad.
So I rounded up some new wire connectors and cut up some brand new THHN stranded 10 gauge wire and ran them from the stator connection all the way to the R/R and put new connectors into the plastic 6 pin clip there as well.
I cut back the 3 yellow stator wires a little bit and put on new connectors there and connected to the new 10 gauge wires.
I also installed a low miles ZR7S R/R unit, the same Shindegen Shunt unit from a different Kawasaki. I found it on fleabay for $13 shipped and couldn’t say no to that!
Result? Green Magic fired up (Although grumpily after sitting for 6 weeks with a weak battery. I had to push it up the hill to the crest and then bump start it down the hill after 3 sessions of trying to battery start.)
It ran rough for several minutes, but when it warmed up it ran strong and great!
A few days later I took it on a 80 mile run and it was great. I hope this solves the charging issues for a long time!
Posted in repair, Uncategorized and tagged Kawasaki, Ninja, regulator, ZX-6, Zx6e, zzr, zzr600 by green
Half Moon Bay Pescadero mini tour
Had a short day at work and got to blaze out the door with Green Magic!
It was a beautiful day.
Creepy abandoned or semi abandoned cabins found on creepy old dirt road.
Posted in repair, Uncategorized by green
New tires installed! New chain and sprocket too!
Mileage: 62470
Just finished installing my 3rd set of tires. This time I got to use a friend’s pro tire machine. It was awesome! Both done in under 30 minutes. I never used a machine before it was pretty easy.
Airing up to set the bead was pretty simple too – a first for GM wheels which have been super hard to set in the past.
Next day I struggled trying to get the chain master link rivet style to install without the proper tools. Lots of swearing and help from friends… finally used a small socket and a C clamp that had to be borrowed as I just broke my own one trying to do the same thing.
Pressed in the pins through the plate, and then used a very tapered punch with a small anvil behind the chain and punched in / deformed the master link pins.
Was a huge relief to have that done!
Now I can go ride GM without being terrified the chain would snap and take me out or go through the cases and blow my engine. Been a nerve wracking few months here.
The SunStar aluminum rear 46 tooth sprocket was so much lighter than the all steel JT 48 tooth sprocket I put in. Incidentally, this is the first time I’ve ever ridden a ZX6E with the stock sprocket setup 16/48 teeth. GM came with a 46T on the rear.
Beautiful new JT gold X Ring chain. Hoping this setup lasts a long time!
Rode out today and my steering was completely messed up. Something was definitely wrong. Well, after hwy at 70 mph and 102 turns in the mountains I got to the destination and by this point knew my front tire was real low.
How low can you go? 6 psi front, 20 psi rear. Not good. I had no way to fill the air up last night – racing to get it done with borrowed tools.
“how fast can you change your tires with the machine?” (Me): “Uh… like, maybe 20 minutes (I had no idea – never used a machine!).
It’s all good today though. Looking forward to return trip with proper inflated tires!
Here’s the chain a few months on – and the hand bashed in master link:
Posted in repair by green