Motorbike project - progress!

[Mad Dave]

You may remember from my earlier thread, im trying to breathe new life into an old '82 Kwak KL250.

Well ive got progress!! Ive got a spark at the plug and got it chuntering and trying to start when i kick it over. Im assuming its not starting because theres no fuel in it! I poured a small splash of Unleaded into the cylinder and kicked it over - it caught and died again, as you'd expect! Hopefully all the fuel lines and jets etc are clear and itll work once its got some fuel in the tank. Im assuming its 4* so now ive got to find somewhere that sells it!

Thanks for all the help guys.

Dave

[yiw1393]

Unleaded will be fine for it. I had a Suzuki of the same vintage - The handbook said to only use unleaded! That was at a time when unleaded was like rocking horse manure.

Remember most of the Jap bikes went to the states, where unleaded was king long before here.

[Mad Dave]

Aha - lets hope so Thanks.

[XM5ER]

All jap bikes from the seventies onwards could run on unleaded IIRC.

[Mad Dave]

Thanks a lot. Ill give it a try.

BTW Whats the likelihood of the jets and fuel lines all being blocked? The bike has been stood unused in someones garage since Dec' 2000.

If theyre blocked, what the hell do i do to sort them?!

Cheers

Dave

[Incorrigible]

Mad Dave said:

If theyre blocked, what the hell do i do to sort them?!

1. Take the carb to bits
2. Put the carb back together

Although you'll probably only need to drop the float chamber off. Turn the fuel on (with the bottom of the float removed) and fuel shoudl piss out everywhere

The main jet IIRC should be up the middle of the float chamber, check this for gunk, clean with a bit of carb cleaner re-assemble and Robert's your Auntie's live in lover

[Mad Dave]

Cheers mate, much appreciated. Ill fill her up this evening and see if she starts! If not, ill have to get the spanners out

I quite enjoy tinkering with these kind of things, but at the moment its bloody cold and i dont have a garage! Also, my work area (parents patio) is pretty poorly lit, so im restricted to weekends and lunch hours (i live really close to work). Plus, its my first bike so i just want to be out there riding it

Thanks for all the help - fingers crossed nothings blocked.

[yiw1393]

Fuel it up, fire it up and leave it ticking over for a while. That should clear the crap out. If you do take the carb to bits, you will need to get a gasket set for it first! Otherwise you will end up with fuel leaks eveywhere. The gasket around the float bowl will definitely disintergrate.

[Mad Dave]

Once its running, i intend to leave it ticking over for a few minutes to warm the old oil up a little, then ill drop all the old oil out and replace with nice fresh stuff. Im not actually sure how much to put in though - i couldnt see any kind of dipstick anywhere (apart from me! )

[yiw1393]

I might well be wrong, but I think the dipstick is on the underside of the filler cap (i.e. filler cap and dipstick all in one)

[TheExcession]

Dave,

If its been stood for that long I'd strongly recomend an oil and filter change, not too so critical on a 2 stroker but on a four these old engines are real prone to oil starvation on the cams.

Kick it over lots and lots and lots and lots before you try to run it for real to make sure plenty of oil has made it up into the cam journals.

When you finally get it running keep a good eye on the oil level - old Jap singles from the 80s are notorious for burning oil. Even heard of a few that need the best part of a litre of oil per tank of fuel!

Carbs on these babies are a piece of p1ss to strip and clean, but likely all the fuel has dried away so what you may need to do is turn on the fuel tap and perhaps give the float bowl on the bottom of the carb a bit of a tap with a hammer. I've had to do this on old bikes where the needle valve on the float bowl has stuck.

Finally, do make sure the brakes work - I'm sure you wouldn't be the first (or the last) to spark up their rebuild only to get to the end of the road and go straight on into a wall!

Good effort and hope it all goes well - its the perfect time of the year to get into biking

best
Ex

[Incorrigible]

yiw1393 said:

I might well be wrong, but I think the dipstick is on the underside of the filler cap (i.e. filler cap and dipstick all in one)

as for the float bowl, you may be right but the ones I've seen have been rubber so they're designed to be taken apart and put back together

[Mad Dave]

Hmm, i thought the filler cap was the thing next to the kick start, with 10w40 stamped on it. Theres no dipstick on it!

Apparently this bike smoked like hell anyway. Ive kicked over the bike lots already - largely just trying to get it to start

[Incorrigible]

if the oil filler cap hasn't got a dangly end (sorry can't think of a better way to describe it) about 2-3 inches long, has it got a sight glass a few inches off the bottom of the engine

>> just looked at the pic in your last thread, the grey filler cap should almost certainly have the dipstick attached

>> Edited by Incorrigible on Monday 8th December 16:10

[Mad Dave]

This thing:



Theres definately not a dipstick on the underside of that, sadly. Is that definately the filler cap? Its got 10w40 stamped on it...

[TheExcession]

Mad Dave said:

Hmm, i thought the filler cap was the thing next to the kick start, with 10w40 stamped on it. Theres no dipstick on it!

Yep, thats definately the filler cap, likely hood is that there will be a small round sight glass some where on the engine casing for the oil level. Could be the oil is so black and the case is over filled that you can't immediately spot it against the casing

Mad Dave said:

Apparently this bike smoked like hell anyway. Ive kicked over the bike lots already - largely just trying to get it to start

I had an old Kwak 250 borrowed for a while whilst my main bike was having a rebuild. We used to call it the Bat Bike coz you could lay a smoke screen that would cover the entire road just but giving a good twist on the throttle. It was totally embarassing to ride but was my only form of transport to get to and from work for about a month.


When you get it running a real good tip is to take a long screw driver and stick the handle end against your ear, then push the sharp end against the engine at various places. Plug your other ear with a finger and you'll be able to hear any wear in the engine.

Try level with the end of the crank, level with the pistons and on the end of the cams, any imminent problems will be readily audible.

best
Ex

Ex

[Incorrigible]

Mad Dave said:

Theres definately not a dipstick on the underside of that, sadly. Is that definately the filler cap? Its got 10w40 stamped on it...

yep thats the filler cap, the dipstick is usually ONLY A FEW INCHES LONG on the bottom of that

Any chance of a photo of the just the bottom half of the engine, if there is a sight glass it will be on the same side

[Mad Dave]

Ill take a piccie this evening if theres enough light - if not, itll be tomorrow morning or lunchtime.

Thanks for all the help guys

[TheExcession]

Mad Dave said:

This thing: Theres definately not a dipstick on the underside of that, sadly. Is that definately the filler cap? Its got 10w40 stamped on it...

No way will there be a little dip stick on that filler cap - it would have to reach all the way across the clutch - tho some bikes do have a long dip stick stuck onto the cap.

More likely there will be a sight glass somewhere - it'll be a little window about the size of a 50p piece.

[Mad Dave]

Hey guys,

Well i got it running!

It backfires like hell when you blip the throttle (although thats getting less and less) and kicks out black smoke all over the place - my parents patio/house wall/kitchen floor has black spots all over it! It seems to run ok with the choke on full, but if i push it in the bike dies. Today i left it running for a few minutes to warm the oil, and then did an oil change - only about half a litre came out (approx.) but ive put almost a litre back in - theres a sight glass, but it doesnt seem to tell me an awful lot - nothing seemed to change on it! By the filler cap theres a plate, on it is stamped 'Oil 1.50 c' (it looks a bit like a C with a diagonal line through it?!) Does anyone know how much that is?!

I cant believe how noisy the thing is though - very very loud! Its not running reliably yet - starts after about 10 goes, but i had it running a minute ago, just before the oil change, and it stalled after a few minutes because i tried pushing the choke in. It now refuses to fire again. Im assuming its flooded.

I managed to get it to move forward slowly in first - but it didnt want to stop! Next job then

Thanks for all the help guys - cant believe ive got it running

Dave