Playing Catch Up

It's been a while since I wrote up the bike blog.
Between then and now lots of things have happened.
We have been to the UK for a family visit, see the travel blog for that info.
Norm's Travels

OK, the big news is that the Kawasaki has been kicking our ass.
Normally we can sort problems in no more than two weeks working on them part time.
With the Kawasaki, it's been close to a month and only minimal progress.

The bike starts fine, but then the problems begin.

This is a record of our attempts so far:

Kawasaki Concours

What we know.

1)The engine starts and runs.

2) The engine RPM will increase correctly but not return to idle at the correct rate.

3)  If a combustible liquid is sprayed over the carburetor boots the engine RPM will increase.

What we have done so far.

1) Carbs have been checked and are clean. All orifices are clear .

2) The diaphragm and slide have been changed in one carb.

3) The idle needle has been changed in one carb.

4) All of the intake boots between the carbs and cylinders have been checked and look to be sound.

5) The throttle and choke linkages have been checked and appear to be correct.

6) All CARB required components have been connected and made no improvement.

7) The screws in the intake boot clamps have been replace to allow for better tightening.

What to try next.

1) Install new rubber boots on the carb to cylinder connections.

2) Connect the sync tool and compare readings across all four carbs.

We have installed new rubber boots, and attached the sync tool.

A new problem appeared.

When carrying out these tests, we use a temporary fuel tank which holds about a quart of gasoline.

That's about 0.94 liters of petrol for those on the other side of the pond who like those French measurements.

We were doing a bit of head scratching with the motor running when we noticed that the temporary tank was empty. Just then the motor stopped, it was not like it ran out of gas, it just stopped dead.

When we tried to crank it again, it was apparent that it was locked up. We looked at each other with that "Oh Shit" look.

Just to be sure we took out the plugs and tried turning overt the motor with the rear wheel. 

No luck.

After a quick battery charge we tried the starter again, this time the motor turned over and blew a quart of gas out of the #4 spark plug hole. It was a bit like "Thar She Blows" and an oil well strike, Rick and I were both covered in gas.

Fortunately we get to work outside, so the gasoline smell evaporated pretty quickly.

Tosca was singularly unimpressed.

This is how you can tell that we are struggling,  Rick has his hat on backwards and is reading the instructions!

The #4 carb was removed and a new float and needle was installed.

Once new plugs were fitted, we tried again. The bike fired right up so we went into the carb sync routine.

After a few minutes, it was running better than we had ever seen it.

I packed up my tent (metaphorically speaking) and headed for the beach.

A couple of hours later, I got a call.

"Back to square one"

With the tank installed and some CARB shit hooked up it  would not return to idle as it should.

More on this debacle following my next visit to Sheddington North.

The next post, tomorrow I hope, will detail some progress with the Panther.

Norm