Low Budget Purple Project

Got a customizing or restoration project? Discuss it here

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Off Road
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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1366 Post by Off Road » Sat Jun 09, 2018 10:20 pm

I figured I’d do a couple of heat cycles on the new engine before taking it on the road.
Due to an ignition issue, I put 5 or 6 heat cycles on the engine.
Pulled the plugs to have a look, and oil was literally dripping off them. :smt012

With the ignition issue sort of solved, I did a couple of laps of a 2 km loop around my house that included a steep 2nd gear uphill climb.
Then a couple of laps of a 4 km loop that had a spot to open it up in 3rd and 4th gear.
Then a few laps of a 6 km loop that had a really long 4th gear uphill section and a 2 km section at highway speeds.

I put 30 km on the bike riding around town and then took it home and looked it over.
Nothing was leaking, so I went for a 70 km ride out of the city.
Checked the plugs when I got home, and the good news is that they didn’t have any excess oil on them, but they were as black as a piece of coal.

There was no way these plugs were ever going to tell me anything useful about what was happening inside the motor.
However, my but dyno told me that the motor was a bit lean on the pilot, and was too rich between 4000 and 6000 rpm, when it was on the needle.
It started to clear out at 6000 rpm, and it was pulling pretty well at 7500 rpm, when the rev limiter kicked in and shut everything down.
I didn’t want to lean out the jetting until I had some more miles on it, so I installed a set of the hotter BR8ES plugs.

I put another 150 km on the motor and pulled the plugs again.
They’re a dark brown, which is what I expected from a motor that’s running too rich.

So far the coolant temperature has been great. It has been running at a steady 80*C
The exhaust gas temperatures are reading higher than my stock bike at an idle.
Once the bike is moving, the EGT’s are lower than my stock motor with the Toomey pipes.
At 5500 rpm the EGT on the stroker motor is 25* to 30*C colder that the stock engine.
The max. temps that I’ve recorded so far are 550*C for the Left cylinder, and 587*C for the Right.

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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1367 Post by Off Road » Sat Jun 09, 2018 10:21 pm

Last night we put it on the dyno and did a couple of runs.
I wasn’t going for maximum HP, I was mainly interested in seeing how rich it was running on the needle.

From 4000 to 6500 rpm, the graph of the air/fuel ratio is a flat line down at 12:1.
At 7000 rpm, as the engine comes on the pipe, the air/fuel ratio comes up to 13:1.
At 7500 rpm the air/fuel is close to 14:1, which is a tad on the lean side

The next step in the plan is as follows:

- Go up 2 sizes on the MJ, from a 430 to a 450.
- Remove the washer from under the needle clip and leave the clip in position 4
- Leave the ignition curve retarded 2* from stock
- Increase the rev limiter to 8500 rpm
- Install a new set of BR8ES plugs
- Ride it for another 100 or 150 km and then put it back on the dyno.




And in case anyone was wondering, the engine made an underwhelming 38.75 HP and 27.55 ft/lb torque at 7500 rpm.
Naturally, I’d have like to see bigger numbers, but this is what you get on a motor that has too much gas and not enough advance.

Seeing these numbers reminded me of 2 of my favorite quotes from Gordon Jennings.


“Finally, with experience you'll learn to give your very close attention to all aspects of the mundane task of selecting jets and plugs, and spark timing,
because in these things you ultimately succeed or fail as a tune
r; all the rest is mere mathematics, surgery and wrench-twirling.”

“No greater futility exists than to invest heavily of one's time and money in building an engine with mirror-smooth ports, the best available pistons, rings, etc.,
and then approach the problems of carburetion and ignition armed only with enthusiasm.
It is an observable fact that some inherently mediocre engines have been made to prevail in racing simply because the men charged with selecting jetting and spark timing knew their business,
but never in the history of the sport has there been an engine so splendid in its internal arrangement that a tuner's ineptitude could not render it entirely ineffectual.”

hondaror
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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1368 Post by hondaror » Sun Jun 10, 2018 4:38 am

Thanks Steve. Walk ways are like go cart tracks. So much fun on an RZ. How would you rate the 385?
Thus far?
Rory
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Off Road
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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1369 Post by Off Road » Tue Dec 08, 2020 2:44 am

In my part of Canada, the best riding days are in June, July and August.

September could be nice, or not. It’s not uncommon to see significant amounts Snow.
The good news is that the early snowfalls don’t stick around. It may take a couple of days, or a couple of weeks, but it does melt and go away.

In October, there aren’t a lot of really good riding days. The temperature routinely drops below freezing at night and any water on the roads, turns to ice
So even on the nice days, you have to be really carfare when the road looks wet.

November sucks. The daily high temperatures are barely above freezing.
Riding days are few and far between.

I rode to work on November 6/20 and according to the weather forecast it was going to be the last nice day for at least a week.
They were predicting high temperatures well below freezing, and lots of snow.
And they were right.
We had crappy weather for a week, but it’s been clear and sunny for the last couple of weeks.
Near the end of last week, it was really warm. Daily highs of 10, 12, and 16*C (50, 54, and 61*F).
On Saturday, the temperature was supposed to go up to 12*C. I couldn’t resist any longer, and rode the bike to work.

Damn, it felt good to twist the throttle and hear the bike scream. I really miss that.
And as far as I can remember, this is the first time that I ever rode a bike in December.

(FYI. In the December picture, all the white stuff that you see in the middle of the wide open parking lot is ice.)
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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1370 Post by Off Road » Tue Dec 08, 2020 2:45 am

The temperature did get up to 12*C (54*F) on Saturday, but that was only for a short amount of time.
The hourly temperate for the day looked like this:

7*C at 10 AM on my way to work
10*C at 1 PM
12*C at 2 PM
8*C at 4 PM (quitting time)
5*C (41*F) when I left the shop heading home.

On the way home, as I’m approaching an intersection, the light turns yellow.
The car in front of me, and the car beside me, both accelerate and race through the intersection.
I cautiously brake and come to a safe and complete stop.
Because, when the light does turn green, I’d much rather be at the front of the line, with nothing but a clear road in front of me. :smt003 :

The light turns green and I start to ease forward into the intersection.
A truck approaching from the Right runs the red light and makes a Right hand turn into my lane.
Not a big deal, it’s a big intersection (2 lanes of traffic in each direction), he was still 50’ away from me and I was barely moving.
I idle along and by the time I got through the intersection, the truck in front of me was on the brakes and making a Right hand turn into the ally.

I ease off the throttle and coast along, he finishes his turn, and as I go past him, I get back into the throttle.
Engine starts revving, 4000, 5000, 6000, 7000, maybe 7500 or 8000 (can’t say for sure how fast it was revving, because, I wasn’t looking at the tach,
I was accelerating quickly, and all my attention was on the city streets in front of me.

But somewhere around 7500 or 8000 rpm the bike started pulling a wheelie.

I was thinking, “Holy crap a roll-on power wheelie. “This doesn’t happen every day”. I like it.

Unfortunately, what I should have been thinking was, “The front wheel is coming up really fast, you should ease off the throttle a bit”.

By the time I did have this thought, it was way too late to just “ease off the throttle”.
I went into panic mode and chopped the throttle.
The front wheel slammed to the ground.
I shifted to 2nd and let out the clutch, but the revs were to low and the bike just stuttered a bit.
Ran in the clutch, gave it too much gas, let out the clutch and the bike lurched forward.
It wasn’t pretty. :smt009
I can just imagine what the people in the car behind me were thinking. [smilie=putz6wa.gif]

So, maybe it’s the altitude where I live (3500’)
Or, maybe my other RZ’s are just slugs.
Or, maybe I’m just not a very good engine tuner.
But none of my other bikes threaten to loop themselves at 50 mph just by rolling on the throttle.

My only explanation is a combination of cold dense air, ported cylinders, a 4 mm stroker crank, and a set of stroker pipes designed to give more midrange power.

Cold dense air = more oxygen per cc. The bike liked that.

The engine wants more oxygen and since I can’t control the weather, I need to supply it with more air.
Therefore I need bigger carbs.

I sure that if I explain it to my wife in those exact terms she’ll see that it’s a wise investment and have no problem with me squandering half the family fortune.
If she does have an objection, I’ll go with the old standby:

“And it will make the bike safer”. :smt003
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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1371 Post by JonW » Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:13 am

I like your plan Steve, Im not sure the Mrs will be convinced tho. :/

Amazed you were riding in December. We have the worst December temps on record, so maybe youve some of our heat added to your cold. We had jeans back on tonight to go out for dinner. Normally once Spring starts Im in shorts until Winter.
Last edited by JonW on Tue Dec 08, 2020 5:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1372 Post by kpke » Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:02 am

Very nice that you got to ride in December! It seems like a pretty cold ride home though.

Those look like stock Canadian VM26's. What are you going to replace them with?

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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1373 Post by 85RZwade » Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:06 am

Anxious to hear how your safety pitch is received by the CFO. Good luck with that!
85 RZ350 daily rider Toomeys, FZ swinger & wheel, Fox shock, Raasks
85 RZ350 JLs, FZ swinger, Katana rear & CBR929 front wheel, CBR600F4 forks & brakes
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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1374 Post by Off Road » Tue Dec 15, 2020 1:32 am

Hey kpke. Yes those are the stock Can. VM26's.
I have no idea what I'd like to put on.
I hear that the Keihin PWK's work good, but I'd have to get them off the internet, which is a bit of an expensive option.

I work at a bike shop, and can get a screaming deal on Mikuni's through one of my suppliers, so I'll probably look at them first.

So far, I have not approached the Mrs./CFO/financial advisor/ guardian of the vault regarding my safety upgrade.
Like good comedy, timing is everything.

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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1375 Post by Off Road » Sun Jan 03, 2021 12:41 am

Sorry folks. Nothing to see here. I hit the wrong button on the keyboard. :smt003

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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1376 Post by Off Road » Sun Mar 07, 2021 3:10 am

The stem, on one of my oem mirrors, broke a while back, so last year I was using a pair of Kawasaki Z1R mirrors, that I had kicking around.
They’re shorter than RZ mirrors, but were acceptable. You did have to move your head a bit to see past your shoulders/elbows.
The Z1R mirrors were a bit ratty, so I’ve been looking for something nicer.

A few days ago, saw that one of my suppliers was blowing out some Emgo Buffalo Mirrors at a pretty good price.
The Emgo’s seem to be a decent, well built part, with a nice fit and finish.
They’re chrome plated Aluminum and weigh a solid 1.75 lbs for the pair.
The price was right, so I figured I’d get a set and see if they’d work.

When installed, they sit about 1” lower, than the oem mirrors, and they are about 2.5” inboard,
(closer to the bikes centerline), compared to the oem units.

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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1377 Post by Off Road » Sun Mar 07, 2021 3:11 am

As supplied from the factory, the Emgo mirrors have female threads in them and come with mounting studs that thread into them.
The stud kit consists of nicely chrome plated stud, with washers, spacers and nuts.
It has everything that you need to mount the mirror on a Harley Davidson.

The stud that’s provided goes from 5/16” N.C to 5/16” N.F., and it’s about 2” long.
It not designed to thread “into” anything. It’s meant to go “through” a hole and then be secured on the other side by a nut.
In order to mount them on an RZ, you need some adapter bolts, and there are a couple of options.

Option A
- One 5/16” N.C. to 10mm R.H. Adapter Bolt
- One 5/16” N.C. to 10mm L.H. Adapter Bolt

Option B
- Two 5/16” N.C. to 10mm R.H. Adapter Bolts
- One Mirror Adapter – 10mm R.H. Female to 10mm R.H. Male
- One Mirror Adapter – 10mm R.H. Female to 10mm L.H. Male

I went with Option B, because I had all the bolts and adapters sitting in my garage.

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The mirrors look like they are made to work best when the mounting stud is in a vertical position,
when looking at the bike from both the side, and from the rear.
The FZR400 clip-on put the mirrors on quit the angle.
The position of the Left mirror is not bad, not great, but useable.
The Right mirror points at the ground.

I’m going to build a small bracket (Red Line in the pic) to level the mirror and move it forward 3/4”.

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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1378 Post by Off Road » Sun Mar 07, 2021 3:11 am

The Emgo mirrors are not going to be spectacular when it comes to providing rearward vision, but I think they will work OK,
as long as you’re willing to move your head/body a bit.

And to be honest, I didn’t by them for function. I bought them because they look cool on my bike.

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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1379 Post by Off Road » Mon Jul 05, 2021 10:58 pm

It's been a while since I posted on this thread, but some of you folks may remember this bike.

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Well, about a month ago, I dropped it. Had the shiny side down.
Although, dropped is probably not the best word to describe what happened.
It was more like I tossed, or heaved, or threw it on the ground.

This bike sits a fair bit ‘lower’ than a stock RZ due to the FZR400 swing-arm, so in order to get it on the center-stand you have to lift it quite high.
The lower bike also changes the angel between the center-stand and the ground, which changes the leverage, and the end result is that you really have to put you back into it in order to get the bike up on the stand.
To make matter worse, I removed the lift handle, and then I replaced the big passenger grab rail with some cute little aluminum bits, that are only big enough to hook 1 finger under.

I came home from work one day, pushed the bike into the garage and went to put it on the center-stand.
There I am in the garage, with my right foot on the center-stand, my left hand on the bar, and 1 finger of my right hand hooked under the grab rail.
I give a mighty pull to lift up the bike and……..the left hand leg of the center-stand breaks off.

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So, with me pulling hard on the left side of the bike, and nothing supporting the right side of the bike, I just pitched it onto the concrete floor.
For a couple of seconds, I just stood there with a dumb look on my face, saying, WTF? [smilie=eek.gif]
Then I went around to the other side and went, Holy Crap.

The right bar landed on a 10” tall, plastic, step-stool that I had in the shop
The bar-end punched a hole in the plastic, and the end of the grip came to rest on the top of the stool.
At the back end of the bike, the seat and grab rail came to rest on a small pile of cardboard boxes.
So, the bike (tank, pipes, levers, mirrors, bodywork) never touched the ground

(At the time of the accident, the red bike wasn’t there, and the stool and boxes were sitting where the red bike is)

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The only ‘damage’ was that the grip on the throttle tube got pushed up, and it rubbed on the switch-gear.
This made the throttle slow to close when you just let it go.
I pulled on the grip a dozen times or so and moved it back out. The throttle snaps shut again, so problem solved. :smt003

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Re: Low Budget Purple Project

#1380 Post by silverstrom » Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:42 am

It's good to be lucky, especially when you need it :smt023

Last week I was checking the oil in my NS400R. To do that the bike must be 100% vertical. Any deviation from vertical and the oil reading is off. Being clever I put a block of wood under the side stand. That got me close to vertical but not quite there. How about more wood? Sure why not...there we go, perfectly vertical. I'll just walk around the bike to check the oil level. Wait, the bike's not quite vertical so I'll put my left hand on it and move it slightly while I crouch down to see the sight gauge. Then it happened...I felt the bike falling, and it was falling on top of me. I slid back just enough to have the bike land on my folded knees. So here I am, holding the NS400R on my knees with the door closed and by myself. At this point I didn't care about damage to my body, but there was definitely no way my bike was touching the concrete floor, which at this time was less than 2 inches away. It took some time, but I finally managed to get into a position where I could try to lift the bike. I lifted, I heaved, I grunted and strained and the bike started to lift slowly. After a few minutes with my heart racing and adrenaline pumping I managed to get the bike vertical. I instantly felt relief and nausea in equal measures. Then I remembered I have more spinal nerve ablation next month. Then I thought, well, that's good timing. Now I remember why I use a rear stand to check the oil level. It's good to be lucky, especially when you need it :smt023

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