My bike thread. Will post some pictures and write if I do something. For a start, did some photos today after having to deal with a loss of spark. I hope I got that fixed now. I pictured the bike from the left side 'cause that's the beautiful side. The other side is blue, like you can see currently in my avatar. That paint was on it when I bought it but I added the white stripes to even it out a bit. The spaceman bucket you can see on the handlebars is there for purely artistic café racer value, as I actually wear a real helmet nowadays.
Made a new battery/starter wire (the white one on the picture), as the old wire kept falling off from the starter connection (good that the last time I was shopping beer I happened to have a 10mm wrench in my pocket...). Didn't want to change just the connector as the wire was becoming too short for that. Made a new wire from stuff I had laying around, so the thicker wire is an actual electrical cable you'd use in your house, that worked nice. The other came a tad thinner than the original (or the last), so I'm not sure if that can become a problem or not. The colour markings are way off but I don't care.
The jugs are off now but so much dirt fell inside the crankcase while removing them that I think I have to split the cases.
Too bad but no, things go slow again. People advised me to flush the engine with diesel to remove the dirt so that I would not have to split the cases. But I thought that as I'm so far already I will still open it up. So I raped the clutch hub until a small piece broke off. I took this as a sign to back off for a moment. Maybe I can still use the clutch hub but I need to acquire a proper tool for that anyway before I can proceed.
I haven't posted here for a while but anyways I botched up that "piston replacement". The only good I got out of it was experience. In the end I just flushed the engine with diesel to get as much dirt out as I could and then lapped it up with aftermarket gasket kit and Indian Head Shellac because I ran out of money. I have ridden thousands of kilometers after that. I only had to retorque the cylinder head bolts initially because the motor started to sound weird on acceleration after about 1000 km and on check the bolts were loose about 10Nm. After that it has ran fine. About two weeks ago I highsided the bike and thrashed the handlebar, the clutch lever assy, the speedometer dash, the turn signals on left side and bent the foot peg. I've already replaced the turn signals and the clutch lever assy so the bike runs. I bought a replacement speedo dash but haven't installed it yet because am waiting for a new handlebar, mirrors and various other details to arrive. Meanwhile I ride it like it is. Will post pics when all is fixed.
Using the part number from the Parts Catalogue for my bike, I found 1mm oversize rings from Ebay. Then I ordered the 1mm oversize pistons from Partzilla. To my surprise, because not listed as a set, the pistons actually came with rings provided for them aswell in the box. So I think they actually sell the pistons with rings. Other than Ebay and Partzilla, I've ordered OEM parts from Wemoto and motorcyclespareparts.eu
Thanks for that Johnny, I have tried all the other ways but never just putting the part number into ebay! Lots of results came up local to me that I otherwise would not have found. Cheers
Bike is more or less restored to pre-crash state now cosmetically but there's a new problem. Bike starts bogging down at constant highway speeds and I am not sure if it's fuel related or electrical problem. Went on a highway today and after a couple of kilometers at 90-100 km/h there was a sudden loss of power. Then I rode slowly at the edge of the road to the first drive off and then backroaded at 50-70 km/h home. I had a similar experience once when I was tuning my carbs and did not turn the pilot screws out enough. But I had corrected my mistake long ago and the bike had been running fine until now (or at least until my crash).
Could be fuel starvation from a blocked filter in tank or line to carbs. Ok at slower speeds but when on highway and needing more fuel it cannot get through and the bowls run dry and bike slows. When you stop or slow down the fuel flow can catch up again to fill the bowls and bike runs fine until the bowls empty again.
Thanks, I will start from this. I really hope it's not an electrical problem. But for instance the manual lists a dying ignition coil also as a possible source for this kind of behaviour. Too bad I don't have spare ignition coils around to test this...