Project 92 ZXR250

Received a call from a customer wanting to offload his 1992 Kwakka Zxr250, it hadn’t run since 2014 when he upgraded to an r1. Turns out he lives 3 streets away from my place , I stopped in on the way home and after a quick inspection , I purchased the bike. It was partially disassembled , but what I did see was in bloody good nick, albeit dirty




This morning , I put the bike on the lift and removed the carbs , while inspecting the Bike I noticed someone had cut the wires to the dash and cut the throttle cable, I was like. F***.



while the jets were soaking in threebond , I set about to solder the cut wires and used heat shrink to cover the joins. With a jump pack connected , I turned the key and all the lights came on.



Next step was to pull the plugs and pop a few mls of oil down each pot then try and slowly hand the crank the engine. It spun very easily so the plugs were reinstalled



The carbs had a good clean , I noticed the throttle shaft was very stiff, so I used some threebond and it freed up , carbs were put back on the bike , I hooked up an aux fuel bottle and hit the starter , it fired straight up on 3 pots , it seems number 1 pot was being a pain. I squeezed my aux tank to push more fuel in and number 1 kicked in. I suspect that maybe the mesh filter might be blocked. Carbs are back off , I will play tomorrow and see if I can sort it.

Apart from the fuel issue, she appears to be a really nice example, the fairings are Chinese , but everything else seems really good . The rear brake pads are shot which is an easy fix, cant really fault it anywhere else. I am having starter button issues, I think when I replaced one for @ShaneP i gave him my good spare this one is his old one as it wont start without a good wiggle.

I will keep working at it , looking forward to that zxr250 scream when she is on the road.

 

Spent the morning at the shop, in between jobs I managed to get the carbs cleaned again, I was fitting them to the bike, when I heard someone yell out Chris... are you here , turns out @James Mclaren was at the shop, he was keen to see the bike. While he was here, I put some fuel in her and she fired up and held a nice ( albeit slightly high) idle, I think I have bought a pretty good zxr. About to head up and get some oil for her as I have run out.

The throttle shafts have freed up and now spring back nicely, but with the cables on she is hanging a bit ,they do look old and slightly worn so I will order some replacement cables ( and yes, the routing is correct) . I also need new brake pads and battery which I will buy now I know she is a good thing.

 

No need to buy pads, found these In my klr250 crate #winning

 

Did some work on the zxr250 this morning , new battery fitted , charging system
tests fine.

Next job was to remove the dodgy rear fender and put an uncut one back on, also removed the rack .


Rear brake pads Were replaced and it would not bleed up so I fitted a spare brake cylinder and bled it , now all good

throttle cables were dry and wouldn't return, so we pulled them off , lubed them with Inox and now the throttle snaps back as it should.

Drained the coolant and flushed it a few times before using new coolant.



The fuel tank was a right bugger , it was full to the brim and the fuel was 6 years old And stank , I removed they petcock disassembled it and cleaned it up. The tank lock was ceased but freed up with some inox and has been cleaned and refitted.



Replaced the broken front indicator with a spare then took it outside for a test ride , the front brakes are dragging, so I need to strip and clean the calipers. Ride well, pulled nice with no hesitation. tyres are dated 2013, so I think I should pony up some $$ and get some rubber.

 

23 steps forward, one back, alas she is hydrolocked this morning.

new fuel valves on order from Motorcycle Spares Warehouse

 

Found some brake seals on the wemoto website , figured I’d order new heel bearings as well as they were quite cheap

 

Here ya go

seals
http://www.wemoto.com.au/bikes/kawa.../brake_piston_seal_and_dust_seal_front_brake/

seals and pistons
http://www.wemoto.com.au/bikes/kawa...ston_and_seals_stainless_steel_front_caliper/

 

I received my seals today from wemoto , I have stripped the calipers and they received a quick coat of caliper paint .I will assemble them tomorrow . I also fitted the new wheel bearings

 

New fuel valves arrived this morning , she is all back together and I just got home from qld transport with a licence plate and 12 months rego

Im shutting up early and going for a ride

 

Hmm, well that wasn’t the test ride I was hoping for , rode it down to the servo , filled it up with 91 , took off up a local stretch , was easily reviving to 17k . I grab 3rd gear and then it started stuttering and then it conked out.

It eventually started again on 2 cylinders with me holding wide open throttle, all I could get was 1000rpm, eventually another cylinder caught then another and I was able to go another 1 km before It conked out again. Finally I was able to nurse it home , I suspect the fuel tap is the issue.

Tomorrow was meant to be a ride day , guess I am playing happy fuel tap rebuild instead .

 

Motion lotion, love it

 

Good news , the petcock is fine

the tank isn’t so good

 

A successful test ride has been had , we kept flushing the tank and eventually we found nice clean steel inside , I even got to use my USB scope camera to ensure it was all clean. Carbs were stripped again and I found a better filter to use on the petcock.

she revs pretty well across the range, looking forward to longer ride this week as time permits