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Linkin's 1999 Yamaha YZF-R6

Discussion in 'Other Projects - Other Bikes (non 250's)' started by Linkin, Jan 6, 2016.

  1. Linkin

    Linkin The Mechanic Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    [​IMG]

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    Got it cheap, as far as R6's go. Just a tad over 50,000K's on it.

    So, what's wrong with it, you ask?

    Carbs, can be hard to start, stalls, low power & bogging below 4,000 RPM
    Receipts say has 1 hotter range plugs than standard
    Crappy smoked LED indicators on the front that you can't see
    Had about 15 psi in both tyres
    Chain was dry as a nun's nasty
    Can kick the gears up without using clutch or adjusting throttle, seems very sensitive

    The brand new battery was flat when I got there, so luckily we were able to jump start after about half an hour. I think they are running too high an octane fuel in it, as it does exactly what a fizzer does if you run 95 or 98 in it. It is a carby bike so I will try a tank of 91 and that carb cleaner stuff before I pull the carbs off.

    They say it's all sheets and giggles until someone giggles and sheets, and I nearly did just that. Giggling like a maniac and nearly browned my undies when 2 HWP cars went by in a short span of time on the way home from work.

    So what's the plan for this bike?

    Get it in a registerable state, register it, tough out the 2 years on Green P's (just got them yesterday) and try not to lose my license!
     
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  2. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    congrats mate, nice bike !!!
     
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  3. Murdo

    Murdo The Good Doctor Staff Member Contributing Member Ride and Events Crew

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    Looks better than you described. Nice!
     
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  4. cantafforda600

    cantafforda600 can actually afford a 600 Premium Member

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    that's exactly the one i wanted, good find

    wanna trade? :prankster:
     
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  5. Linkin

    Linkin The Mechanic Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    No thanks, you stole my spotlight the other day with your post! :p
     
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  6. cantafforda600

    cantafforda600 can actually afford a 600 Premium Member

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    shall we settle it in a race, ZX6R vs R6? hahaha
     
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  7. Joker

    Joker See "about me" for contact details. Contributing Member

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    Nice mate. Not sure you'll love the fizzer as much after being on that. Have ridden one before, they're good fun.
     
  8. Phil

    Phil Senior Member Contributing Member

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    Nice looking bike mate :thumb_ups: Yeah....hang on to your license !!!
     
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  9. Linkin

    Linkin The Mechanic Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Drag racing in Gunnedah during March. Or Barry Sheene at eastern creek, race each other on the parade lap :D

    I'm used to riding fizzers and am a lot more confident in leaning them over and locking the steering compared to my new purchase which I would hate to put scratches on

    The lovely people at the RTA/RMS/Whatever they call themselves kindly informed me that Green P's would not be $25 as it says on the website, and confirmed over the phone when I rang to check the date I could go for it. Apparently that's the price if you hold an unrestricted car license, which I do not.

    If the R P1,class is your primary license, which it is for me as I only have C LRN (car learners), you have to pay $86!!!

    So that's where the rest of my moolah went this week. Not happy about that!
     
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  10. Joker

    Joker See "about me" for contact details. Contributing Member

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    You'll get your first hard-on in no time mate. Few rounds on that beastie and you'll be right. You're next self-portrait will look something like this:

    opm4 (2)-noscale.jpg

    I've referred to my Fizzer as an "overpowered bicycle" at times because returning to a small bike after riding a big bike is quite a proportion change. Even after a year of riding again (after a couple years big bike sabbatical) I've still got nerves on this little thing at times!!!
     
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  11. cantafforda600

    cantafforda600 can actually afford a 600 Premium Member

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    On another note, and not to be off topic, but what is it that fizzers do when running 95/98?

    I always put 95 in my bikes just under the assumption that its better, is this wrong/stupid?
     
  12. Murdo

    Murdo The Good Doctor Staff Member Contributing Member Ride and Events Crew

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    Some bikes, because of their combustion chamber shape/ valve location/ spark plug location/compression ratio/ phase of the moon/ etc will run better on the 95/98. Others will go better on 91. Try both in your bike and see if you notice any difference.
     
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  13. Linkin

    Linkin The Mechanic Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    You get poor throttle response, bogging down, stalling. Low power throughout the rev range compared to 91.
     
  14. mishdog20

    mishdog20 Active Member

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    I had one of these years ago Linkin, absolutley loved it. A few issues i had with it was the 2nd gear shat it itself, (was a common problem), Rec-reg's and the stator liked to burn themselves as well. I never had an issue with my carbs, never even took them off the bike, and i ALWAYS ran it on 98. I rode it round tassie chasing liter bikes, and we got caught out at one stage where we could only get 91 octane, it ran shocking mate. Wouldnt pull the skin off a rice custard. Used the tank up, put 98 in and was a different bike. I chopped 1/4 of the yoshi pipe off and it gave it a grouse note. Not loud, just a burble. Damn i miss that bike though, was an absolute blast too ride, just didnt have the low down grunt of the 1000cc bikes which is very addictive if youve ever ridden one.
     
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  15. Linkin

    Linkin The Mechanic Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    It's got a mixture of some 98 and about 4 litres of 91 in there now. Added what was left of my bottle of carby cleaner.

    Someone suggested it many need the valve clearances done, at 50,000km I generally would agree, but it seems fine once it actually gets going, so I'll stick with working on the carbies for now.

    Here is how it started today.

     
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  16. Joker

    Joker See "about me" for contact details. Contributing Member

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    We should start a new thread to debate it and play with the chemistry/history haha!

    I've always tried to target higher octane in all my bikes, and I've found better power/fuel efficiency and general running smoothness in the higher octane fuels every single time.

    I did a stint on my FZR with 98, just finished one on 91 and have moved to 95 in the last couple of days. Personally I find 98/95 of comparable performance (not really noticeable), but for the price I think I'll stick with 95. The jump from 91 to 95 was noticeable, but I wouldn't call it "significant". I find the bike runs a little smoother through the rev range and hence there is just a touch more power which I'm happy with so I may stick with it.

    The thing about octane levels is that you have to ignore the old wives tales and realize that modern engines (read: post 1986) are almost all adaptable enough to withstand the varying octane levels of modern fuels. These days engines kind of adjust to it automatically, as you increase octane you get better fuel efficiency, more power etc as typically you are using a better quality fuel. If you use a fuel with octane lower than recommended you get the opposite sorts of effects.

    The downside is that you increase engine temperatures, as higher octane fuel is more compressible and delivers more power when ignited. In the early days engines had issues with knock (I believe a lot of the research into higher octane levels were focused on rectifying that in aircraft engines). Knock is a result of the fuel igniting outside the normal combustion process/cycle, a modern term may be "ping". This lead to things like valve seat recession - which isn't good.

    So some genius figured out you could add lead to the fuel, which was OK for many years. After people finally grasped how toxic that is they removed it in the mid 80's and went to "unleaded". Older engines (often defined as "pre-1986") require an additive to prevent the valve seat recession scenario. I'm not going to pretend I know why, I guess it must have something to do with the design of the older engines and some of the materials they were constructed from being unable to withstand the higher temperatures/power of the higher octane fuels.

    The reason they could pull the lead out is because chemists had experimented with various hydrocarbon chains that were mixed in with the iso-octane as kind of an "alternative" additive to lead. So what is exactly in the fuel can depend on where it is manufactured, the "grade" ie octane level and the oil quality.

    So in my view you're not going to do any harm by using 98, 95 or 91 in your bike - most Jap bikes recommend 91 but going "one better" grade of fuel shouldn't hurt anything. You may run a bit hotter but it needs to be remembered that all this playing around with octane levels was more to do with aircraft engines than cars (or bikes for that matter). Some performance cars require the higher octane because they're designed to be high powered and need the compressibility of higher octane fuel to deliver that power, so they won't run as well on lower octane fuels.

    So I guess you're more likely to notice something significant if you go down in quality (ie octane level) from the manufacturer's recommendation than up in quality.

    With all that said Linkin seems to have had some interesting experiences with higher octane fuel. I have no idea why that is, but I can't logically attribute that to the fuel grade/quality/octane level alone based on what I've seen.

    Thanks for reading my novel, I was on a roll haha
     
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  17. cantafforda600

    cantafforda600 can actually afford a 600 Premium Member

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    one thing about unleaded/leaded fuel that is generally the difference between an engine being able to run on unleaded vs being unable to, is that engines built for leaded fuel rely on the fuel itself to lubricate some parts in the top end, whereas newer engines will have passages that feed oil to the valves and surrounding area. running a very old car or bike not designed for unleaded fuel will mean the valves etc are not properly lubricated which will accelerate wear and slowly ruin the engine.
     
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  18. Th3_Huntsman

    Th3_Huntsman Senior Member Contributing Member

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    can a zx7r join?
     
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  19. cantafforda600

    cantafforda600 can actually afford a 600 Premium Member

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    zx6r vs zx7r vs r6 it is..

    if this happens you can bet i'll be going 1 down 2 up on the sprockets on the day as well as doing the filters, airbox and rejetting for the sole purpose of winning.
     
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  20. Linkin

    Linkin The Mechanic Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Someone's cocky!

    Don't forget that the first gen R6 spanked every other 600 super sport that was already out at the time :thumb_ups:
     

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