Stu's Fizzer

Yeh I'm pretty pleased with it, it's much less jumpy than it was and it sounds like it's going to pack a bit more punch (I need all the punch I can get on this little thing haha). Responsiveness on the throttle seems to have improved so will be an interesting road test. Problem is now I'm going to be travelling for work so the grand finale will have to wait a few more weeks

 

Yeh, but are you saying you think that's a problem Grey?

I see wear more important than age when it comes to bearings - they're still greased up and looking pretty good considering. Almost bet this bike hasn't been round the clock yet - I'm finding more and more things to suggest it's just been sitting most of it's life.

 

So, here's a cold start on her now:



You can hear my mysterious "chipmunks" right after I press the button for a few secs before the idle increases (kind of a rattle sound). It's not valve clearances (it was there before I did those but it is a bit less apparent now) and I had the sump off and checked the bottom end and all seemed good (plus not a knocking noise). I can't seem to pinpoint where it is coming from, but it does go away when the engine is warm. The only conclusion I can draw is that it's a bit of piston slap... if I start from warm it's not there.

At idle now when warm:



And the valve cover jazzed up a bit...

 

Ah... ok so it must be a slight design flaw. That's good to know... I was a little worried about that.

 

It's at the top end of the required level mate, I made sure of that. Before I put the valve cover back on I also lubed everything with engine oil so it didn't start dry. It's been making that noise since I got it, bit less now but it's such a strange noise I wasn't sure what it was. Could be something to do with the oil pump starting up I suppose...

It's not right but it doesn't seem to be doing any harm...

 

I measured the oil in and put in a little bit extra so it was at the top of the sight glass. With the right amount of oil it was about 2/3 up the sight glass between the lines so it wasn't much extra to put it near the top end. I also check the sight when the bike is sitting straight and level and not leaning on the stand. Then start it up and check again when warm, the level goes down a bit.

I've always checked oil levels on vehicles with warm engines, because it's normally a measure of the "oil reserve" not the total amount of oil in the engine. Hence why you can drain an engine at the sump plug and the oil filter will still be full of oil - and also why the numbers are different for the required amount of oil depending on what kind of servicing work you have done (oil vs oil & filter vs overhaul).

With that said, I can't see there being a massive amount of difference if the engine is cold - by memory the manual only brings it up a couple of hundred ml from an oil change to an overhaul...

 

Well I haven't killed it yet, so if she's survived all that...

 

Well, a 30 minute burn today and all is well. Much smoother than she was and I thought she was smooth before! Very easy to ride, good to take her out for a squirt again. Still think that clutch needs attention though... will get to that eventually.

Only the rear rim to paint (I held off because I was so desperate to take her out lol).