My Turtle "Mia Fedora"

[Azhule]

While I wait on my China bike (still saving up the cash, probably for a Storm/BS250), I figure it's about time I started a thread for all my nonsense up in Northern CO, Southern WY, and Western NE

Current motorcycles: a 1995 Yamaha 100cc dirt bike with several thousands of hours of abuse and also my green "Turtle" or the "Franken-bike" a 1999 KLR 650 I bought used a few months back with only 11,000 miles on it, and I quickly built/fixed it with parts off of several different bikes/motorcycles, cars, and other things I find to make it better of course

The Turtle currently has parts off of Harley Davidson(s), Yamaha(s), Honda(s), a few other Kawasaki(s), a Ford car, and plenty of other stuff that actually belongs on it too



A bit neglected when I bought it, the 2nd owner purchased it one day about 2 years back... he rode it home the day he bought it... rode it to work or school the next day, then back home... then realized he didn't like it for whatever reason and it sat in his garage for almost 2 full years before he put it up on CL... it was up for an hour or 2 when I called and promptly purchased it for cheap

A few hours to a full day after owning it I had almost all of it's issues worked out:

At first it wouldn't hold an idle and would sometimes die in neutral... Pulled the spark plug, seen it was junk and tossed in the trash, I filled the spark plug hole/cylinder head area with Amsoil PowerFoam and installed a new Denso Iridium 5730 Spark Plug and waited 1.5 hours for the PowerFoam to do its cleaning magic.

While I waited, I cleaned up the electrics/connectors with Electrical/Contact Cleaner and sealed them with some new Dielectric Grease. I drilled out the cap covering the Idle/Air Adjustment screw and I set it to 1 and 3/4 turns out like the Kawasaki manual said to (was just over 2 turns out). I also cleaned the stock foam air filter, re-oiled it, and also put some "Complete Fuel System Cleaner" in the gas tank (Penray branded, contains PEA and other detergents/cleaners/emulsifiers/lubricants/etc.), sprayed some Power Foam in the Carb hole and waited a little bit longer.

After the 1.5 hour wait the bike fired right up and had tons of black/carbon filled smoke billowing out the exhaust for almost 3 full hours of riding , I adjusted the idle screw a few times during the ride... had no problems the entire ride and the idle is still perfect today

Was getting 50 to 53 miles per gallon the entire time...

Well a week or so goes by and I started having problems again, everything smelled of gas (no visible fuel leaks, vapors galore), bike would just stall with no warning and would only start by doing random things... sometimes it would be as simple as opening the gas tank to vent air into it... other times it would be as complicated as re-setting all the "safety switches" AND messing with the battery... it was getting ridiculous to say the least ...

Turned out to be faulty California Emissions ("The Octopus") and the Vacuum operated Petcock $800 + tax and shipping to replace it... so I just removed it all and tossed it in a box labeled "More Kawasaki Trash"



I instead ordered an IMS 6.6 gallon gas tank (I kept getting fiberglass shards from the OE tank anyways...) and a Yamaha 660 Raptor Fuel Petcock (gravity operated) all for under $300... was going to take 2 weeks for the gas tank as the Army Green Natural/Translucent was a special order item...



In the mean time I started looking over the "safety/annoyance kill switches"... all 3 of them had corrosion or rust build up one way or the other so I decided to just Remove/Bypass all that junk... I've been riding motorcycles for almost 26 or 27 years by now... not once have I needed those annoyances half the time they leave me stranded when nothing is really wrong anyways

No more problems to speak of with the bike after that... just ride for hours and hours with no issues... other then the Temp Swings on the engine another great design flaw from Kawasaki I would fix down the road (Thermobypass 2 upgrade)

Now that things were running good it was time to start really modding things... here's what I remember doing to it lol

ATC/ATO Fuses to replace those unreliable Glass Fuses Kawasaki uses.



Battery Tender, 8 stage with a Desulfate phase.

Denso Coil on Plug upgrade to replace the expensive and unreliable Kawasaki Ignition Coil and Spark Plug Wire design... Found this Denso C.O.P. on eBay used for like $11 (each) shipped... I ordered a full kit off a trashed bike, 4 Denso C.O.P. and wire harness, was only $45 or $50 shipped for everything... and all I had to do was power to power, ground to ground and the bike fires right up... Kawasaki wants $480 + shipping and tax just for the Ignition Coil... and another arm or leg of your choice for the spark plug wire and boot...



I still have 3 "C.O.P. kits" left if anyone wants to try and convert their China Moto over to a Coil on Pack Ignition setup we can do it under half an hour while we eat/drink some gluten free food/beers

FunnelWeb Air Filter, made in Australia, a great filter with tons of surface area, only cost $28 (each) shipped to my house, got 2 of them for the price of 1 crappy K&N filter. Only problem is they don't have a "proper seal" like all of their other filters they make, might order me an UNI Ultra Seal Foam Filter for $12 and try them out.



Harley Davidson Fuel/Air Emulsion Tube (CV-Performance brand) and 150 Main Jet... need to find a 140 or 145, bike running a little rich... if I can't find smaller than 150 it gives me a 'good' excuse to do a 685 to 705cc piston upgrade

LED Lights for my Turn Signals and Brake Lights (forgot what brand and numbers I used, probably Sylvania or Philips branded)... saving about 80 watts of electricity after I swapped over to LEDs.

Low buck exhaust mod (cutting and grinding to flow exhaust gasses better)

KLX Needle upgrade

Megura Hydraulic Clutch so I can leave my "Hulk Smash" hands at home... I'm only 120lbs with little girly arms/hands after all



Philips 194/T10 LED light bulbs to save a few watts and get more light in my RPM/MPH instrument gauge



Secondary LED Brake Light (cheap junk from eBay... don't recommend at all)

Sunstar 17t front sprocket, dropped about 700 RPMs off my cruising speed

Thermobypass 2 upgrade



"Vent Mods", I did the "T or Y Mod" to let air/fuel/water correctly go in and out of the carburetor



And also a "PCV Mod" (positive crankcase ventilation mod), used a FRAM PCV valve off a Ford car, works great, no more water condensation/contamination in my oil



OE Wheel Bearings are toast with no butter I found grease, dirt, sand, moisture, and other crap stuffed in the wheel bearings... dealership wanted over $400 do replace the front and rear wheel... $120 + tax/shipping for the bearings and then the cost of labor on top of that... for about $125 I got a Tusk Wheel Bearing Removal kit and some All Balls Racing Wheel Bearings, swapped out the old ones in under 40 minutes , I'm still wondering to this day why I was going to get charged for over 3 hours in shop labor for 35 to 40 minutes worth of work... and I have basic tools to do repairs with (other than the Tusk Bearing kit)... no fancy motorcycle lifts or anything... just a block of wood to prop the bike up lol





Sorry for the long first post in this thread, but you are now basically caught up on the last 6 or so months of making my Kawasaki a reliable 'Frenken-bike'.

[rojo_grande]

Nice work.

Have you done the Doo yet or the $.22 mod? Been think'n about doing the thermo-bob as well and will probably need to do the raptor petcock soon.

Rojo

[Azhule]

I actually just ordered the Idle Adjustment upgrade ("the Doo") from Rocky Mountain ATV... just did the order earlier this morning after I found my (small) Tax return was deposited

When you get the Raptor Petcock, make sure you spend the few extra $ and get an actual "Yamaha/OE" branded fuel petcock, know a few people who had problems with the "eBay/no name ones", look for part # 5LP245000100 (this one has the right sized fuel connection), that was what showed up on my receipt when I got the Raptor 660 Petcock you might need to find out what all hoses/vents need to be blocked/bypassed/connected to make the bike run right again, it took me a few tries to get it right with my IMS gas tank

I skipped the 22 cent mod and just went with the KLX Needle and a Jet kit, I shortly dropped the Kawasaki Jets and Emulsion tube and went with a CV-Performance "Harley Davidson" Jets and Emulsion tube... have a few different Kawasaki pilot jets I'm going to try out to find out what I like best for jetting

With the KLX Needle my bike seemed to run good on with the Needle on the 2nd Clip, with a 140 main jet (stock 40 pilot jet... never tried other pilot sizes), and 1 and 1/2 to 1 and 3/4 turns out with the Air/Idle Mix screw.

Still messing with the "Harley Davidson" jetting, don't remember if I ever installed the 150, or if it was on my "to order list"... just went and checked my box-o-parts I'm only finding part numbers for 160 for the lowest HD main jet

[FastDoc]

Nice work indeed.

The KLR is one of the best all around bikes EVER, and the Zombie Evasion Bike Of Choice in the Northwest. If a person could only have one bike (God forbid, I'd die in weeks) the KLR would be the right one.

[Azhule]

I was extremely lucky in finding this UNMODDED gem of a bike, other than it being a little abused from the "lack of use" over the last few years, it came with a box full of dealership maintenance that was done over the 11,xxx miles of previous ownership, oil changes every 800 or so miles, valves checked every 2,500 miles (but never needed done), etc. etc. I got all this for $1,300...

I could have got it for a lot less but I didn't feel like playing games and wanted this gem I have the ability to fix anything cheap (my labor is free and I have most tools I need) that's wrong with it, I'm almost done with the build and it will be fully modded and built to MY liking for well under $4,000, that includes the price of the bike, title/plate fees, and insurance for the first 2 years of me owning it (probably have another year to year and a half before I have enough for the front brake and suspension upgrades so I included that insurance and plates in the cost )...

Tried going to local dealerships (and a few other private sales) and they all wanted insane prices for OLD bikes, I didn't even ask for prices on the NEW(er) bikes... the one place I tried to pre-order a 2016 Suzuki DR650 from kept dinking me around on the delivery date (and wouldn't 'sell' me the one on the floor...) so I ended up getting my $ back and started modding the KLR 650 instead

This 1999 KLR 650 was my first ever CL purchase, and I think I'm quitting CL while I'm ahead the reason I named her "Mia Fedora", she showed up randomly in my life when I was looking for a cheap/used motorcycle, the owner was legit and didn't like to mess around (he had paper work ready, test rides, was friendly, etc.) and promptly disappeared after I got his plate back to him (didn't have the tools to remove it and he said to just "drop it off to me here when it's off the bike"...)

I can't wait for this weekend, should have that Rocky Mountain order by then, and I can finish up a few things on the bike (rear brakes, pilot jet, exhaust header)

I forgot to add the special wrench and bolt I need to remove the parts and get back to the Doo... Oh well, gives me an excuse to order the front brake upgrades in a few weeks when my Bday rolls around

[Weldangrind]

Oooohh, I have so much to learn!


I have a baby KLR, and I'm wondering how much I can apply. Please explain (or point to a link) about the thermobypass mod.

[rojo_grande]

Here's a link to the thermo bob. http://watt-man.com/ I believe there is a KLR250 version. Check the info and articles/FAQ section.

Also available at rocky mountain atv but I believe only for KLR650.

$.22 mod is just a way to shim the stock needle. Add a couple #4 stainless washers under the needle and drill the hole in the slide a little. At least for the KLR650, it wakes it up a bit, better throttle response. KLX needle kit is also and option.

Rojo

[Azhule]

Thanks for helping out with the quick info rojo,

But yeah it's the Watt-Man Thermo-Bob 2.

http://shop.watt-man.com/Thermo-Bob-...YEARS-TB2R.htm

And the articles http://www.watt-man.com/Information__Articles.html

Might be what you are looking for Weld , I can explain more on the Denso C.O.P. if needed, but a few pics of the spark plug, wires, coil, boots, and anything in the surrounding area's will be needed as well (measurements help a bunch too lol)

I'm used to the other forum spamming links so I change a few words/names here and there to cut down on the spam/bandwidth on my threads lol

One of the better purchases I made in a while was the Watt-Man Thermo-Bob 2 and some Prestone "Prime AF3000" Antifreeze/Coolant (a silica free blend, perfect for my motorcycle and most cars I own).

The bike runs at the perfect temp every time I ride now only takes a short warm up period (5 or so minutes) and it never drops below the proper temps

[kohburn]

+ on the thermobob. I installed one on my versys and it helped with faster warm up and much more stable operating temps in cold weather.

[Weldangrind]

Thanks Guys!


Does anybody happen to know if there is a doohickey mod for the baby KLR?

[rojo_grande]

No doohickey on the KLR250. Plus the KLR250 has screw valve adjusters vs. bucket and shims on the KLR650.

[Weldangrind]

Here's where I need to be schooled.


I'm pretty sure that the doohickey mod refers to the tension spring on the KLR650 counterbalance, correct?


The baby KLR has a similar tensioner, so I only presumed that it might need a similar mod.

[Azhule]

I would also need to a lot of reading on the KLR 250 (I did some when I was looking at buying road bikes, but didn't do much reading up on the 250cc bikes, wanted a 400cc minimum), the little research/threads on the KLR 250 I read of NO problems mechanically with the engine/transmission/tension/counterbalance systems (for years of abuse and several thousands of miles), always the general complaint was about the suspension, the gas tank (not enough gallons), and a cruddy seat

Anyways, feel free to chat away, it's boring up here in the middle of nowhere Northern CO/Southern WY after all

[SpudRider]

I bet you don't live far from Cabela's main store in Sidney, Nebraska.

[Azhule]

About a 2 hour ride with the current traffic Spud, why did you need something from there ?

I think I can get there and back home with a few gallons to spare in my IMS 6.6 gallon gas tank