My Turtle "Mia Fedora"

Azhule · 02-16-2016, 01:35 PM

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'.

02-16-2016, 01:35 PM	#1
Azhule Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: CO Posts: 1,525	My Turtle "Mia Fedora" 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'. __________________ "Think as you like... but this self proclaimed Professor is always right" - Buckshot "You never know what someone is hiding beneath their smile..." - NinjaTom - R.I.P. Last edited by Azhule; 02-16-2016 at 04:28 PM.
	3