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[Bill_Rockoff]

>> Got the FJ out the other day and I'm pretty impressed. The power is insane compared to the dirtbikes I'm used to.
It should be, unless you've ridden Paris-Dakar. A stock FJ is over 100 hp at the wheel, and there are some simple/common mods to get 10% more.


>>Do you not have to drain the oil if you put the bike on the side stand?
You do not. I did mine on the side stand and didn't lose any oil. I can't remember if that was with extra rear ride height from the aftermarket shock, or if that was back when it was completely stock. Putting a wheel on a thin piece of plywood might help you get a little more lean when it's on the sidestand.

Re: ticking sound - it might be something slightly wrong, or it might be that these are just much noisier engines than modern liquid-cooled I4s tend to be.

>>The front brakes suck
Fresh fluid will help, maybe scuffing the surface of the pads will help a bit too, for now.

>>Tracked it down to the vacuum advance. I unplugged it and the bike seems to work fine.
Do you mean that you pulled off the vacuum line and left it open? Or did you block it with something? If it's open, you're pulling air through the carb intake boot *after* the carb, so you're letting in air that isn't getting fuel mixed with it. If the bike is running *better* that way, something else is wrong in the carbs.

Good luck.

[T Legg]

It could be that the tci is bad and is leaking air into the vacume line when it is attached.  You could do a suck test to see if it's leaking. The advance function of the tci is only to improve emissions.leaving it dissconnected with the vacume port plugged won't affect performance.

[ajacstern]

Ah, I see. Stinks about the brake lines. Would swivel fittings remedy the angle issue, or is it more about 90° vs 45° bend in the fitting? The place I am looking at getting lines from charges per line, so I don't think I will get the two extra lines for the anti-dives as I imagine they are hardly worth the $60 it would cost, I can't tell if they do anything or not. Might also replace the brake pads but I heard the HH sintered causes problems with early FJ rotors.

Good to know you don't have to drain the oil to work on the clutch. Looks like doubling up on the spring is a pretty common mod. I don't plan on switching the clutch master cylinder to a 14mm anytime soon as I just rebuilt it, so can anyone say if the EBC + used oem spring is decent in terms of clutch pull? The bike smells strongly of burnt clutch so at least there is some fiber plate left, or maybe there was some fiber plate.

I am pretty sure the ticking sound is coming from the valve area, could be a worn valve guide or camchain issue. I ordered new valve cover grommets so I'll pull the cover and check everything. I blocked off the intake vacuum port with a spare plug I had. I tested the vacuum advance with a syringe and it seems to be thinking there is too much vacuum at idle, looks like there is no real way to rebuild these and they are expensive so I will let it go for now. Are these bikes supposed to have a rev limiter? The clutch slipped and the tacho went straight to 12 or 13k, investigated by revving the bike in neutral and never heard it dinging off the limiter but didn't want to hold the throttle open for more than a split-second.

I can't find the 89+fj lowers anywhere, they are not an immediate item on the tasklist, but are there other lowers that work with stock uppers and same length? Might be easier and better to swap the entire forks plus you can get fancy USD forks, I heard the 91-93 FZR1000 USD forks are compatible but of course I can't find any of those for sale either.

Thanks for the advice!

[RPM - Robert]

The spiegler kits we sell will fit no problem. The adjustable ends work just fine with the blue spots.

We use, and sell 3-1, hh pads up front and standard organic in the rear. Again no problems with the HH pads. Some internet wizbang on Facebook probably made that up. Probably had leaky forks, leaking all over the pads and rotors but it was the pads fault.

[FJ_Hooligan]

Checkout the options at VENHILL brake lines.  They are an easily customizable option

[Millietant]

Yes, 91-93 USD forks/wheels etc are a straightforward fit, and if you use 01-05 FZ1 handlebars and risers, they fit with just a tiny bit of drilling and couple of 1" flat washers, to give the same grip position and angles as the FJ. Just need a little lock stop plate mounted to the brake splitter bolt holes and you're set to go. I tried my 92 USD's with the stock fork springs and it was generally OK, but for heavier loads and braking (2 up with luggage and steep downhill hairpin bends) it was a bit soft, so I switched to 0.95 straight-rate springs. The blue spots also fit the FZR forks with no mods at all 

[ajacstern]

Alright, ordered brake lines from Rennsportauto and FJR master cylinders. I also got the RPM clutch fibers and a new diaphragm spring. Finally got a new valve cover gasket so I checked the valve clearances and they are bad. I thought the previous owner did them recently as it is near the service interval and there is red sealant on the valve cover. No such luck, intake valves were tighter than 0.04mm (my smallest feeler gauge). Exhaust valves were in the 0.05mm range. Tried to get the shims out with an improvised valve tool but my thickest scrap metal just bent and wouldn't hold the buckets down. With the adjustment tools being as expensive as they are I think I will find another way. Why are these tools only $13 in Britain but $60+ here that doesn't make any sense. Might pull the cams if I can access the cam chain tensioner easily. Anyway, as I was turning the motor over I heard a strange sound (yay!), here is a link to a recording of it: https://photos.app.goo.gl/P2AEc5ZY4ieztawz5

The sound is a little quiet on camera but very audible when standing next to the bike. Sounds like it is coming from the right side. Think it is a valve with a poor seat or a bad valve seal, could also be normal and just the sound of air flowing. Anyone have this happen before? I should add that this is far louder than the hiss when turning a car engine over by hand, and seems to be exclusively coming from the right side. No PCV valve so I don't think it is that either. Might just be louder than your average engine or a slightly poorer seat on the right side, or no seat on the left side. There is also a scratch on the valve cover gasket surface which explains the red sealant. I only have yamabond or permatex ultra grey both of which are torque sealers so maybe not ideal for this purpose but they both dry so one of them should work.

[FJ1200W]

Alright, ordered brake lines from Rennsportauto and FJR master cylinders. I also got the RPM clutch fibers and a new diaphragm spring. Finally got a new valve cover gasket so I checked the valve clearances and they are bad. I thought the previous owner did them recently as it is near the service interval and there is red sealant on the valve cover. No such luck, intake valves were tighter than 0.04mm (my smallest feeler gauge). Exhaust valves were in the 0.05mm range. Tried to get the shims out with an improvised valve tool but my thickest scrap metal just bent and wouldn't hold the buckets down. With the adjustment tools being as expensive as they are I think I will find another way. Why are these tools only $13 in Britain but $60+ here that doesn't make any sense. Might pull the cams if I can access the cam chain tensioner easily. Anyway, as I was turning the motor over I heard a strange sound (yay!), here is a link to a recording of it: https://photos.app.goo.gl/P2AEc5ZY4ieztawz5

The sound is a little quiet on camera but very audible when standing next to the bike. Sounds like it is coming from the right side. Think it is a valve with a poor seat or a bad valve seal, could also be normal and just the sound of air flowing. Anyone have this happen before? I should add that this is far louder than the hiss when turning a car engine over by hand, and seems to be exclusively coming from the right side. No PCV valve so I don't think it is that either. Might just be louder than your average engine or a slightly poorer seat on the right side, or no seat on the left side. There is also a scratch on the valve cover gasket surface which explains the red sealant. I only have yamabond or permatex ultra grey both of which are torque sealers so maybe not ideal for this purpose but they both dry so one of them should work.

Sounds like air leaking past something.

Are the plugs still in? Loose? If so, it may be them.

[Old Rider]

you  can use a ziptie that is bendt like the one im holding in the picture to hold open the valve vhile replacing the shim.
I have done it many times before and on my current cylhead i have to use the ziptie in stead of the orginal tool on some of the valves because
the treads is stripped in a hole so its impossible to use the orginal tool.
And it does NOT bend the valves atleast it has not bendt any of my valves who was checked with dialgauge for runout / bend  when i rebuildt my engine.
I have done it many times before on other bike too with no problems.
But remeber to be very careful and DO IT ON YOUR OWN RISK!
here is a link to a guy showing how to do it with ziptie   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s52nTRD6ayc
As for the hissing sound it sounds like a lose sparkplug you should do a compression test.

[ajacstern]

No, the plugs weren't loose. Guess it is one of the valve seats. Would do a compression test but I don't trust my compression tester after it led me on a wild compression goose chase on an engine that had perfectly fine compression but read as 40psi. As long as it runs I'll leave it till something else breaks. I figured out the ziptie trick and thought I had revolutionized the toolless valve adjustment, but found that many other people figured this out as well. Then one of the valves cut the ziptie in half. Was luckily able to get the pieces out, but decided to stop using the ziptie trick. Ended up just pulling the cams to change the shims. Should I reset them to stock timing or do they work better advanced/retarded? Also, is blue loctite enough to hold the cam sprocket bolts in?

Decided to change the spark plugs because they were out and nasty. The manual recommends the non-resistor type but says the boots are supposed to have 10kohm resistance. I have NGK boots with 5kohm resistance and the resistor type plugs have 5kohm of resistance so I suppose I should use those? They are what is in the bike now. One of the boots is refusing to go back together though, no matter how hard I try to push the wire back in the resistor in the boot just rattles around loose.

[balky1]

No, the plugs weren't loose. Guess it is one of the valve seats. Would do a compression test but I don't trust my compression tester after it led me on a wild compression goose chase on an engine that had perfectly fine compression but read as 40psi. As long as it runs I'll leave it till something else breaks. I figured out the ziptie trick and thought I had revolutionized the toolless valve adjustment, but found that many other people figured this out as well. Then one of the valves cut the ziptie in half. Was luckily able to get the pieces out, but decided to stop using the ziptie trick. Ended up just pulling the cams to change the shims. Should I reset them to stock timing or do they work better advanced/retarded? Also, is blue loctite enough to hold the cam sprocket bolts in?

Decided to change the spark plugs because they were out and nasty. The manual recommends the non-resistor type but says the boots are supposed to have 10kohm resistance. I have NGK boots with 5kohm resistance and the resistor type plugs have 5kohm of resistance so I suppose I should use those? They are what is in the bike now. One of the boots is refusing to go back together though, no matter how hard I try to push the wire back in the resistor in the boot just rattles around loose.

That boot smells like a coming problem. I would replace it.
Manual says the plug to use is NGK DP8EA9. I didn't see any one sell them any more, you will be fine with DPR8EA9 (with resistor).

[ajacstern]

Turns out there was a little spring that went flying when I took the spark plug boot off that is supposed to sit between the resistor and the brass screw, whoops. Trying to get the cams timed and no matter how many times I take them off and try I can't seem to get them perfect. Both of the alignment marks always end up a little more inwards - towards each other. Is this how they normally are or should they be in the center? https://photos.app.goo.gl/2coy8yeLiYeZ5PCb9

Cheers.

[ajacstern]

I was putting everything back together and found an odd problem. The choke cable is just too short. It looks OEM but when you install it with the knob on it pulls the choke open a little bit. I have tried just placing it in line with the carburetors to see if it was the routing and I've tried pulling it tight to see if it was kinked. I have had cables stretch before but never had them get too short. I am tempted to just shave off the bottom of the choke knob until it fits but I feel like this shouldn't be necessary. Cheers.

[racerrad8]

If the choke enrichment linkage is assembled incorrectly or they are not the correct pieces, the choke can be activated making the cable seem to short.

Randy - RPM

[ajacstern]

Is there another way to open the pull side of the choke besides the crimped on end at the bottom? I tried to see if it was mis-set or something but couldn't find a way to get it open without undoing the crimp. It was the right length previously so really odd. Only thing I can think of is I put it in evaporust because it was a little rusty, I wonder if that expanded the housing. It shouldn't as I believe the housing is metal.