Laid Up 900SS and new member!
Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 12:25 pm
Greetings all!
Long time reader, first time poster. The wealth of knowledge on here has already helped me bring my barely running '89 900SS to the state that I can take it out and enjoy it. But there are a few bugs I still need to sort out.
I guess I'll start with how I got my bike. A family friend had it as part of his collection which he originally got for his son to tidy up/work on but as so often the case with old bikes they both lost interest and it ended up becoming an aesthetic piece. I had expressed some interest in getting hold of a cheap older sports bike that I could tinker with. Fast forward past a few pictures sent to me and a bit of back and forth on what was wrong/price/etc and I was heading down to his farm to check it out. Even among the company it kept in that massive shed it still stood out and without ever turning it over (dead battery) or kicking a leg over we had negotiated on a price and it was mine.
A new battery with the largest CCA we could find got it running, but it clearly didn't like being started. Starting was a 5-7 minute ordeal with me questioning why on earth I decided to leave the safe reliable world of modern Japanese supersports and buy an old Duke. I eventually learnt her secrets and was able to get her started somewhat reliably in a bizarre sequence that also caused the rains to come.
Enough back story, cue me finding this site and the following fixes/mods!
Motolectric starter upgrade wiring - fixed my starting worries big time, not quite 'japanese' quick but I no longer feared that anything less than a freshly charged battery meant I wouldn't ride that day, would still have to do a rain dance with the choke and throttle if it was cold out though. Also cleaning and re-grounding fixed my battery drain issue.
Dynatek DC10-1 coils, Magnecor KV85 wires, new NGK plugs - I did these all at once and had a aluminum bracket made up to fit the dynatek coils, WOW! What a difference, first time starting and I swear before my thumb had reached the bottom it had started and was idling smoothly.
The other little things are - New fork tubes and rebuilt front forks, new indicators, good used indicator switchblock to replace my broken one, brand new rear caliper, rebuilt rear master cylinder, new sprockets and chain, new tyres, and assorted fluids and filters replaced.
I now am comfortable taking it out on rides but there are still a few things my googling, this amazing forum and assorted factory manuals haven't been able to help me diagnose/fix.
Problem 1: At a little lower than half a tank she coughs and splutters whenever you give her a bit of 'go' with the low fuel warning light flicking on and off. At normal steady throttle shes fine, but soon as you pull back on the throttle it's just like I'm running out of gas. First time this happened I figured "I need to get to a fuel station quick!" and thought nothing of it. Only after about 3-4 tanks of this I've realised I'm only putting about 10-11 litres of petrol in. I believe I might have something in the fuel line but thought I'd throw it out here to see if anyone has any ideas. She does run perfect with a full tank of gas, it's only once it drops to about 6-8 litres left that it acts like its running out of fuel.
Problem 2: Sporadic "clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk" when coming to a stop. This sound exactly like the chain is misaligned, but it does it only so often, not related to front or rear brake, and as far as I can measure, my rear wheel and chain geometry is goods. Alignment marks are even left to right, and my socket and wooden ruler didn't show a noticeable misalignment of the chain. Could be too loose? I measure it at around 2.5cm-2.8cm for slack.
In case it's somehow related my clutch slave is well on its way (squeak, squeak, squeak) and a replacement has been ordered and I should get it fitted next week sometime.
Thanks for reading and hopefully someone can help me diagnose the problems I've got so I can enjoy her more fully!
Hopefully I didn't bore you with a wall of text so I've attached some pictures.
Long time reader, first time poster. The wealth of knowledge on here has already helped me bring my barely running '89 900SS to the state that I can take it out and enjoy it. But there are a few bugs I still need to sort out.
I guess I'll start with how I got my bike. A family friend had it as part of his collection which he originally got for his son to tidy up/work on but as so often the case with old bikes they both lost interest and it ended up becoming an aesthetic piece. I had expressed some interest in getting hold of a cheap older sports bike that I could tinker with. Fast forward past a few pictures sent to me and a bit of back and forth on what was wrong/price/etc and I was heading down to his farm to check it out. Even among the company it kept in that massive shed it still stood out and without ever turning it over (dead battery) or kicking a leg over we had negotiated on a price and it was mine.
A new battery with the largest CCA we could find got it running, but it clearly didn't like being started. Starting was a 5-7 minute ordeal with me questioning why on earth I decided to leave the safe reliable world of modern Japanese supersports and buy an old Duke. I eventually learnt her secrets and was able to get her started somewhat reliably in a bizarre sequence that also caused the rains to come.
Enough back story, cue me finding this site and the following fixes/mods!
Motolectric starter upgrade wiring - fixed my starting worries big time, not quite 'japanese' quick but I no longer feared that anything less than a freshly charged battery meant I wouldn't ride that day, would still have to do a rain dance with the choke and throttle if it was cold out though. Also cleaning and re-grounding fixed my battery drain issue.
Dynatek DC10-1 coils, Magnecor KV85 wires, new NGK plugs - I did these all at once and had a aluminum bracket made up to fit the dynatek coils, WOW! What a difference, first time starting and I swear before my thumb had reached the bottom it had started and was idling smoothly.
The other little things are - New fork tubes and rebuilt front forks, new indicators, good used indicator switchblock to replace my broken one, brand new rear caliper, rebuilt rear master cylinder, new sprockets and chain, new tyres, and assorted fluids and filters replaced.
I now am comfortable taking it out on rides but there are still a few things my googling, this amazing forum and assorted factory manuals haven't been able to help me diagnose/fix.
Problem 1: At a little lower than half a tank she coughs and splutters whenever you give her a bit of 'go' with the low fuel warning light flicking on and off. At normal steady throttle shes fine, but soon as you pull back on the throttle it's just like I'm running out of gas. First time this happened I figured "I need to get to a fuel station quick!" and thought nothing of it. Only after about 3-4 tanks of this I've realised I'm only putting about 10-11 litres of petrol in. I believe I might have something in the fuel line but thought I'd throw it out here to see if anyone has any ideas. She does run perfect with a full tank of gas, it's only once it drops to about 6-8 litres left that it acts like its running out of fuel.
Problem 2: Sporadic "clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk" when coming to a stop. This sound exactly like the chain is misaligned, but it does it only so often, not related to front or rear brake, and as far as I can measure, my rear wheel and chain geometry is goods. Alignment marks are even left to right, and my socket and wooden ruler didn't show a noticeable misalignment of the chain. Could be too loose? I measure it at around 2.5cm-2.8cm for slack.
In case it's somehow related my clutch slave is well on its way (squeak, squeak, squeak) and a replacement has been ordered and I should get it fitted next week sometime.
Thanks for reading and hopefully someone can help me diagnose the problems I've got so I can enjoy her more fully!
Hopefully I didn't bore you with a wall of text so I've attached some pictures.