Is my KH100 possessed by an evil spirit?

Because that would mean pulling off the flywheel a second time. You are already doing the operation to get to the ignition....why do it twice? He needs to know how to set up and check points also. No better time to learn than now IMO.And that could also be part of his problem....Timing could be off a long ways.It is clear that no one has been inside that flywheel for years. I really agree with you on that carb hole blocking though. Try some silicone in it to see if that helps at least. That way you could dig it back out if it screws something up.

You need to check very carefully for any up-down play in the crank. If there is the slightest amount of movement, its going to need new main bearings. Contrary to popular belief crank seals dont generally fail, but will leak if there is any play in the main bearings.


If there is no play, then change points and condenser, and also check resistance of primary and secondary ignition coils. To change these parts you will need the correct flywheel puller, a flywheel holder (or electric/air impact gun), correct size socket, and tools required to remove points/condenser.

After flywheel nut has been removed, screw the puller fully home into the flywheel, then tighten the puller forcing bolt, and when it is tight a sharp blow on the end of the bolt with a medium weight engineers hammer will generally release the flywheel.

When its time to put the flywheel back on, make certain the crankshaft taper and the flywheel itself are scrupulously clean, or there may be problems with flywheel key shearing. Next you need to torque flywheel nut to the proper figure, using a proper flywheel holding tool. Finally set points gap, and check timing, then you will be ready to test.

If at all possible try to get genuine Kawasaki ignition parts, as the Chinese stuff is often very poor quality, and sometimes new condensers dont work properly.

Wow, thanks heaps for all this folks. I will reply and update properly in due course. At this stage I haven't had much chance to try the carb fix and that is what I will do first.

I have checked the timing and I am 100% certain it is spot on

Finally I've got around to doing a little bit of work on the bike so here is an update.

I've had this repro exhaust pipe from Asia sitting in a box for about 6 months. See, I bought the pipe from Asia for something like $80 only to find it had no internals. It was too good to be true. So having neither the tools or knowledge to do it I took it all to a local exhaust dude to work on it. It looks great and the bike really revs out now. Sounds more like a 2 stroke too. It now has a power band I can feel. It feels QUICK even. :eek1

Here it is with the new (low quality) chrome:


While I was waiting for the pipe I pulled apart the carb and gave it a good clean with carby cleaner. I kept the needle in its current position because I figured it was a touch rich, but with a new pipe that will be less clogged and breath better, it will probably go lean by itself. Logical? To my uneducated newbie ways, sure.

Putting the carb back together was fun. I should have taken photos of the order in which I pulled it apart but after 2 or 3 goes I managed to get all the tangly springs, rods, cables, needles, plungers all as they should be.

I have since cut out a small washer and plugged that choke plunger hole in the carb. Interestingly, after plugging it I had a little bit of trouble starting it (the bike always starts 1st or 2nd kick, hot or cold) so I saw this as the perfect test to find out if the choke has its own hole inside the carb. Pulled the choke and it came to life. This maybe tells me that that hole was definitely not meant to be open like that, and that maybe the easy starting was because the hole was letting air in creating a permanent choke pulled situation.

The plug:


Now, the news. Bike ran GREAT. Today is a hot 34 degree day so I just took it around the local industrial estate not too far from home and it was good. Except, albeit it taking longer to do it, it still started stuttering so I shut it down and let it cool before taking it home.

So, it looks like it's time to do ignition, points and condenser. I'm tossing up whether to do it myself or not. From the advice you folks have given me it doesn't seem too hard. I do need to find myself the right flywheel puller though.

Cheers,

Dan

Cheers for that FR700. Apart from the puller is there any other special tools I need? I've got just about everything else.

Secondly, I'm wondering how important it is I get Kawasaki parts? Pattern parts seem much cheaper, probably for good reason I'm sure.

Just the puller , the rest is just normal hand tools/spanners.

The age old question ... genuine , non genuine ... your call. Try taking the old ones out and dragging your arse to super cheap and see if they'll swap with a set of bosch ones for a car.

Spoke to a mechanic today from a store that sells 'Retro' motorcycles like mine at super inflated prices.

He said if it was the condenser it would be damaging/dirtying the points or something like that and that my symptoms don't sound like that. He said it wouldn't idle fine when the problem starts to appear. However, my bike still idles pretty smoothly even when this problem is happening, it only stutters under load/acceleration.

Can someone give me the run down on exactly why this might be a condenser? I've been enjoying playing around but lately it's started to give me the shits.

Maybe one more thing worth checking.
Not knowing the history of how and with what kind of oil the bike was previously used, I would remove the cylinder head and look for cabon buildup wich would raise the compression causing overheating and detonation.
A cloged pipe would have compounded the problem.
If the head gasket is copper you can heat it with a propane torch to anneal it and reuse.

Good luck

Hi Frank,

When I did the top end I had the head bead blasted to clean it up. The new pipe is breathing great. So we can eliminate those areas as any concern I feel.

Next stop: find me a fly wheel puller to the right size and have a go at the points, condenser and coil.

Dan

Guys, I stuffed up! Badly . Despite my gut instincts telling me to avoid the 'Retro' blokes I was speaking of, I rationalised that they have shitloads of old 2 strokes for sale so the must know their stuff. The mechanic says, "mate it's $125 for a service and I'll no doubt find the problem", I bump into the owner in the parking lot the same day, he seems like a good guy, and he says "my mechanic will find it". OK, $125 and they'll check the brakes and stuff I haven't bothered with AND they'll test the ignition. This is handy for me because I don't have the meters to check the ignition etc add to that buying the flywheel puller and I'm almost saving money.

I tell them that the timing is spot on and the carb seems fine but maybe one notch too rich and then I say, "I just want a service and to suss out this problem that happens after 25 minutes, this stuttering and eventual stall". When I drop it off the mechanic is "too busy" to chat. I reiterate to the lady about what I, the customer, want. Then, 2 days pass and I think to give them a call because I'm wary of their non-communication to talk to the mechanic to make sure he isn't going too far, or in the wrong direction. Once again he is "too busy". I'm getting bad feelings. I call again and get the same result. I got sick of waiting so I pop by the workshop. "Oh, it's ready!", the lady says. It's ready? Hmmm. So I talk to the mechanic and he's like "I just leaned your needle two notches." I'm dubious, this sounds too simple. He tells me the points and condenser are fine and timing is OK.

I KNEW that the timing was fine, it has been triple checked and I could have tuned the carby myself. All I asked for was the service in the hope they would find the problem. Oh, the cost... $313. Two hours extra labour there!!! I could have leaned the needle in 30 minutes and I'm a rookie.

I am pissed but if it is fixed, it is fixed, and I just want to get out of there. I get on the bike. The first traffic lights it stalls. I kick it over. Idling is rough and it stalls again. I try and turn the idle up (I have access to the idle rod via a neat little rubber boot on top of the carb). It's idling sporadically and at higher revs in 2nd gear it is rough as guts. I'm so angry. It stops on me 4 times in about 4 kms and is a bitch to start again. I try and take it back to them. It dies on me 4 times again. I enter the store all guns blazing with "mate, it's no good. it is a hell of a lot worse than when I brought it in. it won't idle. it's rough as hell. this isn't good enough." he agrees to take another look and decides to clean the float bowl for me or something and brings it back out. "idling ok now" he says. it is and it continues to idle well and run nicely for 5 minutes towards my house until it does the same old tricks.

Then while I'm trying to get it home, giving it a rest every little bit because it inevitably stalls, at 60km/h I feel my first ever real sieze. The sensation is exactly how you all have described. It's not the stuttering I have been otherwise experiencing.

Bastards. I have no doubt their ineptitude has exacerbated a problem that already existed BUT I took it to them to FIND the problem. Critical errors here are, firstly, leaning a carby TWO NOTCHES when your customer has said "I think it could be heat related" and then there are all the other issues of them overcharging me and not doing what I had asked as a customer.

Perhaps I was naive to take it to these guys after my gut feeling. Fair to say I'm paying the price now and I feel naive and stupid for handing over my bike to assholes.

The damage:



This plug is clearly too lean, isn't it? It is white after 10 minutes of running. It should show colour. I paid an extra $200 for a guy to do this and to cause the seizure in my engine.



Now I get to go back in there tomorrow to tell them I want my money back. Otherwise, it's consumer affairs or something. Do I have a leg to stand on?

I know that that was a long one so no replies are expected . I'd also like to humbly apologize and thank the people that have offered me advice in this thread. I should have done it DIY but what these people offered to me made me think at worst I would be $125 poorer with the problem unfound. It is much worse than that now.

Any Aussie's around that have dealt with operators such as these? I am begging for advice as to how to at the least get my money back. Damages will come after that but are obviously harder to prove. I just want the money back for the work that I never agreed to or asked for.

That really sucks about the shop, I wouldnt have charged you a dime for that service, I mean what did they do?, Nor would I have fucked with the carb. How could they think it needed to be leaner?

Has the timing been checked with a dial indicatior down the bore, or just on the flywheel?

Also, I know you said you have cleaned the tank and strainer, but have you checked the flow? Recently? I've had two engines that ran great, and woiuld putter out and die becuase they had enough flow to keep up with the engine at idle, but not at full throttle. Cleaned out they had lots of flow, but they sucked up some more shit quickly.

I'd clean her bore up and put some new crank seals in now. It would suck to have it back together, and go lean and kill it becuase of a crank seal.

Cheers for the reply there.

I agree, horrible work and I'm going to try and fight it through the consumer affairs channels. I've since been enlightened that the operators of this business are very dubious people indeed. Unfortunately there is a loophole in my state where there is no statutory warranty on motorcycle mechanical services AND used motorcycle sales. This is why these shonks can get away with it. There is not legislative coverage and people can't go to courts because it will be very expensive. I'm going to talk to my local Member of Parliament and other relevant parties, perhaps get a petition going from motorcyclists, to try and make a change. Just because only 5% of traffic are motorcyclists, doesn't mean we shouldn't be legally protected. Outrageous!

I'm 90% sure the timing has only been checked on the flywheel but not certain.

I haven't checked fuel flow recently. Is the best way to check simply by pulling the hose off the carb? The bike has a history of flow issues. The old petcock was buggered and the fuel cap wasn't venting properly and stopping flow. They have since been replaced. I guess it's possible that it is flow but the engine does need quite a good rest after symptoms appear, at least 10 minutes. If it was intermittent flow, would it take as long as 10-15 minutes to catch up? I still feel it is heat related, air leak or electrical.

I have already found a NOS Kawasaki piston in eBay at a good price. I am going to get it re-bored and I will do a full strip down and rebuild from the bottom up. I will go new seals, new rotary valve (just in case that is a part of it), piston & rings, get the casings cleaned up, new ignition coil and condenser, get the points checked, and so on.

:eek1

To save money, what parts of the job can a relative rookie hope to attempt? I've considered doing it myself but feel after all this it is too much for me. As it stands the bike ain't worth much and I have spent a lot of time and money. I need it running well.

KH, I dont know what state you are in, but get in contact with the VJMC or local motorcycle racing club, those guys that race buckets and historic 2 strokes will help you out a heap with information and reputable people to deal with.

I am in NSW now, but may be able to direct you to someone in SA or WA that can help you get it sorted.

I'm glad your not giving up on her, its a real nice looking bike.

I only mention the timing becuase its possible for the fly wheel to move, making the timing marks wrong. Having it too advanced will make it run hot, more fuel will kinda compensate for that, but not completely. Just a sugestion. Theres alot of good into on checking it and how to make the tool here. http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/93...-15-dial-gauge-dial-indictor-ignition-timing/

Just saw this thread....really stinks that the shop stiffed ya and screwed your bike up... Not sure what you can persue over there in oz...

The little kawi 100s are a fun little bike when running good...i have an 01 ke100....awesome little bike that uses next to no gas...LOL

First post here for me...Hello Ya'll.


Long ago I was told that a condenser can have a fail mode that happens with heat increase. At the time, I had a 650 Triumph that wuz driving me nuts with one cyl. cutting out every time I went somewhere. Changed the condenser, never had another licka trouble. From that day on, I've been a believer.

I am also a certified electrical idiot, so I have no idea why this is so.

Good luck with it and let us know. (+1 on dial indicator timing)

Cheers Gordy! I sent you a PM. I'd love to find some knowledgable people here in Adelaide. Will sign up to the VJMC too.

It's been such a saga mucking around with this thing that it has become an obsession. It's my first bike and I'm not gonna move on until she is real nice.

I will certainly look into this timing test.

Hello folks,

This happened:



First time I have taken an engine out of a bike. Quite enjoyed it. I used a jack from my automobile to take tension off the mount bolts while finally taking the engine out. Found from there I could just use the jack to push the sucker up and then lift it out.

So, YEP. I've got a guy recommended to me by people I trust and he is gonna rebuild it from the bottom up for me for not too much money. I figure this will give the bike a new life . At the same time I want to make sure the carby is back to stock jettings, replace all ignition parts and make sure there is good fuel flow.

The big question:Since this is all apart. What would you replace to make sure the rebirth went well? Carb set up, jetted and cleaned to perfection? New ignition coil, cap, condensor? I've filled the tank to the top and popped some stabil in, should I empty and clean the thing? I am going to replace chain and sprockets at a bare minimum. My air filter box looks a bit worse for wear. I'll take some photos of various bits so you guys are better informed.

Lastly, thank you for all your help again. I'm not stopping until this little thing runs so sweet, and I hope in time I will become more of a contributor.