Tyddles's (my FJ) major rebuild

[Knuckles]

Kerry I remember the article from when Tyddles had a mini rebuild and I was smitten with that bike. I thought it was absolutely beautifull, the colouring and all. Very well done.

[kerry]

Kerry I remember the article from when Tyddles had a mini rebuild and I was smitten with that bike. I thought it was absolutely beautifull, the colouring and all. Very well done.

Knuckles, I so so sorry I missed this reply (note to self, need to check more often).  Yes that was back in 2001 when Barry still owned her (http://www.btinternet.com/~fj1200mods/Rebuild2001/Rebuild2001.htm) unfortunately he neglected her through no fault of his own after that as you can see.  She's almost back to her former glory and reading this topic again has made me realise there's actually lots and lots I need to update you guys about so I'll try and sort out some more info over the next few days.

[kerry]

Well to continue

A couple of weeks later.  Mark had this mad idea we'd ride down to Phil's (Doc at the UK Owners Club) which was 175 miles one way.  The time was now 1.20pm!  If we were going to go to Phil's then we should have set off earlier but sure enough we filled the bikes and set off.

Everything was perfect, the sun was out, I was having a good riding day and was on Mark's back wheel, enjoying the extra revs which had made a huge difference.  Get her over 4,500 revs and her arse sits down and sets off like a rocket!  Woohoo!  Then I noticed some increase vibs through the bars but didn't think anything of it.  Next we were filtering though traffic, due to an accident and she began to run lumpy.  I'd been here before when I rode back on 3 pots, this felt the same.

Anyway I kept going but when it started to rain, we pulled over to shelter under a bridge so I mentioned it to Mark.  Out came the tool kit on the hard shoulder in the rain on the M1 and off came the tank to check to see if it was the same issue.  Nope! and now we could smell petrol!  So we aborted the trip to Phils and returned the 65 miles home again.  It was an interesting journey but we made it back, and parked up, but there was still a strong smell of petrol.

So we had a quick look, seemed to be an issue with #2 carb, exhaust not hot and a wet spark plug.  Jeez the petrol fumes gave me a headache and there was a puddle under the FJ, all over the bike ramp.  So the tank came off, #2 pod air filter off and dried out, #2 carb emptied.

The next day Dave arrived and with his able assistant Mark, they checked out the engine since the rebuild and tighten everything that needed it, checked the shims, replaced my leaky fork seals and then started the fuel problem.  Dave brought his spare set of carbs so they stripped my set and rebuilt his to fit instead but there was still a problem however now it was a different one as they had fixed the leak but she still was not running right.

More soon, got to get back to work.

[kerry]

OK so next while messing in the garage with the petrol leak, we found what was causing the speedo problem, looks like its the unit IN the wheel itself, so a new part was ordered.



After more carb cleaning and still getting problems it looks like one of the carb bodies was actually broke, difficult to explain but you might be able to see it in the pic below.  



So we have Carb No1 with a seezed air screw and Carb No2 is broke... Dave had a spare set, so they swapped all the parts over and fitted his set as a temp fix.  







Problem solved or so they thought!  But still a fuelling issue.  This time they traced it to the fact that mine had been ledared and Dave's hadn't, luckily Mark had some 110 jets spare and fitted those till we can source another set of carbs and get the ledar done.

Trouble is she doesn't like the 110 jets with the S&B and Wiseco so I'd have to get a set of carbs sooner rather than later, bugger!

[kerry]

So Phil from the UK owners club came to the rescue with half a set of carbs.  Which meant the boys had more tinkering with the carbs on Tyddles to do.  This is what they got up to, I was horrified to see how many bits were scattered all over the garage (apols for the B&W, I forgot to change a setting on my camera).  Mark was shocked at how much dirt as in there.





But it wasn't long before they had them back together and Tyddles was alive once again which was a relief and appeared not to be leaking fuel this time, thankfully.  So it was off for a quick test ride round our street.  Mark went first but just outside the house.  But Dave decided to go a tad further.  Now I find my error, so back to full colour – Doh!



I think there's a HUGE smile under that lid so I assume she's working OK.  But the next time I take them a cuppa, Tyddles is in bits again...

[Dan Filetti]

After more carb cleaning and still getting problems it looks like one of the carb bodies was actually broke, difficult to explain but you might be able to see it in the pic below.  



So we have Carb No1 with a seezed air screw and Carb No2 is broke... Dave had a spare set, so they swapped all the parts over and fitted his set as a temp fix.  

Not sure about the seezed air screw, but you'r not the first to see a broken float post.  I've read where some folks were able to make a JB Weld repair on this.

Someone check me on this?

Then again, a new set of carbs for what, +/- $400, especially with another potentially non-fixable carb issue, sounds like a fairly tidy solution as well.

Dan

[kerry]

Thanks Dan, it would be interesting to see how people fixed theirs.  Its not something that's come up too often in the UK so no one had a fix at the time.

[kerry]

Here's more anyway (I'm on a roll today).  After seeing Tyddles in more bits, don't panic, I was told, this time she wasn't in bits cause of the carbs.  They were now sorting the speedo, phew!



There's the culpit, broken lugs.



But they are not finished with my wheel and decide to service the floating discs.



With Tyddles all back together again, Dave goes for another test ride to check the speedo.



Now he says it was fine and that he took it easy but my GPS says otherwise.

I knew the 1314 wiseco kit would be an improvement but 224mph!! - naughty Dave!!!

[rktmanfj]

StreetPilots seem to do that once in a while... I passed under a canopy of trees last summer and mine jumped to 667mph.

I know for a fact that I did not exceed 600...     

Randy T
Indy

[kerry]

StreetPilots seem to do that once in a while... I passed under a canopy of trees last summer and mine jumped to 667mph.

I know for a fact that I did not exceed 600...     

Randy T
Indy

 

[kerry]

Anyway, I don't want to bore you too much in one day so just one more update today.   

The boys rode Tyddles a few times after that but were still having more problems with rough running.  But I finally got to ride her myself for over 3 hours - yay!  I was up at 5am, wrapped up well as it was 40 degrees and on the road for 5.30am with Mark following me in the car, just in case.  I had 175 miles to do before I reached my destination and had promised to be there before 10am.

I noticed the problems the boys had been referring to straight away.  Compared to when I first collected her from the winter rebuild in Hull, UK, Tyddles was lazy now, there wasn't that crisp acceleration that was there before.  At low revs she still kicked me in the butt but from 50-70 in top there was no kick, where as before you got a kick, a slap and a push.  So there was definately a problem still.

75 miles into my journey, I could take the cold no longer and stopped for a bathroom break, nose wipe and a warm up.  Tyddles had only used 1/4 tank?

Anyway warmed up and with another 100 mile to go I set off again.  The other half of the journey was very much the same as the first but in daylight however still cold.  I arrived at my destination on time and apart from the fluffy behaviour of Tyddles under acceleration she behaved purrfectly but completed the journey using 3/4 tank which isn't really normal.

So where had I taken her...  Well I decided the boys didn't need to mess about with her any longer and gave her to Phil at the UK club to work on as a project for Phil will work on her on his quiet ish days.  I gave him a list of things to do and left her with him for a few months.

I felt awful but she was now in the right place.  I knew there was quite a few dyno runs on her horizon so it would be interesting to see the results, as well as a suspension overhaul front and back.   Phil had already given me a tip as to how to help with her upside down forks cause they kept blowing seals so I won't have to get them coated again.

However I was even more impatient this time about having her back so didn't know how I was going to cope with the waiting.







So that's it for today, thanks for reading and more soon.

[andyb]

One of the better solutions that I've seen for a broken float post was done with a very fine drill and safety wire in a figure 8 pattern over the pin.  Not the prettiest (and a bit of a hassle) but beats not riding.

Though hell, getting hit in the face with an angry wombat beats not riding, so ymmv.