The tale of the Suzuki DRZ400 Super Motard

[Brinkman]

Hi Ladies and gents.

Once again I am doing a thread to track the progress of a new bike that I worked extremely hard for to ecquire.

The feeling of satisfaction i get from prepping/modifying and improving bikes makes every cent I spend worth it a million times over. There has been a §HIT TON of cents that has gone into my lovely duds I bought over the last few years.

I sold my KTM 200 XCW a month ago and has been desperately searching for a neat Suzuki DRZ 400 super motard. I finally found one but it was 1350km away all the way in Vereeniging.  After thinking long and hard if I should take the chance, I decided to put some faith in humanity and do the EFT.

I really wanted to get back on road  and I couldn't think of anything more fun than an off road bike with 17inch sticky tyres as mountain passes was the type of riding that in the past really gave me buterflies and kept depression at bay. 10 years ago I was all into 300km/h superbikes, but having a bike that is not so intimidating makes riding much more fun, also keeps my butt out of jail.

I Organised Rothwinds Couriers, whose service was top notch! Best price and lowest turn around time as well. Landing two days earlier than what was promised! The bike was securely fastened on a very neat trailer and the guys that delivered it gave such a proffesional service. Great sense of humor as well.

[eberhard]

This sounds very exciting. Throw us a few pitchas please.

[Brinkman]

The day it was picked up.

The Rothwind guys was sitting outside the sellers house at 5AM waiting for him to wake up 

[Brinkman]

This was a rare buy where the bike looked exactly like the Gumtree photos.

I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived.

But like all second hand bikes there will always be stuff to do.

Even though it will get the magic wand treatment, this is still an amazing blank canvas to start off with.

All the bolts are standard and looks to be untouched. The bike is also stock standard with all the emission bits still in place except for the Cycra Pro Bend hand guards and aftermarket silencer.

Attached is the Gumtree photos. 

[chopperpilot]

Looks stunning on the GT pics!

Congratulations with your acquisition!

Year model and kms?

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

[Brinkman]

The first 2 problems popped up as a faulty rectifier/regulator and the clock deafaulting to MPH. The total odometer reading is also in Miles and not in Kilometers. But I checked with 2 Suzuki dealerships and this is not a grey import. According to Thumpertalk it was UK models that was imported into SA.

2008 model with 17500 miles on the odometer.

[Brinkman]

I started with a deep clean and replacing the air filter with a Putoline one as the OEM filter was not in the best shape.

Next up was the headlight not working which turned out to be the starter button. Stripped and cleaned the contacts and that solved the problem completely.

The bike caught my dads attention and from here on out he has been by my side helping where my knowledge and skills lacked.

A numerous amount of tests was done to make sure it was in fact the Rec/Reg that was stuffed before going out to Startlne to get a new one.  Electrical plugs swopped around and just like that the battery is charging like it should.

Next up was the dash that did not keep time and and kept on reseting to miles when the ignition is turned off.

[Brinkman]

 

[Brinkman]

 

[Welsh]

Looks like a good deal so far. 

[Brinkman]

I stripped the dash off the bike while my dad got out the soldering iron, silicone and magnifying glass.

With the help of a post on Thumpertalk a very small diode was stripped off the circuit board and soldered onto another place. The diode is probably 1mm x 1mm. I still can't believe my dad got it swapped.

This is what Suzuki does to default the units to Miles or Kilometers for different countries.

The best thing is the odometer and trips changed over to Kilometers as well. But it is adding in kilometers onto the existing 17500 miles.

He also soldered the red power wire so the dash can keep time as well as sealing up the locating pins on the rubber button strip. This seems to be a design fault letting water into the dash and corroding the circuit board. 

[Brinkman]

The bike was really plugged up in its standard form so it was time to liven it up a bit. 

I ordered in a Dynojet stage 2 kit, a #25 pilot jet and cut a nice big 3X3 inch hole into the top of the air box.

The parts replaced in the carb was the needle, pilot and main jet and the slide spring.

[Brinkman]

To compliment the Jetting kit I also repacked the silencer with some yummy FMF 4-stroke exhaust packing at the same time.

I was completely shocked as the people that made or repacked the silencer was really stingy. There were two small 5cm donuts in there, one on each side of the baffle.

[Brinkman]

Pic of the hole in the airbox.

We used a small saw blade and torch to cut the hole.

[Welsh]

Probably the packing was blown out and that was all that was left. 

[Brinkman]

Probably the packing was blown out and that was all that was left. 

I would have hoped so 

I could see exactly where the 2 donuts was cut with very sharp edges.

[Brinkman]

I started with a deep clean and replacing the air filter with a Putoline one as the OEM filter was not in the best shape.

Next up was the headlight not working which turned out to be the starter button. Stripped and cleaned the contacts and that solved the problem completely.

The bike caught my dads attention and from here on out he has been by my side helping where my knowledge and skills lacked.

A numerous amount of tests was done to make sure it was in fact the Rec/Reg that was stuffed before going out to Startlne to get a new one.  Electrical plugs swopped around and just like that the battery is charging like it should.

Next up was the dash that did not keep time and and kept on reseting to miles when the ignition is turned off.

[Brinkman]

I assembled the bike and discovered that the carb really is such a pain in the ass as the people said on the Thumpertalk forum

I have never seen a carb with so many connections and hoses. Combined with the small space it has to go into plus getting the boots seated if you can't see a thing.

Throttle cables was then cleaned and lubed up ready to go 

The difficulty level of removing and installing made it so much more crucial that the carb works perfectly on the first run.

I ended up Following Dyno jets instructions except with the addition of the bigger pilot jet as per Thumpertalk.

Specs as follows for those that hasn't unplugged the DRZ and want  to give it a go.

SPECS

#155 DJ main jet
#25 Mikuni pilot jet
Dynojet needle on 2nd clip from above
Dynojet lighter big needle slide spring
Pilot screw 2.75 turns out from fully seated
3x3 inch hole in air box
Very close to sea level

Below is how gunked up the throttle cables was. The throttle stuck when the bars was turned to the right and they tightened.

I used a cable luber and some Q20 and flushed the cable housings. Oil forced through the cable housing until it came out clean on the other side. 

 

[Brinkman]

The bike started up 2nd swing and all the circuits feels as close to perfect as I can imagine it.

This was 100% worth it, added a ton of power and a big boost to the throttle response. I can now bring up the front wheel in second gear without the clutch. Even with my limited skills.

Wheelie training will commence once I have done everything I need to do. 

 

First photoshoot to follow . . . . . . . .

[Brinkman]