nickza
Pack Dog
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2013
- Messages
- 467
- Reaction score
- 16
- Location
- Durbanville, Cape Town
- Bike
- Kawasaki KLE 500
So since the old girl hit 50 000km and the fact that it would randomly be hard to start I decided to check the valve clearances, myself. Fired up the manual, read all the important bits and printed it out. Pulled the tank, seat and fenders, drained the coolant, removed all the pipes in the way, got the engine cover off and then waited for the bike to cool.
Measured the clearances and piston 1 (on the left) exhaust and inlet were smaller than I had a feeler guage for.. Piston 2 was slightly looser than the recommended spec. So I set them all to midway of the spec closed up and started and its clackety as hell! Repeated the process to see if I had done something wrong, set them a fraction tighter (still within spec) and it's still clackety as hell. Sounds more on piston 1 than piston 2.
Took the bike for a quick ride wondering if it would calm down when it got warm, bike definately idles better, pulls cleanly and seems otherwise happy but it is hellova noisy. As in they are louder than the exhaust when accelerating.
What did I do wrong?
Also on a trip to Yzerfontein on Sunday both my rear indicators decided they had had enough of bouncing and the rubber tore. Has anyone 'upgraded' their indicators to anything better looking (or LED?)? Also is Kawasaki the only people who will sell original looking indicators?
Measured the clearances and piston 1 (on the left) exhaust and inlet were smaller than I had a feeler guage for.. Piston 2 was slightly looser than the recommended spec. So I set them all to midway of the spec closed up and started and its clackety as hell! Repeated the process to see if I had done something wrong, set them a fraction tighter (still within spec) and it's still clackety as hell. Sounds more on piston 1 than piston 2.
Took the bike for a quick ride wondering if it would calm down when it got warm, bike definately idles better, pulls cleanly and seems otherwise happy but it is hellova noisy. As in they are louder than the exhaust when accelerating.
What did I do wrong?
Also on a trip to Yzerfontein on Sunday both my rear indicators decided they had had enough of bouncing and the rubber tore. Has anyone 'upgraded' their indicators to anything better looking (or LED?)? Also is Kawasaki the only people who will sell original looking indicators?
