[katanarider]

Don't get me wrong. There is no fault in asking questions and I don't mind answering them when I can. Its just that the forum is not as active as it once was and there aren't as many people coming forward to help you out. If you assume that you know what your doing, when you don't, and no one steps up to reply to your comments, you could mess something up inadvertently. Rule of thumb: research first, ask last.

[y2ktj]

It's a shame that a lot of forums have died. My local Jeep forum is the same. All moved to Facebook pages. Which I don't get because it's impossible to get tech from. Theres a lot I don't know and am fully aware of it. Simple things like the oil. Glad you steered me right on that because I had even searched to make sure I had the right stuff. My search of oil types and ratings left out the 4 stroke part of it. Its not mentioned in the Haynes manual. Just says 10w40 sf or higher. never mentions the bike specific part unless I missed it. I'd love to spend hours researching everything before hand but I work and have a family. I do some research before tackling something but like the other day I was posting as things came up. Always appreciate the input from the more experienced.

So tried to start it again tonight with no luck. Figured out where prime is on the petcock and followed your advice. Took the tank off and checked the vacuum line and when I sucked on it fuel flowed out. Took the carb off and lots of fuel in the bowls. Now correct me if I'm wrong but I should have seen some evidence of fuel in the inlets to the cylinders. They were bone dry. So put the carb on the bench and read through carbs 101 again. Knew I should have done it before but I'm impatient. Inside was fairly clean but definitely some dirt and shit. Looking at the jets it wouldn't take much to plug one. 2 of the float bowl gaskets had splits.

Question on these choke pins. I was unable to remove them do to the line. Is it ok to clean the carb with those still in there?


And should this brass peice be removed.

In carbs 101 i wasn't sure if 1 of the steps referred to removing these or the ones at the very top with the screwdriver slot. I figured it was the others since these don't seem removable.

I'll order a rebuild kit tomorrow but is there anything else I should look for or should do.

And someone else has been in here more than once as evident but the semi stripped screw in the pic

[katanarider]

Now that you know what side "Prime" is on, the complete opposite side is "Reserve". Put it on Reserve and leave it alone. One of the cool parts about Katanas is they have gas gauges. Funny, my old friend had a $10k Honda CBR 1000RR and he was like.."What? You have a gas gauge ?" ...lol...thats right ! Another reason I leave it on Reserve is it consumes the small traces of condensation that eventually builds up due to ethanol drawing in moisture. Plus, twisting it every time you get a little low on fuel will only bust your old o-ring thats around the knob.
Next, really, I don't know how to remove the choke plunger either. I've never rebuilt 600cc carbs, only 1100cc at this point. This is where my suggestion of doing research comes into play, because I really don't know as much as you may think I do. Don't feel bad.
That brass straw looking tube in the float bowl is the choke pick up tube/choke fuel supply. Just leave it alone. All the jets and idle air mixture screws have flat blade screw heads on them. Take those out to clean the carbs !
Last, the good thing here is that because your on the path of rebuilding your carbs, you can go ahead and use carb cleaner /or starting fluid spray to try and start the bike for the first time. Since your going to be replacing all the o-rings and gaskets anyway, go ahead and spray that stuff in the cylinders. Just don't spray it on the floats themselves because if they're like my Katana 1100 floats, they are two piece and are glued together. The carb cleaner will eat the glue and cause them to leak/get fuel inside them.

[y2ktj]

no gas gauge?? Weird. You say spray carb cleaner down the cylinders. With the carbs on, open the butterflies and spray in each cylinder before trying to start? Guessing just a small burst. Jeeps fuel injection so don't have much experience with carbs.

Cleaned the carbs out and slapped them back on. Rebuild kit will be at least a week away and wanted to get them back together before I forgot how they came apart. The whole process was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I'll be confident when I get the rebuild kit and clean them again. Anything to avoid when buying a rebuild kit. Ebay has them from $50 to 150. Gotta be a difference between the 2.

Tried to start with no luck. Checked all the plugs for spark again and realized that they are the wrong ones. Now after cranking on and off for a couple min should I see or feel gas on the plugs? How do I know for sure that its getting fuel. I'm plugged up at the moment and gas smell was already in the air from taking the tank on and off. Getting the hang of removing/installing with out spilling but some always manages to leak out the hoses or petcock. I already ordered new ones that will be here tomorrow. I spoke with the PO and he thinks he had just thrown some in to keep the motor sealed while it sat. Could that be the problem? I've read a couple no start threads that I'll have to revisit. Battery is fully charged and on my charger between start attempts. I'll try the new plugs tomorrow and if that doesn't work I'll check the coil voltage and go from there.

[katanarider]

Easy, I have a bit of attention deficit! When you throw 10 questions out in one go, then I lose track of whats going on. As a matter of fact, in general, if you just start a new thread for every problem you come up with is usually best. The reason is, who ever takes a look at your build thread here is going to have to back up several pages to grasp whats going on. That means they will lose interest and not give any advice ! Trust me, there are lots of guys here with tons more knowledge than myself !

Ok, rebuilt kit...

I just buy what ever parts I need one piece at a time. I'm not real sure about "rebuild kits", but I think its all about the name brand. Like K&L and Suzuki are good names to trust. I just don't have much experience with "Kits".

Next, coils...
You may need to double/triple check your wiring. Also, at the plug boots, the wires just kind of stick into the plug caps or boots or what ever you want to call them. You can snip the wire ends and stick them back in the caps. Also make sure your getting 12v at the coils. Then remember me saying use the "Search" ? Well, look up "relay mod" or "coil relay modification" ect...
Here are some quick searches without me reviewing them:
this one is old and the pics are gone:

https://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=116991

https://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=125540

You get the idea.

Starting fluid...
Its sort of common sense. Either spray it in the air filter box while holding the throttle open and cranking it over or without the air box each carb body individually.

After all of that, I'm wore out. I'm taking a breather...lol

[y2ktj]

So new plugs and no difference. Took the air filter out and sprayed some carb cleaner in and got a couple loud backfires from the exhaust and one also came from the carbs. Is that normal? Same exhuast backfire when sprayed in each cylinder. So obviously there is spark. So must be a fuel issue. I didn't do a real thorough job cleaning the carbs since I'll be doing it again once I have the rebuild kit. I figured it would fire a little but run rough at least. I'll do some more research on no start tonight but anything to look for?

[y2ktj]

Easy, I have a bit of attention deficit! When you throw 10 questions out in one go, then I lose track of whats going on. As a matter of fact, in general, if you just start a new thread for every problem you come up with is usually best. The reason is, who ever takes a look at your build thread here is going to have to back up several pages to grasp whats going on. That means they will lose interest and not give any advice ! Trust me, there are lots of guys here with tons more knowledge than myself !

lol I type as I'm thinking.

Figured this is the best place to ask my questions since the forum is so quiet. Boring newb thread eh....so it needs more pics!! 492 views so far so someone is at least looking. They cant all be me! lol
So tried to start it a few more times after my last post. Hooked a jumper battery to it and that gave more life to the starter and with half choke and a little spray it sounded like it was getting close for a few seconds but that's it. Going to see if a friend of a friend whose a bike guy can come have a look at it. He put the offer out there before but I'm guessing won't be till after the holidays.

Guess the backfires were loader than I thought and a neighbor came by to see if I was ok! lol Got me thinking about exhaust. Going to KISS and just replace the dual exhaust. What should I be looking for in cans. Was thinking I'll just grab a couple used ones for now to stay on the "cheap" budget. I don't have a few hundred to spend on new ones for a non running bike. The wife is good about me spending on the jeep but she's not really a fan of the bike so got to keep it cheap for now. She'll be okay with it once I'm riding. I'm assuming that the cans need to be same and for a 600+ bike? Anything else I should know?


Looking into no start now but was wondering about decals and paint. Gotta keep thinking about the final bike for motivation. Is this 2 tone paint or decals?




This one looks like decals but cant find any online.



Put starting on hold and did some work on the rear lights. The PO had installed some LED turn signals but did a hack job on the wiring and glued them to the bottom of the brake light housing. They look good but not very bright. When I hit the signal switch they just turned on. No blinking. Im guessing the relay is shot. Have to look into that more. And I must have something wrong with the wiring because when I entered the dark shop I noticed that the gauge lights were on even though the bike was off with no key. PO did a good job of putting different color zip ties on a lot of the connections but I obviously have something wrong.

Had this led brake light kicking around that I never used on the jeep so going to use the Led strip in the brake light housing on the bike.


The housing is cracked anyway so no harm in trying. I didn't think the stock bulb was very bright

I really want to be seen. One of my main concerns being a new rider. See many posts about bike accidents where the car didn't see the bike. Obviously ride defensively but I want my brake light and turn signals as bright as possible. Got cold out so only got the led strip removed from the housing and test fit before quitting.

After tonight in the shop I'm even more fired up to get it running. I'll keep reading and trying till it does!!

[katanarider]

That relay mod really does wonders. It skips all the old wiring harness and other connections by sending 12v straight to the coils. Katanas are extremely picky about having full voltage at the coils. Especially when its cold outside.
Don't ever use a car battery to jump start a bike ! It will toast your components. There is a little black box called a igniter that controls the spark. Its very sensitive and its not cheap.

[y2ktj]

ok thought it was just a running car to avoid jumping with. Been reading through no start threads last couple hours and saw a post about coil wires. I think I might have them wrong. I assumed that the 2 plug wires on the left coil went to the 2 the cylinders below it and same for the right. I'll search some more but the 2 plug wires from the left coil should go to cylinder 1 and 4 and the right to 2 and 3 correct?

[katanarider]

I don't remember exactly which plug number, but yeah one of the wires crosses over to the other side.

[ygolohcysp]

Yep, to me it sounds like the plug wires are wrong, thus causing the starter spray to fire at the wrong times, causing it to backfire when either the exhaust or intake valve is open rather than during the compression stroke with no valves open. Sorry, I get caught up in my own project. It doesn't help that while I'm good with mechanical stuff in general, I'm no Kat expert. Especially with Pre-carbs, as my Kat is a post.

I'd say you're on the right track. I know on my post, the coil/plug wires do cross over. Essentially, I think the coil fires both plugs when it fires, so one cylinder will have it fire just before top dead center of the compression stroke for normal combustion, and the other cylinder will fire at the top of the exhaust stroke before the intake valve opens when it really doesn't make any difference that it's firing at the same time. I don't remember the firing order of the motor though.

For the carbs when you clean them, make sure all the jets are clean. You can see light through the holes on even the smallest jets. For any large enough, I tie a piece of thread to a handle on my work bench drawer or something stable, thread it through the jet, spray the thread with carb cleaner, and use the thread like floss to scrub the inside of the jet. Pilot jets are often too small to get the thread through. Count the mixture screw turns to fully closed, remember that number, pull them all the way out. Clean the needle end of the screw with a rag/carb cleaner. Then with just the carb bodies, make sure all the small passages flow. Fully disassembled, I use carb cleaner, but I have gotten carb cleaner in the eye before. That burns. You can also use compressed air and feel for the flow on the other side. When reassembling, turn the mixture screws all the way in, then back them out the same amount. If you've completely lost count, then I think around 2.5 turns is a good guesstimate. Also, don't forget that the jets may be different sizes in the different carbs. I think in my post Kat, the outer two carbs are jetted differently than the inner two.

Also, float height really makes a difference, and not compressing the spring loaded rod (if it's like the post kats) is important. I made some handy gauges by measuring and cutting up old hotel key cards.

[Kreylyn]

Been off forum for a few days, so just getting caught up...

Um, where are we? lol!

What issues are you still concerned about or having that has not already been resolved?

Krey

[y2ktj]

Got it fired!!!! Scared the crap out of me it was so loud without any cans. It started to idle after 15 seconds or so. I shut it off because the whole neighborhood came out to see what the noise was! lol All I did was fix the plug wire order. So thinking I'll do the exhaust next before starting it much more. Need the exhaust done before worrying about how its running correct? Center stand supposed to be here by jan 3rd so I'll pick up some exhaust tube and figure out the cans while I wait. In one of my 100 question posts I asked about the cans. Do they need to be the same? I have a can off a zx6 so can I just grab another can for a 600+ bike? Or find another zx6 can or 2 new ones?

I'm super pumped right now and the adrenaline is still flowing from getting it started.

Huge thanks to you katrider and everyone else who posted in this thread and everywhere else I've read on the site. I'm a newb but don't give up easy and knew you guys would get me there eventually. Was getting frustrated the last few days with the no start but after seeing 92junker posts in multiple no start threads about 1+4 and 2+3 it finally clicked.

[y2ktj]

Question about the oil cooler mount. I put it on when I first got the bike so parts weren't lying around. After starting it I spent some time checking over the bike for loose bolts ect. I'm thinking i have it on backwards as the bottom tab on the right side is to the inside and the left is on the outside of the mount.

right side tab


At the top of the cooler one side has a lip on it that I have to the back. I'm guessing it should be towards the front.

[katanarider]

I'm glad you got it started man !
You should have matching cans on both sides. Ideally stock pre-'98 katana cans.
If your going to jet the carbs, get what ever cans you want, but matching set for sure. I just went through a similar situation where I messed up one of my mufflers as I was attempting to remove the stainless steel heat shield. I went to ebay and bought another set of stock dual exhaust just a few weeks ago. If you use the stock mid pipe ( H-pipe), I recommend welding those connecting tubes closed. What I mean is block them off/don't connect them. I'm doing mine that way so I can remove one side of the exhaust at a time, without bothering with that H-pipe connection. Just my $.02.
As for your oil cooler...figure it out ! .. I've removed those bottom supports from my cooler years ago when I put some custom frame slider brackets on my frame that interfered with those mounts. I'm not saying its the smarted ...I mean smartest idea, but I've not had them for about 6-7 years.

EDIT: The stock pre-'98 600cc cans have a funnel looking taper where the pipe meets the muffler. The 750cc mufflers have a flat flange where the pipe meets the muffler.