Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

After pulling off the air box and cleaning it out I then pulled off the carby banks. To my surprise it had one tube for coolant coming in one side and exiting out the other to cool the carbys........I know people have allways said these motors run hot but the carby cooling is neat!

One problem I have is that when you start the bike and put it into first (it dosn't clunk it's a nice smooth click) and while still stationary you can't pull it up into second gear. With the engine on or off and rolling it backwards and forwards nothing. No second gear.

Now when I take off and the engine is under load and I presume the gearbox (duh) under load also, it snicks into every gear with no problems at all. Both up and down. No clunking or bad noise at all. On the dials it has appx 30,000km.

Is this a normal Kawakapotimiss gearing so that you can not take off in second with no load on the engine.

MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm....more I find the more I laugh

snr

That's normal. Kwakka gearboxes have a positive neutral finder. This means that whilst you are stationary, or your engine isn't under load) and change up with the gear lever will find you in neutral. (Well, it should, sometimes that doesn't happen if your oil needs changing.)

Don't think so.
I have no probs changing up higher with a simple roll back or forward.
ty

SNR wrote:After pulling off the air box and cleaning it out I then pulled off the carby banks. To my surprise it had one tube for coolant coming in one side and exiting out the other to cool the carbys........I know people have allways said these motors run hot but the carby cooling is neat!

Other way around, actually. That coolant *heats* the carbs to keep them from icing up in cold weather... a common problem in FNQ, from what I understand...

Thanks for the input people. Was worried about the gear box but what you say about the positive neuterual finder makes sense! I can find netural while stationary but it will not go into second until I take off. Engine going or not. Thanks aardvark, it makes sense.

Nice one I-K about the ICE we get up here in Brownsville .... I mean Townsville! But then again, it's not a good idea to have hot carbies as that could lead to maybe a vacum lock and even bad fuel consumption... I mean like it would be; for example having hot air coming into the air induction rather then cool air to help induction..........drag racer's lower their times when the night air temputures drop.

So if you had hot carbies that warmed the air going in could lead to faults on say a dyno of when they tune your bike because when the mechanics are working on your bike they will stop start and stop start while tuning. So the bike will run hot maybe giving different reading on the road where the temputures are different! Leaves a lot to ponder about anyway I-K.

see ya's at the Island

snr

SNR wrote:drag racer's lower their times when the night air temputures drop.

Ahh but did you notice superchargers, carbies, etc icing up on drag cars? Thats because moving air takes the temperature away with it, thats how radiators work in the first place. Ambient air temps are around 5 ~ 40 degrees, but your coolant temp is always going to be 70 degrees+, so how would that "cool" the carbs anyway? The coolant lines you see are for heating the carbies to prevent icing, and theres a "thermostat" of sorts in there that blocks the coolant flow when the ambient temp is nice and warm.

One day I'm going to get all those spare gearbox bits together and do a little explanation on the positive neutral finder and how it works so we can point people to it whenever this question comes up. when you see how simple it is for something so effective, it's pretty amazing.

Mick C wrote:One day I'm going to get all those spare gearbox bits together and do a little explanation on the positive neutral finder and how it works so we can point people to it whenever this question comes up. when you see how simple it is for something so effective, it's pretty amazing.

One day I'm going to line up all the empty stubbies and cans and empty all the sudds into one and post it to Rob and that should answer any questions he's got

Thanks for the motovation Mick

mario

Maty10 wrote:

SNR wrote:drag racer's lower their times when the night air temputures drop.

Ahh but did you notice superchargers, carbies, etc icing up on drag cars? Thats because moving air takes the temperature away with it, thats how radiators work in the first place. Ambient air temps are around 5 ~ 40 degrees, but your coolant temp is always going to be 70 degrees+, so how would that "cool" the carbs anyway? The coolant lines you see are for heating the carbies to prevent icing, and theres a "thermostat" of sorts in there that blocks the coolant flow when the ambient temp is nice and warm.

True about the super chargers! Cold air and sensors that lean and advance timing to gain more power. That's why people move their air intake sensors to a more cooler part of the intake so the black box reads cooler air temp. You are right about heating/warming the carbies....but up here... the only ice you'd see is in the freezer

As for the cooling of the carbies, my way of thinking was that temputure behind the head would be higher and heat would transferr to the carbies therefor heating the fuel bowls, and with the coolant there it wouldkeep the fuel at a constant temp. Not double the temp without the coolant if that makes sense!

BUT once fuel is passed through the needle and is mixed with cool air coming in it's varporised and pressurised into the combustion chamber. Cool/cold fuel is denser and therefore produces more power...not that I would feel 1.5 hp...and neither would us mere humans. (Spoke to Gazza (McCoy) and Carl in the pit garage and he could feel the weight of the bike with and without camera around the Island!)

Anyone else got their ideas on cold fuel vs hot fuel..........

my 2 cents

snr

SNR wrote:
Anyone else got their ideas on cold fuel vs hot fuel..........

snr

Other than if it's too hot you can vapor lock. I doubt the acutal temperature of the fuel affects much at all. It's the air temperature that's important. Cooler denser air gives you more oxygen per cubic whatever you want. That allows you to add more fuel, and that's where the extra power comes from.

Steve_TLS wrote:

SNR wrote:
Anyone else got their ideas on cold fuel vs hot fuel..........

snr

Other than if it's too hot you can vapor lock. I doubt the acutal temperature of the fuel affects much at all. It's the air temperature that's important. Cooler denser air gives you more oxygen per cubic whatever you want. That allows you to add more fuel, and that's where the extra power comes from.

as STEVE sez
but
there is one more thing to consider...humidity
the higher the humidity..the denser the air
= more hp
but drag racers don't like it
coz its a balancing act..cars and tyres get slippery

cheers

Maty10 wrote:Ahh but did you notice superchargers, carbies, etc icing up on drag cars? Thats because moving air takes the temperature away with it, thats how radiators work in the first place.

The icing up is more to do with the methanol which they are running than the air moving through the supercharger or carby. Methanol has either a higher or lower latent temperature meaning that when it evaporates or atomises it takes heat from whatever is around it (try pouring a bit of metho on your hand then blowing on it). When you see the crews squirting stuff onto the injector hats of the alcohol cars it is actually petrol to melt the ice and stop the throttles from freezing shut.

The heat to the carbs helps the fuel to atomise better when the motor is cold, obviously something you don't need to worry about in FNQ. If you were living somewhere cold like Melbourne you would definitely notice the difference on a carby bike. This is why a V8 with an aftermarket manifold can be a pig of a thing on cold mornings as most don't have the ability to heat the base of the carb and so will cough and splutter along until they get some heat into them. EFI is a different matter because the injectors are much better at atomising the fuel than a carby.

If you're game you can see how atomisation helps by getting a water bottle and filling it with something flammable, then turning the nozzle to jet and spraying it over a naked flame, it won't burn very well if at all. Next turn the nozzle to spray and repeat making sure you stand back a little (ok maybe a lot). You should get a nice fireball but hopefully not singed eyebrows.

zbeast wrote:You should get a nice fireball but hopefully not singed eyebrows.

The mistake most people make when this happens, is that they assume it's the liquid that burns. It's not, it's the fumes.

aardvark wrote:

zbeast wrote:You should get a nice fireball but hopefully not singed eyebrows.

The mistake most people make when this happens, is that they assume it's the liquid that burns. It's not, it's the fumes.

Thats right Jas
Thats why you can light a fart without having shat your pants ! or so I'm told


mario