ZZR 250 Carby Drain

[Cube]

Can anyone help me to confirm how the carbies are drained. Do I remove the Allan keyed screw at the bottom of the carby to drain the contents and any rubbish collected there, or is there another location?

Your help will be appreciated.

Cube

[Daisy]

You don't need to remove it. Only loosen. It also helps if you have a plastic tube that fits on the nipple so you can drain it into a container, rather than all over the top of the gearbox.

[Cube]

Thanks Daisy I will give it a go and attach the plastic tube to the nipple as suggested. Just to make sure is the nipple the little piece pointing towards the gearbox?

Cheers Cube

[robracer]

Cant miss it Cube, its the weird looking bit it can also help to Drain... tighten up everything, then run the bike... then drain again to get more crap out of the carbs

[Cube]

Daisy, I drained both carbies last weekend, small splinters of metal and other foreign matter was drained. Still not satisfied I decided to drain the fuel tank and clean it out with Kerosene. Whilst taking a closer look inside the tank I have noticed small particles of brown stuff, possible rust from the weld joins. I used a magnet inside the tank to remove the particles and drained the tank by removing the tap. The tank was left in the sun for a couple of days before being refitted to the bike.
During the week I have ridden 300ks, and am not completely satisfied with its performance. At 60Ks in 5th gear the bike feels jittery, like there is a blockage in the jets. Therefore, I will drain the carbs again during the weekend. Other than that the only other alternative is to remove the carbs and thoroughly clean the jets, this is something I am not confident to do myself but there may not be any other alternatives. May be the carbies need draining before I refill the tank with fuel.
Do you agree or is there something else I should be looking at?

Cheers, Cube

[MrWasabi]

id pull those suckers out and give them a good spray with some compressed air and dunk them in carby cleaner.

alternatively you may want to get them balanced

[mike-s]

Only read this if your interested in doing a lot of this yourself.

Of all the things to do to a set of carbies, cleaning the idle jets has got to be the easiest (setting aside the fact you have to wrestle them out in the first place). Carbs out, float bowl off, floats off, check the needle & seat (while your there) and give it a quick clean up and that may be enough for your circumstance. If you wish to take it further you would then next take the brass idle screw out, soak it in a jar of carby cleaner & refit them.

If its the main jets causing dramas then do the above and add in the fact that the main jet will need to be removed. At this point hopefully the emulsion tube (its what helps airates/"vapourises" the fuel so that it burns efficiently) falls right out after the main jet is removed (as it was being held in by the main jet).

If that does't get the emulsion tube out then the first thing to try is to press on the top of it (it is seen as the brass hole that the needle goes into in the bottom of the carb body) it from inside of the venturi with the flat of a screwdriver, hopefully it pops out. If that doesn't work then you may need to remove the cap on the top of the carbs & the diaphragms & sliders (generally unless your doing a ground up overhaul/clean the less you touch them the better, given that they can sometimes be fragile & cost a motza to replace, if spares can be obtained at all). I got mine out by much prodding with a rubber mallet & the butt end of a screwdriver (but my emulsion tubes were filthy with crap which had effectively cemented them into the carby)

Anyway once the emulsion tubes are out soak them in the jar of carby cleaner with the idle jets for 24hours+ and after you've waited, then attack them with a crappy toothbrush you are happy to never use for its original intention ever again (do not use brass or steel brushes for any of this as the brass used is usually a rather soft metal than most and will easily get scratched when you rub metal brushes against it). Give them a scrubdown and pay attention to them having enough gap where they are supposed to, for example my idle fuel jet had a jet hole that was about 0.5mm across at most and i had to take a fine hair out of a household paintbrush to be able to clean the jet effectively)

While the carb is apart also remove idle air jets and anything in the general vicinity and give the thoroughfares a quick blast with compressed air (the stuff you can buy at dick smiths/jaycar does a good job), if you wish to take this further, take the rubber o rings off, the diaphragm/sliders out as well as any & all o rings that you can find (carby cleaner kills them disturbingly effectively) and go to town on it.

[Cube]

Thanks for your advice, I am now wondering how much would it cost for a mechanic to do everything you have suggested fit a Ninja kit. The Carbie Ninja kit inclusive of the time to fit is $400-500. Remembering I am not confident enough to do this myself, sure I would be able to remove the carbs, seperate all the components and if luck is on my side refit without any major problems, and on top rebalance the carbs.
Seems beyond me but hey I can sew, repair tents, recover seats, manufacture swags and a whole host of Motor Trimming jobs. Different horses for different courses. Does anyone know a reputable bike mechanic in the Forest Lake QLD area that I might be able to speak with.

Interested in your thoughts.

Cheers Steve.

[mike-s]

I must admit that taking the carbs off is a trick all of its own, and taking the carbs apart can be a bit daunting, though if you have a service manual (i would strongly recommend getting one, and i mean REALLY strongly, if for no other readon than if you get in the shit you can see how to put it all back together).

If you aren't entirely sure about the diy factor, see ir you can't convince someone to come over a couple of times to help with dis/re assembly. Perhaps see if someone is able to organise a bbq/spannering day (or organise one yourself), get your bike stripped in the am, clean it out and soak the jets and what not while you all bbq food and get pissed, then reassemble the carbs in typical ksrc style in the afternoon, i.e. pissed.

[Daisy]

Steve, if you're in the least bit technically minded, stripping the carbs yourself isn't that hard. There are only two. I remember I thought it was hard when I had the gpx, but now I can confidently dismantle,reassemble and balance 4 carbs.

[Cube]

Good morning,
Having read your suggestions and advice I decided to do another carby drain. There was no foreign matter this time so I have decided to leave the carbies fitted and run some carbie cleaner through.

I do appreciate your help on this matter and in the meantime I will do some research into cleaning the carbies myself when required. The Servicing Manual is very helpful but I am not too sure on how to balance the carbs.

Unfortunately we are a one car family for the wife and kids. I ride the motorbike 3 days a week and a pushy the other 2. Distance to and from work equates to 80 Kms a day. There in lies the reason I don't want to stuff something up that appears to be so simple to you guys. But as time goes on I will learn to do all things myself mechanically to a point, and I will still be asking for help. Riding a pushy is something I love, it keeps me fit and I am out in the elements whether rain hail or shine, but I don't want to be without a reliable means of transport like the motorbike for an extended period. I guess once your confident with hands on maintenance it is much easier than booking in your ride and then logistically trying to find alternate transport. Although in Adelaide when I had the carbies cleaned they gave me a nice Korean 650 loan bike for the day. Oh it was nice to ride a bike with a lot more get up and go.

Anyway once again thanks very much for your help and advice.

Regards, Steve.