Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Fairing buzz: OK. Take the fairing off and remove the black inner liner and clean around both the fairing and liner area where they meet with some metho or window cleaner or similar mild cleaner. If they've been buzzing for a while, there will probably be some tell-tale dust in the area.

Reassemble with a very small bead of silastic (clear or black are harder to see) or similar along the mating surface and screw the whole thing together. (Silastic squeezed out can be cleaned up with some metho, turps or saliva, yes, saliva (yumm... )on a rag.)

Leave in the sun for a couple of hours until cured and then refit. Go for a fang and see if its gone.

Also, while your there, check if any on the looms and cables behind the fairing have been buzzing against the fairing and rearrange them tightly if they look like they have. Look for tell-tale rubbing-dust.

Check that the instrument housing is tight on the mounts and that the screws holding the instrument housing together are tight.

Also, the throttle cables can rub against the plastic ingition key/idiot light housing on the right hand side where the cable goes past the housing towards the frame. Check there. Kool.....

hoffy wrote:Ohh yeah, check your swingarm bolt, another unique rex feature is it's not tight enough from factory.

mine came completely off, check my avatar >>>>>>

Yeah hoffy, I had that one too, maybe not quite as dramatic looking @ your avatar .
My swingarm nut had about 2.5 turns to go before it fell right off. I had noticed the bike would not change down gears properly after my 24000 k (major) service.
As all these things are checked during this service (yeah right) I was not very amused. Not to mention the bike shop suggesting it was the fresh oil & freezing (16'c in Cairns) weather that was to blame, after they had gone all over the bike again. I just happened to be having a 3 beer look @ the bike & got a bit touchy feely with the rear wheel & noticed I could move it about 15 mm sideways .
I rang the bikeshop & politely explained my findings .

Don't know if the newer models still suffer from it, but taillights also have a habit of coming adrift .
I seriously wonder if these bikes were assembled in the Harley factory @ times .

All said & done I love my ZRX, even better with the Kerker. 80,000klm's & still going hard .

Erk: found the funny intermittent engine-speed buzz at 3950-4000 RPM. The clutch hydraulic line changes from flexible (from the bars) to a rigid pipe (to engine) just underneath the thermostat mount. The rigid line just behind the hose clamp fitting was rubbing up against the lower edge of the thermonstat mount, even producing a small sharp edge in the mount metal.

Small tweak to move the rigid line away from the thermostat mount, quick fang, noise gone. Sweeeet.... Didnt need to do the alternator thing, but a good oppportunity to clean the slip-rings and brushes and stuff. Catch yooz all later!!!

Woof wrote:Fairing buzz: OK. Take the fairing off and remove the black inner liner and clean around both the fairing and liner area where they meet with some metho or window cleaner or similar mild cleaner. If they've been buzzing for a while, there will probably be some tell-tale dust in the area.

Reassemble with a very small bead of silastic (clear or black are harder to see) or similar along the mating surface and screw the whole thing together. (Silastic squeezed out can be cleaned up with some metho, turps or saliva, yes, saliva (yumm... )on a rag.)

Leave in the sun for a couple of hours until cured and then refit. Go for a fang and see if its gone.

Also, while your there, check if any on the looms and cables behind the fairing have been buzzing against the fairing and rearrange them tightly if they look like they have. Look for tell-tale rubbing-dust.

Check that the instrument housing is tight on the mounts and that the screws holding the instrument housing together are tight.

Also, the throttle cables can rub against the plastic ingition key/idiot light housing on the right hand side where the cable goes past the housing towards the frame. Check there. Kool.....

Woof, thanks very much for that mate...will give it a try..

No worries.

92000km on mine and it has just got a fairing noise about 1000km ago, comes in around 3500RPM ad disappears around 4000RPM, I tried foam tape stuff around the inner cowl to stop the noise but hasn't worked I will try the Silicon trick next, apart from that no other noises or loose bolts etc..................must be lucky....................

Picked up my 2001 1200s (50,000kms) day before yesterday.
It has a funny buzz on low speeds (low rpms) with the throttle on (heard it on the 3rd gear often). It disappears if I open the throttle or close the throttle completely. It sounds like two very fine pieces of metals buzzing against each other at very fine high vibrations.

Accelerating too much on the first gear (4-6k rpm) feels and sounds a little strange... too much vibration and maybe I can hear the engine more than the exhaust.... but when I quickly shift to 2nd gear (at around 7k rpm) the exhaust sound kicks in and becomes all smooth and nice (yeh, i have the stock exhaust ) Is this just stuck in my head coz am still too used to my old zx6r (1996) and its normal for the zrx?

Going to check the swingarm nuts, tail lights and every other screw I can see.
I however feel, Woof's buzz is same as mine. So might try his method.

Ark: found the funny intermittent engine-speed buzz at 3950-4000 RPM. The clutch hydraulic line changes from flexible (from the bars) to a rigid pipe (to engine) just underneath the thermostat mount. The rigid line just behind the hose clamp fitting was rubbing up against the lower edge of the thermonstat mount, even producing a small sharp edge in the mount metal.

Am a noob when it comes to technical terms, so a little help on where should I locate that hose clamp fitting and thermostat mount would be highly appreciated

Another thing I noticed, if I blip the throttle, with the clutch pulled in, it doesnt give me the short vroom....gives a long sustained vroom instead. My 1996 zx6 was quite responsive about the throttle in this sense. But maybe coz it was a supersports and more revvy and smaller engine?

To describe what I mean :
This is what I had on my zx6..the rpm fall fast as soon as you let go off the throttle. giving you a nice short vroom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gXvcS1ATsg

This is close to what am getting from my bike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT8VRl7_zJ4

Is that normal?

Loving the bike so far Smooth if am not revving it much on lower gears, torquey !! great handling and riding position..does not provoke me to ride fast and loose my license (yet)
I love the sound from bulldog scorpion bolt ons....want one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE0QViUmPVs

This is my bike:
http://img200.imageshack.us/g/03122009089.jpg/

Mate, I guess first things first: strange throttle response noises sounds like it needs a good serious tune-up, inlcuding shim-job, cam-chain tension check, carb sync and maybe a correcting carb re-jet. Makes life sooo much nicer. Next thing: the hydraulic line rubbing thing. The hydraulic line is easy to check. It comes from the cylindrical clutch mechanism cover (left hand side of engine) then up the left hand side of the back of the engine to disappear under the tank. Get the tank off. (Run the fuel out to reserve or less and then VERY carefully lift the tank off. If its been on for a while, spray some WD-40 or similar under the front of the tank to loosen the frame-mounted rubber tank mounts at the front of the frame. Wash WD-40 off later. Be careful of the fuel quantity system plug and the THREE hoses you need to disconnect: fuel, fuel tap vacuum and fuel tank scupper drain.) Now, there's a whole lot of stuff going on here. Easy. Follow the clutch hydraulic line down from the clutch lever assembly through all the lines, wiring and other shite and all the way down to the engine clutch mechanism cover. Somewhere along the way it will pass very close to something and may have started rubbing. You will feel it as a smooth/polished area or a sharp lip along the line or a line fitting. If you find something, VERY carefully tweak the line or hose to get it out of harms way. You can use cable-ties to pull a line out of the way, but be careful and take your time. Ride to check your work. Best of luck! PS; I wouldnt go near a short (read: low-volume) slip-on. I have read that they will sound good but rob you of power. Better to go for a large volume slip-on (like the old Micron slip-ons) or stop wasting your dough and get a full system. I've got a full stainless Muzzy and it is great. Minor carb work and it's very nice. Got it for a great price from my local Kawasaki (Toowoomba) dealer coz he's good to me and I bought a pair of tyres, a chain & sprocket set and a tune-up and some other stuff at the same time.

damn! I just refilled the fuel yesterday....so I need to ride a lil more to get that to reserve
I had a bad bad experience taking the tank off the zx6...the rubber tubes were worn out and just snapped....whew!!
If only you were in Vic, couldve rode the bike to you so you could take it for a spin and check if all the strange engine feelings is just in my head or not.

The bike runs smooth...only time it makes the weird nose is when i rev too much on 1st gear...else its fine.
Supposedly the bike had these done at 36000kms (14000 kms before I picked it up)
-Head stem bearings
-coolant flushed
-shims
-plugs changed
-balanced carbies
Then usual servicing done after that at regular intervals.

Is there anyone of you near vic I could take the bike to for a quick check?
I blew all my savings off on the bike, so got to wait, save up, and eventually work on getting a full system, and jet kit.
How much do the jet kits cost, so I have an idea on how much to save up?
Most of the shops am checking has full systems at extra ordinary prices 1.5k ish starting

If I can pick up a second hand one, I think I ll be still happy

strika is a busy man but he has a REX... one of the other vic crew may volunteer tho...

Six Addict wrote:strika is a busy man but he has a REX... one of the other vic crew may volunteer tho...

S&W would be a good man to see, he seems to be able to bring things back from the - um - other side

BTW, I'd be going for an oil & filter change at a minimun - especially if its been 14000k's mine gets changed every 5000 max.

Good luck with the mods and I am sure you will enjoy the ZRX.

Took it over to a friend's place last night, and wow, the zrx was a complete different beast on the citylink.
maybe i never had an opportunity to crack the throttle real good
theres no weird feeling/noise from the engine any more....bike accelerates like a friggin bullet
that fine buzz at 3-4k rpm is still there though, and it exists even if I don't accelerate. At least not am sure that buzz has nothing to do with the engine. Most probably that clutch wire and thermostat, will have a look there. Checked radiator grill and swingarm nut, nothing there. Noticed a bit of crap under the front sprocket cover, so opened and cleaned it out. Hope its just some chain lube and crap, and not any seals

The engine oil was changed at 47000, and oil filter at 41000. will change both at 52000. Which grade of oil do you guys recommend? 20w50 any good?

Also, am planning to install a pair of Hella Disc Dual horns on my ZRX.
The bike has the stock single horn mounted.
This is the circuit which I intend to follow, using the existing wires from the stock horns.


Couple of quick questions regarding it:
The horns are rated at 12v. So am guessing I should rate them as 24V when installed together? or since am installing them on parallel it would just be 12V as total together?
Also, my stock horn's fuse is rated at 10A. Should I put in a 20A fuse for the dual horns even after using the relay? or should the 10A be fine with the relay there?

If I choose to run a single 12v horn without relay, (just replacing the stock horn with one of the Hella Disc), would I need to do any other adjustments?
Also let me know if I am doing anything wrong in the circuit diagram.
Need to find a horn clamp similar to the stock one now

Thanks

Hi Shadow,
There's a few ZRXs in Vic. Maybe a group catch-up over the Xmas to share experiences?

I put a louder horn on in May, just changed the wires over from the stock to the new. Located the new horn under the rear fender so it can't be see and it's too big to locate where the stock horn is [ would have looked stupid there ]. Didn't need to use a relay and no prob since.

At the same time I added an extra driving light and did use a relay and ran the live wire straight from the battery with a separate switch. The relay had a built in fuse [ got it from Autobarn ]. Just followed the instructions on the fuse package and also no probs.

Hope that helps.
Cheers,
TC

hey topcat,
sure a zrx meet (followed by a zrx ride) sounds great

Yeah I was looking at the wires, and kinda scared that they might melt away on too much load.
So you used a single 12v horn or a dual? I have used just the high tone from the Hella pair instead of the stock horn, and is working fine so far. But they sound best in pairs


Hmm any pics of the extra driving lights? Where did you mount them? I was reading some posts on ZRXOA about the headlight wirings.
http://www.zrxoa.org/webpages/techinfo/techinfo.html
Was thinking of giving it a go sometime.

G'day Shadow.
I'll open a new thread on an Xmas meet / ride.

I've used just one horn, probably out of a dual set-up (just bought one). It sounds much louder than stock so I was happy . You're righ though - they do sound better in pairs.

I mounted a small "PIAA" light that I bought overseas just above the LHS indicator using an L bracket. I mounted the relay in the fairing.

Cheers,
TC