I put it to the dealer the last time it was due to my bike was kept outside. Now I have a large shed so its now great to be able to pause halfway through a job when too much cider has been drunk etc.
If you can be bothered reading this and giving some advice it would be much appreciated.
This being the first time I've ever checked the clearances myself its all going well so far. i.e. not braking anything.
I've never used feeler gauges before (well apart from when was in tullos training 4 years ago on a rattly old compressor) and therefore have a few questions.
Firstly can you get metric feeler gauges with smaller increments than 0.05mm? If so are they worth getting to measure the clearance accurately? As I feel that I could get away with using my gauges with 0.05mm increments due to the tolerances in the manual.
As I remember I should be able to slide the feeler gauge in and feel a slight drag? I shouldn't be trying to farce them in?
As I've had a few that I've checked that seem to stick a wee bit requiring a reasonable amount of farce to get out, for a thin feeler gauge without bending it.Would this be ok to accept this as a size? or use the next size down.
I've also had a few that seem to allow the gauge to 'almost but not quite' go in.
I know these two above will be that the actual clearance will be just over the thickness of the 0.05mm increment feeler gauge.
For example, on one of the exhaust clearances the 0.20 gauge fits in nicely on the loose side.
The 0.25 gauge is definitely too large.
The tolerance range in the manual is 0.22 - 0.31.
Would it be OK to assume this is within tolerance and leave it or reduce the shim by 0.05mm therefore ensuring that the clearance is central within the given tolerance?
For another two, on one the 0.20 gauge goes in and sticks a bit and the other 'almost' goes in (as above). Again would it be OK to assume that the actual clearance is not far off the 0.20 and again reducing the shim by 0.05 would bring the clearance within tolerance 0.22-0.31?
Should I be aiming for central to the tolerance or if its in, its fine? Whats better, on the loose or tight side?
I'm also cleaning lots of bits including the carbs (just the outside). Whats best to clean off the grime from the carb housings and various springs. Bearing in mind that most of the rubber hoses are still connected to them. Just plain old carb/brake cleaner. I'm guessing standard degreaser wont be OK with all the rubber. Then what should I re lube (I can't believe it's not butter!) the springs with?
The gasket from the pick up coil cover came off cleanly, would it be OK to reuse?
and finally... I know Kawasaki's aren't known for their quite cam chains but over the last few months I' think the tick has been getting louder. Maybe it just might be in my head? While I've got it striped down would it be worth putting in a manual cam chain tensioner?
Again any advice would be appreciated, I'm in no real hurry to get it back on the road as I'm quite enjoying the old FZ and having something in bits outside with out the need to put it back together before the rain comes.
Ta
Turns out I had mis read my grubby old feeler guages and had set them with the imperial measurement rather than metric. After a lot of fannying about I got them all set correctly again and only used one of the new shimms 