Kawasaki EN454 bobber project...

[shifty]

I am stumped and dead on this project, need help with starting problems, scroll down a few posts....

Also, I am looking for parts - if anyone has :
- Vulcan EN 500 gas tank w/gauge and console (no dents, pls!)
- Harley 883/1200 gas tank (no dents, pls)
- Harley Sportster rear fender (again, decent shape)

This is the latest project that wound up in my hands. Bike has been sitting for a little over 9yrs and hasn't been started. I have no keys, master cylinder resevoir is dry rotten/broke, coolant overflow is dry rotten/broke, same gas in the tank for years, gas tank is dented in top, a lot of the rubber is cracked up...rust pits throughout the chrome. No fun. Hasn't been run for just under a decade.

Managed to get an abandonment title for $200. Reasonable, and probably all the bike is worth.

Here is a picture...

[shifty]

Started teardown on the bike last week. Removed the rear fender, harnesses, seat. Plan to take off the tank next, drain and clean it, remove the carbs and ditch the stock airbox in favor of cone filters, clean, overhaul and rejet the carbs with 140 jets. I'll probably run clean water through the block's coolant system, replace the thermostat (i assume there is one), clean the whole thing up, and take the radiator in to be flushed as well.

Plans are to end up something like...

http://ltd454.proboards.com/index.cg...lay&thread=366

or

http://ltd454.proboards.com/index.cg...lay&thread=308


Current state:

[shifty]

Tore down the tree two nights ago so I could pull out the ignition and get it re-keyed. Locksmith quoted $65, so I opted just to spend $110 and get a new ignition switch and two keys from Kawasaki. This one might be froze up. I'll sell the other ignition switch on eBay, maybe will get a buyer?

I'll be ditching the stock gauges, and possibly swapping out the headlight, so the gauges will be coming off. I need to find out what the ratio is on the speedo (I think either 2:1 or 2240:60, not sure which?).

Picture, crappy one at that, of the bars all torn down.

[special-K]

I`ll be interested to see how this turns out.Sorry I can`t help you out with the parts you need.

[shifty]

it's cool. i'm making good headway either way, sort of. i know nothing about belt-driven bikes though, much less a chain-driven v-twin, so ... i don't know wtf is wrong with this thing. could use some help, trying to get some on a 454ltd forum i just signed up for.

progress so far:

-stock airbox removed.
-new ignition switch and keys.
-tank flushed of old gas.
-oil and oil filter changed.
-new spark plugs.
-removed the emissions crap.
-replaced vacuum lines.
-battery replaced and fully charged.
-coolant overflow tank replaced.
-coolant flushed completely and refilled.
-general cleanup, removed stickers off bike, wiped things down, blew out everything.
-put a shot of Miracle Oil in the cylinders overnight to free em up.
put some SeaFoam in the tank and into the carbs, turned it over to get it into the carbs.

the bike turns over now, but the chain that goes from the starter to the main gear has a lot of slop in it (it IS spinning though) and i realized i have no spark on either plug wire and don't know why. so, until i figure out these two problems, i will not have a running bike =( i don't want to proceed with any more chopping or bobbing until i know this thing is gonna run!!

anyone know anything about the 80's and 90's EN 450 and EN 500 Kawasaki bikes? could really use a hand here!

I know how much everyone loves pics, so here's a progress pic.

[GruntMoanCough]

I'm more of a 70's KZ guy but, maybe I can be of some help. Not really familiar with the 454 LTD although I do have a '92 EX500 that I can refer to.
As far as no spark, I would suggest tracing back to the ignition module and pickup in the left engine cover and work your way from there. I wouldn't suspect that both coils would be dead.

[shifty]

Pulled off left engine cover where the flywheel/magnetic stuff is.

It looks mint inside. When I hold the start button, all of the gears and flywheel are spinning, but the flywheel stops spinning after 1-2 seconds (gear behind it still spins) and the chain slops up and maked the rattling noise you hear in the following sample.

This is what starting the bike sounds like:
http://satellitehead.com/uploads/454-grind.wav

This is a picture of everything behind the side engine cover. The big silver bowl with the orange things is what stops spinning after 1-2 seconds. The gear behind it continues to spin, along with the starter gear.

[GruntMoanCough]

There's a one-way clutch behind the flywheel that's probably not working, maybe the reason the bike was parked. You'll need a puller to remove the flywheel to access it. Not sure if you can get it to work once you get at it, or will have to replace it.

[shifty]

Well, I ordered a new one today along with some other random bolts and other crap.

I don't have a puller, so that might be an issue. I might hafta source one if the pullers I have won't work.

Meanwhile....do you think that this one-way clutch ("starter clutch") would be causing my no-spark issue?

[GruntMoanCough]

Originally Posted by shifty

Meanwhile....do you think that this one-way clutch ("starter clutch") would be causing my no-spark issue?

Your ignition pickups should be behind the bigger round cover in the flywheel cover that you took off. they rely on the flywheel to be turning.
Also, if the flywheel is not turning, then the engine is not turning over, unless the flywheel is slipping on the crank end.
But if the starter clutch is not working, you could put the bike on the center stand and turn the rear wheel in top gear to see if the flywheel is turning.

[shifty]

Ok, well here's what I can tell you.

The flywheel spins for 1-2 seconds before it stops.

Even though it stops after 1-2 seconds, both gears continue to spin - both the starter gear (small, upper right in that pic) and the starter clutch gear (large gear behind flywheel in middle).

This tells me one of two things, logically:

A) The starter clutch is automatically disengaging after 1-2 seconds because it's supposed to.

or

B) The starter clutch is shot, and stops holding onto the flywheel after 1-2 seconds.


While pressing the start button on the bike, I feel air pulsing out of the tailpipes, I think even when the flywheel is NOT spinning. Wouldn't this suggest the engine is (in fact) turning over?

Questions:

Is there any way I can manually (easily) turn over the engine, to make sure it's not freezing up?

Could the starter clutch have burned up because I held the start button down for 10-20 seconds a couple different times while trying to start it initially?

Is there any easy way to tell if the starter clutch actually is bad - some way that doesn't require a lot of disassembly? I was told on another forum that I could pull out the flywheel and starter gear, and try to spin the flywheel inside the starter gear while it's outside of the bike and it should only spin one direction.

[GruntMoanCough]

-I would say "B)".
-Pull the spark plugs and put your finger over the hole while cranking to check if the engine is turning and making compression.
-It's OK to spin the starter for 10-20 seconds (this won't burn out the starter clutch).
-You can check the starter clutch by doing what you read on the other forum, the gear should turn one way and not the other.
- You can turn the engine by hand by the bolt in the center of the flywheel, it should be left hand thread.

[shifty]

Welp, I should get a new flywheel by Friday along with some other parts (I hope). I'm also expecting a flywheel removal tool this week.

Meanwhile, I got some lowered rear springs on the way, I bought carbs off a '95 Kawasaki Ninja EX500 on eBay, I popped the tank dent out, screwed up the tank petcock. Gotta rebuild it, the rebuild kit is en route via eBay.

I took some time tonight to tear down the bottom end of the Ninja carbs and cleaned them out tonight, they were on a bike that hadn't been run in a while, but they still looked pretty good inside and out. (pic attached)

Looking into Factory Pro jet kits for the carbs to run larger jets, something in the 135-140 range (stock is 130, IIRC).

I am going to look into some body filler this weekend, and see if I can't get the tank sanded, primed, filled, smoothed and shot in some satin black, then get the springs on. I'll be trying to figure out a seating situation as well, and maybe lowering the front end as well.

will update with pics in next couple days.

[shifty]

rebuilt the petcock last night (blew it popping out a dent), then created another dent following someone else's advice, so said "screw it! filler time!" and started to strip down the tank with 60-grit, since 100-grit just wasn't cutting it.

also installed shrter springs/shocks off a Suzuki Savage 650.

[shifty]

Ok, got the new '95 Ninja carbs in. Both sets of carbs are rebuilt. The decelerator cable bracket is the only real notable difference between the 90's Ninja carbs and my 454 LTD carbs (well, needle and jet sizes are more free-flowing on Ninja carbs too, but ...)

I also got the lowered Suzuki LS 650 shocks installed. Bought them on eBay in superb shape, around $40. Lowers the back end of the bike by about 3-4". Will probably slide down the forks an inch to compensate on the stance.

[shifty]

Also found out why the bike wasn't turning over.

Up above, I thought I'd ordered the starter clutch. Turns out the part that was delivered was the large crank/starter gear BEHIND the starter clutch (which is also a one-way clutch! Great! )

Well, the part was $35. The "actual" starter clutch was around $90. Got that in on Friday. Stuck the old flywheel/clutch assembly in the vice with rubber grips, torqued off the 6mm allenhead bolts holding the two together.

When I removed the starter clutch (pictured - and it was a friggin BEAR to separate), it was pretty clear why it wasn't turning over well. Clearly, cracked in two places. I also noticed when I put the new one on that the rollers and insides on the old starter clutch were well worn down, because I physically had to push back the rollers to reattach this thing to the larger gear behind it when reassembling.

Also, with the new assembly, it would only rotate one way (as it should). With the old starter clutch assembled, it would spin in both directions with a little physical force.

I reassembled everything with threadlocker (blue) and put back in the bike.

End result: JOY!

Bike turns over properly now. I hooked up the wires to a spark plug and grounded to the block, and I see I'm getting spark on both cylinders now, and the engine is turning over properly.

So it seems we're good to go. I rebuilt the petcock after the compressed air incident (blowing out the dent also blew out the gaskets), I just gotta finish tank (body filler on the way), and figure out which carbs I'm gonna use, and hopefully I can fire it up.

Home stretch? I hope so...

[shifty]

finished sanding. got first coat of primer laid down. Rage Extreme filler is on the way, should be here Friday. will get started on filling and smoothing out next week.

[GruntMoanCough]

Good to hear the engine's turning over now, should have 'er running soon, eh.

[shifty]

If I can just get the dang tank done I got the filler in today, heading home in about an hour to start working on it.

[shifty]

I got the first coat of filler down on the tank and sanded it last night.

I swapped the accelerator/decelerator cable bracket off the stock carbs and onto the '95 Ninja carbs, then installed them and the cone filters last night.

Got the side cover back on with a new gasket.

Bolted everything back up, including the gear shift and foot peg.

Turned the engine over, everything sounded good.

With the carbs on and filters in place, I hooked up a fuel line and used a bulb to pump some gas into the carb bowls... then turned the key... wouldn't catch right away, but with a couple more turnovers and a twist of the throttle, VROOOOMMMMMM, 3k RPMs on the tach, and the engine was running.

It was stumbling a bit, and the tank still isn't finished, but I think I can probably get it running the rest of the way before the end of the weekend.

However, my tubular Porterbuilt control arms and crossmember arrived today, so the bike is going to be on the back burner for at least a few days while i try to get my frame prepped and ready for sandblast & powdercoat.

[leather59298736]

This thread seems rather dead. Hate to wake a dead thread, but if your looking, I have a spare sporty tank hangin round.