Rare Japanese Market Kettle

[oldjapanesebikes]

[RING_DING]

Question on brake line rebuild.....should I use some kind of sealing compound on the threads when I join these two lines together?

[Suzsmokeyallan]

You need that third intermediate piece on the old lines to go between the two new ones. Its a taper fit design so draw it to create a seal after you have the system all fitted up to the bike.
Its design is like a pivotal mid joint to allow the banjo ends to pivot around and get the right angle.
Also you do have the rubber clamp isolator piece as well for it as well I hope, if not they are still available from Suzuki.

[RING_DING]

Allan,
Thanks for the feedback. The rebuild kit I bought from Paul Allen included all new hoses, but not the intermediate piece. I guess its OK to reuse the old intermediate piece?
Also, pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean when you say "draw" it? I do have the rubber clamp isolator pieces as well so no worries there.
Thanks!

[Suzsmokeyallan]

Ahhh sorry for the confusion there Roy, 'draw it' means use your discretion of tightening torque, as its a taper fitting union.
You don't want to apply more torque than you need as it will only wear the taper on the sealing joints.

[RING_DING]

Big day today.....she is now "road ready"! Took her out to the gas station for a fill up and then I did a 5 mile loop. She ran like a champ. I had a grin from ear to ear. Here she is all cleaned up:

[oldjapanesebikes]

Nicely done Roy !

[Suzsmokeyallan]

For a clean up it came out really well, especially considering how much rust was on it when you started. So you obviously like how it rides since you mentioned the grin factor.

[two-stroke-brit]

looking good.

[RING_DING]

Thanks all! You are definitely seeing the good side, but she is very photogenic!
Well I was a little more adventurous today...just got back from a 35 mile ride, a mix of freeway cruising and backroads.
A few observations which I would appreciate some feedback on:
1. The water temperature gauge stayed in the middle or slightly below when doing the backroads about 45-60mph. When I was on the freeway, cruising around 70-75mph the temp gauge went up (slowly) and stayed midway between the top marker and the center mark. Is this normal?
2. Slowing down for stop lights, on the overrun she was "bucking" a lot. Is this the "surge" I read about which can be fixed with the carb mod?
3. I did detect some pre-ignition at times, so I see a timing check in my future (I have the gear to do it).
4. Well into the ride, the idle would take a while to settle down to normal. I will check for air leaks.

Otherwise, the grin is still on my face. She handles surprisingly well, although I didn't push her too hard on the new rubber. She tracks straight & true, and I was able to let go the handlebars no problem. I found the gearing surprisingly "tall" (she has standard 16/43 sprockets), but she pulls like a train through all the gears and did not miss a beat.
I think I'm in love

[oldjapanesebikes]

Answers to both #1 and #2 are 'yes' . Don't leave it too long to sort out the pre-ignition, as you risk piston damage of the expensive kind ! And yes - they do offer big grin factor eh !?!

[Suzsmokeyallan]

Ian summed it up basically in all the #1 and #2 areas, and if you want to try lowering the gearing a bit you could put in a 15 tooth front sprocket.
The 'surge' does all sorts or interesting things, including a hesitation to return to idle as it should when the engine is warmed up. It tends to hang around the 2000 mark for a bit then slowly drops to idle if you leave it.
Some of the Buffalos had more surge issues than others so its not like they all do it exactly the same, however it is all curable. Another thing to consider along with the airjet mod is to raise the float levels slightly which also helps.

[RING_DING]

Great feedback guys. Sounds like the surging could be the cause of #4 then. She would idle at around 2000rpm and then slowly settle down to normal idle exactly as Allan described. Forgot to mention, I have a small leak somewhere at the master cylinder. Every time I applied the brakes I had to pump the lever a couple of times to get adequate pressure (I made sure I had plenty of room between me and the vehicle in front!). I did spy some drops of brake fluid around the reservoir while I was riding. Did not have time to research fully, but will let you know what I find.

[Suzsmokeyallan]

Ok good then, it sounds like to have some more fettling and inspecting to do, let us know how you get on with it. On the ft master, did you replace the o-ring around the base of the plastic reservoir?

[RING_DING]

Allan, I did replace the O-ring for the reservoir. I guess if the problem was inside the chamber I would have had fluid spurting out when I applied the lever. It was only a few drops so I am suspecting an issue with the reservoir.